CLAYTON — County Council Chair Rita Days says plans for a recreational facility in north St. Louis County are “close†but won’t release details about the project.
And she isn’t making any promises that she’ll soon end a monthslong delay to approve the county’s share of funding to pay for the America’s Center expansion.
Days’ push to identify and secure funding for the rec center has caused the County Council to delay for months a vote on the $105 million county bond issue.
In prepared remarks during a council meeting Tuesday, Days said she was responding to political pressure over the delays and had a team “working feverishly to get this project across the finish line.â€
“Some of you may have asked why the delay in passing this legislation, but that is the reason why I am giving you an update this evening,†Days said.
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“We are close,†she added.
The city of St. Louis already has issued bonds to pay for its half of the $210 million expansion, which is underway. Days has insisted the region’s tourism agency, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, reneged on a 2019 deal to build the North County rec center.
Under the agreement reached with Days’ predecessor on the council, the late Hazel Erby, the money for the new rec center is supposed to come from a percentage of excess, or unobligated, hotel taxes.
But County Budget Director Paul Kreidler has told the County Council that there won’t be any excess hotel tax revenues for at least three years because of the pandemic, which cut hotel revenues and tax receipts beginning in 2020.
CVC President Kitty Ratcliffe has said the agreement was only to help fund the facility, not design and build it. Ratcliffe said the agency went above and beyond when it paid for a study, released in September, that suggested an indoor track facility.
The study, which was released two years after the 2019 agreement, proposed an indoor, 200-meter track facility that could host multiple events, including NCAA-level tournaments, year-round for 4,000 to 5,000 spectators.
But it did not make recommendations for other details, including a proposed site, architectural concepts or an estimated cost.
Since the CVC study, Days said Tuesday, she “put together a team to get this done, and in four months I have experts doing site control, concepts and now arranging financing,†she said.
The CVC study, she said, was part of a history of delays to proposed projects for majority Black areas.
“Efforts to bring resources to the Black community are often met by studies, analysis, delays, and needs assessments,†Days said.
And Days complained that she “felt the pressure†to release the CVC bonds and or face “significant challenges politically†and a “well-funded opponent.â€
Days, who was elected to succeed Erby on the council in 2019, is running for reelection this year to a full four-year term.
Jennings Councilman Terry Wilson is challenging her in the August primary.
But Days revealed no other details about possible plans for the facility.
The Post-Dispatch previously reported that the University of Missouri-St. Louis was under consideration as the site for the potential recreation complex, and that Days had privately sought for the county to fund the facility restructuring the $105 million special bond issue to add $80 million more in debt to pay for the new rec center.
In an interview Wednesday, Days said both the UMSL location and the bond financing “were still on the table.†But she refused to provide any more details.
“I don’t want to put out something that might change next week,†Days said. “When I come out and say something I want to make sure that we’re clear about what is going on, that I’m sure about the plan, I’m sure about the location.â€
Asked about the political pressure she faced, Days said she was responding to an editorial in the St. Louis American, the Black-owned regional weekly that focuses on issues affecting African Americans. The editorial called Days’ delay of the convention center bonds “vanity-driven leverage to leave her name on a new building,†that cost the region’s tourism industry, including “thousands of Black workers.â€
Asked about the “team†she mentioned, Days said it included UMSL officials and St. Louis NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt, who had advocated for the 2019 CVC agreement.
Asked if there was anyone else on the team, Days told a reporter that there were. But she refused to name them.
“They just don’t want you calling them,†Days said. “You’ll be asking specific questions and that’s information we’re just not ready to release yet. This is a difficult project at best, and we want to make sure that when we do come out with information that it’s accurate and final.â€
Originally posted at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2.Â