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In a letter sent to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Executive Steve Stenger, Osborn said she won’t accept a renewal of her term as a county appointee of the 15-seat Partnership board. Osborn, the secretary of the board, had been serving on an expired term.

Osborn’s move to distance herself from the Partnership comes amid a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Council ethics inquiry into the organization and three weeks after the board’s move to oust former Partnership CEO Sheila Sweeney from her $500,000-a-year job. It also follows Post-Dispatch investigations into the Partnership-staffed boards’ awarding of contracts to Stenger’s campaign donors. Former employees described high turnover, low morale and said Sweeney ran the Partnership as a political office for Stenger.

Two other officials are also leaving the Partnership on April 2. Chief finance officer Joyce Steiger announced her retirement, and Katy Jamboretz, vice president of marketing and communications, said she was leaving to join Common Ground Public Relations in Chesterfield. Jamboretz said she had been planning to leave since early summer. She said she will work as a consultant on media training and executive presentation skills.

Osborn’s letter saying she no longer wants to serve on the volunteer board was sent Jan. 17, two days after she and two other board members testified to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Council Ethics Committee as part of its investigation into the Partnership and related bodies it staffs, such as the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Port Authority.

In her letter, Osborn said she wanted to dedicate her time to Regional Business Council work and the United Way, where she volunteers as an executive committee board member.

Osborn helped spearhead the creation of the Regional Business Council in 1999 and she has recently been involved in efforts with Better Family Life and the Urban League of Metropolitan ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to clean up and demolish vacant structures in a swath of north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. In December, she was named Citizen of the Year by the Post-Dispatch.

Her involvement on the Partnership board stretches back to the organization’s 2013 inception, when it merged some functions from the economic development arms of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County. Prior to the Partnership’s formation, she served on the board of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Economic Council. The Partnership assumed many of the Economic Council’s duties, including providing staff for county boards such as the Port Authority and Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.

“When first asked by (former) County Executive (Charlie) Dooley and former president of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Economic Council Denny Coleman if I would serve on the newly formed ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Economic Partnership, I consented without the slightest hesitation because I believed then as I believe now that a unified voice is the best strategy for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to increase business opportunities thereby enhancing job growth,â€� she wrote.

While she said she worked with Coleman and now-interim Partnership CEO Rodney Crim to structure the Partnership, “many things have changed and it is perhaps time to relook at the organization to determine how best the Partnership can function going forward and how it should interact with the separate county boards that are also charged with economic development.�

Osborn and every other member of the board except Chairman Karlos Ramirez, who abstained, voted in favor of a Jan. 3 resolution that would have terminated Sweeney as CEO if she did not resign. A resignation from Sweeney allowed the former CEO to be paid through the end of the month.

Osborn wrote that it wasn’t unusual to have to review the structure and governance of a new organization after five years.

“The Board understands there is work that needs to be done,� she wrote in a response to the Post-Dispatch.

In her letter, Osborn gave seven recommendations to Stenger:

• Allow Crim, who formerly led the city’s economic development arm, to do “a top to bottom review of the staffing, positions and compensation of the Partnership staff.â€�
• The County Council and county executive need to clarify to whom the Partnership is responsible and establish a communication structure.
• Review boards such as the port authority and LCRA to ensure proper oversight and distinguish their county-centric work from that of the more regional Partnership. She said ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Development Corp. chief Otis Williams, who runs the equivalent boards in the city, would be an “excellent resourceâ€� in such a review.
• The county should decide who appoints board members and how to recruit them.
• The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ mayor needs to be consulted on the Partnership’s role and functions.
• Consider a stronger Partnership board committee structure.
• Develop a working relationship with privately funded economic development organizations.

• Stenger has the power to appoint 11 members of the Partnership board, and the county contributes about $4.1 million to the organization annually. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Mayor Lyda Krewson has the power to appoint four members of the board, and the SLDC contributes about $1.1 million annually. The County Council has recently opted to fund the Partnership quarterly, forcing it to submit to regular oversight hearings.

Jeremy Kohler of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.