January 28, 2025 — Meeting Transcript

Okay. Well, welcome everybody to our January 28th Board of Aldermen meeting and our discussion session up front. We get to talk about fun stuff. So I think, do we need to, we don't, we have to call the roll, do it later, right? Okay. Yeah. So yes, sorry. So Alex, as the executive director, you're going to give us a report on what you guys have been doing.

Thank you, Mayor. Thanks for having us as always. It's always a privilege to be here. I'm going to kind of breeze through this deck since I speak with many of you often. But I do just want to give a snapshot of 2024 and then thinking about what's going on in 2025. But I hope that you know 90% of this time is just going to be me listening to Board of Aldermen and then also we have a few board members here as well. So, In 2023, we celebrated our 15th anniversary. We launched an awareness campaign and then we've really been expanding upon those successful tactics through all of 2024. A good model for CCF has really been meeting in donors' homes here in Clayton, meeting in the buildings that these donors work at and things like that. to update them on our projects, of course, doing solicitation, providing updates and increasing our annual giving. In 2025, we're going to continue to shape kind of what I'm calling our CCF founders. These are really our lifetime donors and stakeholders of CCF. This ranges from past board members, alumni, volunteers, and major donors. These are the folks that kind of shaped our origins and continue to be financially committed, but they also deeply, deeply care about the Clayton community and continue to inspire others to give and engage. In 2023, we adopted a fundraising plan. It's worth saying that CCF currently receives approximately 5% of donor households of Clayton. So to me, this is a little bit small. I'd like it to be 50%. We understand that not everybody is philanthropic, but I think a lot of this has to do with still raising the awareness of who CCF is, what our impact is, what our voice is, and others kind of sharing the gospel of all things CCF. In 2023, we also adopted a new strategic plan, all things kind of remaining, of course, in sync with the city's priorities and the comprehensive master plan of the city. And then I am continuing to focus on operating endowment campaigns and strategies to ensure healthy operations and full financial independence by 2026. So some of our projects, again, this is just a quick snapshot, but public art on Wydown Boulevard. This has been kind of an ongoing project. This is really to bookend the Botero sculpture at the west end. So this would be at the east end at Ellenwood. And this is in partnership with VIA Partnership, who's written the art master plan for Clayton and Meredith. Artwork near Chapman Falls, continuing relationships with Barry Wimmeler, stakeholder and donor. We have secured St. Louis Art Museum loans, so it's really just identifying the particular placements of those loans that are in alignment with the master plan. And then, of course, it's always about dollars, making sure that those artworks are conserved, insured, and maintenance and installed in accordance to the museum's standards. The traffic signal boxes I wanted to bring up again. I had been in touch with the St. Louis Art Fair in regards to proposing a particular project having to do with those, and they probably haven't reached out as of yet. I can be following back up on that. I know that was interest to Alderman last time. Historic site markers continue to be kind of an ongoing project. This has also been in collaboration with the task force, kind of expanding upon our original locations that we had identified in all the various different neighborhoods. We just recently installed one at Hanley House. There's going to be one going up in Daman, the Philippine Village. Country Club Court has just funded their marker, so that'll soon be there. Osage Nation and Oak Knoll Park. Hillcrest is really half-funded. A lot of these are half-funded. You know, a lot of the content's already written. It's always just about the dollars, so... the historic Hanley house is, is an incredible opportunity. I think for us, we have this, uh, a hundred thousand dollar Hanley match campaign underway. Um, so we had already kind of done some of the, what I call the enhancements honoring the Jackson family, which is basically the picnic pad that's right outside of the, uh, slave quarters there. Uh, Making sure that the furniture is in alignment with the other furniture of Hanley Park, but then also starting to integrate some additional signage. And then also I'm working on a video with Cordell Whitlock. We got to get the script first. We've got to get the historical research first, but a script that could integrate into this particular site and then be utilized in schools and things like that, similar to our neighborhoods video. When we made our neighborhoods video, we did not make one for Hanley House. So I'd like to get that done. And then I'd also like to contextualize the Jackson family, the family of slaves that lived there previously. during the time of the Hanleys. The Ralph Clayton portrait is something that I think folks have probably saw, and obviously this council has talked about. We now have that fully installed downstairs with the contextualization of the extended wall label. The History Center, if you haven't been to the Center of Clayton recently, I've just kind of started to move a lot of the archives, which have been kind of cooped up in the back to try to reactivate the History Center and actually have it be a place in which you could go, be there amongst the archives and objects. I'm actually going to be working with a graduate research assistant from the University of Missouri St. Louis to start pulling some of the objects from Hanley House and putting them in those display cases. So drawing attention to not only Hanley House, but also the campaign, but also as the Hanley House is closed, pulling those really incredible objects out so people can see them and experience them in person. AutoCast app, this continues to be something that is kind of on our radar as it pertains to getting it updated. There's always more content to get updated. Charlie Brennan has expressed or had mentioned that he would do the additional updates as we need. I'll be working with Citi Marketing on that. And then century home plaques. A lot of these buildings and homes, if they haven't already turned a century, they are turning a century. So we'll get more requests of that as well, kind of stating the historical significance of the home or the building built with the year attached to it. Remembrance Park. This is kind of the project that keeps on giving, but what I like to say about this is it's good for CCF because we have sponsored every tree, bench, living wall, bicycle station and path in that park, and it continues to be more and more opportunity to do so. So I think the visibility of it continues on. And donations continue to come in for all of those different projects. So it's exciting to see it shape up. The splash pad at Shaw Park, which had been donated a while back, is now fully installed and operational, which is nice as well. And I'll be working on a lot of the recognition signage for a lot of these projects in 2025. Pavilion naming and sheltering. pavilion naming uh opportunities so like the shelters the pavilions this is one example where a lot of these shelters can be named from donors to corporations I think there's a lot of opportunity there and then really identifying needs you know the projects developed during the livable Community master planning process that's what I kind of want to make sure that we have a majority of the time to discuss tonight EV charging stations continues to be a multi-year federal grant opportunity. I'm continuing to study and understand how we can apply for this particular grant and secure the funding for it. The funding will dry up at some point, but right now it's a multi-year project to the federal government. And then in terms of sustainability, I always kind of preach, you know, sustainability is a practice. All of these projects, sustainability is always an integral component, right? So whether it's a LEED certified building or whether it's cycling or planting trees or the Tree City USA, it's all about us talking about how sustainability is integral to everything that we do. And this is just kind of the snapshot of everything I just said as it pertains to like some of the priority projects that we're looking at in 2025. Again, the enhanced Clayton program kind of encompasses everything from a hanging flower basket to a bench or a historic marker. And... then the last couple of slides are just the current approved projects. So I really just want to be able to more so listen, and I'm going to sit down and I can go to any slide, but I also just wanted more time to just have conversation and listen to the council.

Well, thank you very much. That was great. I'm just going to go around in order of seniority and get comments or questions for you.

Hi, Alex. Thanks for coming. Thanks for all your hard work. It was great to see a list. It's been a while since I have been the Aldermanic Representative on CCF, so it was great to kind of get an update, and I feel like you haven't been here in a little bit, so thank you. I guess I just had a couple of questions, you know, that just seems like there's so much on this list. So when you're approaching donors, do you feel like you... or maybe it's both ways. Do you feel like you have a focus? Like you, you know, a donor reaches out and said, I love the parks. I want to fund something in the park or, Do you feel like the campaign to kind of increase households, I guess, needs to be more general or do you? I don't know. I'm just curious, like your approach, because it certainly would be great to get. It is still so surprising and that there's not more households that give like you would think that that would be that number would be higher now. And I don't and that's not a testament to you in the organization. It just is surprising. So.

I like to say, again, that we're a teenager, right? So even though the organization was founded in, what, 1985, because it was quasi-governmental, I think it still has quite a bit of time in which it was more government. It's really only the 15 years that it's been CCF. 15 years. It's a teenager, right. So I think when we think about other nonprofit organizations, let's take St. Louis Art Museum. It's had a century. It's had a century. They have multi-generational engagement, and we are still working on that multi-generational This splash pad is an example, right? That's multi-generational engagement. So that's a pitch to a family that experiences and has been in Shaw Park all their life. Their family's been here all their life. So that's way that their family can continue to experience Shaw Park and give those experiences to others. So that's always kind of the pitch, is that you It's about, it's a point of pride. You live in this community or you work in this community, how you want it to be better. You want it to be enhanced. Yes, you pay taxes, but these are the enhancements. These are the reasons why you want to live or be here. And as it pertains to the focus, I always say I have a menu. I have a menu, and depending upon the donor that I'm talking to, I usually understand already their philanthropic interests. And also with help from my board, understand kind of what they're interested in and what we are trying to accomplish. So I usually kind of pick and choose from that particular menu and shape it that way.

And then just to kind of build the increase in donors, are there certain things that you, I mean, other than having the events in people's homes, which you said have been successful, are there other ways? I mean, I think there's a great like letter writing campaign. Are you guys increasing social media presence? I'm just curious, like other than perhaps increasing the... you know, the home celebrations or whatever? Are there any other targeted ways that you're?

Yeah. So we have a detailed fundraising plan, which kind of outlines the various different strategies for sure. I have found the most successful models are actually fairly traditional. It's really this one-to-one engagement. Philanthropy, people give because of other people. Right. So if the neighbor is giving, that neighbor says, this is why CCF is so great. You should be giving. Why aren't you? And usually the answer is I never heard of you. Right. So it's actually OK because it's oftentimes I've never heard of you or something like that. Or what are the dollars actually impacting people? I have found don't realize how much CCF has been integral to the community in a lot of good ways. The city gets the credit by design. That's great. The city is getting the credit for doing these things. So it's kind of our job to say, yes, the city is the majority, right? It's the tax dollars. But we're the gravy, right? So we're the ways that the splash pad can get done or the living green wall also integrates into a waterfall. It's those extras. So it's trying to inspire people that way.

Yeah, and I think we're certainly very lucky as a city to have you and to have the organization. I mean, like you said, the extras are kind of the cherry on top, right? And then I was just curious if you feel like there's anything we can do as a city to help your efforts or if there's anything that we're not doing that you would like to see more of.

Yeah, I mean, I was just talking with... some some board members recently about this it's like we have this mechanism that has been created called ccf right and it's an incredible mechanism so if city staff and if council can't solicit that's fine draw them to me right that if there's opportunities in which folks want to give back to their community right so have me help them, inspire them to do it. Direct them to me, give me their information in terms of like, hey, did you know about CCF and what the generational impact has been and what they're doing? So just funneling folks to me in that type of way is the best conduit for sure. And it's the mechanism that we've already created. Thanks.

Alderwoman Buse. Thank you, and thank you. I'll start with this. I know that sometimes the awareness issue that it's not the city doing this, that CCF is important, and a lot of the fundraising from the outside looking in seems to be like when you're doing a mural on demand, and people come forward and they want that. How many of those contributors then continue to contribute after their pet project Is there a trend there that you can identify? Yeah,

that's a good question. If we're using the example of demand as a point of departure, I would say less than 50%. Yeah. continue to give. Now, some of that has to do with because that particular project and that artist had a different national scope. So some of those folks were not from Clayton or related to Clayton. So that particular project is a good example. But a lot of times, you know, there is a little bit of one and done. And one of the things that I am also asked to is that sometimes in a recent communication with a donor, it went something like this. Well, we're really interested, of course, in this project, this project and this project, but wouldn't. wouldn't you better be supported by an annual gift over five years that goes to the operations and the fulfillment of all the things that we're doing? And that is better, because I would rather have the sustained annual unrestricted gift to make sure that all of these projects that we've just talked about are implemented, recognized, facilitated, all of the work that goes into that. Because when Remembrance Parks opens up, I got to make sure that Again, all the tables have recognition on it. All the donors that we've solicited have that recognition attached to that park. And that's work that we have to do to continue to get those gifts. And if I do it well, then I follow up and I get bigger gifts or more projects. Yeah. And I have to do it well. And what I mean is do it well and do it fast and do it efficiently. So, and I'm one person, you know, two people, Lisa.

Well, you're doing great. It's like, I remember starting fundraisers with like the school district wanting PTOs. And there was a certain class who the parents only wanted to give to their pet projects, whether it was a playground or this or that. And if it wasn't going to benefit their kid, then they were done. But you had, but you're still planning the awareness that this is what our organization does. And so- do think that will continue to grow but i was curious um because it seems that if people find the project they love whether it's a splash pad or something else they're much more likely to come forward and hopefully continue to grow from there um the other question i had is hanley house were we looking at other ways of funding that and is that yeah exploration continuing

Yeah, there's a federal grant that I want to apply for. And I've just been trying to make sure that when we submit the application that we actually get it, that we meet all the various different criteria and that we receive it, that I don't waste a bunch of time applying for it and not getting it. But there is a federal grant. It's upwards of about $70,000. There's a little bit of Missouri state funding, but it's just as bureaucratic and it's not as much. Honestly, I think there's a lot of more focus should be given more to the individuals. And it would be really significant if we got some federal funding to it because it's almost like the recognition of getting the federal funding is more important than the funding itself.

Is there any thought, aside from just the dollars, of changing the structure of who funds it or a different organization funding it? Or it's really looking at just $70,000. If we get it, it lasts how long for maintaining the handling house?

Not very long. It needs $2.5 million of restoration work. I would say my core focus in terms of priority and looking at the laundry list of different things that it needs is fire suppression and alarm update systems. It can't burn down, right? One day it might just burn down, and then it's all gone. So it has to have that kind of baseline infrastructure. Otherwise... It's gone, 1855. Those homes go quick. But that costs, I understand, that costs a lot of dollars to do. And infrastructure, projects like that, there's not a lot of donors that like to fund that type of nitty gritty. It's not shiny in terms of that.

And the last question, when you're talking about naming pavilions and things, I remember there's a naming policy. that we have, and I don't remember what the terms are. Is that just really generally, what kind of criteria are there that you would get your name onto something? And it's a area by project.

Yeah, so everything would be facilitated through parks or other city staff. So I wouldn't ever give away anything without consulting or having it be interfaced through Tony and parks and through all the proper channels and the proper amounts.

Thank you. Alderman Patel. Thanks. I was actually going to ask about two specific kind of projects or things that you mentioned. One of them was the naming of pavilions and shelters. So I know we have a naming policy and agreements about how that is handled, but my impression is that it at least how I thought about it, remember thinking about it, is that it was tied to like sort of like new builds or like new big things. And so, I mean, the idea that we do have like pavilions and shelters around town that could be named the way trees or benches get names and things like that is interesting. But it does actually feel a little bit different to me. So I think what I'm curious about is whether we think that that is like something we need to actually talk about and establish whether it's something we're going to do and what the guidelines would be for it, or whether it was covered, it is covered under that policy. And I just didn't hadn't really realized it. So I don't know, I feel like I'm kind of asking David this question. And that's

We thought that policy handy. I couldn't tell you. I don't know if Tony knows it.

Well, so if we could just check that and make sure like if it's a topic, I mean, that could be like a good opportunity. I would want to be open to it, but I would want to make sure that we're clear about the guidelines and parameters

for it. Do we have any pavilions that do have recognition on them already? Yeah, Enterprise. So

Barry Wimmeler, Enterprise. I never go to the pavilion,

so

I'm not sure.

Yeah, no, but that's it.

Barry Wimmeler Enterprise and... Nussbaum and O'Connell. Oh, okay, I knew about that. The smaller one, but those all have names attached to them. Those two, but do we have others?

So it's three, and they were all part of big CCF projects.

Correct. Which is great. Oh, yeah, the Sanger picnic pad. You're right about

that. Okay, so just to maybe be clear about that would be good. I

have a picnic

table. The picnic tables and benches, those are items. We already have those types

of things. Go ahead. That's fine. Because I live in Hillcrest, I perked up when you mentioned the Hillcrest Historic Marker. I think you said something like it's kind of half-funded. Yeah. I, sorry, I just heard the background noise. It distracted me. But I don't believe that as a resident of Hillcrest, I have received any buddy asking me to fund that. And I believe that a lot of people in Hillcrest would be particularly motivated, just like in any other neighborhood. And so I would encourage you to think about And maybe you worded even like to try to make it not be a restricted donation, obviously, but that this is a thing we're trying to do. And if we can get this amount from Hillcrest, it'll go in or something. So I would encourage you like that is going to like that is a much more impactful ask. You can get the you could maybe get the trustees to actually send it out in an email. In addition to mailers, it will catch people's eye and. I was

just talking to another fellow Hillcrestian about this type of thing and making sure that when you're at your neighborhood associations, when you're talking with your neighbors, the asks are... way more impactful coming from the fellow neighbors than me, right? Like I am the solicitor in a lot of ways. But I think when it's like, oh, well, you are interested in history and I understand that. Did you know X,

Y,

and Z? But yes, absolutely.

when I joined CCF and was part of the board one of the big things that I always was a part of and that we did was the Okinawa Music Nights and I believe that the organization made an intentional decision to step back from that or maybe it was just like staffing or constraints so I'd love to understand kind of CCF's relationship to that event and the thought behind it.

Yep. So because we have, because that particular event series comes out of our operational budget, the things that I'm always thinking about is what is our operations versus what is fully funded? So I will, it is continuing in 2025, but But it is something that I want to make sure that it's funded. So another example is the Chapman Concert Music Series. That's fully funded. It's underwritten. So should the Oak Knoll Music Nights series by a donor, a resident of Southmore, what have you. I would like it to be a five-year period rather than just one year, but... that it doesn't come out of our operations budget, that it comes out of a restricted fund that's been solicited or earmarked for that particular event series.

Okay. And that, so it sounds like what you're sharing is that for now CCF is actually still part of funding the Okinawa Music Nights. And what I was actually trying to get at is that There is, if I go to Okno music nights, I see no sign of that.

Oh,

there's no one there from CCF. There's no, like we had special signs that we got at one point, which may not even still be in working shape. I understand. But like, like nobody who goes to that knows, like we used to make announcements at the beginning of it and during intermission. So. I mean, many of you are experienced fundraisers and I am not. So it's up to you to try to figure out how to do that. But it's just something I've noticed.

Yeah. I mean, I'll address it. I have found that... The community-related events, though I think CCF should continue to be, and my board wants me to continue to sponsor these events, it doesn't necessarily yield annual donors. And the annual donors come from the donor events and the donor homes and the solicitations kind of through those types of salons. And with... Our operations being so thin, it's something that I want to prioritize. I want to prioritize operational annual revenue over community goods.

Okay. And I'm curious about like the size of the board and board recruitment, like how is that?

Yeah, it sits around 20 ish. And I would say too that I actually just finished a board orientation for this meeting. We're getting a lot of new blood. There's a lot of folks that have been seasoned members for years and years, but there's actually, I think, more new members than there are more seasoned members. So it's kind of fun to see the organization shaping and changing a little bit. But as an example of this, one of the new members is a neighbor of a seasoned member, right? So it's all connected in that type of way, or they're from the same neighborhood. So they're just kind of pulling folks in that are their neighbors. But there are a few new ones as well. There was a board member from Moneta which is nice to have them back in the fold. This was before my time in terms of the Minetta Garden and things like that. I'm still always making sure that I have representation from the corporate community. We have Graybar Electric, but we do not have Enterprise. You know, we do not have Centene in terms of we do not have Energizer. you know, Fleshman Hillard, all of these organizations that are here. Uh, I would like them to be, they need to be sitting on our board. Uh, and that's really important. And that's something that I continue to advocate for and not only 2025, but always, you know,

thanks. Thanks for everything else. Yeah. Gary.

Um, a couple of things. Um, So we haven't talked at all about the former ice rink. And I know you and the mayor and CCF were involved in that effort. And so now, as you know, we're moving forward with that and have a subcommittee that's, Tony has put together a subcommittee and we're looking at alternatives from some of the planning that was done. And I suppose this is more a comment that you can respond to. It seems to me very possible and maybe even very likely that whatever comes out of this process will produce a plan that has to be funded and that it's now possible that the city might be able to contribute something, depending on what that is on that site. But it's also very possible and likely that there will be a need for some significant private funding funding to complement whatever the city would put in. So, you know, I just have the observation that I would hope that CCF will be given an opportunity to have input as we move forward because I know when I was involved with CCF occasionally the city sort of decided what something should be done and then said to CCF, okay, Now we want you to do some fundraising and my reaction was it would have been nice if you'd involved us sooner. If you're going to ask us to raise funds so I hope that CCF will have a role in that and and although I know I'm cheating because I talked to you at coffee with you yesterday, but in terms of In terms of what happens on that site, based on your prior experience, do you have any feeling, at least from the standpoint of raising money privately, what type of use in that former ice rink site would be most likely to generate private support? Because again, we're probably talking about somewhat significant numbers. Maybe not the numbers from last time, but still some big numbers with the need for some big sponsors.

Well, Gary, that's a big question that you asked. I would say or encourage... us, meaning the city and CCF, to try not to reinvent the wheel too much. And I know that there's a lot of bidding processes, and I know that there is a lot of history with this project, you know, 15 years plus prior to my time. There's been different iterations and designs and things like that. But we have so many vendors that have been involved in this. We have so many community members that have been involved with this and donors. that are committed and interested, it's always good to make sure that they're kept informed throughout the process. And the best way to do that, I would say is just echo what you said is that we're listening and I'm part of those committees and we're able to carry that back to potential donors that had expressed previous interest in funding the project. So I don't know if that was an answer or not, but just echoing what you said is being involved. Yeah.

I hope we will involve CCF in this process sooner rather than later. So that's just my take. That would be, I think that would be wise. Just one final comment, which as I know that in the 15 years, CCF has become more independent from the city than it was in the beginning, but I think you know that's both the plus and minus of our relationship. The pluses were very supportive, and to some extent it keeps CCF going, but it also holds CCF back because many of our residents still believe, even after 15 years, that CCF is a division of the city, and They don't get the independent nature of it. And so to the extent people figure, as you I think alluded to, we pay a lot of taxes and I'm not sure why I should independently support CCF because it's part of the city anyway. So in terms of like a five-year plan, just dealing with the issue of independence, where do you see CCF going in terms of its relationship with the city? Yeah.

Also, another big question I would say. It had always concerned me that we were too quasi governmental meaning. that I thought a donor would say just that. But in terms of, well, I pay taxes, why would I give to the nonprofit or CCF, which is just a quasi-government alarm? But I've never heard a donor ever say that. So a lot of that is, I think, for sure my assumptions, but I've never been told that by a donor, and I've never been mistakenly or thought it was an arm of the of the municipal government so i would say in terms of where ccf should go i would just answer that i always want us to dream bigger i always want us a dream bigger because we have such pride here in our community Uh, we have, I don't know when this, you can tell me when, when this has happened, but we, I think we are the first downtown. Uh, well, I think we've surpassed the city of St. Louis in terms of all of the headquarters of these corporations flocking here. And then of course, all the employees, they live here. So, um, I want to make sure that we're harnessing that pride and and in the community and making sure that people understand that we exist again for the cultural infrastructure, that if the city exists for the trash pickup and the essential services and the nitty gritty, that we exist for all of the enhancements, the splash pad, the parks, the history that makes you want to be here, makes you want to have your headquarters here. And that's kind of always my inspirational speech, I think. I always want us to dream bigger because I think we have... the capacity, and I think donors and residents have the interest in making their community kind of have multi-generational impact.

Thank you. Yeah,

Rick.

A couple of different things, Alex. So one, if you would talk, I want to focus on revenue and fundraising a little bit. You identified that there are a number of large businesses that aren't participating in fundraising right now. And so what I'm wondering if you could talk about the I guess my premise that residents may feel a more vested interest in investing in CCF versus, say, a national corporation that happens to be here. So talk a little bit about that.

Yeah. So it's been my experience just as a fundraiser in generally, though I'll defer to my board members behind me as well, that corporate giving is oftentimes still through the individual. that it's individuals that make up these corporations. It's individuals that are running these corporations, so it's through the individuals that give, right? Whether that's connecting to the charitable arms or the entities of the corporations, whether that is the CEOs or the folks that then retire from those corporations or are still semi-affiliated with it, it all connects back to the individual or the people. So I have found, or I haven't been as successful in securing necessarily the large corporate charitable gifts. I've also found, and again, I'll defer to my board members on this one, that oftentimes those gifts are, they can be smaller and they require more paperwork, grant reporting, and things like that as related to the particular gifts. So they're more difficult to secure and they're more difficult implement and report out

on. So if you're going to prioritize on where your focus is for revenues, here's my guess. You have to tell me if I'm missing something. But individuals, businesses, foundations, government grants, perhaps some too. But what have you found to be the most effective place for you to go?

Yeah, individuals. Individuals.

Okay. And then... I am wondering, I want to go back to Gary's comment regarding the government association. At least at some point, maybe I have the expectation at least that a goal is to become a freestanding organization without government support. So talk a little bit about what are the challenges or opportunities that you're facing in order to make that a reality?

Yeah. Well, we have no operating endowment. That is an objective of our strategic plan. It's something I've discussed with our board. And when we had that discussion circa 2021, one of the things that we talked about is we have to first do an awareness campaign to get that kind of understanding that do this first before you kind of launch into an endowment campaign. We've done that. I think there were tactics and things that we learned that were successful, and I think We need to launch into, because of the financial independence piece, we need to launch into some form of an operating endowment campaign. These are usually silent. You don't publicly announce them until they're nearly 100% or 90% funded, and then you kind of announce that you're close to your goal. But without that, you don't have... you're chasing annual fund. You're chasing annual gifts year after year to just make your operations and the time and energy spent on that. I'm not putting time and energy to Remembrance Park or the projects or fundraising for the projects, the mission of the organization, just trying to operate the organization. Um, So it's kind of like that chicken or the egg. Folks want to donate to the capital projects. That's usually their interest. But there are individuals in the community and there are corporations that do understand the value of an organization and the holistic principles of what we're trying to achieve. And there are individuals that are willing to donate go in that direction and pledge their funding of support. You just have to, you have to create the campaigns and you have to inspire them. You have to do the work.

Right. So it sounds to me like, um, you know, at least the way that we're currently staffed, we're spread pretty thin to try to be good at everything. Um, and so, uh, consequently you got to pick and choose and you've picked, um, uh, on the projects because it's probably, um, uh My last question is just on prioritization. So you've talked about art, history, parks, sustainability, events is kind of in there, although maybe that's part of parks. On a limited budget, how would you prioritize those? Which are your primary focus?

In terms of the pillars? Yes. Just kind of prioritizing?

Yeah, at this time. I'm wondering whether it evolves over time.

I'm going to answer it in a way that you don't like it, but I'm going to, I'm going to it this way. I would say historically parks has been the most prioritized and funded. I would say after that would probably come history. And then after that comes art and sustainability is kind of, we're trying to just narrativize it better. I would like them to all equally stand for, the same and i think some of these things cross in and blend with each other right there's art in parks historic hanley house is in a park so they cross over and i try to talk about that blend a little bit more uh so they can be more equal

great uh jeff questions comments Yeah,

so we talked about a bunch of the projects and Rick talked a little bit about it. But can you go into a little more detail as to actually what your – it's called balance sheet, but I don't necessarily mean it as a formal balance sheet. After the Centene money left, where are we actually at from a money coming in versus money coming out and a going concern situation for CCF?

So I'm going to answer it like this. The Centene gift, because it was given in multiple different payments, five payments of $400,000 over multiple years, in a lot of ways functioned as a de facto endowment. It was a deferred kind of revenue gift, but because CDs and other interests were so good at that particular time, it was making $50,000 to $70,000 of interest alone on the gift. We don't have that anymore. So that gap exists in terms of we don't have that interest revenue or those investments. The greatest asset that we hold is the Barry Wiemiller private securities for the Chapman Maintenance. And that has been designed over a 20-year period to sustain that particular project. That is the largest asset that we hold. In terms of cash flow and in terms of annual gifts, we usually receive kind of gross around... Around $150,000 of gifts on an annual basis. Those gifts, however, are both restricted and unrestricted. I would say about 30% of the gifts are actually restricted. Now we have a financial policy in place to make sure that our operations are accounted for. So 20% of our restricted gifts is dedicated to those particular operations.

And obviously some of that I know because we've worked on part of that together. I guess I'm just trying to kind of understand, we talked all about the projects, we've talked about funding and becoming self-sufficient, and I'm just trying realistically given the money coming in versus money coming out, like is this a situation where ccf is going to need more money from the city to stay operational will it need less like is it kind of a status quo like and maybe that's okay i'm just trying to get a sense of like five years from now kind of where is ccs sitting vis-a-vis the city

Yeah, so I would answer this way. Per our MOU, our MOU goes to 100% of my reimbursed salary September 2025, this year. I am projecting us to honor that, and I have put these fundraising plans in place to and communicate all these things in the goal and aim to be independent and honored MOU that we've entered into. And then I've also, over these various years, put forth these various different financial policies that were not in place by design because we came and were formed out of quasi-governmental institutions I think this organization over the years depended more on the city. And so a lot of the staffing costs and other types of things just went into the city, just were absorbed by the city. And a lot of that is now gone. the city is unburdened by that. You know, we do not rely on finance department. You know, I'm always relying on Tony, but not to the degree in which she's working our books, right? And that's what the former parks director was doing is handling the books and being the accountant, right? um in in some degrees you know so the degree of city staff involvement in ccf's operations is now very much on ccf and very much off of the backs of city staff

the only other question i had and it's more of just a thought like maybe it's a pie in the sky dream but this idea of like art and why down I know we want to do it on the East End. We've got on the West End. Has the thought been to try to put various sculptures like various along the drive so you're actually seeing it all the way from one end to the other? Is that kind of the master plan or is that like, look, Jeff, that's a long way off. Let's even start talking about that stuff.

So I'll answer it this way. When our committee talked about the site, we actually talked about not only just the median and kind of where the turnaround of Ellenwood was, but actually a part of the site. So it is possible that an artist would come in and say, hey, I don't want to just do a sculpture. I want to do something that incorporates the trees and incorporates lights and that actually kind of activates more of the media and probably not all of it, but like more of the media. than just kind of like this little small piece. And that would have to be a major discussion with residents, stakeholders, public artists, you know, this council, et cetera. It would be a lot to discuss and unpack, let alone the cost. But it is possible that an artist would propose that. And it is possible that that proposal could rise to the top in terms of of interest to the jurors that have been selected for the project.

Thanks.

Yeah.

That's all I got.

Okay. Well, in the one minute remaining. Yeah. No, most of the things that I was thinking have been asked and I, and I, and we have a lot of good questions and a lot of good discussion. So I thank you all for the, all those thoughtful questions. I think what I would like to ask is in an effort. So I am probably the biggest believer in CCF that you can find having been on the original, original founding board before there was a board. So I'm all for CCF and I do want to say thank you for all of the hard work that the board, please pass it on to the rest of the board and that you and your team do because the payoff, I think if we crank the numbers, I'm not sure what it would amount to, but I think the amount that the city has invested over the years has more than paid back that investment. And I would expect that to be, you know, continuing based on what you've said. I do think it would be helpful. I would appreciate it. And maybe our board would, if you would share your numbers with us, it doesn't have to be line items, but sort of a, maybe an executive summary of, you know, your budget, your, your goals for the next three years or something where your needs are. And I think everybody here would be willing to try to help think about that and maybe know people that could help with it. Maybe somebody here has a connection to Emerson. I don't know. But I mean, if we're thinking about it and we know the situation, we can better help you. So I would love it if you would follow up this meeting with something like that over the next month or so. That'd be great. And you can just send it to us since it's not a problem. I also think that there are people in our midst. I'm going to give one example of who could, for example, help with the Hanley House and trying to identify grant money. And that is Jeff Ward, who is at WashU. He's on the history task force that I have. He is like a fountain of information. I'm sure he's not listening, but if he was, he would probably... be texting me saying, be quiet. Don't even tell him. But he's just got so many resources at his fingertips, but also knows about everything going on in the world with regard to African-American projects and things like that. And also I want to say that I have found In my work with CCF, they've worked very hard to help with things that I've been involved in. I will say that the number one obstacle that we encountered, at least when I've been involved, is Rich Clayton, poor St. Louis. And if we can figure out a way to help people understand that just because we have We have a high median income in our Community that doesn't mean that our city doesn't have needs and because we don't have an income tax. You know we don't so that is a big. the big gorilla in the room, I think, that hasn't been mentioned. And I think it's really tough. But I think if you can get your board to brainstorm around that and somehow get that word out, that would be really helpful in getting donations. And other than that, I'll stop. But I've had about five or six ideas right here to help you. So let's have coffee. And I'll share some of that stuff with you because I think you might have some pathways to things that you're not thinking of. Yeah, so thank you very much.

Thank you all. I really appreciate the time. I know it's easy to fill up an hour. All

right, Alex. Thank you guys for coming. Yeah. All right. All right, so it's 7 o'clock-ish, so we can start our 7 p.m. business meeting, and if the city clerk will call the roll.

Alderman McAndrew. Alderman Buse. Alderman Patel. Alderman Gary Feder. Alderman Rick Hummell. Alderman Yorg. Mayor Harris. City Manager David Gipson. City Attorney O'Keefe.

Alderman McAndrew. Alderman Buse. Alderman Patel. Alderman Fader. Alderman Hummel. Alderman Yorg. Mayor Harris. City Manager Gibson. City Attorney O'Keefe.

Okay, and hi to my MIAC members in the back. I wish you'd stand up and shout out your names. Thanks for joining us. These are the two that have the misfortune of following the Board of Aldermen meetings among the group. As you know, everybody follows some committee and then at the end of the year they give a little report with some ideas about how we could do something better or an idea for us to pursue. So thank you guys for being here. um okay so now's the time on our agenda for public requests and petitions um anyone in the audience no um unless you guys have something okay anybody online yeah okay nobody online so that uh we won't have any public comment um i do want to mention really quickly and we got an email about this but i'll just mention it for anybody who might be listening that we are so lucky to have such an amazing fire department who have recently been, who've earned a class one public protection classification by the ISO, the insurance something, something, Yeah, office. But it's the highest rating possible. And I think where you told me that we're one of three or four agencies in the state that have earned it.

We're now the ninth in the state. We are the third in the metro, but we're the only municipality. So typically it's fire districts to get this. And as you know, fire districts have a substantial amount of revenue typically when you compare that to the municipality. So for a municipality in St. Louis County to get the class one rating, it's a really big deal.

is that um does that make our insurance rates cheaper

no not on the residential side it does have potential to lower commercial rates

i'm just thinking about the tax increase we've got coming and that could be a selling point if we could sell that no it is definitely something good to know

talking point is that we have such a great department that um and we we support it and we're grateful for the community's support of it and that investment allows us to have this great department that does all these great things yeah i think yeah okay um in that case we can move on to our consent agenda

mayor

manager any or is there anybody that wants to talk about that agenda yes

since i will probably screw up the process but since i wasn't here i can't i don't feel comfortable voting on the minutes because i wasn't here so i don't know if that means we have to formally pull it out of the consent agenda or i just don't vote

abstain from the vote

okay

approving the consent agenda

okay then no need to pull it out of the consent agenda trying to remember how we did that last time okay

okay so um is there anybody that would like to discuss anything within the consent agenda okay all right so um alderman gander i move to approve the consent agenda second any discussion okay will you please call the roll

Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Alderwoman Patel. Aye. Aldermen Gary Feder.

Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Alderwoman Patel. Aye. Aldermen Fader.

Aye.

Aldeman Rick Hummell.

Aldeman Hummel.

Aye.

Mayor

Harris. Aye. All right, and now the City Manager's Report, the Agreement for Financial Advisor.

Yes, just one item tonight. Piper Sandler has been the City of Clayton's financial advisor for over 20 years. A five-year service agreement was approved by the Board of Aldermen in 2019 and recently expired on December 31st, 2024. This legislation would approve a new five-year agreement with Piper Sandler. The city is now planning to issue special obligation bonds to fund the renovation of the municipal garage, and we anticipate the bonds will be issued in the amount of $13,880,000. The bonds will be competitively bid in compliance with the city charter. Under the agreement proposed for the issuance, compensation for the current services provided would be $60,000. Staff believe the proposed fees are reasonable, competitive, and consistent with past bond issuances and fair and appropriate in today's marketplace. Staff recommends that the Board of Aldermen approve the ordinance engaging Piper Sandler as financial advisor for a five-year term and the 2025 special obligation bond issue.

Okay. Thank you. I'll open to the discussion. Any comments or questions about this from any board members?

I'll just reiterate the same comments I've made before about this whole bond issue.

Go ahead.

I don't need to. I think everybody kind of knows that I don't think this is the best way to go with it. So unless anybody wants to hear me go back through my diatribe, I'll just say ditto from last time.

Well, what I would like to do, I may come back to your diatribe, but I wonder if because of our additional audience here, you might talk a little bit about what financial advisors do. And you mentioned... special obligation bond, which they may not understand what that is. And if you just kind of do a little educating here.

So there are various ways that a city can borrow money. The two that you see most typically in this large amount. So we're going to borrow almost $14 million to do renovations to our public works facility and parks facility, which is our maintenance building. We call it the municipal garage. So we've got to do this project and we have to borrow money to do it. But we can't just go to the bank for that amount of money the way that you would if you were buying a car or something like that. So what happens is typically you'll issue debt and you'll issue bonds. There are two types of bonds, there are general obligation bonds, there are more than that, but the two that you typically see in municipalities are general obligation bonds. which you borrow the money and you pay that money back through a dedicated property tax. So you actually have to go to voters, and the voters have to say, yes, I approve of the city borrowing this money, and I pledge further property tax money that I would be charged in my real estate bill to go to paying that back over time. So that's one route that you can go, and that requires voter approval. What we're going to do in this particular case is issue what's called special obligation bonds. And for special obligation bonds, we're pledging the city's revenue to repay that existing revenue. So it's not new taxes that are funding this or anything else within the city's existing budget. We'll use those funds to pay this debt over time. And so in order to do that, in order to borrow this much money, we have to demonstrate to the underwriters and ultimately the people that will buy these bonds that the city has the ability to pay that back. So what we do is we engage a financial advisor that helps us through that process. So they'll put the actual bond issue together. So they'll figure out exactly how much we're borrowing. They'll set a term for it. look at what the potential rates are so that we know what those payments might look like. And then they'll assist us in a bond rating call. So what will happen is rather than just having somebody pull your credit score, if you were going to buy a car or something, we have to go through a bond rating process. So there are national bond rating agencies that will assess the city's finances. It's a really comprehensive process. We actually have to have what's called a ratings call. So I'll get on the phone along with our finance director and our financial advisor, and they'll ask us a lot of very, very specific questions about the city's finances and our projections going into the future. So we have to demonstrate to them that we have financial strength in order to get a good rating. So what ends up happening is, and we have a AAA bond rating, which is the highest that you can get the bond rating that you get, that AAA status, results in lower interest rates on the payments in the end. Just like if you have a high credit score, if you're going to buy a car, that's going to result in lower interest payments when you buy that vehicle, where if you had a bad credit score, you're going to pay more for that. So we're really fortunate here in that we have a really good high bond rating or credit rating with these agencies. and it helps keep the interest payments low. But every time you go to borrow a lot of money, like a lot of money like this, $14 million, you have to go through this rating process and the financial advisors who helps you through that process. And so what we're approving tonight is a five-year contract with a municipal finance advisor, the same one that we've been using for the last 20 years. It's basically a five-year agreement. So anything that might come up over the next five years, we would engage them for that. But more specifically, The debt we plan to issue this year, they're going to help us through that process. So hopefully that helps. I don't know if I said that too fast or it's not at all into the process.

Former bond writer, I would say you got that right.

Yeah. So just very briefly, Jeff, if you would go ahead and talk to the... just review kind of what you, your questions were about this and what you, your thoughts had been as an alternative.

Oh, I can. And I probably should have been clearer. So actually as a, as a, I used to rate bonds. So I used to actually, I think I did Clayton at some point and Piper I've known, I've only known those, the guys that were looking to hire for 20 some odd years. So they're great folks, but my issue is the city of Clayton's budget is is relatively tight it could get open as it moves forward but right now there's the revenue and expenses are projected to kind of cross and become a negative at some point if you go to voters and ask for a bond issue to do the property taxes the general obligation bond issue voters, if approved, their taxes would go up to pay the bonds back, which means you wouldn't have to dip into the city finances to pay the bill. Whereas the process that we're considering tonight, there would be no new revenue coming in from residents. So we would have to be using the city's revenues that already projected to be tight relative to expenses to have to fund this project for 20 years I think is 20 years so for me it's really a question of as a city should residents want to pay for and residents should be paying for buildings and projects like that out of special debt money and leave general funds of a city to operating, to paying police, paying fire, paying parks. And my concern is if we potentially need additional revenue from the residents at some point to operate, this is a better way to free up cash by taking the money we're going to spend out of operations to pay this debt off and go to voters and ask them to pay for the project and leave the operations for operations. It becomes a question of financial flexibility. So...

So yeah, just a little bit of a flavor of what kinds of things we've considered. And I think we, majority of us, opted to do this special obligation bond in prior discussions, which I'm not sure if you were here for or not. But it really comes down to kind of a choice of managing how you want to manage your debt. And so, Rick, are you about to say something?

Yeah, but I was waiting for you to finish. So I just wanted to query Jeff a little bit here. So I understand... It seems like a very logical statement to say that we have an opportunity to expand the budget and here's a tool that we could use in order to achieve that. My dilemma or my question is, what would be your assessment of our ability to get that passed politically at this time?

Yeah. I think, well, it's an interesting question. I think the other side of the question though is what's the worst case if we try and it doesn't pass? We're back in this exact same situation we are now, which is we're paying for it out of operations. And I think that if we expect that we're going to need to go to voters for some sort of tax increase outside of the one where you guys approved last week, In the next two to five years, I think it's a much easier sell to folks to say you're going to raise your taxes once. It's going to cost you this fixed dollar amount over a 20-year period to pay off these bonds. That is a much easier sell through folks like the Condo Association and others who had issues last time than going and saying we're going to increase your taxes, and it's going to every year go up because as your assessments go up, your money that you're going to owe is going to go up. This is much more of a fixed bond issue with a fixed dollar amount that needs to be paid.

The one thing I would just clarify really quickly, and I know you have a follow up question is, I just want to clarify that the money that's going to pay the actual debt payments here is coming from the capital fund. And it's a restricted fund. So the capital dollars that can come in, that come in can only be used for capital. So the debt payments themselves don't have any impact on the operating side of the ledger.

Well, correct. Other than as we've talked about, we've got transfers going back and forth from funds. And with this debt payment, if I remember the projections correctly, we would have very little extra. We basically have no park improvement sales tax money because that's all been already dedicated to the center. Now we're going to basically tap out our capital improvement sales tax. So if we want to do other capital improvements related to the comprehensive

plan

Thank you. I don't know why I'm blank. The comprehensive plan and others, you're going to have to find it out of the general operation budget, which you can do. And we've talked about that. And one of the things that we've talked about before with the fire sales tax and others is different ways to move money around. My thinking is as a philosophical matter. If you can't go to voters and ask them to pay for new buildings. That I mean, that's the. One thing that I think makes sense to go to voters for. And I think then that would free up capital money either to do the capital projects that we're all talking about wanting to do and or cut back on things like the transfers. Or if you wanted to, you could increase the transfer. It frees up cash in the capital fund to do other capital projects. And it's just a different way of getting money into the city. But you're right, it would technically be in different funds. Answer to your question, Rick, about how we get it passed.

I guess. So I appreciate you answering that. So it just strikes me that we have a significant capital improvement plan with lots of other capital needs as we go down the road. So we're going to be facing a need and our opportunity to address that. um probably with some form of financing um and there's nothing um that i'm aware of that would preclude us from doing a geo bond whether it's for operations or for other capital projects down the road because we're doing a special obligation bond at this time unless you're something you know that i know there's

nothing that would stop it i think part of the the again kind of philosophical question is if you've got to go to voters in five years and say, we need a geo bond to build replace lights. Is it more likely that we're gonna get voters to approve a bond issue to help replace the lighting versus replacing a essential government building?

And so I guess the only other thing I would say is I don't know that it's so much the compelling case of which item is being financed as when are you asking me for money? And so given that we have just asked for money for the... trash, essentially by outsourcing that to our residents, it seems to me that this isn't a very good time to be asking for that. So that's where my point of view

is. I'm just going to call it quits here now. I'm just really trying to educate our friends. We already voted on this, so we're not going to vote on it tonight. We're voting only on this RFBA before us about the financial advisor. But I do want to just echo that. Those are all really good thoughts, and those are the kinds of conversations that we have to have in order to be good fiduciary stewards of the city. And just to say, I think, Jeff, your argument holds a lot of water, except for the idea that we just handed trash back to the residents, which you mentioned, Rick, and to go to them right after that and say, okay, now we're going to do a property tax increase, I think will be at best, you know, viewed as sort of a bumbling move by the residents, but at worst disingenuous, like we might have known that all along and we didn't say it.

Although arguably we're going back to them anyway with the sales tax. It's just a different form of collecting money, but we're basically asking them for money six months to a year after the

traffic. But it's fire safety and that makes all the difference.

It sounds different. I don't actually know at the end of the day if voters will process the difference. It's a tax increase to tax increase. But it's

sales tax also. Can I like move

to close discussion or something? No offense. So

we will. I mean, I'm just I just wanted to have it a little bit because they've come and we have one thing. I totally appreciate it. I think

it was great. So here we go. I don't think anything is served by continuing it beyond your attempt to stop it. Thank

you. Okay, so everybody, thank you very much for all that illumination. All right, so we've had the RFBA read any other discussion. Okay, Alderwoman again.

I'll introduce bill number 7055, authorizing an agreement with Piper Sandler as financial advisor to be read for the first time by title only. Second.

Second. Okay. Any discussion? Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7055, first reading, an ordinance approving an engagement agreement with Piper Sandler as financial advisor for the city of Clayton, Missouri.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Nay.

I move that the board give unanimous... Actually, I won't do that.

We don't do that

then. So I'll introduce bill number 7055, authorizing an agreement with Piper Sandler as financial advisor to rerun for the second time by title only. Right, so we

didn't read that. We

need to make a motion to defense unanimous. Second reading.

It is possible that someone who voted no will allow us to

vote. Oh,

we'll do the second reading. So you can still move for unanimous consent. So go back and do that. Yes, I will. Got

it.

Yeah.

Go ahead, Bridget. So

sorry. I'll move that the board give unanimous consent to consideration for adoption of bill number 7055 on the day of its introduction.

Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Okay. Let the board, let the minutes show the board is giving unanimous consent.

I'll introduce bill number 7055, authorizing agreement with Piper Sandler as financial advisor to be read for the second time by title only.

Second. Okay. Any discussion? All right. Mr. City Attorney.

Bill number 7055, second reading and consideration for adoption. An ordinance approving an engagement agreement with Piper Sadler as financial advisor for the city of Clayton, Missouri.

Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Alderwoman Patel. Aye. Aldeman Gary Feder.

Alderman McAndrew. Aye. Alderman Buse. Aye. Alderwoman Patel. Aye. Aldeman Fader.

Aye.

Aldermen Rick Hummell. Aye. Aldemann Jeffery Yorg. No. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Aldermen Hummel. Aye. Aldemann York. No. Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank you.

Okay that concludes our main business for tonight um we can go around and have a little bit of a round table if everybody's willing and um you might be interested in that and um And then I believe we're going to go into a closed session. So that'll be done. So you'll get an early night. So let's start with Alderwoman McAndrew.

Gary and I had a Ward 3 coffee that was well attended, but didn't have millions of people. I think the probably the ice and snow kept people away for a little bit, but yeah, again, well-attended good discussion. And then I think like almost all of us, or maybe even all of us, I attended the better together, better together, like discussion and Mary did a great job. So thank you for being there. And I think it was just a great, yeah, it was an interesting discussion. It was an interesting perspective to hear from all the different mayors, and I especially enjoyed hearing from the SLU demographer, even though he painted a really grim outlook for our region. So yeah, so that's all I have.

Alderman Boos?

Yeah, it was a very interesting meeting. Yes, you did do a great job. Interesting conversation. There were some great comments both sides on the need to to come together. And again, most of us were there. So it's good that we all came together and the conversations ongoing. The, I assume many of us as well as is my husband and I enjoyed restaurant week quite.

Oh

yeah. That was great. And then we had a sustainability meeting. The conversations mentioned just a couple of the benchmarking that I think it's about ready to come back to the board for an ordinance on the benchmarking of the

February 11th.

February 11th. Okay, and if I'm right, we start that and then rolling it out to our larger community. So we're excited about that. We got some information on fleet electrification, some of the differences in the electric cars with their weight and fire risks and things like that, which is interesting. And hopefully the city continues to move forward on that. I also attended a... A meeting, I think the name is going to be cool cities and Jamie hose Meyer, who is a console woman with Webster grow started this. A while ago pulling together city officials to come together, not just city county officials elected officials to come together and share information and priorities with respect to climate change and. Uh, talking a lot about how it's not sustainability. Sometimes people think of as a feel good, whereas climate change really is a huge economic issue for our region and to, to make sure that that's, that's, um, That that's conveyed and the, it was well attended. I, uh, did my typical getting there on time and going to the wrong building thing. So I missed the very beginning, but, uh, somebody who's there from the university city council, uh, east west gateway. The Green Building Council, Gene Ponzi, who is the most amazing in this area, was there. Jamie Hessmeyer from Webster Groves, St. Louis County Council, Lisa Clancy. It was well attended and the conversation was pretty rich on what different people are doing in areas and some of the examples about where municipalities or organization or cities have come together for a region such as along the Mississippi River to make that change and to make it beyond just their little bubble. The ask that will come to Clayton, and I'm not quite sure, is they're talking about doing kind of pop-ups in the different cities and Webster would be starting that and picking a topic that Webster is doing right now and inviting city officials to come with a plus one, with somebody else from their staff and probably have a panel to talk about what that particular issue is. And Jean Ponzi, of course, spoke very highly of Clayton and the different initiatives that Clayton has been doing, whether it be benchmarking, whether it be our controlling idling or something like that. And the ask, of course, was made if we would be one of the earlier people to host something maybe, I don't know, in June or sometime like that so we can talk about that. And then it would be a panel. I don't think it would be all on us to do, but again, the idea is to make sure that city officials come together, realize what their neighbors are doing, and move this forward for the health of the region.

We had her as a guest at Metro Mayors recently as well. Yes,

she said that. Yes, she did. And that was one of the reasons she said it was good not to say sustainability, but to talk about the financial implications in this current climate. So yeah, she did say that. That was great. And... I think that's all I had. Thank you. Oh, one other thing from the, I wanted to mention from our sustainability advisory committee is with the green dining Alliance incentives that this board has approved. When we go into restaurants, ask them if they're interested and that the city again is supporting this effort. They it's we've approved it, but it has to be out there and conveyed to people and, Letters have gone out and different people on the Sustainability Advisory Committee are picking restaurants to go to. But the more of us who say, hey, are you all paying attention to this and doing this, the better off we are.

That's great. Susan, I'm so grateful that you are able to participate in the Cool Cities climate discussion. So I want to thank you for your availability and willingness to do that. I really look forward to being supportive of it. I attended the plan commission meeting because they were talking about vacating alleys, um, ghost alleys or paper alleys or whatever you want to call them. I have one in my yard and Hillcrest much of Hillcrest has this, um, situation. And then there's another neighborhood that isn't moving forward quite yet at this point, but the Hillcrest one is moving forward. So that was interesting. It's going to be very helpful for neighbors to be able to residents to actually be able to develop on the property that is like very clearly their property that the city doesn't need, you know, that the city doesn'T need access to. for any true right away issue. I would say my, I thought the meeting that was instigated by Ian Mackey's bill filing was interesting. I kind of thought it went like as well as it could have given like all the different ways that type of discussion could go in St. Louis. And the takeaway that I have and the thing that I'm thinking about is like, What is really the issue or the problem that we're trying to solve? And then what can we determine or identify as the root causes of that issue, right? Is it marketing or branding? Is it government efficiency? Is it crime rates? Is it, you know, what is it, right? Is a population loss? um and so like if it's population loss like which of those things are driving it and stuff so um so I'm interested to kind of think about digging into that I'm gonna meet with Ian this weekend and talk to him about it um and then I went today to a luncheon at the Wiedenbaum Center at Washington University, like a public policy luncheon, and talked about the impacts on the conversation of having women in Congress. Two different professors presented their research. So one was like how the conversation is different when women are on committees in Congress. And then the other was about what, what the researcher considers a crisis in childcare. Like we don't, have access to affordable, high-quality childcare across the country and particularly in St. Louis also. And so looking at that and how that's really fundamental to communities being able to grow and thrive. And then the last thing I'll share is that I spent Sunday afternoon volunteering with an organization providing legal support services to immigrant families who were looking to establish powers of attorney and other legal frameworks to try to protect their children and families and property in case of arrest or deportation. So that was... like, impactful and, like, hard to see, like, all these people who are scared, really scared. And also good that there are lots of people working to try to eliminate some of the uncertainty and provide care and planning for folks. So, yeah. Thanks. Gary?

So I, too, found the so-called better together meeting very interesting. I do think to Ian Mackey's credit, whatever his motivation was, the very fact that he filed the same petition obviously drew 250 people to the center of Clayton. And I think hopefully we'll actually be positive in the sense that either it will somehow lead trigger the Board of Electors process going forward, or cause someone at the state to think about, is there a way to attack this at the state level, but in a much different way than Better Together did it? In any case, it's a key issue, and hopefully this will actually generate some interest. So lacking anything else, I thought I would just update the board a little bit on the effort that Alderman Rick Hummell and I have been making regarding our committees and commissions and task force. I think we'll have something to report to the board maybe in a month. I think what we've done so far, a lot of help from June helping us put stuff together. I think we've looked at 14 different entities that the city either has independently or in a couple of cases in conjunction, like with the school district dealing with Senator Clayton. But we have, of course, identified there's a great variety of the way these operate, particularly in terms of length of terms, whether there are term limits. whether there's a requirement for people who serve on them to be divided equally between the three wards. I think we've concluded in a lot of cases, there doesn't seem to be any obvious rationale for why it's one way or the other. So maybe there's a way we can make some sense out of it. So we have, I think now a pretty good summary Part of the confusion also is that some of these entities are the result of our original charter. Then we're further implemented through our ordinances. Some of them are impacted by state law. So there's a lot of things to look at. I think we have a good summary. And I think what Rick and I decided was the next logical step. was to go back to each one of these commissions and say, hey, we're doing this. First of all, here's a summary that we have so you know what other committees or commissions are doing. But we're really interested in what you think about these issues. Length of terms, term limits, geographical separation between the wards. Are these things important to you? And ultimately, I think what we're trying to do aside from get more uniformity is figure out a way to get more people in our city involved with these entities, whether that's through term limits or just keeping people better informed when there are opportunities. So anyway, I think we should have something within a month to report and begin to get some input from the rest of the board. Thanks.

So I, too, found the so-called better together meeting very interesting. I do think to Ian Mackey's credit, whatever his motivation was, the very fact that he filed the same petition obviously drew 250 people to the center of Clayton. And I think hopefully we'll actually be positive in the sense that either it will somehow lead trigger the Board of Electors process going forward, or cause someone at the state to think about, is there a way to attack this at the state level, but in a much different way than Better Together did it? In any case, it's a key issue, and hopefully this will actually generate some interest. So lacking anything else, I thought I would just update the board a little bit on the effort that Alderman Hummel and I have been making regarding our committees and commissions and task force. I think we'll have something to report to the board maybe in a month. I think what we've done so far, a lot of help from June helping us put stuff together. I think we've looked at 14 different entities that the city either has independently or in a couple of cases in conjunction, like with the school district dealing with Senator Clayton. But we have, of course, identified there's a great variety of the way these operate, particularly in terms of length of terms, whether there are term limits. whether there's a requirement for people who serve on them to be divided equally between the three wards. I think we've concluded in a lot of cases, there doesn't seem to be any obvious rationale for why it's one way or the other. So maybe there's a way we can make some sense out of it. So we have, I think now a pretty good summary Part of the confusion also is that some of these entities are the result of our original charter. Then we're further implemented through our ordinances. Some of them are impacted by state law. So there's a lot of things to look at. I think we have a good summary. And I think what Rick and I decided was the next logical step. was to go back to each one of these commissions and say, hey, we're doing this. First of all, here's a summary that we have so you know what other committees or commissions are doing. But we're really interested in what you think about these issues. Length of terms, term limits, geographical separation between the wards. Are these things important to you? And ultimately, I think what we're trying to do aside from get more uniformity is figure out a way to get more people in our city involved with these entities, whether that's through term limits or just keeping people better informed when there are opportunities. So anyway, I think we should have something within a month to report and begin to get some input from the rest of the board. Thanks.

Just piggybacking on that, Gary gave all the real substantive information regarding the committees. I would say that our goal is to have a, hopefully we can get on a Friday strategy meeting in order to have a discussion maybe in March. And then there's some housekeeping things we want to attend to as well, like the details on the website. We have a handbook, but it's pretty general. But I think the thing that we really want to make sure we have a good discussion on is how we communicate these roles to the community when openings come up, making sure that they're aware. So our whole communication plan is something that we want to make sure that we address on that topic as well. um switching gears i attended the plan commission by zoom so like becky's neighborhood my neighborhood is affected by this as well it's our mutual backyards as we go through this and so it's a big deal to everybody i attended the county council meeting last Tuesday. I'll let the mayor talk about what she did there. I would just say that the County Council is, I guess, meeting again tonight to consider Prop U, which would be their use tax. And so you'll know more. Maybe you already know, Michelle, I'll let you weigh in on that, but I know that they're also looking at paying for some education. I also attended the Municipal League meeting on the 23rd at Creve Coeur City Hall. And again, I'll defer to Michelle on that. And then I My takeaway on the Ian Mackey discussion, I agree with Becky there's lots of interesting things to ponder out of that. The thing that I found both compelling and timely though is it's clear to me that We can't, as a community, broadly speaking, continue to afford to be separate and afford redundant services, especially at the rate of growth that expenses are increasing right now. So I was pleased to hear about a number of collaborations that already exist among some communities. And I think the willingness to do more collaboration when we decided on our own rather than have it legislated to us is going to be a compelling discussion point. So that's all I have.

Great. Yeah, Jeff?

I have very little. I would have filled in on the Parks Committee, but I think you guys already voted on the issues that came up in the last Park Commission with the Osage sign and some other things at the last meeting. So that would be the one update. Otherwise, I don't have much because I've been traveling and laid out with my leg. So I appreciate you all making the meetings that I couldn't and kind of filling us in on the Ian Mackey meeting and other stuff.

Well, you were missed. Okay, well I will just add a little bit here. A couple things. We lost our Chamber of Commerce not too long ago but there is a movement to start a new one. I've gotten some emails recently that really make it look like they're really getting well organized and so I'm encouraged about that because I do think it's a loss for our city. In addition to that or related to it, I recently participated in Here's something you haven't heard about in a while. The Clayton Ledoux Rotary Club's 100th anniversary. I participated in their annual luncheon celebrating their centennial, and the guest speaker was Nisha Patel, our superintendent of schools. And there's more interesting, fun things about that, but she gave a very inspiring talk. what the relevancy here is that they really want to help the city of Clayton. So they're standing by to become more involved, to volunteer, but also they have funds, small funds, that they can contribute to things. And I'm going to encourage them more, I've already done this, but to kind of join forces with the new Clayton Chamber if it forms or as it forms and really together they can work to help the businesses in our city and other efforts. The Rotary is very into the education piece as well. And they have actually some grant monies that they give to Clayton High School students. The Stuber Award, if you guys have ever heard of that. Yeah. So anyway, that's going on. We did have a MIAC meeting and our troops were enlightened by our esteemed public or planning director, Anna Krane. So that was good. She did a great job. The merger panel, and nobody said that word yet tonight, but it was a merger panel that went on. It was a big discussion of should the city and county merge and how? And I will just say that, again, to reiterate, I've talked with so many mayors about this, and nobody's against considering consolidations, but nobody wants consolidations. the statewide vote to decide this for us. We need as a region to be able to determine our own destiny. And that's the bill that was put before the Missouri legislature. So just putting that out there. What else can I say? Oh, we at the Muni League, which somebody, Rick, you mentioned, we had a really interesting talk from the new prosecuting attorney in the St. Louis County. And that was pretty, it was fun and enlightening. She did not stick around for questions for some reason, but oh well. And I'm excited to say that the Flight Club, our new Clayton Entertainment venue, is going to open on January 31st. Some of us will be able to go to a tour the night before, so Thursday night. And if you've driven by it, it looks really cool. But this is a fancy darts place. venue it's like the top golf of darts and so i'm very anxious to use it, and I think we should have a city team already told David. We should have a team and we'll see how that goes anyway that that's going to be opening up and so that's kind of exciting i'm trying to think is there anything else um. Oh, the thing that was mentioned, the county council did vote on their use tax tonight and they have pulled it for this April. So they will not be putting it forth. Yeah. And that was, it was pulled because of just one council member wanted to attach something to the bill. that would require earmarking some of the proceeds for a certain thing. And that was something that was kind of a wrench in the works in terms of nobody had considered it. And so with a limited time between now and April, they just, I think, decided to put it off, which is understandable in terms of the calendar though, I will say. So that's that. So we don't have, that will not be on our ballot this April. I think that's all I have.

Well, you were missed. Okay, well I will just add a little bit here. A couple things. We lost our Chamber of Commerce not too long ago but there is a movement to start a new one. I've gotten some emails recently that really make it look like they're really getting well organized and so I'm encouraged about that because I do think it's a loss for our city. In addition to that or related to it, I recently participated in Here's something you haven't heard about in a while. The Clayton Ledoux Rotary Club's 100th anniversary. I participated in their annual luncheon celebrating their centennial, and the guest speaker was Nisha Patel, our superintendent of schools. And there's more interesting, fun things about that, but she gave a very inspiring talk. what the relevancy here is that they really want to help the city of Clayton. So they're standing by to become more involved, to volunteer, but also they have funds, small funds, that they can contribute to things. And I'm going to encourage them more, I've already done this, but to kind of join forces with the new Clayton Chamber if it forms or as it forms and really together they can work to help the businesses in our city and other efforts. The Rotary is very into the education piece as well. And they have actually some grant monies that they give to Clayton High School students. The Stuber Award, if you guys have ever heard of that. Yeah. So anyway, that's going on. We did have a MIAC meeting and our troops were enlightened by our esteemed public or planning director, Anna Crane. So that was good. She did a great job. The merger panel, and nobody said that word yet tonight, but it was a merger panel that went on. It was a big discussion of should the city and county merge and how? And I will just say that, again, to reiterate, I've talked with so many mayors about this, and nobody's against considering consolidations, but nobody wants consolidations. the statewide vote to decide this for us. We need as a region to be able to determine our own destiny. And that's the bill that was put before the Missouri legislature. So just putting that out there. What else can I say? Oh, we at the Muni League, which somebody, Rick, you mentioned, we had a really interesting talk from the new prosecuting attorney in the St. Louis County. And that was pretty, it was fun and enlightening. She did not stick around for questions for some reason, but oh well. And I'm excited to say that the Flight Club, our new Clayton Entertainment venue, is going to open on January 31st. Some of us will be able to go to a tour the night before, so Thursday night. And if you've driven by it, it looks really cool. But this is a fancy darts place. venue it's like the top golf of darts and so i'm very anxious to use it, and I think we should have a city team already told David. We should have a team and we'll see how that goes anyway that that's going to be opening up and so that's kind of exciting i'm trying to think is there anything else um. Oh, the thing that was mentioned, the county council did vote on their use tax tonight and they have pulled it for this April. So they will not be putting it forth. Yeah. And that was, it was pulled because of just one council member wanted to attach something to the bill. that would require earmarking some of the proceeds for a certain thing. And that was something that was kind of a wrench in the works in terms of nobody had considered it. And so with a limited time between now and April, they just, I think, decided to put it off, which is understandable in terms of the calendar though, I will say. So that's that. So we don't have, that will not be on our ballot this April. I think that's all I have.

Anybody else have anything? One thing I forgot to mention, at our last meeting when we were moving on from the overlay and they mentioned the need for more cooperation is perception with WashU of being neighbors and mentioned pilots and things like that. I got a number of correspondence from our community after that supporting that and about time, blah, blah, blah. So, and you all may know this, the St. Louis City and the U City school districts for a while have been pushing WashU to do some type of pilot's payment in lieu of taxes. And at last night's University City Council meeting, one of the council members, I got a text, was saying the same thing to WashU. I'm hoping that we as a board can have that conversation perhaps in a Friday afternoon in a Friday work session where we stand on that and get some more details behind it. I forwarded to all of you an article in the Crimson from Harvard that I found really informative how Boston has a program encouraging institutions of a certain size to contribute pilots, and that's been around since 2011. So some models are out there, but I think it might be helpful for us to at least have a discussion on what that could entail for us. So probably a Friday or whenever you think appropriate.

Yeah, thanks for doing that. I found that interesting and I appreciate that table you put together regarding the property tax impact. I thought that was really interesting.

Yes, okay. If there's nothing else, I'll take a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn? Oh, wait, no. I forgot about that, guys. Sorry. I like to fast forward my life. Okay, so yes, Jeff.

Your first time, Jeff.

Yeah, yeah. I moved that the Board of Aldermen hold a closed meeting with a closed vote and record as authorized by section – I need to get my bifocals out – 610.02112 and 3 of the revised statutes of Missouri related to legal issues, real estate, and or personnel negotiation of contracts to pursuant 610.0 212 revised Missouri statutes and or – Proprietary information pursuant to section 610.021 sub clause 15 and or information related to public safety and security measures pursuant to sections 610.201 subsection 18 and 19 of the Missouri's revised code. Did I read all that right? Second.

Roll call or all in favor?

A roll call. Okay. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderwoman Fuse. Aye. Alderman Gary Feder.

A roll call. Okay. Alderwoman McAndrew. Aye. Alderwoman Fuse. Aye. Alderman Fader.

Aye.

Aldermen Rick Hummell.

Aldermen Hummel.

Aye.

Aldernman Jeffery Yorg.

Aldernman York.

Aye.

Mayor Harris. Aye. Thank

you. Okay. So now we are going. Adjourn. So, okay. So we'll go ahead and do that now. I'll move to adjourn the regular meeting. Second. All those in favor.

All right.

Any opposed? Very good. All right. You guys were ending our.