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ST. LOUIS — A longtime employee in Comptroller Darlene Green’s office has a consulting business that works for a company owned by a businessman with a major city contract at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

The employee, Leonard Bell Jr., runs the city’s internal audit division and is listed in state business filings as the registered agent for a company co-owned by Darryl Jones, who for over 25 years has been part of the joint venture that runs many of the restaurants at the city-owned airport. State records show Bell’s company has worked for another one of Jones’ companies as far back as 2011.

Bell’s work for Jones’ companies could be perceived as a conflict, given the comptroller office’s role approving and auditing all city contracts, a former city official said.

Jones, whose businesses are also donors to a political action committee supporting Comptroller Green’s reelection, is a partner in D&D Concessions with Donald Suggs, the publisher of the St. Louis American. D&D holds a 25% stake in a joint venture with national airport vendor HMSHost, which has for decades held an airport contract that now operates about 20 restaurant spaces in Lambert’s terminals.

Bell signed off on a positive audit of the HMSHost contract in 2021 despite his past work for a Jones company and a few months before incorporating another company where Jones is a partner.

At least two companies where Jones is an owner list Bell in state paperwork, according to a review of state business records. One of them, Innovative Concept Academy, listed Bell’s firm, Bell & Associates Consulting, as the contact for the company. It dissolved in 2012.

Another, DJMH Holdings LLC, was incorporated in 2022 and lists Bell as registered agent.

Bell, in an interview, denied that his work for Jones’ companies posed a conflict because the company he has worked for recently, DJMH, does not have a city contract itself.

A spokesman for Green said the comptroller only became aware of Bell’s work for Jones’ companies after the Post-Dispatch asked Bell about it Monday.

“As far as the comptroller knows, whatever he does secondary to his job in the comptroller’s office has nothing to do with our office,� comptroller spokesman Tyler Poslosky said Monday. “We have no say in what he does for secondary employment.�

The city’s secondary employment disclosure form, which all city employees with other jobs must fill out, must be signed by a city employee’s boss. It has employees attest that “I am further aware that all secondary employment must be approved by my Appointing Authority.� Bell’s most recent secondary employment form, which Green’s office shared with the newspaper, was signed in October by Judy Armstrong, a manager in the comptroller’s office.

The form said Bell & Associates Consulting does tax and consulting work on evenings and weekends.

Green pledges ‘closer scrutiny’

In a statement Wednesday, Green said Bell was a longtime employee who has been pre-approved for secondary employment. Green, who is in a tight race for reelection against former state representative and alderwoman Donna Baringer, said she had no knowledge of Bell’s client list and added that airport contracts are awarded through a competitive, public bidding process.

“Regarding any possible conflicts of interests, I’m looking into it with closer scrutiny and taking any further action as required because it absolutely will not be tolerated,� Green said.

Former Personnel Director Rick Frank, who led the department for 18 years until 2021, said city departments would occasionally consult his office about employee side jobs and whether they posed a conflict. Even a “perceived� conflict of interest could be problematic, he said.

Working for a company owned by a businessman whose other company has a stake in a city contract “might give me pause,� Frank said. Because the comptroller’s office has sway over the airport’s contracts and operations, the arrangement is “messy,� Frank said.

“You wouldn’t want to profit directly or indirectly from your city employment,� Frank said.

The comptroller sits on the airport commission, and she both votes on airport contracts at the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment and serves as one of the city signatories to those contracts.

Her office’s internal audit division also is supposed to audit city contracts, including those at the airport.

Green’s office releases audits of various city departments and contracts weekly, sometimes flagging minor compliance issues. In November 2021, it was HMSHost’s turn for an audit. Bell, whose position at the time was audit manager, signed off on the report. It was glowing.

“The concessionaire has earned the confidence of the city of St. Louis, and has demonstrated a high level of service in the food and beverage operations at the airport,� the audit noted.

It found no issues.

‘No direct connection’

Bell, in an interview, said he was “not aware� that Jones was part of the joint venture that held the airport concession contract. And he disputed he had a conflict by working for a company owned by a businessman with a major interest in a city contract.

Bell said he mostly does tax preparation work for DJMH Holdings, adding that he has no ownership interest in the company and that it does not hold any contracts with the city. DJMH, which lists Jones and Mark Heller as partners, has a contract for concessions at the Enterprise Center, Bell said, which is owned by the city but operated by an ownership group tied to the St. Louis Blues.

“I’m doing work for DJMH,� Bell said. “Now, if he’s one of the owners, he’s one of the owners, but I do work for DJMH, sir. I don’t do work personally for Mr. Jones.�

Asked whether he does consulting or tax work for any of Jones’ other companies, Bell said “I’m not aware of his any other companies. The only company that I’m aware of at this point is DJMH.�

But Bell also worked for another Jones company, Innovative Concept Academy. Bell’s company, Bell & Associates Consulting, is listed on Innovative Concept Academy’s 2011 incorporation paperwork. When the company dissolved in 2013, Bell is listed as the contact.

“If I did, once again, it was only dealing with the structure of the business,� he said when asked about his work for Innovative Concept Academy. “I never went beyond into their operation.�

Asked how he knew Jones and began working for some of his companies, Bell said “it was a referral that’s, that’s as far as I can tell you.�

There is “no direct connection,� Bell said, between the airport contractors — HMSHost and Jones’ D&D Concessions — and his consulting company, Bell & Associates Consulting.

“I don’t engage with anyone that has a direct city contract and wants me to provide services on it,� Bell said. “I don’t engage with those.�

Jones could not be reached for comment.

Jones’ companies have donated recently to a PAC supporting Green’s reelection. DJMH, the one that Bell is the registered agent for, donated $1,000 to Green’s political action committee in February. Another one of his companies, Tri-Tec Inc., gave $2,000 to Green’s PAC the same day.

HMS Host and D&D Concessions won a multi-year extension of their contract at the airport in 2022, when airport and city leaders endorsed a seven-year extension of the contract without considering other bids, even though there was at least one other contractor interested.

At the time, airport leadership said other contractors weren’t interested because the contract would have been shorter than the typical 15-year concession contract to accommodate a planned rebuild and combination of Lambert’s terminals. That rebuild is slated to be complete around 2032.

Jones has long been adjacent to politics. He is a former Missouri Gaming Commission member and served as a campaign treasurer to former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., the mayor who appointed Green to her position in 1995. Jones was also part of the group that won the concession contract for the downtown convention center in 1994, while Bosley was mayor.