Hostility and Procedural Complications at First St. George Meeting Since Election

The tiny was packed fon Thursday night for the first board of aldermen meeting since new mayor Carmen Wilkerson and three cohorts were earlier this month. Anger and frustration were felt from both sides of the town’s political divide, and the new administration’s efforts to change several city positions were stymied by administrative missteps.

However, progress was made on their plan to disincorporate the small, scandal-wracked municipality to a vote next year.

The main thrust of the night’s agenda was the appointment of new city employees to replace City and Court Clerk Marilyn Schneider, City Treasurer Dave Pozzo and City Attorney John Malec, who resigned before the meeting. All three have been strongly opposed to the disincorporation proposal.

When the vote came to replace Schneider with Susan Preis, who lost her write-in bid by one vote, the board was split three to two. Pro-disincorporation aldermen Jeremy Collier, Christina Charpentier and Dianne Burns voted ‘Yes,’ while Herb Pyne and Nelda True voted ‘No.’ Marjie Loukes was absent. Without a supermajority of four votes, the appointment measure failed.

Louke’s absence proved to be a critical problem for the new administration. Had the full board been present, the vote could have been three to three, and Wilkerson would have cast the tie-breaking vote—four votes being enough to pass the motion.

Herb Pyne’s votes the rest of the night were mixed, cooperating with the new mayor on several measures, including his own appointment as parks supervisor, while voting against a few others.

Nelda True voted ‘No’ on every motion except adjournment.

The board went on to vote to replace treasurer Pozzo with Cathy Heins and City Attorney Malec with Paul Martin, whose firm serves municipalities around the county. Katherine Moore, one of Martin’s assistants, acted as the attorney for the evening.

These votes were also three to two, but the board mistakenly proceeded as though the measures had passed. It was not realized until after the meeting that these appointments, like the one for Preis, require four votes to pass.

Wilkerson said Friday that she is calling an emergency board meeting for 7 p.m. this coming Monday to repeat these votes. Until replaced, Schneider and Pozzo retain their positions.

Measures were passed naming Pyne as parks supervisor and new alderman Jeremy Collier, who works for the Missouri Department of Transportation, as the city’s new streets commissioner.

Also passed was a motion to hold an informational town hall on the process and effects of disincorporation at 7 p.m. on May 19 at the meeting room of the . County officials will be present to answer questions St. George citizens might have on how rejoining unincorporated St. Louis County will affect taxes and services.

“This government body will not be advocating for disincorporation,” Wilkerson said. “We want to bring you all the facts.”

When the board reached the citizen comments portion of the meeting, Wilkerson asked the audience not to rehash the debates of the recent campaign. Recent alderman candidate Thomas True was first to speak. He said that those who didn’t want St. George to be a city should leave it. The rest of the comments, however, were dominated by confusion over the salaries of city employees and anger from the outgoing employees over the transition.

“It was definitely hostile,” Wilkerson said after the meeting.

St. George has a population of approximately 1,400 and covers 0.2 square miles. Regular board of aldermen meetings will now be held on the fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m.