CLAYTON — St. Louis County Council Chair Rita Heard Days on Tuesday again delayed a vote to release funds to expand America’s Center in downtown St. Louis while accusing the region’s tourism board of walking back a 2-year-old agreement for a recreation center in north St. Louis County.
The expected move came despite two recent letters from Kitty Ratcliffe, president of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, warning the region could lose millions in convention business if the expansion is delayed and pointing county officials to language in the 2019 agreement that only required the CVC to help fund the North County project, not design or build it.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis chapter of the NAACP appeared to back Days, writing a letter to the Missouri NAACP State Conference that accused Ratcliffe of reversing course on the recreation center promise and suggested the statewide NAACP republicize its 2017 travel advisory, which urged people of color to avoid the state, citing discrimination concerns.
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Days, who has said she would form a committee to review the agreement with the CVC, issued a written statement in response to the letters Tuesday, vowing not to back down.
“We will not allow this commitment to deteriorate into another broken promise for our community. A commitment was made, and the expectation is that it will be honored,†she said.
Negotiated in 2019 by former Councilwoman Hazel Erby, the agreement with the CVC provided the agency would approve the expenditure of 35% of the county’s hotel-motel tax revenue that was not already encumbered by other projects on the new North County facility. Erby, who preceded Days as the councilwoman for the 1st District, died in July after a long battle with cancer.
In a letter Sunday to Days and the Missouri NAACP, Ratcliffe said Erby had asked her organization “the night the convention center bill was due†to amend the bill to include the funding agreement. But the text of the bill didn’t require any further commitment, she said.
After businesses called Erby “wanting the County to buy property for the facility,†the CVC offered to help fund a feasibility study to determine a location and type of recreational center. Ratcliffe presented the results of the study, which suggested the construction of an indoor track facility, to the council last week.
Ratcliffe, in her letter to Days and the Missouri NAACP, said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis NAACP was incorrect when he said she and her organization had done “an about-face†on the 2019 agreement.
“That is untrue and in fact, it is the exact opposite. We supported Councilwoman Erby’s amendment regarding the North County funds and continue to support the project concept to this day,†Ratcliffe wrote.
Pruitt and Rod Chapel, president of the Missouri NAACP, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Post-Dispatch last week reported that Ratcliffe warned St. Louis and St. Louis County officials that the regional economy could lose more than $100 million if the delays don’t end. The losses would reach that mark in six months, she said in an email obtained by the Post-Dispatch.
Khan investigation
Also on Tuesday, Councilman Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, urged the council to vote to try to force the county to open a confidential internal investigation of Dr. Faisal Khan, the acting county health director who made an obscene gesture at anti-mask protesters as he left a contentious council meeting on July 27. Page last week refused to allow the council to review the report.
But Fitch then asked to delay the vote, citing the absence of Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-4th District, who would have likely represented a tie-breaking fourth vote on the seven-member council.
Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, said he wanted to support the move but cited an opinion from County Counselor Beth Orwick that the council, the county’s legislative body, does not have the power to open closed records that don’t pertain directly to the legislative body.
Although Page said last month he “verbally reprimanded†Khan for giving protesters the middle finger, some council members — including Fitch and Days — are still angry because of Khan’s explanation for his behavior.
In a blistering letter to Days, sent on July 28, Khan accused several members of the audience of heckling him, making racist comments and “shoulder-bumping†him as he left — accusations that were not corroborated by several videos of the meeting, or by testimony from police officers who were there. He also complained in his letter that Days had allowed those offensive comments to be made unchecked, and accused Fitch of questioning his credentials and stoking the crowd.
Trakas on Tuesday urged Khan himself to “authorize the county executive to release the report so we will have that information,†because, as it stood, there was “no credibility†to Khan’s allegations.
“If that’s the case, then it impacts our consideration,†he said.
Because Khan’s position is a political appointment, the council vote on his confirmation would not be binding. Page has said he plans to keep Khan in the position as acting director should the council vote against his confirmation.
Fitch also accused Page, who was not present at the Tuesday meeting, of withholding the investigation because it would dispel Khan’s allegations. He argued the council does have authority to vote to open the records, which would make them subject to public records requests.
“If the investigation showed that Mr. Khan’s claims of racist comments and assault were true,†he said, “you could be 100% certain the report would have been released.â€Â