Reform #6. Developers Must Pay Tax Bills Before Applying For Incentives

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This reform ordinance would prohibit tax deadbeats from advancing any proposal for corporate welfare until their tax bills are paid.

An ordinance requiring proof of payment of taxes before any application or legislation for tax incentive is filed or introduced..

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. No redevelopment plan, development plan, application, or legislation that includes blighting, or tax incentive, or any other incentive shall be introduced or filed with the Board of Aldermen, Community Development Administration, Planning and Urban Design Agency, Affordable Housing Commission, Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board, Land Utilization Authority, Tax Increment Financing Commission, Planned Industrial Expansion Authority, Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, Clean Energy Development Board, Port Authority Commission, or any other agency, board, commission, committee, department, division, or office enabled by ordinance in the City of St. Louis, without proof of payment of all taxes and fees owed for all the real estate located in such plan or cited in such application or legislation.

Reform #5. No More Courtesy & Political Resolutions On BOA Agenda

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This reform ordinance would eliminate committee and full BOA time on courtesy and political Resolutions AND replace most Resolutions with Proclamations issued without vote of the BOA.

An ordinance replacing resolutions by the Board of Aldermen to honor, support, or oppose any person, place, thing, event, legislation, rule, order, act or action with proclamations not brought before the Board of Aldermen.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Each alderperson and the President of the Board of Aldermen may sponsor and issue up to five proclamations a month, with or without additional aldermen or the President as co-sponsors, honoring, supporting, or opposing any person, place, thing, event, legislation, rule, order, act or action. The City Register shall publish any such proclamation in the City Journal as a public record upon submission by the sponsor of the proclamation. No alderperson or the President may sponsor a resolution honoring, supporting, or opposing any person, place, thing, event, legislation, rule, order, act or action, except resolutions that are legislative acts enabled or required by law, and not statements intended to influence actions by others, may be introduced and considered.

UPDATED Reform #4. More Sunshine- Require BOA Committee Detailed Agendas & Bills Posted Online 48 Hours In Advance

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This reform ordinance requires at least 48 Hours Online Public Notice on BOA Committee Meetings AND sets minimum standards for Notices/Agendas AND prohibits last minute additions to Agendas AND prohibits legislation and nominees from receiving votes in Executive Session same meeting as Public Hearing AND requires Committees receive Substitutes at least 48 hours in advance of vote AND requires reports and presentations received by committees be posted to their web page.

UPDATE NOTE: Section 7 was inadvertently not included in original draft.

An ordinance requiring the Board of Aldermen to post online all committee meeting notices, agendas, reports and presentations received, and all legislation on the agenda of any committee meeting.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. No Board of Aldermen committee or subcommittee shall meet without a meeting notice posted by the Clerk of the Board to the public meetings page of the City’s website calendar no later that 8 am two business days prior to the meeting. The meeting notice shall include, at a minimum, the time, date, place of the meeting, the agenda, and information on how the public may testify and view and listen to the meeting. No committee shall continue a meeting to another day without complying with this section.

SECTION 2. No Board of Aldermen committee or subcommittee shall meet without a copy of the agenda for the meeting electronically mailed to each member of the committee by the Clerk of the Board, and posted by the Clerk to the public meetings page of the City’s website calendar with the meeting notice, no later that 8 am two business days prior to the meeting. No item may be added to the agenda after 8 am two business days prior to the meeting. No committee shall continue a meeting to another day without complying with this section.

SECTION 3. All board bills, resolutions, or other legislation on a committee’s agenda shall be posted to the Board’s website by 8 am two business days prior to the meeting.

SECTION 4. Each committee meeting agenda shall include the following headings: Reports and Presentations, Public Hearings, Executive Session, Other Business. The name and title, office or organization, if applicable, of any person making a report or presentation to a committee and the topic shall be listed on the committee agenda under Reports and Presentations. Any board bill, resolution, or other legislation to receive a public hearing shall be listed on the agenda under Public Hearings. Any nominee for appointment to a board, commission, committee, or other public body made by the mayor, comptroller, or president of the Board of Aldermen, and requiring consent of the Board of Aldermen, and the name of the entity nominated to, shall be listed under Public Hearings of the agenda. The names of nominees, with their entity nominated to, and board bills, resolutions, other legislation, to be voted on at the meeting shall be listed on the agenda under Executive Session. No additions to the committee meeting agenda shall be made after 8 am two business days prior to the meeting.

SECTION 5. No board bill, resolution, other legislation, or nominee to any board, commission, committee, or other public body shall be voted on by a committee except in Executive Session as posted on the agenda. No board bill, resolution, other legislation, or nominee to any board, commission, committee, or other public body shall be voted on by a committee in the same meeting as the legislation’s or nominee’s Public Hearing. At least two business days must elapse between the Public Hearing for any board bill, resolution, other legislation, or nominee and vote on same in Executive Session. No substitute board bill, resolution, other legislation shall be voted on by a committee without a copy of the substitute electronically mailed to each member of the committee by the Clerk of the Board at least two business days prior to the meeting it is scheduled for Executive Session.

SECTION 6. No Board of Aldermen committee or subcommittee shall meet by phone.

SECTION 7. All paper and digital reports and presentations received by a committee during a meeting shall be posted by the chair of the committee or designee to the committee’s web page within two business days after the meeting.

Reform #3. More Sunshine- Require Full BOA Agendas, Bills & Substitutes Posted Online 48 Hours In Advance

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This reform ordinance requires all legislation and substitutes on full BOA Meeting Agenda to be posted online two days prior to the Board meeting AND prohibits Board from suspending Rules to add to the Agenda (because this makes it a law not a Board Rule) AND prohibits the Board from continuing a meeting without two days notice.

An ordinance requiring Board of Aldermen meeting agendas and all legislation on the agenda be posted online at least two days in advance of the meeting.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. The Board of Aldermen shall not meet without a copy of the agenda for the meeting electronically mailed to each alderperson by the Clerk of the Board and posted by the Clerk to the public meetings page of the City’s website calendar with meeting notice no later that 10 am two business days prior to the meeting. No item may be added to the agenda after 10 am two business days prior to the meeting. The Board of Aldermen shall not continue a meeting without complying with this section.

SECTION 2. All board bills, resolutions, or other legislation on the Board’s agenda shall be posted to the Board’s website by 10 am two business days prior to the meeting.

SECTION 3. All committee substitutes to board bills, resolutions, or other legislation on the agenda shall be posted to the Board’s website by 10 am two business days prior to the meeting and identified as committee substitutes.

SECTION 4. Any proposed floor substitute to a board bill, resolution, or other legislation on the agenda shall be posted to the Board’s website by 10 am two business days prior to the meeting, identified as a draft floor substitute with the chief sponsor’s name, and a copy of said floor substitute electronically mailed to each alderperson by the Clerk of the Board.

Civilian Oversight Board Meets Monday, Meeting Minutes Gone From Website

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5 pm Monday
(Police) Civilian Oversight Board Meeting
Agenda
Event Notice on City Website
Virtual Meeting Link ID 88327093503 Code 850019

All Meeting Minutes for the Civilian Oversight Board have been removed from their webpage on City’s website and the link to the Board’s Documents page is dead.

Reform #2. Enable Public Testimony On All Legislation

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This reform ordinance will prohibit committee chairs from banning testimony on legislation AND will require a uniform policy for registration to testify AND impose certain requirements on testimony by lobbyists.

An ordinance requiring the opportunity for testimony on legislation.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION ONE. All bills, resolutions, or other forms of legislation introduced at the board of aldermen of the City of St. Louis shall receive a public hearing in committee before being voted on by the committee and opportunity shall be provided for testimony by any member of the public, elected official, or representative of a city department, divisions, or office.

SECTION TWO. The clerk of the board of aldermen shall establish a uniform policy and process for registration by persons desiring to testify at public hearings, including a registration deadline not more than two hours before the meeting, and that policy and process shall be followed by all alderpersons.

SECTION THREE. Committee chairpersons may limit the amount of time for testimony by the public but shall not limit testimony by the public to less than two minutes per person.

SECTION FOUR. Any lobbyist registered with the Missouri Ethics Commission may testify at a committee hearing but shall announce at the beginning of testimony the name of the principal represented at the hearing, and testimony shall be limited to the same time constraints placed on the public testifying. No lobbyist shall present a bill on behalf of an alderperson.

Reform #1: All Legislation Gets A Hearing & Vote

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This reform ordinance will curb aldermanic privilege at the Board of Aldermen with regard to the power of committee chairs to bottle up legislation AND will prevent the Board from not acting on appointments.

An ordinance requiring timely committee hearings and votes on legislation and appointments.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION ONE. All bills, resolutions, or other forms of legislation introduced at the board of aldermen of the City of St. Louis shall receive a hearing in committee within ten business days after its first reading, and shall receive a vote by the committee within ten business days after its hearing, unless the bill, resolution, or other form of legislation is withdrawn by the chief sponsor.

SECTION TWO. All nominations for appointment to any board, commission, committee, or other public body made by the mayor, comptroller, or president of the board of aldermen of the City of St. Louis, and requiring consent of the board of aldermen, shall receive a hearing in committee within ten business days after said nomination is received by the full board of aldermen, and shall receive a vote by the committee within ten business days after its hearing, unless the nomination is withdrawn by the elected official submitting the nomination. All nominations approved by committee shall be voted on by the board of aldermen at their next full board meeting.

Who Paid Alderwoman Davis’s Ethics Fines, How Much, When?

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St. Louis City 19th Ward Alderwoman Marlene Davis doesn’t like Missouri’s Ethics law, hasn’t for a long time. There’s somewhere around $8,230 in fines from 2018 to present that she should have paid MEC but not reflected in her campaign reports.

I have made a Sunshine request to the Missouri Ethics Commission for records on payment of the many fines assessed by the MEC against Davis and her Citizens for Davis candidate committee.

Davis, at this time, has failed to file any campaign reports for 2020 and still owes a report for 2019. She has filed late reports for which fines were due. MEC requires payment of a fine in advance of filing a report. But there is no mention of her campaign committee paying these fines.

Her last MEC reported fine(s) were paid in February 2018: $919.35. At that time, she had a balance of $9,186.17 in the account. Since then, she has filed only Limited Activity Reports or failed to file reports.

Davis electronically filed a Limited Activity Report for July 15, 2918 on September 19, 2018, 66 days late. At $10 per day fine, a $660 fine.

Davis electronically filed a Limited Activity Report for October 15, 2018 on November 26, 2018, 42 days late. At $10 per day fine, a $420 fine.

Davis electronically filed a Limited Activity Report for April 15, 2019 on September 23, 2019, 161 days late. At $10 per day fine, a $1,610 fine.

Davis electronically filed a Limited Activity Report for July 15, 2019 on September 23, 2019, 70 days late. At $10 per day fine, a $700 fine.

As of June 25, 2020, Davis is…

253 days late on filing her October 15, 2019 report, a $2,530 fine;

161 days late on filing her January 15, 2020 report, a $1,610 fine;

70 days late on filing her April 15, 2020 report, a $700 fine.

Davis chairs the Board of Aldermen’s Transportation and Commerce Committee. She has a cozy relationship with Rex Sinquefield’s Airport Privatization consultants and made sure legislation for a public vote to ratify any lease/sale of St. Louis Lambert Airport didn’t happen.

Until recently, she controlled efforts at the BOA to privatize St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Board President Lewis Reed now is in charge of privatization efforts at BOA.

Davis also serves on the City’s Port Authority Commission and is helping shepherd legislation to expand the Port Authority’s boundaries and, therefore, expanding its taxing, eminent domain, and corporate welfare powers. It was her decision to prohibit public testimony on the proposal.

Davis often mentions her expertise in finances at public hearings. And, yet, she cannot manage to file her campaign reports (she serves as her own treasurer) in anything resembling a timely manner.

It appears that Davis had money in the candidate account to pay fines, but that required disclosure on reports, which she did not. So it looks like Davis, or someone else, paid the fines and it was also not reported. I am not sure what the law is on that. If a candidate pays their Ethics fine or if someone else does it, is it an in-kind contribution?

But if hasn’t been reported on a campaign report, the fine and payment is still a public record, or should be. We shall find out, hopefully.

 
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