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ST. LOUIS — The city’s top fiscal body on Tuesday advanced a $37 million pandemic aid package to revive businesses along 10 major north St. Louis streets but questions remained about what would be in the bill’s final version.

In an at times contentious meeting, the three-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment voted 3-0 to endorse Aldermanic President Lewis Reed’s measure.

But the two other members said they also wanted the Board of Aldermen to make changes before it passes the plan. The estimate board itself can’t amend aldermanic bills and can only approve or reject them.

Early in the meeting, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones proposed three amendments she said were worked out recently with the third estimate board member — Comptroller Darlene Green — and others.

One would require that applications for grants available under the bill for small businesses, nonprofit organizations and others be devised by June 1 so the process can begin then.

Another would route the money for legal reasons through the city Community Development Administration before going to the city’s main development arm, St. Louis Development Corp., which would oversee the program.

Later in the discussion, Green said she wanted to remove provisions requiring approval by an individual alderman for any grant above $100,000 to a project in his or her ward.

She also opposes requiring approval of such a grant by a majority of aldermen representing parts of the affected street corridor and another provision, complaining that would delay the process.

Near the end of the meeting, Green made a motion to approve the bill along with recommending “the friendly amendment that I made.�

Green, in a discussion before the vote, referred to the proposed changes cited by Jones but didn’t say whether her motion also referred to her call for removing the aldermanic approval requirements. The motion passed 3-0.

After the meeting, Jones’ spokesman, Nick Dunne, said the mayor regarded Green’s motion as dealing with the three changes Jones had initially described.

Reed in an interview disputed that. He said he believed that the motion referred solely to Green’s request for removal of the requirement for aldermanic approval of individual grants.

In any event, he said he opposes it because such a requirement helps guarantee the input of the surrounding community. “Overwhelmingly aldermen would want to see that stay in place,� he said at the meeting.

Green in an interview said her motion was indeed aimed at endorsing her call for removing the provisions on aldermanic approval of grants.

She also wants to delete a requirement that the full Board of Aldermen approve the outsourcing by SLDC of any of its management duties such as vetting the feasibility of applications.

It’s unclear what will happen now. In Tuesday’s meeting, Jones said if aldermen didn’t make the changes requested by the estimate board, the bill would have to return to the board for another vote. “We will come back again to get it right,� the mayor said.

Reed indicated after the meeting that he disagreed.

Reed also said he has yet to decide when to reschedule the next aldermanic board meeting to take up the issue.

Reed has been at odds with Jones and Green since last summer over his North Side corridor plan.

The mayor vetoed an earlier $33 million version, arguing that it wouldn’t fall in line with federal rules for spending American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Reed, in promoting his revised version, has pointed to final ARPA regulations allowing wide discretion on using the funds if deployed in low-income census tracts such as the North Side areas the bill covers.

Last week, the estimate board at Green’s request delayed a vote on the revised version.

Originally posted at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29.