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Veto Holds For City Charter Review, But Issue May Resurface
By Carol Arnett
The Florissant City Council did not have the six votes needed to override Mayor Robert Lowery’s veto of a bill that would establish a commission to review the city charter.
At the last council meeting, Lowery outlined his reasons for the veto, his first as mayor. He stated that he thought that the commission was being established in order to change the city’s form of government from a strong mayor and council to a city manager and part-time manager.
Councilman Tim Lee said he “respectfully disagreed” with Lowery’s reasons for the veto. He said the bill would merely form the commission and if the commission recommended any changes to the charter, they would have to go through the council, who would decide whether or not they wanted to put the proposed changes on the ballot.
Councilwoman Karen McKay announced later in the meeting that in response to council members who objected to a commission studying the charter, she would make a motion at the next meeting to create a subcommittee of the council to review the charter. “All council members can be involved,” she said.
Lowery objected to how the commission would be appointed. “This is the same process used to appoint all boards and commissions,” Lee said. Lowery also said the commission would cost the city time and money. “Every commission uses city staff,” Lee said. “The mayor has never objected.”
Lee also quoted extensively from minutes of meetings in 1987, when Councilman Tom Schneider worked to overturn Mayor James Eagan’s veto of a bill establishing a charter review commission.
“I’m not here to talk about the past,” Schneider said.
Councilmen Mark Schmidt and John Grib both said that they would not override the veto because of the way the bill was presented. Both said that they were excluded from working on the bill. “I was left out, three others were left out,” Grib said.
Councilman Andrew Podleski disagreed, saying that Councilwoman McKay wrote the bill and showed it to all the other council members at the same time. “I didn’t see this ahead of time,” he said. “There was no conspiracy. When I was asked to support it, I did.”
