ST. LOUIS — City leaders have yet again delayed the final vote on a $105 million bond issue to upgrade the downtown convention center, the second time since May the decision has been postponed.
On Wednesday, the St. Louis Municipal Finance Corp., made up of representatives of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, Comptroller Darlene Green and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed, canceled its Friday board meeting, where members were scheduled to vote on the bonds.
St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission leaders have touted the need to upgrade the facility, called the America’s Center, to sell conventions several years out, arguing the lull due to the pandemic is the optimal time to begin construction. Board members were optimistic that the bonds would be approved this week.
“Hopefully we’re in a position now where everyone understands that we have to move on this,†CVC President Kitty Ratcliffe said at a meeting on Monday.
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But by Wednesday, the municipal finance meeting, posted to the city calendar on Monday, had been canceled.
Issuing bonds for the convention center project has been in the works for over two years. The plan first stalled at the Municipal Finance Corp. — the final body to approve the bonds — in early April, as board members held off on a vote amid uncertainty over the city’s future fiscal health in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
The plan, which calls for St. Louis County to finance the other half of the $210 million project, would use hotel taxes currently earmarked for debt on the Dome at America’s Center to amortize new, 40-year bonds. The dome, built for the NFL’s Rams 30 years ago, is scheduled to be paid off next year.
In a statement Wednesday, Ratcliffe said she was “unclear†why the municipal finance board did not proceed.
City leaders reached Wednesday had differing accounts of the disagreement.
Finance board Chairman Tom Shepard, Reed’s chief of staff, said he did not call the meeting and was not consulted before it was scheduled.
Shepard, who had expressed reservations in April about moving ahead too quickly during a recession, said Wednesday that the scheduling of the meeting surprised him. “I thought we would have been provided a little more information,†he said.
He said Krewson’s two representatives on the board, Assistant City Counselor Mike Garvin and Operations Director Todd Waelterman, called the meeting with Green’s representative, LaTaunia Kenner, but that Kenner later pulled her support.
Shepard, as chair, can call meetings; otherwise it takes three members.
Green spokesman Tyson Pruitt said Green’s office had discussed meeting but never agreed to calling one for Friday.
“I would say it’s improper calling it canceled because it was never properly scheduled,†Pruitt said.
But Steve Conway, Krewson’s chief of staff, said the mayor’s office had “written confirmation†from the comptroller’s office that it supported calling the meeting. He said the mayor’s office is “inclined†to move ahead with the bond issue, but will leave it to the board to decide.
Pruitt pointed out that Budget Director Paul Payne also had doubts: Payne, who sits on the board but does not work for any one political office, called the timing “not good,†according to an email provided by Pruitt that Payne sent Monday to the city counselor’s office. Rating agency Moody’s is in the process of reviewing city finances, Payne wrote, and will release a new outlook around the end of the month.
Kenner, Green’s representative, said in a Tuesday email she concurred with Payne’s recommendation.
Pruitt said Green’s office, which has hired the bond counsel and financial consultants for the offering, remains supportive of the project. Green said in a statement later Wednesday that she has asked for “materials on market conditions†to be prepared in advance of a future municipal finance meeting.
Green wrestled with Krewson’s office last year for control of the lucrative bond financing. The St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, which worked closely with the CVC to acquire property for the expanded convention center, was initially planning to issue the bonds.
“There’s just some political drama interfering with the actual decision about the convention center,†Pruitt said. “And that hopefully will be set aside in the near future.â€