STL County Watchdog

  PROJECT CORNERSTONE:   Necessary?   Or Waste of STL County, MO, Taxpayer Dollars? Administration Spends Millions yet sought no Asbestos Abatement/Sprinkler Retrofitting Bids Cindy Winkler We hear often about the $40-41 million budget deficit at St. Louis County.   Recently, a letter was shared with me that shows the county is discontinuing health insurance for retirees.   Take a look:   Yet, even amid cutting benefits relied upon by retirees under 65, the current administration has appropriated/encumbered about $16 million for *consulting services* related to updating and “reimagining” the county’s office space .   Note:   No construction has been done with the $16 million; it’s all professional services. The genesis of this spending is the requirement that all high-rise buildings in City of Clayton be retrofitted with fire sprinklers or suppression systems by 2028.   The local media have been reporting the costs to retrof...

  ~IT’S NOT SEXY, BUT SOMEBODY SHOULD BE REPORTING ON IT~ St. Louis County Council and the Sam Page Administration Once Again Bypass Lawmaking Norms           ~Cindy Winkler               I have heard  this subject is not exciting enough to write about, and that it is not what people want to read. Clearly, I disagree wholeheartedly.                 St. Louis County Council and the Sam Page Administration have begun routinely passing large appropriations via Order instead of Ordinance.  They are disavowing the Charter .  They are NOT allowed to do this.             Why should we care?   The space of time needed for a bill to become an ordinance is three weeks or so from introduction to passage.   This gives citizens and representatives time to vet the bill thoroughly, or it should. ...