Politics & Government

No Smooth Sailing at Florissant City Council Meeting

All of the bills came under scrutiny on Monday night.

Florissant City Council passed several bills Monday night, but none of them passed without a few bumps and bruises in the road.

The bills for second reading— as well as —created confusing dialogues. On the other side, one councilman took a stand on four bills for first reading.

Representatives for the former , 295 Derhake Rd., began a presentation that defended re-establishing a nightclub before the third reading.

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Ward 4 Councilman Keith English explained to the petitioners that they would need to make a presentation to the planning and zoning commission if the bill were to pass.

Council did pass the ordinance with an 8-0 vote. Ward 9 Councilman Ben Hernandez was absent from the meeting.

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For the boundary-redistricting bill, Ward 8 Councilman Mark Schmidt explained the amendment to the map that would affect Wards 6 and 8 as well as return a block to where it was originally.

In a memo to the city council and Mayor Tom Schneider, City Clerk Karen Goodwin stated that she drew a line incorrectly, which affected Ward 8. The line should have been drawn from Paddock Drive to St. Catherine Road. The original line went down Jamaica Place and Johnstown Drive.

The memo also said that council members decided to leave the split block, a census block where the population in that block is split between two wards, between Wards 6 and 8. The census block, according to the memo, is drawn in the backyards of residents’ homes in Ridge Drive and St. Edward Lane.

The original map proposed that the split block be placed in either ward 6 or 8.

The council unanimously approved the bill after its third reading.

A first for everything

All of the bills for first reading pertained to the transferring of funds for various end-of-the-year costs, but one councilman questioned the reason for a high number of transfers.

Ward 6 Councilman Pat Stinnett questioned the high number of transfers for gas that have come across the council’s desk in the past month, which represented two of the five bills.

Stinnett voted against a third reading of bill E8775 and approved the other four but not without a bit of hesitation and coercion from other councilors.

Once the council passed the final bill, Stinnett decided to reconsider his vote on E8775, so that he would not hold up government functions.

After a bit of discussion and confusion to bring the bill back to floor and have his vote reconsidered, the council unanimously passed E8775.

“My concern is the fact that since August, we have allocated approximately $120,000 for gasoline,” Stinnett said following the meeting. “The mayor has committed with the new budget  that it will be transparent and easy for all to read and understand."


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