Taking Apart A Town

St. George Disincorporation Completed

The city's books were closed and the ownership of its properties passed on to St. Louis County Tuesday night.

The city of St. George is no more. With a few motions at a Tuesday night meeting of the St. Louis County Council, the town took part in its final official actions. The county voted to accept the deed for the building that formerly housed St. George City Hall and agreed to integrate  the St. George city park into the county park system. The city’s books were also closed. The county council appointed resident Bob Burns to oversee the disincorporation and he turned in an audit completed by CPA firm Schowalter and Jabouri. With all its bills paid, Burns said St. George’s remaining financial assets amounted to approximately $369,000. The meeting finishes a contentious drama started last April with a frenzied surprise campaign by several write-…

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Taking Apart A Town

St. George Properties to Become County Park, Police Substation

The last of the disincorporated municipality’s business is set to close March 13.

Almost a year after the surprise write-in winners of St. George’s municipal election launched a campaign to dissolve the city, the tiny government’s final business will soon be put to rest. Most notably this final transition will resolve the fates of the city’s two major properties: the house that has served as city hall and a small park with a playground. According to St. George resident Bob Burns, the executive in charge of the disincorporation process, the city’s park will be taken into and maintained by the St. Louis County park system. City hall, meanwhile, will be converted into a 24 hour St. Louis County police substation for the neighborhood, commanded under the Affton/Southwest 3rd Precinct. The fate of the park in particular was …

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Amidst New Years Bangs, St. George Goes Out With A Whimper

After a dramatic slog, the troubled municipality will dissolve on Dec. 31.

Taking Apart A Town

Despite Opposition, Bob Burns Named Executive to Disincorporate St. George

Four St. George residents came to the St. Louis County Council meeting Tuesday night to speak against Burns.

Despite intense opposition from four fellow St. George residents, Bob Burns was elected by the St. Louis County Council to oversee the disincorporation of St. George. In the public comment section of the county council meeting Tuesday night, one St. George resident after another stepped up to speak against Bob Burns being named the executive to oversee the disincorporation. Later, five council members voted for Burns, and two abstained, giving Burns the job of overseeing the disincorporation of the city. Brian Wilkerson spoke first. He said Burns had been involved in many of the disputes in the community over the years, and that Burns would open old wounds and create new ones. “Don’t let our citizen action be reduced to cronyism, political…

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St. George Write-Ins Fined for Missing Disclaimers

April's write-In candidates, including the mayor, were fined $100 for not including "paid for by" on some campaign materials.

It seems ironic given how things eventually turned out: St. George Mayor Carmen Wilkerson is being fined for activities during her April write-in campaign; but in just one short month she won't be mayor any more, and the city she worked to disincorporate will no longer exist. Nonetheless, the gears of beauracracy have ground their way to Wilkerson's chit. According to a South County Times article this week, the Missouri Ethics Committee has fined Wilkerson and the three other write-in candidates $100 each for not having "paid for by" on some of their early campaign materials. The slap-on-the-wrist violation applied to one mailing and 10 yard signs. Afterward, Wilkerson worked with the elections commission to resolve the issue, and the rest…

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Taking Apart A Town

St. George Disincorporation Passes

The city’s business will soon be St. Louis County’s knot to unravel.

Unofficial election results are now in: St. Louis County is about the have one less city. The ballot measure to disincorporate St. George has passed. The tiny, often scandal-fraught municipality will be dissolved as a legal entity and the neighborhood will become part of unincorporated Affton. The measure, placed on the ballot by a petition circulated earlier this year, won with 73 percent of the vote: 345 voted ‘yes’ and 128 voted ‘no.’ Only a 60 percent majority was required to pass. “We won it, baby,” said soon-to-be-former mayor Carmen Wilkerson, who lead the charge for disincorporation, beginning with a write-in campaign for mayor last spring. “I feel jubilant and totally intoxicated.” On a rainy election day with no other races on …

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Taking Apart A Town

Election Day: St. George Votes on Disincorporation

The disincorporation measure needs to get 60 percent of the vote to disband the municipality.

Less than a year after write-in candidates ousted the town's political establishment in a last minute campaign, Mayor Carmen Wilkerson and her allies are on the brink of potentially achieving their singular aim: disincorporating the tiny city of St. George. On an otherwise off-year, unexciting election day, St. George's approximately 1300 residents will get to vote on whether or not to continue to be a municipality, or join unincorporated St. Louis County. The measure, placed on the ballot by a petition signed by more than half the registered voters in the city, must get at least 60 percent of the vote to pass. "We’ve worked hard the last couple weeks to get out the vote," Wilkerson said, adding that she was nervous but pretty positive …

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Taking Apart A Town

St. George Weighs Taxes, Streets and Future at Disincorporation Town Hall

Officials also discussed the fate of the small city’s park.

With just weeks left before the disincorporation vote, St. George residents gathered at the Southridge Condominiums clubhouse Thursday night for the first of two town halls with city and county officials about the implications of dissolving their city. Taxes, services and the future of the tiny municipality’s roads and park were the main focus of the presentation by St. Louis County officials, headed by Comprehensive Planning Manager Lori Fiegel. Fiegel laid out a tax comparison between St. George and unincorporated St. Louis County. Post-disincorporation, residents would not have to pay city property taxes, but their utilities taxes would go up from 2 percent to 5 percent and expand to cover more utilities. The final difference would vary…

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Taking Apart A Town

Two Town Halls Set Before St. George Disincorporation Vote

St. George residents can meet and ask questions of city and county officials before deciding whether to dissolve the city.

The City of St. George has scheduled two town hall meetings with St. Louis County officials before residents vote on a ballot measure to disincorporate the troubled city. The first town hall will be 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Southridge Condominium club house. The second will be 10 a.m. on Oct. 15 at the Affton White-Rodgers Community Center. The disincorporation measure goes to a vote election day, Nov. 8. “I understand that this is a very emotional issue for some and simply a practical decision for others. It is my hope that each of you will receive all of the information you need to make an informed decision, and that you will once again turn out in record numbers to vote on November 8,” Mayor Carmen Wilkerson wrote in a letter that went …

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