Tag: Transparency Fail

St. Louis City Needs Tax District Reform

Man with giant green money bag

I am posting the written testimony submitted by Gerry Connolly to St. Louis City Board of Alders Housing and Urban Development Committee on Board Bill 19 to create two single-site tax districts for luxury living Jefferson Arms, a Community Improvement District and Transportation Development District.

Gerry is right about both the Board make up of these tax districts and the need for tax district reforms, which former Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway also recommended in 2019.

In the 2024-25 Board of Alders session, a special committee was created to look into special tax districts, but nothing came of it. The committee was not even renewed for the 2025-26 session.

If you’re on Bluesky, search #TransparencyFail. Most of the posts are about St. Louis City Special Tax Districts (or Local Tax Districts (LTDs) if you’d prefer not to use STDs).

Also check out the ProPublica series: “Policing in St. Louis. Private Policing Firms Patrol Wealthy Neighborhoods” about neighborhood tax districts.

Gerry’s testimony

“Please consider this recommendation to amend Board Bill 19 as follows: change the composition of the boards to ensure that representatives of the developer of property in the Jefferson Arms CID/TDD do not constitute a majority of the board. Officials representing City of St. Louis government should make up a majority of seats on the board. 

BB 19 specifies the CID shall have five board members, the City of St. Louis should therefore have three representatives on the board. 

I have included below an except from my written testimony on the FY 2026 Budget/Operating Plan which outlines eight recommendations to reform the Local Taxing Districts in the City of St.Louis.

  • Budget testimony item 7: Eight reforms for the BOA to enact for Local Taxing Districts (LTDs) It is possible that changes to Missouri law will be necessary in order to accomplish some of the recommendations. The budgets of the 100 plus LTDs in the City likely exceed $50 Million, with taxes and/or special assessments imposed on the public. The vast majority of LTDs operate routinely in violation of Missouri Sunshine law.
  1. Enact all recommendations of the 2019 Missouri Auditor’s report on LTDs. The audit report is available online (See pages 9 – 18 for recommendations)
  2. Place all policing duties funded by LTDs under the command of SLMPD.
  3. Extend community oversight of surveillance technology to all LTDs.
  4. A representative of the following must be appointed to the board of all single-site LTDs: Mayor, Board of Aldermen and Comptroller.
  5. Prohibit developers from controlling single-site districts.
  6. Document all City of St. Louis resources allocated to the LTDs. Such resources include: (i) City funds expended on projects of the LTDs. (ii) city staff attending LTD meetings. (iii) work performed by city staff to support the activities of LTDs. (Examples of city staff: SLMPD personnel when working for the City; Neighborhood Improvement Specialists).
  7. Establish robust Conflicts of Interest regulations for people serving on the boards and committees of LTDs.
  8. Establish a limit on the number of LTD boards on which one person can serve. (Some individuals serve on at least five LTD boards)”

STL City Charter Commission Fail, Again

Burn it all down.

Vote against anything proposed by the St. Louis City Charter Reform Commission. It has proven itself unworthy of the trust and votes of St. Louisans.

It’s been Transparency Fail after Transparency Fail, the latest related to 4:30 pm Tonight’s Commission Special Meeting.

I know. I know. We’re supposed to give the Sunshine violations a pass because we personally like some of the Commissioners and some of the ideas they’ve been exploring.

I know. I know. We’re supposed to give them a pass because they’re volunteers.

Nope. It’s a dumpster fire. Let it go down in flames.

Tonight’s Meeting has a notice on the City’s Public Meetings Calendar that was posted on June 20th. But like so many Charter Commission meetings before it, there was no Agenda posted online at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting.

Missouri’s Sunshine Law (610.020) requires public notice at least 24 hours in advance for public meetings and that notice shall include an Agenda. It is a very weak law that does not require the Notice and Agenda be posted online. That’s where St. Louis City’s Sunshine directives come into play here. Executive Order 60 and City Ordinance mandate the public meeting notices required by state law be posted to the online City Public Meeting Calendar.

8:58 am Today, over 16 hours past the deadline for required 24 hours Meeting Notice with Agenda, after much dragging on Twitter about the missing Agenda and need to cancel and reschedule meeting because of noncompliance with City Sunshine requirements, the Charter Commission added an Agenda to the meeting notice on City Calendar. We know this because the Public Meetings Calendar notices have Time/Date stamps for creation and editing at the end of the entry.

Then, and this really has my blood boiling, this afternoon, mere hours before the 4:30 pm meeting, the Commission dumped a 38 page “Meeting Packet” pdf on the documents page created for the Agenda. There is no way of knowing exact time this happened because document pages have no Time/Date stamp.

Time and time again, this Commission has failed to be transparent- lack of Minutes for subcommittees, Meeting Notices with Agendas posted late or never, Meeting Minutes of the Commission that do not reflect the meetings, etc.

And don’t get me started on the writing failures in the proposed Charter amendments.

Let this thing die.

STL City Budget Hearing Fail, Public Denied Opportunity to Speak

Old black and white photo of St. Louis City Hall

The Budget Committee of the Board of Alders (BOA) had a public hearing today, June 5th, 2024, on the 2025 Budget for the City of St. Louis. The hearing, per its City Calendar Notice, was to include public testimony both in person at City Hall and by Zoom. At least two Alders participated by Zoom.

6th Ward resident and local government transparency advocate Gerry Connolly planned to testify by Zoom. He confirmed his participation with BOA staff. He wrote his notes. He logged on to the hearing.

The hearing began with Mayor Tishaura Jones presenting on her office’s budget. Then it was time for public testimony. But Budget Chair Cara Spencer announced a recess. People who had taken time off from work to make their voice heard were told they would have to wait 39 minutes.

When the Budget Committee reconvened, Alders heard in person public testimony. Then it was time for testimony by Zoom. It was Gerry’s turn. I’m not sure how many others had planned to testify via Zoom.

But Gerry was not allowed to speak. No Zoom testimony was taken. No explanation was given. It was yet another Sunshine Fail, Transparency Fail at City Hall.

Gerry was told he could submit comments by email. He was angry, and rightfully so, but he hurridly transformed his notes for three minutes of testimony into written, expanded comments.

Since Gerry’s testimony is not available as a part of the online public record, and while the Budget Committee Chair may not be interested in what he has to say, others may be interested. I asked him if I could publish his testimony on my blog and he agreed. I have made a few edits for formatting purposes and add links.

Below is Gerry’s testimony on 2025 Budget for City of St. Louis which he submitted by email.

———-

Gerry Connolly.
6th Ward resident
38xx Botanical Ave
St. Louis, MO 63110

June 5, 2024

Honorable members of the Budget and Public Employees Committee,

I had planned to provide this testimony via Zoom at today’s Budget Committee meeting. However, due to the fact the committee failed to take any public testimony today via Zoom, I am submitting my comments in writing. 

Public Testimony in opposition to Board Bill 1

I am testifying against Board Bill 1. The City should allocate financial resources from within the budget as recommended by the Board of E and A necessary to implement the policy recommendations described in items 1 through 7 below.

  • 1) Fix the City’s “Sunshine portal, The Public Records Center, which hasn’t been consistently functional for 6 months. Make the responsive records of all city government bodies available in the Public Records Archive. The St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) currently do not make records available to the general public in the Public Records Archive. Only requesters may view responsive records via their portal user accounts.There may be additional City entities that do not make records available to the general public.
  • 2) Open government and transparency must be consistent across city government. The Board of Aldermen (BOA) must update the decade old transparency ordinance:
    1. Post meeting recordings to Youtube for government entities currently missing. These include the Airport Commission, Affordable Housing Commission, Mental Health Board and Senior Fund.
    2. Standardization of meeting notices, both physical and online. The official agenda (not just the text) must include the resolutions to be voted upon. The meeting packet must include the draft minutes of prior meetings, if applicable. All other documents utilized during a meeting should be posted online. The BOA’s posting of many budget presentations on the BB 1 webpage should serve as a model for all departments.
    3. The following city bodies do not operate consistently in a transparent manner: Board of Estimate and Apportionment (E and A); Charter Commission, Reparations Commission and Detention Facilities Oversight Board. The persistent violation of Missouri Sunshine Law by the Board of E and A is cause for alarm. The Board of Aldermen’s silence on the Sunshine violations by the Board of E and A has been noted.
  • 3) Continue to reform of how development incentives are awarded. Ordinance 71620 was a step forward in the system for awarding tax breaks to development projects. However Ordinance 71620 (BB 64 in the 2022-23 BOA session) had major flaws that subsequent legislation has only addressed in part (See BB 98 and BB 236 in the 2023-24 BOA session). More changes to the ordinance are needed.  All provisions in Ordinance 71620 must be enforced by the BOA. SLDC did not follow the mandated procedures for the 15 projects, with development costs over $10 Million, that were approved in the 2023-24 BOA session. The non-compliance included a failure to consult St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) and affected tax districts. Every effort must be made to shield SLPS from the impact of tax breaks.
  • 4) All development incentives must be authorized by an ordinance approved by the BOA. Incentives that presently do not require approval by ordinance include, but are not limited to:

    1. Bond issuances authorized by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA), Planned Industrial Expansion Authority (PIEA), Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and Port Authority.

    2. Certain tax abatements authorized by the Port Authority Commission (PA) and Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board (EEZB).

    3. New Markets Tax Credit (NTMC) program, currently authorized by the SLDC board of directors.
  • 5) The Land Reutilization Authority’s lot sales policy must be modified. In 2023, the Land Reutilization Authority adopted new sales policies for LRA-owned property, per the recommendation of SLDC staff. In the category of sale of lots for the purpose of building one home, a lot whose area is less than 4,000 sq. ft. is ineligible for sale under the new policy. LRA eliminated the opportunity to provide housing, strengthen the fabric of a neighborhood and grow the city’s tax base.

    The LRA sales policy must be modified in order to restore the ability of homebuilders to purchase lots under 4,000 sq. ft. and construct much-needed housing.

    The Jones administration, SLDC and the Community Development Agency (CDA) frequently cite the Economic Justice Action Plan (EJAP) as a guide for City policy and program spending. SLDC included citations from the Economic Justice Action Plan (EJAP) in the LRA board resolution adopting the new sales policies.

    It is noteworthy that the EJAP planning process, conducted by consultants to SLDC, did not include the participation of the general public or Board of Aldermen. Only narrowly focussed public outreach was performed.

    I have not heard an explanation of the rationale behind the new sales policy in any setting- SLDC website, development board meetings or at BOA committee meetings. The BOA should investigate this matter.
  • 6) All fee revenues from SLDC’s Sales Tax Exemption Fund should be transferred to the City’s General Fund and included in the annual appropriation to the Affordable Housing Commission
  • 7) Eight reforms for the BOA to enact for Local Taxing Districts (LTDs). It is possible that changes to Missouri law will be necessary in order to accomplish some of the recommendations.

    1. The budgets of the 100 plus LTDs in the City likely exceed $50 Million with taxes and/or special assessments imposed on the public. The vast majority of LTDs operate routinely in violation of Missouri Sunshine law. Enact all recommendations of the 2019 Missouri Auditor’s report on LTDs. Read the audit report here (See pages 9 – 18 for recommendations)

    2. Place all policing duties funded by LTDs under the command of SLMPD.

    3. Extend community oversight of surveillance technology to all LTDs.

    4. A representative of the following must be appointed to the board of all single site LTDs: Mayor, Board of Aldermen and Comptroller.

    5. Prohibit developers from controlling single site districts.

    6. Document all City of St. Louis resources allocated to the LTDs. Such resources include:

    (i) City funds expended on projects of the LTDs.
    (ii) City staff attending LTD meetings.
    (iii) Work performed by City staff to support the activities of LTDs. (Examples of City staff: SLMPD personnel when working for the City; Neighborhood Improvement Specialists).

    7. Establish robust Conflicts of Interest regulations for people serving on the boards and committees of LTDs.

    8. Establish a limit on the number of LTD boards on which one person can serve. (Some individuals serve at least five LTD boards).

    I would be happy to discuss the above recommendations by phone, in-person or at a committee meeting. My contact information is below.

    Thank you for your consideration.

    Gerry Connolly

    cc Honorable members of the Board of Aldermen
         President Megan Green
         Clerk Terry Kennedy
         Mayor Tishaura O. Jones
         Comptroller Darlene Green
         Budget Director Paul Payne

STL City Charter Commission, May ’24 Draft Doc

Old black and white photo of St. Louis City Hall

Below is the St. Louis City Charter (Reform) Commission‘s latest hard on the eyes, semi-public document on proposed changes to Charter.

I am publishing it here because the Charter Commission may never post it to their online documents page or may not post until right before, during, or even after their next meeting, a Virtual meeting set for 4:30 pm Wednesday, May 29th.

The Charter Commission has failed to be transparent at the level needed for Charter reform. It posts meeting materials long after meetings, sits on Minutes until City Counselor edits, the Minutes often are at odds with what actually happened, there are no Minutes for the three Workgroups’ meetings, meetings have gone into Closed Session for sketchy reasons, and other issues.

I personally like a number of people involved with the Commission. They are well-meaning but it’s a rigged process, a hot mess. The spreadsheet may give you an idea of the agenda, which must go before voters to be adopted but the devil is in the details. In this case, the details will be written by City Counselor Sheena Hamilton, who works for Mayor Tishaura Jones.

The Commission is composed of voting members and nonvoting members. Voting: Briana Bobo, Anna Crosslin, David Dwight IV, Chris Grant, Scott Intagliata, Dr. Jazzmine Nolan-Echols, Travis Sheridan. Non-Voting: Director of Personnel Sonja Gray (Mayor Jones appointee), City Counselor Sheena Hamilton, former State Senator Jake Hummel (Missouri AFL-CIO President)Christine Ingrassia (Board President Megan Green’s Director of Operations), Casey Millburg (Mayor Jones’ Policy Director), 5th Ward Alder Joe Vollmer.

I am chopping up the spreadsheet and adding pape by page as images, instead of importing the word salad, hard on the eyes spreadsheet, because I am not paying to upgrade this site for spreadsheets and videos.

Note1: Many people confuse the Charter with the City Code: Ordinances, Laws. The Charter is the City’s constitution. The Code is City’s version of Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo).

Note2: St. Louis City has a Strong Mayor system of government. Many people are confused about this because of propaganda by past charter reform efforts. Could the position be made stronger? Sure. A Weak Mayor system is usually associated with City Managers and ribbon cutting mayors. St. Louis City has had many weak mayors but that’s not the same as a Weak Mayor system.

Will STL E&A, Tax Districts Go To AG Sunshine School?

Art: Sun wearing sunglasses

Pleased to share that there has been a Transparency Win regarding St. Louis City’s Board of Estimate & Apportionment. On June 24th, E&A began publishing Exhibits with Agendas on City’s website.
——————–

An interesting development in enforcement of Missouri’s Sunshine Law happened last week in a city of 6,344 in southwest Missouri. It could impact government entities in St. Louis City, including the powerful Board of Estimate and Apportionment (E&A: Mayor, Comptroller, Board of Alders President).

The City of Willard has ben slapped on the wrist by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and told they have to attend Sunshine School. At issue was the use of the generic Agenda topic “Unfinished Business” by Willard’s Board of Aldermen. (paywall) The AG’s Office says it should also include sub-topics detailing points of discussion.

That’s potentially huge because many St. Louis City special tax districts, agencies, and even the Board of E&A routinely use generic categories for Agendas.

As examples, Soulard Special Business District, a taxing district to fund private police and surveillance, and Soulard Community Improvement District, a taxing district to fund improvements with $1.8 Million dollars banked, both use skeleton agendas. They also have an atrocious record of posting late notices or wrong meeting location to the City’s online public meetings calendar.

The significance of E&A failing to provide specifics in their Agendas was highlighted recently when E&A approved more funding for the controversial ShotSpotter contract without public notice.

ShotSpotter is a surveillance product by SoundThinking. While cities have been turning down contract renewals and Chicago may soon dump the program, as promised by its mayor, St. Louis City’s E&A gave the contract a fourth amendment. And it was done, as is most E&A business, without the public notice.

For twenty years, it has been standard practice of E&A to post meeting notices and agendas to the City’s Public Meetings Calendar. The Agenda for the December 20, 2023 E&A Meeting, like most meetings, included:

“Request from the Comptroller’s Office for approval of contracts and leases for various
City departments as listed on Exhibit A.”

“Request from the Comptroller’s Office for approval of intradepartmental and
interdepartmental transfers from various City departments as listed on Exhibit B.”

“Request from the Comptroller’s Office for approval of transfers between projects for
Capital Improvement Funds listed on Exhibit C.”

But no Exhibits, the meat and potatoes of what they’re voting on, is available online for public inspection.

In the case of the December 20 Agenda, ShotSpotter was in Exhibit A, Item 17, hidden from the public. There was no opportunity for the public to contact E&A with concerns.

Item 17, Exhibit A, St. Louis Board of Estimate and Apportionment Agenda, December 20, 2023: ShotSpotter amendment

There was no debate on the ShotSpotter amendment. It was adopted on a 2-1 vote. Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green voted yes; Board President Megan Green voted no.

No E&A Exhibits to Agendas or Meeting Minutes are posted online. How do we know the amendment happened and that the vote was? E&A meetings, usually very short, can be watched via Zoom or City’s YouTube channel.

Screenshot of Tweet by St. Louis Board of Alders President Megan Green regarding her vote against Shotspotter contract amendment

We can see from the YouTube video that Board President Green made a motion to separate ShotSpotter from the rest of the Agenda for the vote. She gave no reason why at the meeting. But, as the meeting ended, 7 minutes after starting, Green Tweeted about her vote against ShotSpotter. A graphic had been prepared in advance.

Why didn’t Green share the ShotSpotter Exhibit item with the public, Privacy Watch STL coalition, etc. before the meeting? That’s a good question.

The next meeting of E&A is 3 pm Wednesday, January 17th. Exhibits A, B, C missing. Again. The secret business is anyone’s guess.

People also Sunshine E&A Exhibits.

“Sunshine Gerry” Connolly usually makes a request as soon as the E&A Agenda is posted online. It can take a day to a month for the documents to show up in the City’s Sunshine Portal.

Screenshot of error message from St. Louis City Sunshine Portal, Public Records Archives

Public access to the Portal’s Public Records Archives is limited to when it is functioning, which is often not the case. It’s been down most of today while I’ve been trying to write this. You have to be persistent when filing a Sunshine request. Try in the morning. Try again in the afternoon. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Big question is why aren’t E&A Exhibits posted with the Agendas? Why the secrecy?

Maybe it’s time for the AG to look at how government entities in St. Louis City comply (or don’t) with Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

It’s definitely time for St. Louis City to have a strong municipal Sunshine Law in the Charter (via amendment by Charter Commission or otherwise) or via ordinance by Board of Alders.

Monday Meeting of Soulard Tax Board for Private Police

UPDATE: Sometime after 8 am Monday, September 12th, Soulard Special Business District posted a notice to its website for the 6:30 pm Monday, September 12th Soulard SBD Meeting, less than seven hours notice for a public meeting on public tax money. That Notice says the meeting has been moved to Molly’s, a venue owned by Soulard SBD Chair Luke Reynolds (also Vice Chair of Soulard Community Improvement District, sales tax district). As of 10:30 am Monday, September 12th, the meeting Notice on City’s Public Meetings Calendar had not been changed to reflect a different meeting place. That notice says the meeting is at Soulard Station. Notices and edits to City Public Meetings Calendar get time-date identification. Notices on most special tax district websites only get a date first posted.

Original blog post below.

Or not.

Soulard Special Business District is one of St. Louis City’s special tax districts that fund private policing and part of last week’s two part investigative report by Jeremy Kohler for ProPublica.

We know that as a part of their response to the ProPublica investigation, Soulard SBD’s Board voted in November 2021 to hire Husch Blackwell as legal counsel for $5,000 “to ensure the Board complies with an ongoing Sunshine request and fully complies with the Sunshine Act.”

We know that before Jack Coatar was elected to the St. Louis City Board of Alderpeople, he served on the Soulard SBD. In May 2022, as Alder, he gave the welcome and introductions at Soulard SBD Neighborhood Safety Forum. Secretary of the Soulard SBD Board is Molly Doughtery, also Treasurer of Coatar’s campaign finance committee. Coatar is on Tuesday’s special election ballot to fill the vacancy caused by resignation of Board of Alderpeople President Lewis Reed, a friend of Coatar’s.

We know there’s a meeting notice for Soulard SBD on the City of St. Louis Public Meetings Calendar. We also know that a year’s worth of meeting notices and generic skeleton agenda’s were posted by the SBD Board to the City Calendar on Dec 7, 2021.

We also know that as of 5 pm Sunday, there was no notice for a September Soulard SBD meeting on the SBD’s website.

It doesn’t matter whether they’re having a public meeting without a notice on their website or failed to cancel the meeting notice on City website. It doesn’t matter whether they don’t want questions relating to the ProPublica investigative reports or Coatar’s involvement in tax districts before Tuesday’s election. It’s all Transparency Fail.

The Soulard SBD Budget includes $18,000 for Communications Management, $50,000 for Advertising/Promotion, $25,000 for Communications, $50,000 for Marketing/Branding. You would think that one of those line items includes competent online posting of public meetings notices at both their website and the City Public Meetings Calendar.