The staff at Kirkwood City Hall will balance work and mourning today and Wednesday with schedules that will open the building to the public between funerals and visitations for victims of last week's massacre.

Throughout the region on Monday, city halls prepared for evening meetings with agendas that called for moments of silence and motions for extra security.

For most of the municipalities that had Monday meetings scheduled, extra security would mean one or two police officers in uniform in the board room.

In Overland, two uniformed officers were on hand for the City Council meeting, in addition to the police chief, who usually attends.

Mayor Mike Schneider said that while security is being tightened at meetings in the wake of the rampage in Kirkwood, the city will not let "this democratic process that we all love so much waver because of a heinous act of one individual."

In Creve Coeur, Mayor Harold L. Dielmann said he would call for the purchase of a metal detector.

"I don't want to take any chances that what happened in Kirkwood would happen here," he said.

Officials in Pine Lawn said they would begin to immediately use hand-held metal detectors for all their public meetings while waiting for delivery of a $1,500 walk-through model.

"I believe we may have a 'Cookie' of our own on our hands," said Pine Lawn Police Chief Ricky Collins.

Cookie was the nickname of Charles Lee Thornton, the Kirkwood resident and self-employed contractor who shot and killed two police officers, two City Council members and the public works director and was himself shot and killed by police during a council meeting in the city on Thursday night.

Security was tighter than in the past at the Town and Country Board of Aldermen meeting on Monday evening. Four uniformed officers were on hand, and anyone who attended had to go through a metal detector.

Police Cpt. Gary Hoelzer said city officials were uncertain whether the new security measures will be permanent.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

— Kirkwood Mayor Mike Swoboda, remained in critical condition at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, said family spokesman Tom Noonan. Family and friends were heartened on Sunday when Swoboda opened his eyes and responded to their presence.

— Volunteers who opened a hot chocolate stand Sunday tallied up their totals on Monday and reported $17,580 raised for BackStoppers, an organization that helps families of police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty.

— Flags remain at half-staff throughout the area in honor of those who were murdered. St. Louis police Officer Jeremy Stockmann, a spokesman for the city's department, said all city flags will remain lowered through the funerals that are scheduled for this week. Gov. Matt Blunt ordered the lowering of flags on state buildings in St. Louis through the same period.

Doug Moore, Michele Munz and Tim O'Neil, all of the Post-Dispatch, and correspondents Kathie Sutin and Sterling Levy contributed to this report.