Municipal League meets in Maplewood, OK’s talks for merger

Members of the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis, meeting at Maplewood City Hall Thursday night, OK’d going ahead with talks with St. Louis city officials that would bring St. Louis into St. Louis County, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, though the audience of county mayors, aldermen and residents were skeptical.

Former Brentwood mayor, Pat Kelly, is the executive director of the Municipal League of St. Louis.

Municipal League backs talks that could reunite St. Louis, county https://t.co/5Y34o07P0t

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) October 28, 2016

.@MuniLeagueSTL votes to try bringing #STL City & County together; some say it will help invigorate the economy: https://t.co/OjrpFLGMuu

— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) October 28, 2016

Richmond Heights resident Bob Pieper wrote a letter to Richmond Heights officials opposing the proposition, and shared it with 40 South:

Mayor Thomson, Council Member Provaznik and Council Member Casey:

This is to express opposition to the St. Louis County Municipal League’s proposal to include the City of St. Louis as a member – thereby facilitating the entry of St. Louis into the county as a 91st municipality and effectively merging the city and county.

The City of St. Louis is $2 billion in debt, due largely to non-performing investment in “business” projects (convention facilities, sports arenas) that are unrelated to municipal government functions, according to the city comptroller’s annual report. This debt has prompted repeated tax increases, reductions in the city’s bond rating, and left the city unable to even basic services such as reliable 911 answering, a fully staffed police department, or snow removal.

A financial relationship of any kind with such a financially unstable and mismanaged entity would clearly be irresponsible and a breach of the fiduciary duty of county officials.

Contrary to the misrepresentations of the city’s creditors – who are the driving force behind the merger initiative – entry of city into St. Louis County obviously would constitute a merger. The City of St. Louis is a rare “city not within a county” and therefore includes “county” functions (property assessment, tax collection, sheriff’s department, and, of course, a treasurer’s office) which would necessarily be merged.

Making matters worse are the duplicitous schemes being proposed to force a merger against the will of the citizenry; including plans for a merger without a public vote or a statewide vote –which would perversely relegate St. Louis County residents to a minority role in determining their own fate.

Amid perhaps unprecedented distrust of government, these schemes are bound to not only alienate average citizens but invite radical responses from extremists on both the right and the left.

In summary, merger with the City of St. Louis is effectively like going into business with Bernie Madoff or partnering with Enron.

I urge the City of Richmond Heights to vote against entry of St. Louis into the County Municipal League during the league’s Thursday, Oct. 27 meeting at Maplewood City Hall.

Thanks, Bob Pieper, 7439 Warner Ave.