Where the Candidates Stand

On Wednesday night, Florissant residents had the opportunity to question the potential next mayor during the mayoral candidate . And they didn’t waste a single minute.

From 7 p.m. until 9 p.m., candidates answered questions regarding the city’s , sustainability, senior programs, as well as their plans if elected to the office of mayor. 

Although several candidates had similar answers to questions, they stood out on their own on a number of varying questions. 

Here’s a short list of highlights and lowlights for each candidate:

Mark Behlmann

• Behlmann plans to continue senior programs. “My family will oust me if I cut senior programming,” he said. He would also like to see what else the city needs in regard to seniors and what they would want.
• As far as making sure that city staff and employees understand and feel comfortable with the new payment system, he said he wants the payments to be equal and fair to city employees. Behlmann said he would love the employees and staff to be the highest paid staff in St. Louis County, but with the current economic times, that’s not feasible.
• When responding to a question about keeping Florissant families here and gaining new residents, Behlmann said he wants to work on the perception of the city. The city’s inspectors must be consistent, he said. He also wants to work on as well as property maintenance.
• As far as updating the city charter, he’s in favor of a commission that will suggest updates to the charter, especially if it benefits the city. He’s committed to studying the charter with the commission and presenting the findings to the community at large.

Robert Garrett

• He’s not an advocate for tax increment financings (TIFFs), unless it’s an occasion where it’s applicable and appropriate.
• The mayor’s salary should be commensurate with cities of comparable size, Garrett said. His experience has been that newer employees start at the bottom and work their way up.
• As far as partnering with St. Louis County for services, he said that he believes that the is second to none, and he doesn’t foresee partnering with the St. Louis County department.
• With respect to how the City of Florissant will participate in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Valley of the Flowers Festival, Garrett said the festival's committee will make the decision. The city will remain supportive and do all that it can to help. 

Susan Geerling

• Geerling believes that Florissant is ready for a new kind of leadership that offers two-way communication between the administration and residents.
• Geerling supports lowering the mayor’s salary, but she said that the city council must pass an ordinance lowering the mayor’s salary before the April 5 election. She also asked the current council members to recuse themselves from another vote on the mayor’s salary.
• In maintaining our current city residents and gaining new families, Geerling said that she would like to better promote activities and programs in the City of Florissant, and she encourages people to join commissions or committees to become engaged and involved in Florissant.
• She plans to make sure tax dollars are spent wisely. The park improvement should be used for park improvements, the utility tax rate should be reduced to three percent and sewer lateral should be reduced from $50 to $28.

Andrew Podleski

• Podleski said he plans to keep senior programs and wants to find other senior programs for lifestyle and development.
• In regard to the city employees' payment system, he said that he would like to look at every position. He believes that there’s a classification issue rather than a position issue. He wants each position to have job descriptions that can be evaluated on a yearly basis.
• In regard to bringing more families into the Florissant area, Podleski suggested going to nearby businesses and talking to them about the community. In addition, he wants the housing department to be more aggressive.
• As far as joining services with St. Louis County, he’s not really interested. However, he has an open mind about having bulk services with neighboring communities.

Tom Schneider

• Schneider said his fondest accomplishment in his 32 years on city council is Project Lift-Off, which was used in the 1980s to promote the D.A.R.E. program. Since then, it’s been expanded to a monthly event.
• In regard to the city employee pay plan, he said that it’s had a few bumps and bruises since its recent update. He thinks there should have been more input from city employees, and he would revisit the payment system with more consideration of current employees and what’s fair to them.
• Regarding the budget, Schneider said nothing would be done to the police department budget, but he might hold on some recreational activities.
• Schneider said that Florissant is large enough to be self-sufficient without having to rely on St. Louis County services. He said he would be open to considering contracts with nearby communities to help with their services.

Michael Spreng

• Spreng said that in regards to the business community, especially new businesses, he wants to maintain businesses so he can keep old business. He wants to work with the as well as North County Inc. in bringing business to the North County area.
• As a member of Florissant's senior community, Spreng wants to continue senior programming, so he and other seniors can look forward to having places to go and things to do.
• He said he wants to encourage people to get involved in recycling to support the program.
• Spreng doesn’t support the idea of joining St. Louis County Services with Florissant services, especially the police departments.