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By Carol Arnett

Mayor Robert Lowery has vetoed a bill that would establish a commission to review the Florissant city charter  A vote to override his veto was postponed until the May 11 meeting.

The council requires six votes to override a veto. Five council members voted for the original bill. One of the four who voted against the charter review commission would have to change his vote to override the mayor’s veto.

Lowery contends that the bill is an attempt to change the form of city government from a strong mayor form to a city manager form. The St. Louis Post Dispatch on Sunday  ran an unflattering article about Lowery’s role as mayor and whether that could affect a change of a council member’s vote to override the veto remains to be seen.

Earlier this year several council members changed their votes  and made it unanimous on a bill that now prohibits city employees from campaigning for candidates for city offices, after similar media attention to that issue. Lowery signed that bill  after originally opposing it.

In his veto message last week, Lowery stated that this was his first veto in nine years in office. He gave several reasons for his veto. First, he said, the process for choosing members of the charter review commission was “convoluted.” He called it a “misleading process written to dictate a specific outcome”  That being a city manager form of government that would strip the mayor of most administrative day-to-day duties.

Lowery also stated that he did not like how the bill was introduced, saying that the five members who introduced the bill should have talked to the other four council members and him before proceeding. “It smacks of backroom politics and a lack of transparency,” he said.

Lowery also questioned the cost of the commission. He stated that he was concerned that an appointed, not elected, commission, would review the charter. The bill states that any changes proposed by the commission would go through the council, and if the council decided to, they could vote to put any proposed changes on a citywide ballot for residents to vote on.

The proposed bill names Rosemary Davison as an advisor to the commission. Davison was on the original Charter Commission.

“If this individual seeks to serve then she would be subject to the same process as everyone else for appointment,” Lowery said. “Naming her in the bill was clearly to send a message to prospective appointees that they should follow the guidance of this one individual.”

Davison spoke in the section of the council meeting devoted to hearing from citizens. “Some of you may regret batting an almost 92 year old woman,” she said, referring to the way she had been talked about since the bill was proposed. “I forgive you,” she said.

The city charter was enacted in 1963 and was last reviewed in 1974, an argument proponents of the charter review bill have made.

The council meeting scheduled for May 10 has been moved to May 11 to accommodate the Valley of Flowers festivities.

In other matters, the council elected the council president and vice president. Keith English was elected president and Karen McKay elected vice president. The council president runs the meetings.

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