urbanSTL

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Aug 07, 2023

The reason you have so many small munis is that black county resident don’t trust the county admin (not just this one but this goes back decades) and it’s why majority of the munis are in north county and south county has none, it’s just unincorporated areas

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Aug 09, 2023

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Aug 07, 2023

The reason you have so many small munis is that black county resident don’t trust the county admin (not just this one but this goes back decades) and it’s why majority of the munis are in north county and south county has none, it’s just unincorporated areas

The fragmentation in North County is not a result of black North County residents distrust of government.  That is an ignorant statement and misgeneralization / stereotype of an entire group of people.  I'm not certain but I do believe a majority of the small municipalities that you reference were predominately white when they incorporated.   

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Aug 09, 2023

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Aug 07, 2023

The reason you have so many small munis is that black county resident don’t trust the county admin (not just this one but this goes back decades) and it’s why majority of the munis are in north county and south county has none, it’s just unincorporated areas

The fragmentation in North County is not a result of black North County residents distrust of government.  That is an ignorant statement and misgeneralization / stereotype of an entire group of people.  I'm not certain but I do believe a majority of the small municipalities that you reference were predominately white when they incorporated.   

St. Louis County is suing to stop a question from appearing on November ballots asking if some unincorporated county residents should be annexed into the city of Manchester.
And in a separate lawsuit, a resident of unincorporated St. Louis County is suing Manchester to stop the proposal.
The county filed suit Friday against the St. Louis County Boundary Commission and its members. The commission is an independent 11-member panel set up by state statute to review impacts of proposed boundary changes.


Manchester asked the commission in May 2022 to add an unincorporated area of roughly 6,500 residents. Earlier this year, the commission approved putting the annexation question to a vote, set to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.

The county argued in its suit that the commission shouldn't have approved the boundary change because of a provision in state law. The law says a boundary change must "be in the best interest" of the municipality and the unincorporated territory. The commission failed to consider how the plan would impact residents nearby, and on county residents as a whole, the county claimed.

County Executive Sam Page has opposed the plan, saying it would create "islands" of unincorporated areas that would be difficult to police. Page also said it could cost residents more in sales and property taxes.

Manchester Mayor Mike Clement has said those costs would be offset by a property tax rebate and savings in monthly trash pickup fees. He also said municipal government provides more accessibility and responsiveness, including from police.
Clement couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.

St. Louis County has tried for years to jump-start development in Wellston, one of the poorest cities in the region.
It has invested millions cleaning up and demolishing shuttered factories and abandoned homes. It rehabbed an old industrial building as a job training center. It helped start a new affordable housing development.
But Wellston officials are refusing to sign off on the county’s next move.
Officials want to start finding developers and new owners for some of the more than 100 Wellston properties owned by a county development arm.
But Wellston’s mayor, Nate Griffin, said his city hasn’t seen much progress in the 20-plus years since its last agreement with the county development office.

The county, Griffin said, used the now expired agreement to “dominate our community and dominate our land.” Rodney Crim, CEO of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, which leads the county’s efforts in Wellston, disagrees. “We are totally invested in Wellston, and we want to see that investment continue,” Crim said in an interview Friday.
But the St. Louis County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, which Crim’s office manages, can’t do anything with the real estate it owns in the inner ring suburb.

A sale of some of its land, to the Normandy School District for a new school bus depot as part of a renovation of the Normandy High campus, has been held up for almost two years.
State statute requires a redevelopment plan for the LCRA to operate in Wellston. The old agreement expired in 2017.

After waiting more than a year for Wellston to sign off on the new agreement, the LCRA in June approved the new Empower Wellston community plan, completed by firm PGAV nearly two years ago.

 Two St. Louis County elected officials have gone head to head for more than a year over the size of their jurisdictions — spending thousands of taxpayer dollars and hours of employee time trying to sway voters.
At issue is a ballot measure that, if it passes next week, would allow the city of Manchester to annex a part of unincorporated St. Louis County of roughly 6,500 residents, two schools, a county park and several businesses.
Manchester Mayor Mike Clement wants the land. County Executive Sam Page doesn’t want to let it go.

Page said residents in the area enjoy lower tax rates and better services from the county. “The folks who live here are awake,” Page said. “They’re paying attention, and they know what’s at stake.”

Clement said residents would gain by joining a smaller, more responsive government. “It’s very simple,” he said. “Local government delivers better services for less cost.”

The county has spent more than $5,000 showcasing its services at town halls in recent months — not to mention hours of employee time. Manchester, a city of about 18,000, has spent roughly $100,000, on consulting services and a massive public outreach campaign, including canvassing teams, open houses and mailers. A chunk of taxpayer money is at stake: The county estimates a roughly $2.8 million annual revenue loss if the area is annexed. Manchester estimates about $2.1 million in additional revenues from the annexed area in 2023 and roughly $3.9 million in 2024. The increase would be offset by higher municipal expenses, largely to hire more police and public works employees and to buy vehicles.

Annexed residents would see tax increases of 1.25 percentage points for municipal sales, 0.3 points for real estate, and $22 in sewer lateral fees. But they would pay $255 less in trash pickup fees.

Clement said new residents would benefit from their tax dollars staying closer to home, and Manchester’s current residents could see lower taxes in the future because of a larger revenue base.

The city government here is stuck in gridlock for the second time in recent years. Officials can’t hire employees. The city can’t agree on a budget, and it’s lost out on a grant of up to $420,000 as a result. 
Bellefontaine Neighbors is already auditing its finances for the past two years. But aldermen are also calling for Missouri officials to investigate the new mayor, who they say repeatedly spends money and makes major decisions without their input. 
The mayor welcomes the audit, which is largely focused on the city’s finances under her predecessor. But she says the calls for a state investigation are an effort by her political opponents to obstruct her administration from keeping the city running in the meantime. 

Four of the seven Bellefontaine Neighbors aldermen have declared they have no confidence in Mayor Dinah Tatman in a two-page letter listing several grievances, including that she paid contractors and spent federal aid without approval and failed to document many expenses. They called for the state investigation in the letter, and they said they plan to formally request investigations by the Missouri Attorney General’s office or Ethics Commission. “She has continuously chosen not to work with the board,” said Board President James Thomas. Tatman, who published a line-by-line response on the city’s website, said the city doesn’t have enough staff to keep it running day to day, and alders have blocked Tatman from hiring workers.

“All of their actions are to prohibit me from doing my job,” she said. “They want full control of the city. If they can’t control it, they want to make my administration fail.” 

The dispute is the latest example of paralysis by political infighting in the north St. Louis County suburb of about 10,450 residents. Former mayor Tommie Pierson Sr. faced similar accusations of spending money without approval from a different faction of aldermen before he was unseated in April by Tatman, a former alderman.