4 Day Workweek Comes to St. Louis City Hall

Updated with Board of Alders Vote.

Some St. Louis City employees are about to get a very cushy gig- $72,000 a year for 32 hours of work (counting lunch and breaks), plus a $5,000 expense account (you can donate to your church or ward nonprofit if you want), health insurance, pension, paid holidays. You can mostly work remotely and it’s OK to also work at as a bank vice president, a public relations consultant, an attorney, or own a business. Unlike other City employees, no timesheet will be required for the hours worked, the honor system will be in use.

What position do you apply for to get this great deal? Alder. Sorry. No applications will be taken for another two years.

The full Board of Alders voted Friday (January 20th) to increase their salaries and enshrine their elected office as a position requiring some of their time but not all of their time. The vote was 17 Yes, 8 No, 1 Abstention, 2 Absent.

Board Bill 119, as amended by BOA Personnel Committee, was on the Perfection Calendar, the first of two votes toward making it law. It will likely be approved- Third Reading vote- nest Friday (January 27th).

The ordinance will take affect after the April 4th General Election when City voters will elect fourteen Alders to new redistricted wards under ward reduction.

The ballot for March 7th Primary includes 11 of 14 wards with one or more current Alders running for the office. To be clear, Alders are voting for their own pay raise.

Under City Charter, “The mayor shall devote his entire time to the duties of his office.”

Voters should add similar language City Charter by amendment for both Board President and Alders.

Friday’s vote by New Ward

New 1st Ward
Yes: 12th Ward Alder Bill Stephens (not running), former librarian
No: 13th Ward Alder Anne Schweitzer (running), campaign consultant at Public Eye

New 2nd Ward
Yes: 14th Ward Alder Carol Howard (not running), former St. Louis Public Schools principal
No: 16th Ward Alder Tom Oldenburg (running), vice president for US Bancorp Community Development Corp

New 3rd Ward
No: 11th Ward Alder Jimmy Lappe (not running), Director of Data & Research, Missouri Jobs With Justice
Abstain: 25th Ward Alder Shane Cohn (running), owner of 4664 Tennessee LLC

New 4th Ward
No: 23rd Ward Alder Joe Vaccaro (running), former car wash owner; 24th Ward Alder Bret Narayan (running), attorney

New 5th Ward
No: 10th Ward Alder Joe Vollmer (running), owner of Milo’s Bocce Garden, co-owner TLJ Investments (funeral home), owner of TLSJ (commercial real estate), landlord

New 6th Ward
Yes: Board President/former 15th Ward Alder Megan Green (running), Adjunct Professor at Washington University and owner of MEG Consulting; 8th Ward Alder Annie Rice (not running), attorney

New 7th Ward
Yes: 6th Ward Alder Christine Ingrassia (not running), paddle guide for Big Muddy Adventures

New 8th Ward
Yes: 7th Ward Alder Jack Coatar (not running), attorney at Spencer Fane’s Litigation, Governmental Affairs, and Real Estate Practice; 20th Ward Alder Cara Spencer (running), senior vice president for Community and Economic Development at St. Louis Bank
No: 9th Ward Alder Dan Guenther (not running),

New 9th Ward
Yes: 28th Ward Alder Michael Gras (running), attorney and assistant prosecutor for Florissant Mo
Absent: 17th Ward Alder Tina Pihl (running), landlord

New 10th Ward
Yes: 26th Ward Alder Shameem Clark Hubbard (running), stylist and former salon owner

New 11th Ward
Yes: 21st Ward Alder Laura Keys (running), clinical data coordinator for Biomedical Systems and landlord
Absent: 19th Ward Alder Marlene Davis (not running)

New 12th Ward
Yes: 1st Ward Alder Sharon Tyus (running), attorney; 4th Ward Alder Dwinderlin Evans (not running), landlord
No: 18th Ward Alder Jesse Todd (not running), retired

New 13th Ward
Yes: 2nd Ward Alder Lisa Middlebrook (running), manager of Hope Home Healthy Care; 22nd Ward Alder Norma Walker (running), owner of Belt Loop Trucking and landlord; Pam Boyd (running), dietary manager at The Valley Stonebridge Community

New 14th Ward
Yes: 3rd Ward Alder Brandon Bosley (running), owner/developer of New Black Wall Street 314, hip hop/rap artist/producer at Bawsomemusic, owner of Focused on Family Entertainment; 5th Ward Alder James Page (running), executive director for Downtown St. Louis Neighborhood Association, retired from U.S. Post Office

Further reading: St. Louis aldermen tee up a 100% pay increase for next session by Rachel Lippmann, St. Louis Public Radio

Don’t Fall for the Full-Time Alder Scam

I previously wrote about legislation to increase salaries of St. Louis City Alders to $72,000 without requiring them to devote all their time to their public office.

Now there’s an effort to amend the City Charter to make Alders full-time City employees. The problem is Alder Joe Vaccaros’ Board Bill 126 is one of two things- completely meaningless or a nightmare for courts to sort out. In either case, Alders should start over.

Vaccaro’s proposed Charter amendment doesn’t define what full-time employee means, reference current City Personnel Department language, or link to State or Federal law. He leaves it up to each person to decide for themselves what full-time means and, apparently, then litigate it to death.

Is Vaccaro proposing an honor system where each Alder says they worked x-number of hours?

Is Vaccaro suggesting that after voters passed this terribly flawed amendment that Alders would figure out some kind of report your hours to Board Clerk system.? The Board Clerk is a Board patronage employee, so there are all sort of conflicts of interest to this self-regulating full-time employee charade.

Do many or even most Alders put in forty hours a week or more? Absolutely.

Would it be a good thing to properly compensate elected officials who devote themselves to public service? Absolutely.

But this bill does not do that. Vaccaro’s proposal treats Alders who devote all their time to being an Alder and Alders who are bank vice presidents, attorneys, public relations consultants, business owners, landlords, etc. the same. See list, a work in progress, below.

There is a better way, a charter amendment that makes Alders and Board President devote all their time to the elected job, same as Charter requires the Mayor: “The mayor shall devote his entire time to the duties of his office.”

A huge bonus to requiring full devotion to the job is that it will remove conflicts of interests such as the ones posed by Jack Coatar being an Alder and working for Spencer Fane.

The proposed pay hike for Alders should be contingent on passage of a charter amendment requiring Alders to devote all their time to public service.

Make your voice heard to your Alder and the Committee hearing Vaccaro’s legislation.

New 1st Ward
Current 12th Ward Alder Bill Stephens: former librarian
Candidate and Current 13th Ward Alder Anne Schweitzer: campaign consultant at Public Eye
Candidate for 1st Ward Alder Matt E. Kotraba:
Candidate for 1st Ward Alder Tony Kirchner: deputy sheriff

New 2nd Ward
Current 14th Ward Alder Carol Howard- former school principal
Current 16th Ward Alder Tom Oldenburg: vice president for Community Development |at US Bancorp Community Development Corp
Candidate for 2nd Ward Alder Phill Menendez: ceo of JTEKE LLC- manufacturer of the U-Stripe It & Design Tool; owner of La Casa Developer’s; account exec at Blue Line Technology facial recognition; retired Detective Sergeant from St. Louis Police Dept

New 3rd Ward
Current 11th Ward Alder Jimmy Lappe: current or former director of Data & Research at Missouri Jobs With Justice
Former 11th Ward Alder Sarah Martin: lobbyist
Current 25th Ward Alder Shane Cohn: owner of 4664 Tennessee LLC investment and redevelopment of real estate

New 4th Ward
Current 23rd Ward Alder Joe Vaccaro: former car wash owner
Current 24th Ward Alder Bret Narayan: attorney, private practice

New 5th Ward
Current 10th Ward Alder & Acting Board President Joseph Vollmer: owner of Milo’s Bocce Garden; co-owner TLJ Investments (funeral home); owner of TLSJ (commercial real estate); landlord
Candidate for 5th Ward Alder Helen Petty: owner of The Chop Shop, stylist

New 6th Ward
Current 8th Ward Alder Annie Rice: attorney at Khazaeli Wyrsch Stock until 2021
Current 15th Ward Alder Megan Ellyia Green: adjunct professor at Washington University
Candidate for 6th Ward Alder Daniela Velázquez:(vice president for Corporate Reputation at FleishmanHillard; owner of Mavend Media LLC; former Senior Public Relations Strategist at Elasticity; former communications director at Missouri ACLU

New 7th Ward
Current 6th Ward Alder Christine Ingrassia: paddle guide for Big Muddy Adventures
Candidate for 7th Ward Alder Alisha Sonnier: mental health advocate at Cigna
Candidate for 7th Ward Alder Jon-Pierre Mitchom: director of Equity and Inclusion at STL Priory School

New 8th Ward
Current 7th Ward Alder Jack Coatar: attorney at Spencer Fane’s Litigation, Governmental Affairs, and Real Estate Practice
Current 9th Ward Alder Dan Guenther: former Monarch Community Liaison at Office of Sustainability
Current 20th Ward Alder Cara Spencer: senior vice president for Community and Economic Development at St. Louis Bank
Candidate for 8th Ward Alder Shedrick “Nato Caliph” Kelley: owner of Cipher Music Group; co-owner Kelley Dispatch & Logistics

New 9th Ward
Current 17th Ward Alder Tina Pihl: landlord
Current 28th Ward Alder Michael Gras: attorney at Davis & Gras
Candidate for 9th Ward Alder Michael Browning: senior grant specialist at Washington University School of Medicine;

New 10th Ward
Current 26th Ward Alder Shameem Clark Hubbard: former salon owner

New 11th Ward
Current 19th Ward Alder Marlene Davis:
Current 21st Ward Alder Laura Keys: clinical data coordinator at Biomedical Systems; landlord

New 12th Ward
Current 1st Ward Alder Sharon Tyus: attorney; landlord
Current 4th Ward Alder Dwinderlin Evans: landlord; owner of Great Scott Enterprises
Current 18th Ward Alder Jesse Todd:
Candidate for 12th Waed Alder Darron M. Collins-Bey: work number on Board of Election filing list is Office of Veterans Affairs; owner of Elshaddai Consulting LLC; owner of Bey-El Industries Inc.
Candidate for 12th Ward Alder Tashara T Earl: owner of Shades of Color beauty supplies

New 13th Ward
Current 2nd Ward Alder Lisa Middlebrook: home healthcare
Current 22nd Ward Alder Norma Walker: owner of Belt Loop Trucking; landlord
Former 22nd Ward Alder Jeffrey Boyd: owner of The Best Place event space
Current 27th Ward Alder Pam Boyd: certified dietary manager at The Valley Stonebridge Community skilled nursing facility

New 14th Ward
Current 3rd Ward Alder Brandon Bosley: owner of New Black Wall Street 314 LLC
Current 5th Ward Alder James Page: executive director for Downtown St. Louis Neighborhood Association; retired from U.S. Post Office

St. Louis City Alders to Become $72,000 Part-Time Jobs

This week, Alder Carol Howard introduces Board Bill 119 to increase Board of Alders salaries to $72,000 and increase expense accounts to $5,000. Howard has terminated her candidate committee and does not plan on running in 2023 for the new 2nd Ward that she was redistricted into with 16th Ward Alder Tom Oldenburg.

The proposed ordinance does not require Alders to serve full-time. Among the current Alders, there are five attorneys- including one at a firm involved in developments, two bankers involved in developments, two business owners, numerous landlords, other occupations, and conflicts of interest galore easily remedied with requiring the position to be full-time. Conflicts of interest from Alder Jack Coatar’s employment with Spencer Fane were an issue in Tuesday’s Board President election.

The City Charter requires the Mayor to be full time: “The mayor shall devote his entire time to the duties of his office.” Similar language needs to be added for the Board President and Alders. But that requires a Charter Amendment and public vote. That takes time.

The Board of Alders is about to have a monumental transformation next year: 28 wards reduced to 14 wards. Voters will elect alders to serve a double number of constituents and double the geography in March-April. The potential increase in workload- and I say potential because I have had personal experience with lazy Alders- without commensurate pay could be a deterrent to running for office and reducing choices for voters. The time to increase salaries and require full time service is now.

Inserting “devote their entire time to the duties of their office” should be inserted into Board Bill 119. Alders cannot require the job to be full time except by Charter Amendment, but they can create a two tier salary system. Higher salary for those who make it full time and the lower, current salary for those who wish to be part-time. Stands to reason that it would make a good election issue- full-time v. part-time.

I am not saying that all Alders with jobs and businesses right now (or in the past) are not working hard for constituents. I am saying that making the job full-time with a decent salary reduces some opportunities for conflicts of interest at the same time it may increase the pool of potential candidates by making it more affordable to do so.

Results of my quick searches for occupations other than Alder for current Board of Alders. Let me know of any additions or corrections.

New 1st Ward
Current 12th Ward Alder William ‘Bill’ Stephens: former librarian
Current 13th Ward Alder Anne Schweitzer: political campaign consultant

New 2nd Ward
Current 14th Ward Alder Carol Howard- former school principal
Current 16th Ward Alder Tom Oldenburg: Vice President for Community Development |at US Bancorp Community Development Corp

New 3rd Ward
Current 11th Ward Alder Jimmy Lappe: Director of Data & Research at Missouri Jobs With Justice
Current 25th Ward Alder Shane Cohn:

New 4th Ward
Current 23rd Ward Alder Joe Vaccaro: former car wash owner
Current 24th Ward Alder Bret Narayan: attorney, private practice

New 5th Ward
Current 10th Ward Alder & Acting Board President Joseph Vollmer: owner of Milo’s, landlord

New 6th Ward
Current 8th Ward Alder Annie Rice: attorney at Khazaeli Wyrsch Stock until 2021
Current 15th Ward Alder Megan Ellyia Green: Adjunct Professor at Washington University

New 7th Ward
Current 6th Ward Alder Christine Ingrassia: paddle guide for Big Muddy Adventures (obviously not a full time gig)

New 8th Ward
Current 7th Ward Alder Jack Coatar: attorney at Spencer Fane’s Litigation, Governmental Affairs, and Real Estate Practice
Current 9th Ward Alder Dan Guenther: former Monarch Community Liaison at Office of Sustainability
Current 20th Ward Alder Cara Spencer: Senior Vice President for Community and Economic Development at St. Louis Bank

New 9th Ward
Current 17th Ward Alder Tina Pihl: landlord
Current 28th Ward Alder Michael Gras: attorney at Davis & Gras

New 10th Ward
Current 26th Ward Alder Shameem Clark Hubbard:

New 11th Ward
Current 19th Ward Alder Marlene Davis:
Current 21st Ward Alder Laura Keys: landlord Clinical Data Coordinator at Biomedical Systems

New 12th Ward
Current 1st Ward Alder Sharon Tyus: attorney, landlord
Current 4th Ward Alder Dwinderlin Evans: landlord
Current 18th Ward Alder Jesse Todd:

New 13th Ward
Current 2nd Ward Alder Lisa Middlebrook: home healthcare
Current 22nd Ward Alder Norma Walker: owner of Belt Loop Trucking, landlord
Current 27th Ward Alder Pam Boyd: Certified Dietary Manager at The Valley Stonebridge Community skilled nursing facility

New 14th Ward
Current 3rd Ward Alder Brandon Bosley:
Current 5th Ward Alder James Page: