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The Edwardsville City Council deferred action Monday on several proposals.

According to the Council's agenda, Monday was to be the night to vote on allowing residents with working septic systems to opt out of connecting with new sewers planned along 94th Street.

An ordinance prepared for review Monday gave city staff the power to waive that requirement, as Council members had discussed previously, but some members wanted more specific language about future conditions that would require the homeowner to connect, so the Council tabled the matter.

A proposal to do away with "free" trash service in favor of a monthly $11.50 fee was likewise tabled after Council member Chuck Adams questioned whether a 10-year contract the city negotiated with Deffenbaugh Industries was legal. Adams moved to table consideration of the measure pending research into that topic and the Council agreed, 5-0.

Similarly, a general discussion about railroad quiet zones led nowhere. The quiet zones, proposed by some residents who complain about the noise of trains that sound their horns at four crossings in Edwardsville, would cost $70,000 to $100,000 apiece.

Federal Railroad Administration rules require that trains sound their horns at all grade crossings, but permit the establishment of quiet zones if barriers are erected that make it impossible for vehicles to enter when they are activated.

Council members agreed that one proposal, to build a pedestrian crossing at Fourth Street, had some merit, but couldn't agree to spend $4,500 for a feasibility study for the quiet zones. The Council took no action.

The Council did authorize City Administrator Mike Webb to enter into a $45,950 contract with Premier Contracting of Kansas City, Kan., to replace the City Hall roof.

Also approved was an ordinance setting sewer maintenance fees at $6.25 per month for residential units and higher rates for commercial users. These rates will be in addition to sewer fees already charged by the Kansas City, Kan., Board of Public Utilities, which several users said run to $25 or $30 a month or more. The BPU fees are based on water usage. BPU provides water service to Edwardsville residents and also treats the city's sewage.

Webb explained that the city has been paying for sewer improvements out of general city funds, and urged passage of the measure, which will collect money from people who actually use the sewer systems.

Edwardsville homes with septic systems, such as those in many sparsely populated areas, pay no sewer fees.

Developers of the Raintree Apartments, a 510-unit, $50 million apartment complex at 1300 S. 94th St., have agreed to construct several million dollars worth of sewer and road improvements in the area, and Council members wanted to avoid forcing nearby property owners to connect to the sewers as long as their septic systems were working properly, and Webb prepared an ordinance to that effect.

But Council members wanted "more specificity."

The ordinance Webb submitted permitted the city to waive the requirement for connection if the home's septic system was functioning properly and if the city determined that connection would be "unreasonably cost prohibitive." The measure was tabled pending further definition of such terms.

Edwardsville had been providing trash pickup services at no cost to homeowners since 2005, but Webb and Council members agreed, as part of the budget deliberations last summer, to begin charging residents for the service.

Council members were unhappy that the rate proposed, $11.50 per month, is far more than that paid by Bonner Springs or Kansas City, Kan., residents.

Webb explained that the Bonner Spring-Kansas City, Kan., rates were negotiated years before Edwardsville negotiated its contract in 2005. Edwardsville could have signed up along with Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kan., Webb said, but the Council that was sitting then decided against it.

Adams, angered by the 10-year contract, moved to table consideration of the measure until City Attorney Reed Walker researches whether the 10-year contract is legal.

Walker said after the meeting that he knew of no reason why the contract would not be valid, but would research the matter at the Council's request.

The Council also:

¢ Approved payment of bills totaling $424,042. Of that total, $132,223 was reimbursed development expense and $92,000 was for a semi-annual payment to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for debt service.

¢ Heard Mayor Heinz Rodgers read a proclamation recognizing April as "Fair Housing Month."

¢ Heard from Webb that the police department will hire a part-time clerk to help update police records on a new data system. The position will supplant some part-time police officers already in the budget.

¢ Heard from Webb that the detention basin among the first of the projects associated with the Raintree Apartments should be finished this month. The city will open bids for the Woodend Road project on Thursday, Webb added.

¢ Had a 10-minute executive session with Walker to discuss litigation.

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