“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”  — Leo Tolstoy

I would like to take this opportunity to open a dialogue in regard to the intentionally (or unintentionally) leaked “sweeping plan” from Better Together to remake government in our region, and what it could mean for the City of Creve Coeur.

Critics have often lamented that fragmentation in St. Louis is holding back regional economic growth, and that various “divisions” between the city, county and all municipalities need to be erased, so that we can become governed as one region. Better Together is a nonprofit organization that was formed out of a growing public interest to address this issue — and its mission statement indicates support for the St. Louis region by acting as a catalyst for the removal of governmental, economic and racial barriers to the region’s growth and prosperity for all citizens by promoting unity, trust, efficiency and accountability. 

Better Together is proposing to fund an operation to collect signatures for a Missouri Constitutional amendment — with the goal of placing it on a statewide ballot in November 2020. Promoted by a multi-million dollar campaign led by Executive Director Nancy Rice and Campaign Chairman Mark Wrighton and largely funded by Rex Sinquefield — a new governmental entity (with a new charter) would be created in place of the current city of St. Louis and St. Louis County structures, and would encompass the current city and county land mass. Elected officials would include one mayor, one prosecuting attorney, one assessor and 33 council members.

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Existing municipalities would lose the ability to collect most sales taxes, and would relinquish their own police departments and courts as well. Only one police department and one court system would serve what is currently the city and county. The municipalities, their officials and legislative bodies would still exist (for an undetermined purpose), while fire districts and school districts would be untouched (for now).

There are so many additional issues yet to be addressed, along with a myriad of other details requiring clarification (municipal debt, city earnings tax, etc.).

That said, I have long recognized, and written about some of the changes that need to be made in order for our region to move forward — but question whether Better Together’s financial assumptions can come to fruition. Reducing duplicative services should be a net positive, but there also may be temptation in large, regional governance to view this as an opportunity to simply spend existing tax dollars differently.

One centralized police department in St. Louis is a cost-efficiency experiment that I will not endorse — and can’t imagine that many Creve Coeur residents, who have consistently shown overwhelming support for the men and women serving in our CALEA accredited, professional police department, will think is a good idea either. Elimination of our local police department is non-negotiable, as far as I am concerned. 

Furthermore, I have always believed that government works best when it is closest to the people it serves. While critics complain that municipal leaders simply want to protect their fiefdoms and/or the status quo — I question whether “regional leadership” will advocate for, or protect the intrinsic values of our Creve Coeur community, within the context of a large St. Louis mega-government.  

Finally, I have a question (although I think I know the answer): Why should this issue be put to a vote of the entire state, rather than solely by those of us who will be most affected by the proposed changes? 

More to come…I’m sure. In the meantime, as always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, concerns and insight on this topic — that stands to have a far-reaching impact on our city.

Barry L. Glantz is the Mayor of Creve Coeur and a member of Congregation Shaare Emeth. This column was written for the City of Creve Coeur Newsletter and is reprinted with permission.