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In a close vote Monday night, the Edwardsville City Council approved the hiring of a city administrator council members voted against hiring two weeks ago.

By a 3-2 vote, the council gave Mayor Luther Pickell the go-ahead to offer Doug Spangler the job.

Spangler, a real estate manager in Kansas City, Kan., is the Democratic state house representative for the 36th District. He recently won re-election in the Nov. 7 general election.

The motion to hire Spangler came from Councilwoman Betty Waldo, who only two weeks ealier was a holdout vote when the council defeated Pickell's recommendation to hire Spangler.

Councilmen Garrett Mellott and Jim Hess remained adamantly opposed to hiring Spangler, as they did in the first vote.

Spangler was not the first choice of the selection committee that was established to choose candidates for city administrator and Spangler's $50,000 a year salary was never discussed among the council, Mellott said.

"We are paying him for five years experience and he hasn't even got here yet," Hess said.

Hess said Spangler's proposed salary is not in accordance with the position's pay range in light of service years.

In an earlier interview, Councilwoman Katherine DeFilippis, said she thought Spangler's experience in county and state government would be an asset to Edwardsville.

"I think he's best qualified for the job," she said.

Councilman Ed Gillette supported the hiring of Spangler and said it would benefit Edwardsville.

"It's time the city got on with the business at hand," Gillette said in response to Mellott's and Hess' objections.

Spangler, an opponent of the Unified Government, has served in the Kansas House for several years.

According to city ordinance, a city administrator has one year after his hire date to move within the city limits of Edwardsville.

Whether Spangler gives up his House seat, which covers Kansas City, Kan., remains unanswered.

Gillette didn't see a problem with Spangler remaining in the House.

"He's on the Appropriations Committee and has a lot of contacts, which is a plus for us," he said.

However, whether the city can afford to have its full-time administrator spending several days a week in Topeka, while receiving a city salary, hasn't been discussed openly by the city council.

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