TESTIMONY OF
CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI
CITY OF ST. LOUIS CHARTER REFORM COMMISSION
MARCH 6, 2004

Thank you ladies and gentlemen and good morning.

Mayor Bosley, Mr. Symington, members of the stakeholders assembly, ladies and gentlemen…thank you for inviting me to address you today.

The job of reforming and reshaping city government is an enormous challenge.

You have shown great commitment and energy in taking on this difficult assignment, and I salute you for your civic contribution.

Your job can best be described as a community-wide obstacle course that is filled with many minefields…

Such as entrenched power structures;

Inefficient government practices;

Inadequate public services;

A long, sad history of racial disparities;

And the disenfranchisement of African Americans and other minorities.

And, as I’m sure you have already discovered;

Unfortunately, good government is not necessarily the highest priority on everyone’s list for charter reform.

There are some elected officials, and their private sector supporters, whose only goal is to preserve their own power, and if possible…to expand it.

Others in our community see this process simply as another attempt to deprive
minorities of their fair share of power and influence at a time when St. Louis has become a majority African American city.

But I am asking you to elevate your thinking beyond these shortsighted and selfish considerations.

I am asking you to remove yourself from the personalities and politics of today, and to think about this mission in a different way.

The impact of the process you are engaged in will have consequences long after all current elected officials, and everyone else here today, have passed from the scene.

Your final recommendations must not be designed to protect, or punish, any current elected official.

That is not government reform, its politics as usual.

Your plan should reflect a return to the core mission of government: 

To give every citizen the best possible representation;

And to give taxpayers the best possible return on their hard-earned tax dollars.

The citizens who authorized this process deserve nothing less. 

Like you, I am a stakeholder in this community.

But I come before you today with a very unique perspective.

First, I am a native St. Louisan and a city resident.

I am a homeowner, a taxpayer and a father of two young children who are growing up here.

So the stakes for me are very personal.

And as a federal elected official, I also have the high honor to represent large portions of both the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County in Congress.

So I am well aware that while this may be a city process, the outcome will affect the well-being of St. Louis County and our entire area.

The city continues to be the vital heart of the St. Louis region. 

And no patient can be truly healthy without a strong, stable heart.
 
The plain fact is that in 2004, the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County share a common destiny.

They face many of the same challenges and could potentially share many of the same solutions, to their mutual benefit.

So with all respect to the stakeholders assembly, I ask you to consider that the scope of your discussions and your areas of concentration may be too limited and too restrictive to deal with the real problems of our city.

Fiscal management, the Board of Alderman, personnel administration and organizational structures are all important…but they are not enough.

The City of st. Louis is bleeding jobs, revenue and missed opportunities.

When a patient arrives in the emergency room in critical condition, you cannot save him by offering just a few band-aids.

This patient needs major surgery.  And anyone who takes an honest look in the mirror can see that.

For instance, one-third of the city budget goes to public safety, and yet control of the St. Louis Police Department is not held at city hall, or even at police headquarters… it’s in Jefferson City.

That antiquated arrangement is a relic of the Civil War and it is time to bury it.

Another glaring example of state-city reform that is long overdue is establishing local control of our election board.

You all remember the fiasco of the November 2000 general election…

A huge number of eligible voters were turned away from the polls by an election board that was incompetent, unaccountable to the voters and beyond any local control.

Today, that situation is largely unchanged.

Just eight months before the next presidential election, the election board is still unable to ensure the voting rights of every citizen;

Still maintains an illegal inactive voters list;

And in some cases, actually discourages voter participation…because it’s too much work for them!

Any yet, we have no local control over the composition or operation of the election board.

The shareholders assembly can tinker around the edges of the problem or you can resolve to act in a broader, more effective way.

We cannot be a great city unless we establish local control over two functions that are the foundation of our future:

Public safety and our election process.

There is no legal or procedural barrier that would prevent the leadership of this assembly from reaching out to our state legislators to come up with a reform package in Jefferson City that would complement what you are doing here regarding the city charter.

And unless this happens, any plan that you may decide to present to the voters will be inadequate, incomplete, and ultimately… ineffective.

Regarding the organizational structure of the existing county offices, I think there is much room for debate about where the best efficiencies may come from.

But one idea that I think deserves your serious consideration is the re-entry of the City of St. Louis into St. Louis County, as the largest independent municipality.

Let me be clear…

I am not suggesting a city-county merger.

I am suggesting that you take the time to investigate the potential savings and service improvements that might be achieved through sharing responsibilities for certain functions that are currently duplicated.

For instance:

Both government entities have separate economic development operations;

Separate courts and corrections systems;

Separate parks and street repair;

Separate health departments;

Why?   

Jobs, potholes, criminals and uninsured sick people flow back and forth without stopping at Skinker boulevard.

The realities of community life have left our government structures far behind, and we need to catch up.

There are many potential areas of cooperation that could produce significant savings for taxpayers and actually improve public services.

In terms of the other areas of concentration that you are already considering, let me say a few words about fiscal management.

I believe that it is essential for the City of St. Louis to maintain an independently elected Comptroller.

Historically, the Comptroller has acted as the only real watchdog that the taxpayers can count on.

And the board of E&A generally does a good job of providing a healthy set of checks and balances over tax dollars.

You know in Washington, we have our budget problems too.

The current administration would love to have complete control over the federal budget process.

But the constitution wisely maintains a series of checks and balances to prevent the concentration of too much power in the executive branch.

E&A provides these same protections at city hall and it should be retained.

And while we are considering E&A, let me also respectfully recommend that this process would be incomplete without taking a hard look at the duties and responsibilities of the Mayor’s Office.

In my view, the Mayor’s Office cannot continue in its present form.

That is not a reflection on our current mayor, who is my friend and colleague.

But the fact is that many cities our size have adopted a council - city manager form of government, with great success.

Other cities function successfully with a strong-mayor system.

But currently, the Mayor of the City St. Louis is caught in the twilight zone between a strong mayor system and a weak mayor system.

That does not give the Mayor the necessary tools that are required to lead effectively, and it should be changed.

In terms of the Board of Aldermen, it probably needs to be reduced.

But the ultimate size of the body is less important than the quality of neighborhood representation.
So in conclusion, I would like to encourage you to open up your minds, broaden your focus and continue your good efforts.

I hope you will not be limited by arbitrary schedules and ballot deadlines.

We have taken 90 years to get to this point.

So a few extra weeks, or extra months, would make no difference.

People always resist change, because they fear it.

But, the ultimate challenge for this assembly is to have the courage and vision to help our community overcome that fear, and see the better city that we all want to build.

I look forward to our discussion this morning and thank you again for inviting me.