The Stealth Amendments or how Home Rule wants to screw us

Every day I drive my son to school, I pass signs reading "NO on amendments A B C D"
I see them in yards with Bush signs, and I see them in yards with Kerry signs. I see them in yards where it is the only sign. I went to the St. Louis ballot measures site, and they had nothing. So I searched the Post Dispatch Online. They had a lot of opinion, and several articles with a one paragraph description of the amendments; but not the actual amendments -or even their legal summary. I've been looking all week (when I should be out job hunting) and FINALLY, I found it. Kudos to The Arch City Chronicle for listing these very bad amendments.

Citizens for Home Rule, aka Advance St. Louis, aka Empower St. Louis, wants broad sweeping changes made to the St. Louis City charter. A few (a very few) of the proposed changes are a good idea. Unfortunately, they're blanketed with bad ideas.
When you go to the polls in November, here's what you'll see:

(Board of Aldermen Amendment)
Shall the Charter of the City of St. Louis be amended in accordance with the Board of Aldermen Amendment Ordinance?

This amendment restructures the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis as a body of fifteen Aldermen representing fifteen wards, provides for the Board of Aldermen to select its President from its membership, provides for a transition schedule to implement the restructuring, and other related matters, all as set forth in the ?Board of Aldermen Amendment Ordinance,? a copy of which is available at all polling places.
YES [ ]
NO [ ]


(City Finance Amendment)
Shall the Charter of the City of St. Louis be amended to restructure the finance offices and functions of the City of St. Louis in accordance with the City Finance Amendment Ordinance?

This amendment restructures the finance offices and functions of the City of St. Louis by providing for financial and performance audits and budget review by an elected independent office of Comptroller, providing for professional budget staff for the Board of Aldermen and authorizing the Board of Aldermen to adjust budget line items, establishing the Director of Finance as head of the Finance Department and of the Budget Division and outlining the powers and duties of the Director of Finance, and other related matters, all as set forth in the ?City Finance Amendment Ordinance,? a copy of which is available at all polling places.
YES [ ]
NO [ ]


(Civil Service Amendment)
Shall the Charter of the City of St. Louis be amended in accordance with the Civil Service Amendment Ordinance?

This amendment adds one new section to Article XVIII of the Charter of the City of St. Louis, pertaining to Civil Service, which allows for further amendment of Article XVIII by ordinances recommended by the Civil Service Commission of the City of St. Louis and approved by the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis. The amendment excepts the following sections of Article XVIII from the process of amendment by ordinance: Section 6, captioned ?Civil service commission,? Section 7, captioned ?Commission powers and duties,? Section 17, captioned ?Political assessments and contributions,? Section 18, captioned ?Promises of official influence to affect political action,? Section 19, captioned ?Political activity of classified employees,? Section 22, captioned ?Penalties for violation,? Section 27, captioned ?Partial invalidity of provisions,? and Section 31, captioned ?Fire department.? The procedures for amendment to Article XVIII by ordinance will be an alternative to any other procedures for charter amendment or revision provided by the constitution and laws of the state of Missouri or by other provisions of the Charter of the City of St. Louis. The proposed amendment also addresses other related matters as set forth in the ?Civil Service Amendment Ordinance,? a copy of which is available at all polling places.
YES [ ]
NO [ ]


(City Office Reorganization Amendment)
Shall the Charter of the City of St. Louis be amended to reorganize certain city offices in accordance with the City Office Reorganization Ordinance?

This amendment adds a new Article XXVI to the Charter of the City of St. Louis to incorporate into said Charter the present offices of Recorder of Deeds, Collector of Revenue, License Collector, Treasurer, Circuit Clerk, Public Administrator, and Sheriff, and reorganizes the number, kinds, manner of selection, terms salaries, powers, duties and functions of said offices, provides for a chief administrative officer to supervise, administer, and report to the mayor on the operations of said reorganized offices and other city offices, provides opportunity for the present staff of the offices proposed for reorganization to become employees of the City of St. Louis, with their individual seniority and compensation unaffected, provides and for the effective dates of such changes upon the expiration of the terms of office of the current holders of the offices proposed for reorganization. The proposed amendment also addresses other related matters as set forth in the ?City Office Reorganization Ordinance,? a copy of which is available at all polling places.
YES [ ]
NO [ ]
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What it all means:
1. The Board of Aldermen Amendment drops 10 Aldermen and takes away our vote for aldermanic President. Right now, we vote citywide for the Aldermanic President because he's the Vice-Mayor, so to speak. If something happens to the Mayor, the Aldermanic President becomes the Mayor. That's why WE vote. Also, each Alderman currently has a reasonable territory. Each neighborhood feels represented. If we cut the number of Aldermen by 2/5ths, we cut our representation. Who will suffer if (say) Carondolet, Holly Hills and Mount Pleasant all have the same Alderman? Perhaps Mount Pleasant? Since they have the least amount of businesses, and the lowest property values? Even though Mount Pleasant is actively bringing in and supporting small businesses, and even though they have had a bigger increase in property value than Holly Hills.

2. The City Finance Amendment replaces the Comptroller (an elected official) with a (hired) Director of Finance. Oh, we'll still vote for comptroller, and somebody will still get a paycheck, but they won't have any power. The new Director of Finance will be hired by the Mayor, eliminating the check and balance provided by the Comptrollers office. It also replaces the board of estimate and apportionment with simply the Mayor. (the board of E&A is comprised of the mayor, the aldermanic president and the comptroller. They don't get extra pay, so we're not saving St. Louis any money by getting rid of them) This amendment removes the salary limits that are currently in place and allows the director of finance to hire as many people as he sees fit.

3. The Civil Service Amendment changes what the aldermen can amend. If this piece of trash passes, the Aldermen can not chance anything relating to ?Civil service commission,? ?Commission powers and duties,? ?Political assessments and contributions,? ?Promises of official influence to affect political action,? ?Political activity of classified employees,? ?Penalties for violation,? ?Partial invalidity of provisions,? and ?Fire department.? Do I even need to go into why this is bad?

4. The City Office Reorganization Amendment lets the mayor hire the recorder of deeds, instead of letting us elect him/her. It lets the (not yet existent) director of finance hire the collector of revenue/license collector and treasurer -instead of letting us elect them. (So the mayor hires the director of finance, who hires the collector of revenue/license collector and treasurer. All the money in the hands of the mayor; no votes for the people.) The circuit court will appoint the circuit clerk (I have no problem with that one) and the public administrator (whom I know nothing about) The sheriff will also be appointed (rather than elected) by the circuit court WITH CONFIRMATION BY THE MAYOR, and a new position of chief administration officer will be created over all. (One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them?)

Obviously, I'm voting no on each of these amendments. I want a mayor, not a king. I want decent representation, not an over stretched alderman. I want to vote people into office, and have the option of removing them if need be.

To read the amendments in full, go here and scroll down to the May 27th entry. It's currently the 10th entry. Follow the links to the individual amendments.