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By Carol Arnett

The Florissant City Council took steps to change some items in the city charter, and also changed the ordinance regarding boards and commissions.

The changes to the charter will be voted on by residents in the April 3rd election. Councilman Mark Schmidt explained the changes.

“These are three things that bring the charter up to date,” he said. Two of the proposed changes deal with election dates. When the charter was written, Schmidt said, elections for vacant seats were set to be held within a certain number of days from the vacancy. Elections that resulted in a tie vote were also set a certain number of days from the original election. Now, he said, the city uses dates set by the St. Louis County Board of Election, and sometimes those election dates may not within the number of days called for in the charter.

The third change also deals with elections. Currently, Schmidt said, you must live in a ward for one year before you run for city council from that ward. The proposed amendment makes an allowance for people who are in the same house, but are in an area that was moved to another ward during redistricting. “If you are in the same house and redistricted,” Schmidt said, “you won’t have to wait a year to run for office.”

The change in the boards and commission ordinance will prohibit someone from serving simultaneously on the Planning and Zoning Commission (P and Z) and the Board of Adjustment. This change can be made by the council and will not be voted on by residents.

Councilman John Grib explained that he asked for this change.  “Several year ago, it came to may attention that a person could do both,” he said. “This could present a problem because if a person is denied by P and Z, in some circumstances, the next step would be to go to the Board of Adjustment.” The person denied by P and Z could then face some of the same people on the Board of Adjustment.

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