2007-07-16 Regular - Laserfiche WebLink

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In answer to Mr. Price’s question as to why the City of St. Louis only contributed $50,000 for the feasibility study, Mr. Edwards explained that the City of St. Louis did not have an Economic Development Tax to draw from and it supplied what it could at the time. Mr. Edwards stated that St. Louis City will be paying more once the TDD was established as a larger portion of the route would be in St. Louis City, bringing in a greater portion of the money generated from the TDD. Ms. Ricci made a Point of Order concerning Mayor Adams’ memo advising the Councilmembers of his role with the Loop Trolley Company for the Loop Business District. Ms. Ricci felt that the Mayor had a conflict of interest and should recuse himself from voting on anything in conjunction with the Loop Trolley. Mr. Wagner stated that Mayor Adams’s position on the board for the Loop Trolley Company was not a paid position and the organization was not-for-profit so therefore he did not feel Mayor Adams had any conflict of interest. He was not opposed to Mayor Adams voting on any Trolley issues. Mr. Price requested the City Clerk to record that this Council is committed to making sure that the Economic Development Board’s allocation for Olive Street Road takes place next year and does not get postponed, changed, reduced or pushed back. Mayor Adams stated that according to the Charter, a Council member should make it known to the rest of the Council if a conflict of interest might be present. The Charter did not say that the member would have to recuse himself. He felt that his disclosure of his position on the board of the Loop Trolley Business did not necessitate his recusal. He also said that the City’s attorney opinion was that he did not have a conflict of interest because there was no monetary compensation for his position and it was a not-for-profit organization. Mayor Adams asked the Council for their vote on whether he should recuse himself from future voting on the Loop Trolley. The vote for Mayor Adams to remain as a voting member on all Loop Trolley issues was passed with one NAY coming from Ms. Ricci. Ms. Ricci requested that the City Clerk entered into the Council’s record that she believed Mayor Adams has a conflict of interest. She had not received any written opinion from the City Attorney stating that Mayor Adams did not have a conflict of interest and would like the City Attorney to sign off on this. Mayor Adams called for the vote on authorizing the City Manager to send a letter of commitment for allocating University City’s Economic Development Retail Sales Tax funds of $250,000 for the Loop Trolley feasibility study to the funding agency. The majority voice vote authorized approval for the City Manager to send the letter of commitment. J. UNFINISHED BUSINESS BILL 8938 — An ordinance vacating and surrendering all rights and privileges for the use of the southwest five feet wide by fifty-eight feet long portion of existing easement located within lot 23 of block 4 of the University Terrace subdivision, known as 7411 Amherst and directing that this ordinance be recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds of St. Louis County, Missouri.