ST. LOUIS 鈥 City residents, frustrated with the state of city services, just voted overwhelmingly to elect a new mayor to fix them. Now officials are moving to strip away some of her power 鈥 and give it to a professional city manager.
Some aldermen, harboring doubts that any mayor can deliver for the city without big changes to City Hall, say they are renewing efforts to enact one of the biggest changes possible: the installation of an apolitical administrator at the top of the city鈥檚 bureaucracy.
鈥淰oters asked us to work on improving city services,鈥 said Aldermanic President Megan Green. 鈥淎nd this is a way to do that.鈥
More than half of American cities with more than 100,000 people have city managers. Many experts call it a more modern way to govern. But it would be a big change in old-school 蜜芽传媒. For more than a century, mayors themselves have appointed the city鈥檚 top administrators. They were typically political allies, and they didn鈥檛 necessarily have any experience running a city 鈥 or any large organization.
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The proposal heralds an interesting next couple of years. Green, the board president, and Mayor Cara Spencer are old rivals who rarely see eye-to-eye. They鈥檙e set to clash over plans for the Rams settlement money and development policy. And while both say they support the idea of a city manager, they鈥檙e already thinking differently about who should hold power to hire and fire the new chief.
Green says, to maintain proper checks and balances, the Board of Aldermen must have a significant say.
Spencer worries about too many cooks in the kitchen. Good job candidates may have other cities calling with fewer people to please.
鈥淚 want to make sure we鈥檙e setting ourselves up to get high talent,鈥 she said, 鈥渁nd not someone who鈥檚 worried about political job interference.鈥
Alderwoman Daniela Vel谩zquez, of Shaw, said something must be done. Voters are crying out for better management of basic city services, from trash pickup to pothole filling to snow removal.
鈥淲e keep coming back to the same problems,鈥 said Vel谩zquez, who is planning to sponsor the bill at the board. 鈥淲e need a different solution. Time is running out.鈥
鈥榃e were so pinned down鈥
The manager concept was first popularized in Dayton, Ohio, in 1914. It was a city in trouble: Finances were in disarray. Political machines controlled the government. And the basics weren鈥檛 getting done. 鈥淭he streets were in need of paving, many being in disrepair,鈥 the New York Times reported then. 鈥淭he alleys were clogged with filth and debris.鈥
But the adoption of a new government, led by a professional executive appointed by an elected, five-member commission, began to straighten things out.
Hundreds of cities joined Dayton, including boomtowns of the late 20th century like San Antonio, Dallas and Charlotte. And for years, political scientists, business leaders and good government advocates have been urging 蜜芽传媒 to incorporate a manager into its system, too.
Supporters even put the issue on the ballot in 2004, as part of a suite of changes to the city鈥檚 charter 鈥 the document that lays out the basic rules and responsibilities of municipal government. Voters rejected them all.
Now, Vel谩zquez is reviving the idea amid the slide in city services and a renewed interest in charter reform. Officials are talking frankly about the complicated rules that govern 鈥 and slow 鈥 city hiring, purchasing and performance. There鈥檚 talk of writing a new charter. City voters even approved some smaller changes in November.
Vel谩zquez says putting a city manager in charge would be a good place to start: A professional executive could handle the nuts and bolts of hiring, managing, and delivering city services, and bring in other experts to help them. And that would free up the mayor and aldermen to think about bigger things, like redeveloping the riverfront, dealing with all the vacant buildings, or planning not just for the next four years, but for the next quarter-century.
鈥淲e have some big challenges we need to think about,鈥 she said, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 hard to do when you鈥檙e always triaging things.鈥
Former officials and good government advocates are nodding their heads.
Jeff Rainford, who spent 15 years triaging problems as Mayor Francis G. Slay鈥檚 chief of staff, said he would have loved a city manager.
鈥淲hen we were in there,鈥 he said, 鈥渨e were so pinned down dealing with the day-to-day functioning of city government, we rarely had time to do big things like the airport, the charter, fixing downtown, fixing north 蜜芽传媒, regionalism, how we change 蜜芽传媒鈥 image across the country 鈥 what I call the fun stuff.鈥
Ken Warren, the longtime 蜜芽传媒 University political science professor and pollster, said Spencer should embrace the idea wholeheartedly.
But historically, he said, mayors have been reluctant to cede power.
And that鈥檚 going to be a big part of any negotiations on the bill.
Building friction
Spencer and Green came to the board a decade ago at a pivotal moment: Older aldermen were giving way to a new generation of leaders, including more liberal Democrats, dubbed 鈥減rogressives,鈥 that would soon rise in power.
Green was one of them. Spencer got the label, too. But while they teamed up to fight sports stadium subsidies and airport privatization, Spencer saw herself as independent 鈥 of progressives, the old guard and everyone else. Any alliance broke for good in 2021, when Spencer ran for mayor.
Green and several other progressives backed then-Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones, who ended up winning. Then they went one further: After Spencer said in a radio appearance she feared 蜜芽传媒 might go the way of East 蜜芽传媒, and Jones called it a racist dog whistle, progressive aldermen issued a statement along the same lines.
The animosity only became clearer in more recent years, as Spencer mulled a rematch with Jones. At one point, Spencer even walked into Green鈥檚 weekly press conference uninvited and started rebutting criticism of her headline-grabbing bill cracking down on the open carry of firearms.
Just this past week, another fissure: Green filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state takeover of the 蜜芽传媒 police department the day before Spencer took office. That morning, Green sent a letter to Spencer informing her of the plan. Spencer staffers were still griping about the slight days later.
Green, for her part, says she focuses on the policy, not the personal. Spencer says her door is open to everyone.
But will the two work together?
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a question for Megan Green,鈥 Spencer said on Friday. 鈥淒oes she work with the mayor on issues like filing lawsuits?鈥
鈥榃hat is the cost?鈥
The legislation itself is almost ready.
It would create a chief administrative officer for the city, charged with the orderly execution of city business, from writing budgets to filing lawsuits to fixing roads to fighting fires.
Candidates would be chosen 鈥渟olely on their executive, managerial and administrative qualifications.鈥 They would need at least five years of relevant experience and would have to be at least five years removed from serving in any elected office in Missouri.
鈥淭he goal is for this to be removed from politics,鈥 Vel谩zquez said.
The mayor would nominate a candidate, and a majority of aldermen could either ratify or reject the choice. Once hired, the city manager could be fired by the mayor and a majority of aldermen, or two-thirds of aldermen alone.
The process could be in place as soon as 2027.
For now, aldermen are still mulling the details.
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, of downtown, said he would probably support the bill. But he said he鈥檚 heard city managers generally command significantly higher salaries 鈥 often over $300,000 a year 鈥 than the officials they would replace.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 something that could move,鈥 Aldridge said. 鈥淏ut what is that cost going to be?鈥
Alderman Tom Oldenburg, of 蜜芽传媒 Hills, said he wonders if someone hired by any politicians could truly be apolitical.
鈥淎cademically and theoretically, it makes sense,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut I wonder if practically it would just be another political animal.鈥
Alderman Michael Browning, of Forest Park Southeast, said he likes the idea, but thinks the city may need an entirely new charter to make it work after more than a century of rules being written and court cases being decided about the mayor鈥檚 powers.
鈥淚 think the right way to do this would be to examine this over the next few years and then hand it to the next charter commission,鈥 he said.
The commission is next scheduled to meet in 2033.
Even if it doesn鈥檛 take that long, it would still have to go to the ballot.
Any charter change requires approval from at least 60% of voters.
Flooding and elections dominated the news cycle the week of April 6 in 蜜芽传媒. Video by Jenna Jones.
