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By Carol Arnett

The Florissant City council appropriated almost $26,000 for electrical inspections of five city buildings, but not before some discussion on the issue.

Mayor Tom Schneider said the inspections were requested by the city’s insurance company. Kay Bee Electric will do the inspections. City Building Commissioner Lou Jearls spoke to the council and said that Kay Bee was the only licensed company in the county that did the infrared inspections the city would like.

Councilman Tim Lee said he had some questions. “Before we appropriate funds that were not in the budget, I would like more answers,” he said. “What did the insurance company say? What is the scope of work?” Lee said he had submitted these questions to the administration and had not received answers.

Councilman John Grib agreed. “Understand that I am not against preventative maintenance,” Grib said, “but the administration should have provided information prior to the meeting tonight.”

Councilman Mark Schmidt disagreed. “If I had gotten paperwork, it would have been gobbledygook,” he said, saying that only an electrician would have understood it.

Lee moved to postpone the bill until he received the documents he requested, the insurance company report and the scope of work. His motion to postpone was defeated and the bill passed, with Lee and Grib voting against it.

Another bill appropriating $55,000 for tree trimming was postponed at the request of Councilman Pat Stinnett. “Personally, I’m in the dark about how much we’ve spent on tree trimming and how much we intend to spend.” He requested more time to talk to the administration about the appropriation.