Tom Schneider Sworn in as Florissant Mayor

After more than 30 years, entered the Florissant council chambers on Monday night as the Councilman and left as the new mayor.

More than 30 people, including Florissant Police Chief William Karabas,  President and former mayoral opponents and , looked on as elected city councilors and the mayor-elect took their oath of office.

City Clerk Karen Goodwin swore in Wards 2, 4 and 8 city council members–John Grib, Keith English and Mark Schmidt, respectively--at the beginning of the meeting. Following immediately afterward, read the oath to mayor-elect Schneider, which he quickly accepted.

“I’m grateful for this honor,” Schneider said in a short speech following his oath. “I was inspired by Mayor Eagan and Mayor Lowery by their examples of service … The way to show my gratitude for all of the support is to do everything I can to inspire every stakeholder in our community to work together, to laugh and play together, to pray and to stay together.”

Schneider succeeds Mayor Lowery who has served the city for more than 40 years, including 10 years as mayor. Lowery announced in December that he would retire to spend more time with his family. 

The seat of City Councilman will be decided by an Aug. 2 run-off election between Steve Purgahn and Pat Stinnett. Current Councilman Andrew Podleski will remain in the seat until the election.

Following the ceremony, the council elected officers and decided to maintain Keith English as president and elected Ward 7 City Councilwoman Karen McKay as vice president. 

Toward the end of the meeting, the council passed an ordinance calling for the run-off election of Ward 6 and a special election for Ward 3 seat, vacated by Mayor Schneider.

The election takes place on Aug. 2.

The filing for the Ward 3 seat takes place on May 3, and it will close May 17.

Hazelwood School District Board of Education member Mark Behlmann already announced his intentions to run for the seat.

Florissant Patch will have more information regarding the Monday night council meeting on Tuesday afternoon.