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ST. LOUIS — Plans backed by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones to strengthen police oversight, overhaul development policy and spend big to make streets safer won final approval at the Board of Aldermen on Friday in the last meeting before a new board is chosen this spring.

Aldermen also agreed to seek public input on how the NFL Rams settlement should be spent, a plan that emphasizes reversing “historic wrongs,� rebuilding forgotten neighborhoods and ensuring residents’ basic needs are being met.

And there was an interesting wrinkle that could liven up the usually sleepy end-of-session meeting in late April: The board gave first-round approval to a bill providing lawyers for people facing eviction.

“I want to commend my colleagues for staying focused on the residents of our city and for making St. Louis better on their behalf,� Board President Megan Green told reporters at a press conference after adjournment.

The eviction lawyers bill led off the meeting’s highlights.

Alderman Christine Ingrassia, of the Tower Grove East neighborhood, proposed spending $5 million in federal pandemic aid to make sure that people facing eviction have a lawyer when they go to court.

The bill follows in the footsteps of more than a dozen other cities, including New York, Detroit and Kansas City, offering similar guarantees in the past half-decade.

Ingrassia said the effort is especially needed now with pandemic-era eviction moratoriums gone and deep-pocketed investors buying up properties in the region.

Fellow progressive Democrats spoke in support. Alderman Annie Rice, an attorney from the Shaw neighborhood, said helping people avoid or delay evictions would help them and the city: People who get evicted even once can struggle to find housing again. And when that happens, it often means they turn to shelters or other government-funded resources.

“It prevents people from falling into homelessness,� Rice said.

Alderman Michael Gras, an attorney from the Central West End, said having lawyers on both sides would also make the legal process move more smoothly and increase the likelihood that differences are settled amicably.

“This is something that both sides should get behind,� he said.

Alderman Sharon Tyus of the Kingsway East neighborhood, a landlord herself, questioned the idea. She said the city shouldn’t be trying to stall legitimate evictions of people who haven’t paid rent.

�If the government wants them to stay in their housing, they should pay their rent,� she said.

But even she ultimately backed the bill, which advanced without dissent.

Civilian oversight board

After that, aldermen voted 19-2 to pass the bill on police oversight.

Aldermen voted last year to create a new, civilian-run agency to investigate nearly all allegations of police misconduct and mete out discipline, tasks traditionally handled by the police department itself. But a city circuit court judge blocked the administration from implementing the plan due to conflicts with state law.

Clark Hubbard’s bill was aimed at eliminating those conflicts and getting things moving again.

Development reform

Also moving Tuesday was legislation intended to clean up the city’s process for doling out development subsidies. The issue drew new scrutiny last summer after three board members were indicted for accepting bribes to facilitate tax breaks and a land purchase.

The bill aims to prevent that from happening again by requiring aldermen to disclose conflicts of interest on bills they sponsor. It does not go as far as the mayor and others hoped it would: Provisions to fully end the tradition of giving aldermen veto power over development in their wards was stripped out of the final version. But it passed anyway, 25-0, and Jones’ aides say she’ll sign it.

Infrastructure bill

Then aldermen turned to Jones’ biggest priority of the day: a $74 million package largely focused on making city streets safer amid rising concerns about reckless driving and deadly consequences for other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

The bill will put money toward removing lanes and bumping out curbs to slow traffic on some major thoroughfares and in other areas identified as dangerous by traffic studies. It also offers $15 million to help build a new 911 call center billed as essential to improving a service that currently puts some callers on hold.

It, too passed 25-0.

Rams resolution

The resolution calling for public input on Rams settlement spending was next.

Clark Hubbard said she was happy with the wide range of ideas emphasized in the plan so far, including building up the city’s workforce, fixing roads and lifting up the poor.

And she said she was excited for the new board to hear from the public on what they want to see.

Alderman Marlene Davis, of Jeff-Vander-Lou, cautioned her colleagues against promising too much to the poor with limited funds.

�As the new board sits, I hope someone educates them on Economics 101,� she said.

But the resolution passed on a voice vote with no audible dissent.