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The Edwardsville City Council balked Monday at spending $6,000 to have an architect conduct a study into consolidating spaces in City Hall.

City Administrator Michael Webb submitted a $6,000 proposal by RLS Architects to perform a space analysis and cost estimates for improvements to consolidate the space for City Hall and the police department. Ron Shafer, an architect who is also mayor of Prairie Village, would conduct the study.

Webb said that recent improvements to the roof make it possible to consider consolidating space. Before, roof leaks made much of the unused space unusable. Now that the roof is fixed all the space is usable, Webb said, but some police operations are still scattered throughout the building.

Some Council members questioned the need for the study. One suggested that the city just have the contractor it hires do the job prepare the plans.

Mayor Heinz Rodgers disagreed.

“We’re not remodeling our basement here, we’re remodeling our building, and it needs to be done to government standards,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers stressed that the plan is the sort of long-range planning the city needs to be conducting.

“If we keep this short-term mentality, we’re going to keep having these problems over and over,” Rodgers said.

“I want to delay the study until I have had a chance to talk to several people,” Council member Patrick Isenhour said.

He moved to table the matter until the Nov. 24 meeting and the Council agreed.

The Council also tabled its consideration of the audit report prepared by Cochran Head Vick & Co. until its Nov. 10 meeting.

Dave Cochran, principal of the accounting firm, said his firm found no illegal acts, had full access to books and records. The auditors found some internal control deficiencies.

After a brief public hearing, the Council approved a $5.5 million industrial revenue bond issue for OK Edwardsville Warehouse Limited Partnership, also known as the Tricor Project. The bonds will fund construction of an 80,000-square-foot distribution center for copper wire at 2617 and 2625 MidPoint Drive in the MidPoint Corporate Center.

The proposal includes a 10-year, 65 percent property tax abatement. The property, in the MidPoint Office Park, is subject to a 15 percent special assessment.

Other highlights of the meeting:

• The council approved an $825,000 industrial revenue bond issue for the VanBooven Investments Project, a lawn and landscape business at 10021 Woodend Rd. The project was approved in November 2005. The action followed a brief public hearing.

• Council member Craig Crider suggested the city do something with the historical society to install a museum in the old City Hall building. “We need someplace where people can come in and see the history of this city,” he said. Rodgers suggested, however that the building would require costly renovations to be usable.

• Council member John Eickhoff asked when the city would have an animal control officer. Mark Mathies, the police chief, explained that the position was not filled as a cost-saving measure, but that regular police officers were handling those duties as needed. .

• The council approved payment of bills totaling $158.787.

• The council scheduled a joint meeting with the Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kan., governing bodies for 5 p.m. Thursday at the George Meyn Center. Items on the agenda include county functions; casino construction and revenue distribution and a no-smoking ordinance.

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