{"id":4879,"date":"2011-01-31T14:45:37","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T20:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=4879"},"modified":"2011-01-31T14:45:37","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T20:45:37","slug":"florissant-city-council-tackles-3-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=4879","title":{"rendered":"Lively Debate Before City Council on Future Mayor’s Pay, City Lawsuit, Human Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carol Arnett<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Florissant City Council meeting last week featured lively debate at times, over the Mayor\u2019s salary, a lawsuit facing the city, and perhaps surprisingly, human signs.<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Karen McKay sponsored a bill that would reduce the mayor\u2019s salary after the April election. McKay said she was motivated to suggest the change from over $130,000 to $90,000 because of the election year. She noted that while current mayor Robert Lowery worked his way through the ranks of the police department and was police chief before being mayor, none of the candidates running in April have the experience he had entering office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it hard to believe that we\u2019re going to give the new mayor the same as the current mayor, who has worked his way through the ranks,\u201d she said. McKay also noted that compared to other cities, her proposed salary is quite generous. \u201cNinety thousand is not chump change,\u201d she said. \u201cWe also compensate with insurance, a pension plan, car and expense account.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilman Mark Schmidt disagreed with McKay. \u201cAre you expecting the new mayor to do less work?\u201d he asked. \u201cThis salary is actually very low. If there\u2019s any change, we should be raising it, not lowering it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe salary of mayor seems to be excessive to some,\u201d Councilman John Grib said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s excessive. If you compare it to other mayors and city administrators, it turns out the mayor of Florissant is not paid in excess compared to others.\u201d The bill failed.<\/p>\n

Political Sign Law Amended<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

The council also discussed a bill that would change the city\u2019s regulations regarding political signs. This bill was offered in response to a lawsuit facing the city, filed by Councilman Andrew Podleski\u2019s wife and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).\u00a0 The city regulations currently stated that signs could only go up within thirty days of an election. The new bill eliminates that provision, although several council members said they would continue to abide by the thirty day limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were advised by the city attorney that we pass this bill,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n

City Attorney John Hessel said that he hoped the bill would cause the lawsuit to be dropped, but he could not guarantee it, as that would be up to the people filing the suit. He asked Podleski if the provisions in the new bill would satisfy his wife and the ACLU.<\/p>\n

Podleski responded that he was not a party to the suit, and was not sure what would happen if the bill passed. The bill passed.<\/p>\n

Human Signs Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

The council also took up a bill that would regulate human signs. These include the people who dress up and stand on sidewalks to drum up business, as well as those that carry signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of what makes us a community,\u201d Councilman Tom Schneider said. \u201cWe\u2019re taking jobs away from the signs, and from others at the business. I think it\u2019s almost immoral.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not denying them or prohibiting them,\u201d McKay said. \u201cWe\u2019re keeping them away from the street to keep them safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill is to regulate them,\u201d Councilman Tim Lee said. \u201cIt regulates the size of the signs and where they can stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the bill says $50 will be charged for a permit. This could effectively eliminate it because it becomes cost prohibitive,\u201d Schneider said.\u00a0 Schneider moved to reduce the annual fee from $50 to $10. The amendment failed.<\/p>\n

The bill also regulates the amount of time the signs can be out. They would be able to be out six times a year for a three-day period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good that we have some type of authority over these,\u201d Lowery said. He urged the council to pass the bill. \u00a0The bill passed.<\/p>\n

In another matter,<\/strong> Councilman Tom Schneider\u00a0 along with Karen McKay introduced a bill that would place the new mayor into the New Money Purchase Pension rather than the Defined Benefit Pension Plan.\u00a0 Schneider said he wanted to make sure residents knew he would not receive a windfall pension plan by staying in the old plan. If elected mayor, he would be in a 401K type retirement plan. The bill was approved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florissant Council approves 3 controversial issues after much debate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-florissant","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nLively Debate Before City Council on Future Mayor's Pay, City Lawsuit, Human Signs - 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