In response to Alderman Lintz’s question, City Clerk Frazier explained that write-in votes are not valid if the names have not been previously certified as a candidate by the Election Commission. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

04-26-16 BOA Minutes 1st Meeting April 26, 2016 Page 2 of 3 Other

Mayor Sanger gave the following statement,

“I am really proud to work with this Board, you guys are awesome! Everybody on this Board has special knowledge about things and there is respect that goes back and forth from every angle in the board room and I am very fortunate to be sitting at this desk working with all of you.

What has happened in these past three years is really because of what goes on at the seven desks in here and I appreciate that so much. When we look around the region and see other communities that maybe don’t get along quite as well, it’s terrific. It’s not that we agree on everything, and we don’t, but when we disagree we do it respectfully and keep the citizens of the City of Clayton in mind.

Just a few things that we accomplished and that I’m proud of;

Three years ago we sat down and talked about what some goals would be about going forward, and we had three things that were important to us,

(1) To balance the budget and keep it maintained which was really a lot of work done before some of us even showed up. We got that done and we have two approved balance budgets with another one coming up. We got a solid financial position and a solid reserve; (2) Was to get more people to live in the downtown area and to implement the aspect of the Downtown Master Plan which called for more residence in the downtown community to support our retailers, restaurants, and to bring vibrancy to our community. As a result we have three projects under construction worth $160 million and we have many, many, many, more coming through the pipeline that is going to have a dramatic and positive influence on our community. Our staff has done an unbelievable job to get where we are with that process and it’s really amazing.

Kind of on the negative and the positive side we had our safe demonstrations as a result of the problems that we had that came out of the Ferguson tragedy. 50 plus demonstrations were held in our community, but because of the good efforts of the gentleman sitting in the back corner (Chief Murphy) and his staff, the fire staff, and all of the department heads we had an absolutely wonderful result from those issues. People were able to express their first amendment rights and yet every piece of property and every life in Clayton was protected – it was a perfect way for that to happen.

I gave a speech not long ago to a women’s realtor group and talked about Clayton. The biggest complaint that everybody had was that there is not enough inventory to sell. Whenever something comes on the market, bang, it’s gone! That is a result of things that happen in this room, things that happen over at the Board of Education, things that happen in our community and that makes us such a desirable place to live. When I look at the summary of houses that are sold, what the asking price is versus what the selling price was, in Clayton more than in any other community, whatever the price is it gets bid up, especially in certain areas. In other neighborhoods you can’t possibly put the sign in the yard for 24 hours before there is a sold sign attached, so it’s a great thing for us and a great thing for our property values.

Of course the success that we have had with our partners at Clayton Century Foundation (CCF) in a public, private partnership basis have brought us some great things like the Molecular Bloom and the Enterprise Pavilion, Follman Plaza, Newman Green, and Monetta Gardens. These are some of the things that are over and above what we have the fiscal ability to do, but yet have the aspect of some very, very generous residents and businesses in our community. The public-private thing is really, almost unique in the country in the way that it runs here and my thanks to everybody who has done that job as well, it’s been terrific!

These are some of the things that are over and above what we have the fiscal ability to do, but yet have the aspect of some very, very generous residents and businesses in our community. The public-private thing is really, almost unique in the country in the way that it runs here and my thanks to everybody who has done that job as well, it’s been terrific!

04-26-16 BOA Minutes 1st Meeting April 26, 2016 Page 3 of 3 (3) As we just saw about all the events that we’ve had, we have said that what we wanted to do was have fun and these events are great fun! We have just been named the #1 place in the State of Missouri for things to do and I think that’s a great goal that we’ve hit it very well.

We have relied on the voters to pass a bond issue to repave the streets, $15 million bond issue that is ongoing.

We have had dozens of new restaurants and businesses open in addition to being recognized as the place for the most things to do, we were also rated the best community, best suburb, the best for millennials, the best public schools, and it makes us really the epicenter of the St. Louis Region for commerce and all things happening.

In total it all adds up to we are experiencing a renaissance of our community. When the time comes in the future and people look back and see what happened, just as we looked back and we see the people who had the courage to do the Pierre Laclede buildings and the buildings on Maryland Avenue and the start of us as such a downtown area people will look as this era and say wow, there was a lot going on and we did a great job.

Again, I’m very thankful for this group, for the encouragement, the input, and on occasion the criticism, but for the most part this is a great group that any mayor would be very proud to have…..I thank you all for that!”

There being no further regular business the meeting was adjourned Sine Die at 7:15 p.m.

____________________________

Mayor

ATTEST:

____________________________ City Clerk