ST. LOUIS MAYOR LYDA KREWSON said Thursday she’d support efforts to appoint a group of citizens to examine ways to improve the structure of local government, a process that could result in a proposal for the city to re-enter St. Louis County.
In an interview with McPherson, Krewson stopped short of endorsing such a re-entry, saying her decision would depend on the specifics of any plan put forth by the citizens’ group. The group is known under the Missouri Constitution as a Board of Freeholders.
Still, Krewson’s support for the Freeholders process marks a departure from her earlier reservations about appointing such a group. Krewson, who as mayor would be responsible for naming nine of the board’s 19 members, said in May that moving forward with the Freeholders process would be “premature.”
Krewson’s remarks also signal a willingness to consider an approach to government reform more incremental than a proposal in January from Better Together, a think tank backed by civic and business leaders. Krewson was a vocal backer of Better Together’s ambitious yet complicated plan that would have merged St. Louis city and county into a single entity and given the new “Metro” government sweeping powers over public safety, taxation and economic development.
Better Together dropped its plan in May, following strong opposition to a proposed statewide vote and the indictment of St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, also a backer of Better Together, on federal corruption charges. Stenger’s successor as county executive, Sam Page, has said he supports the Freeholders process, which is being spearheaded by the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis, an advocacy group that opposed Better Together’s plan.
In one sense, Krewson is simply bowing to the inevitable. The Municipal League is in the final stages of gathering signatures for a petition calling for the Board of Freeholders to be established. Assuming the league collects enough valid signatures (about 4,000 in the city and 15,500 in the county), Krewson and Page by law have only 10 days after the signatures are verified to each appoint nine members of the board. Their appointments require approval of majorities on the city’s Board of Aldermen and the County Council, respectively. Missouri Governor Mike Parson appoints the board’s 19th member.
Municipal League Executive Director Pat Kelly told McPherson earlier that the Board of Freeholders could begin meeting this autumn. The board has up to a year to solicit input from the public and develop a concrete plan for reforming local government; the plan could call for the city to re-enter the county or simply address specific areas such as public health and policing. The plan could go before city and county voters in late 2020 or the first half of 2021.
When Krewson spoke with McPherson via telephone on Thursday, she also confirmed she plans to run for re-election in 2021. A condensed version of the conversation follows.
McPherson: What’s the best way forward, now that Better Together is on hold? What should happen in terms of government consolidation?
Lyda Krewson: I’m still a supporter of consolidation, conceptually. Certainly there needs to be a process by which more people feel heard. With the Board of Freeholders process, if they get the signatures and they’re verified and all that, I have a certain length of time to appoint nine members to the board. Certainly, we would do that. We’d try to appoint nine very representative members from the city of St. Louis.
So would you actually support the Freeholders process? There are certain things you’re compelled to do [by the constitution], but there’s also what you yourself support. So I’m asking whether it would be correct to say that you support the process.
It would be accurate to say that I would support the process. When they go out and get those signatures, we owe it to [them] to take an authentic, serious approach to it.
If the Board of Freeholders, after holding their meetings and getting input from the public, comes back with a proposal for the city to re-enter St. Louis County, would you support that?
I’d have to see what that looks like, and what the totality of the proposal is.
You were a strong backer of the Better Together proposal. Would you still prefer a full-blown merger of the city and county, rather than just simply the city re-entering the county?
I would. It goes to the fact that there are 55 police departments. The county has one, the city has one and there are 53 more. The city re-entering the county doesn’t address that. It also doesn’t address the issues with municipal courts [in St. Louis County]. We know that [system] is not working well. So I’m more supportive of a proposition that would particularly address those two things. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to support something else.
One of the other big issues is the fussing that we do about where economic development goes: where the next big project goes, and whether it should be Clayton or downtown St. Louis or the Central West End or wherever. That’s because we’re fighting over the tax base, and we’d still have that challenge. I would like to see St. Louis be ready to address some of those big issues, which would then make us more focused on the competition between St. Louis and other cities — Louisville, Indianapolis, Nashville, Kansas City, Dallas, overseas, you name it. I’d like to see us be a stronger unit for better competing with those other places. I still have those overarching goals. That doesn’t mean I’m not for something more incremental if that’s where we end up.
On economic development, you don’t necessarily need a Board of Freeholders to tell you what to do. Is there something that you and Sam Page and other relevant people could do, or any discussions that you could start on your own?
We do, but they’re on one-offs. They’re when we’re competing to keep NGA here, or when we’re competing for Amazon. It’s still my job to fight for jobs and residents in the city. That doesn’t mean I won’t cooperate. I will. But we need systemic change; our system isn’t set up in order to succeed in these sort of cooperative ventures.
Have you given any thought to who you might appoint to the Board of Freeholders?
It’s been one of the things I’ve been thinking about in the back of my mind, but I haven’t made any decisions at all. I would look at it [potential board members] to get some geographical diversity, to get some diversity of thought and opinion, and of course racial diversity. Young, old, rich, poor, male, female: I would want some really thoughtful folks who would be able to come together and come to some decisions.
Pat Kelly (of the Municipal League) tells me they’ve been seeking a meeting or a conversation with you about the Freeholders, but they haven’t heard from you. Do you plan on speaking with them anytime soon?
Honestly, I’m not aware that they’ve called me or want a meeting. I’m acquainted with Pat Kelly. To my knowledge he has not called me and asked for a meeting, but I’ll meet with him.
Any other points you’d like to make?
I think the big question is, does St. Louis actually want to make any changes? We’re looking at a different way of doing business at the airport; that’s a process that’s ongoing. But there’s so much built-in opposition to anything that’s different. I seriously hope that St. Louisans — I mean the region, not just the city — are willing to make changes.
Change is really hard. I do get that. We all have this natural fear of the unknown. We’re in a great city that has so much good stuff going on, and such tremendous momentum. But we also know we have some of these structural things we really should address. Let’s just take a little leap of faith here and try to get it worked out, is the way I look at it. I hope St. Louisans will say let’s not just keep doing things the way we’ve done it since the Great Divorce [the city’s exit from the county in 1876]. Maybe the Better Together plan was just too much.
How likely is it that Better Together will come back with something else?
I don’t know at all. I haven’t had any conversations with them about next steps or whatever. I think they did a tremendous amount of good work, and I encourage anyone to look at their reports.
Are you planning to run for re-election in 2021?
Oh sure. I’m running, but we’ve got a lot of big elections before I’m on the ballot again. We’ve got to elect a county executive, we’ve got to elect a governor, we’ve got to elect a president. So yes, of course I’m running, but it’s almost 22 months away. –McP–
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