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ST. LOUIS — The yearslong effort to overhaul the city’s foundational document was whittled down further at the Board of Aldermen this week.

Members gave initial approval to four proposals for the November ballot but waylaid two others, including the most controversial proposal left standing.

A plan to broaden the mission of the city Streets Department moved easily on Thursday. So did proposals aimed at strengthening penalties for negligent property owners, giving aldermen more power over the budget and modernizing language in the century-old city charter — including the board’s own name.

But a plan to create a new elected office tasked with increasing transparency in government failed to move, and a complicated plan to reschedule city elections to goose voter turnout appeared to collapse under its own weight.

Aldermanic President Megan Green said she was pleased with the progress and undaunted by the setbacks.

“These are things that need to happen,� she said. “Sometimes, it’s just a question of how we best structure them. Anything that’s not on the November ballot will go on the April ballot.�

But Alderman Joe Vollmer, one of the board’s most senior members, was skeptical that voters would buy any of it.

“None of these proposals are ready for the ballot,� he said.

The votes marked one of the last steps of a process that began in 2022, when aldermen proposed the creation of the citizen-led Charter Commission.

The charter is the city’s constitution, laying out the basic rules and responsibilities of municipal government, and aldermen had said it was in desperate need of an update. Voters agreed, approving the commission in spring 2023.

And commissioners spent much of the past year discussing big, sweeping changes, including the elimination of the city’s unusual, three-headed executive branch, the hiring of a professional city manager to lead the bureaucracy and various reorganizations of city departments.

The furthest-reaching ideas were largely discarded months ago in the face of opposition from Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green, the latter of whom would have had her power reduced or eliminated under some proposals.

Still, there were several more modest recommendations on the table this week when the board took up the commission’s recommendations for the November ballot. And most made it through the board’s vetting committee without much trouble.

But a plan to move city elections to August and November from March and April failed to advance Wednesday when aldermen couldn’t agree on how to do it without extending officials’ terms beyond the standard four years — or even understand the convoluted fixes.

“It’s too nuts right now,� said Vollmer, of the Hill.

On Thursday, there weren’t enough votes to consider a bill creating an elected “public advocate� tasked with auditing city departments and increasing public engagement with City Hall, the most ambitious proposal left.

Aldermen had previously voiced concern about the office duplicating efforts — the comptroller already does some internal audits — and doing little to improve the actual functioning of the city.

“It’s such a new concept for a lot of folks,� said Green, the aldermanic president and a supporter of the idea. “I think that requires more deliberation.�

Aldermen approved the remainder of the suggestions from the commission Thursday with little trouble, though.

They gave the green light to a proposal renaming the Streets Department as the Department of Transportation, and broadening its mandate from street maintenance to design and construction of roadways, functions previously performed in separate departments.

The proposal would also dedicate the department to “improving the safety of all users,� which sponsor Alderman Michael Browning said included cyclists and pedestrians, .

It doesn’t increase the amount of money for infrastructure, but Browning said the proposal is a “first step to make our streets safer for everyone.�

A proposal lifting the $500 cap on fines for vacant properties also advanced. Sponsoring Alderwoman Daniela Velazquez, of Shaw, said removing the decades-old limit would give the city a bigger stick in dealing with negligent property owners who let their buildings rot.

Aldermen also advanced a proposal to update old language in the charter, such as passages using only male pronouns when describing the mayor, aldermanic president and comptroller — all of whom are currently women.

There was some pushback on one part of the bill, carried by Alderman Shane Cohn of Dutchtown, renaming the board and its aldermen as the City Council and city councilpersons.

Alderman Bret Narayan, of Dogtown, said the change would erase history, and said that if the board wanted to be gender-neutral, its members could be alderpersons. Alderwoman Sharon Tyus, of Kingsway East, said the whole discussion was dumb.

“I don’t think this has anything to do with the things that we should be focusing on,� she said.

But they were in the minority. Green, the aldermanic president, said afterward that when she goes and meets with leaders from other cities, most people don’t know what an alderman is.

“People are used to hearing City Council,� she said.

The board also approved a plan giving themselves the power to propose budget increases, something they currently cannot do. Right now, aldermen can only propose decreases in existing budget items, and even then they can be ignored by a three-member panel made up of the mayor, comptroller and aldermanic president.

Both the mayor and the comptroller have opposed the change, citing concerns it could lead to financial instability. But supportive aldermen noted that their counterparts in other regional governments can increase their budgets. And Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, of downtown, said to do otherwise was “ludicrous� when aldermen hold months of public hearings poring over spending.

All proposals given initial approval need one more favorable vote from the board before heading to the mayor for further consideration.