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Edwardsville — Edwardsville's days of having interim leaders may soon be past. After instating a full-time, permanent police chief in October, the City Council on Monday held an executive session to discuss the terms of a contract to move interim City Administrator Mike Webb into a full-time, permanent capacity. The city has been without a full-time administrator since April, when the Council voted to end Doug Spangler's contract.

Webb said Wednesday he didn't think there were any unresolvable issues in the talks and that there were a couple of questions that needed to be settled. The position would mean Webb would quit his other work with the nonprofit Alliance for Innovation, he said, though the contract would still allow him to teach.

Also Monday, the Council approved a change that may make some late Monday nights not so late next year. The Council approved an ordinance that changes the regular Council meeting times from 7:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mayor Heinz Rodgers said the earlier time was the "desire of the Council." The change will be effective starting with the next Council meeting, which is Dec. 26.

In other actions Monday, the Council:

¢ Approved Rodgers' appointment of John Eickhoff to fill the vacancy left by the Dec. 5 resignation of Council member Bob Lane. See "New Council member," this page, for more.

¢ Adopted the amended 2007 budget. Rodgers said the amendments were necessary to include transfers and to correct for an "inconsistency between a couple of numbers submitted for budget last year."

The general fund was increased by $137,134 from $4,023,042 to $4,160,042, the bond and interest fund was increased by $64,160 from $337,387 to $401,547, and the sewer fund was increased by $154,295 from $260,950 to $415,245.

¢ Approved planning commission recommendations to deny rezoning of 9701 Kaw Dr. for JC Speedy Lube, and to approve the zoning change for the Golden Heartland casino at 110th Street and Riverview Avenue. The change is for a conditional rezoning from agricultural/residential to C-2 commercial.

¢ Endorsed the Golden Gaming Casino as a lottery gaming facility. The next step is for the state's Lottery Commission to select one of the five surviving casino proposals for Wyandotte County.

The staff report for the item estimates the total revenue for the city in sales, property and guest taxes, and utility franchise fees from the project to be between $5 million and $6 million annually.

¢ Approved a bid for audit services from Cochran, Head, Vick & Co. for the year 2007. The city's request for proposals had been for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, but because Cochran's bid for 9,000-$14,000, was for one year and exceeded the budgeted amount of $6,500 for three years, Webb had recommended authorizing Cochran as the city's auditor for just this year.

¢ Approved an ordinance authorizing the approval of an industrial-revenue bond application by Inn Canaan Inc. and Canaan Development. The IRB is for an amount not to exceed $2 million to pay for the construction of a convenience store and gas station at Interstate 435 and Woodend Road.

¢ Approved payment of bills totaling $176,467.

¢ Authorized the mayor to approve business licenses in accordance with city codes. Some types of licenses require Council action and the change allows the mayor to approve any existing business that is fully compliant with the laws of Edwardsville and the state. New business licenses requiring Council approval would not be affected.

Rodgers said later the change allows more scrutiny, instead of giving blanket approval of licenses. Four businesses in particular need to get special permits, Rodgers said, because they are located "out of the proper zoning" for the nature of their business.

Those businesses, which Rodgers declined to name - will go through the normal process of applying for a special permit through the planning and zoning commission, and there would be a public hearing on the applications. The fees for the application would be waived for those businesses, Rodgers said.

¢ Approved cereal malt beverage licenses for Jackson's Service Center, Pizzaville and Saco Petroleum.