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ST. LOUIS — The region’s tourism bureau was rocked on Tuesday when it was revealed that its board was discussing a replacement for its embattled chief, Kitty Ratcliffe, leading the agency to announce that it is succession planning.

In a virtual meeting mistakenly left open to the public, David Robert, vice chair of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, spoke of ongoing issues with sales and operations, trouble with staff morale and a need to make a change at the top.

“We have to make a change for the organization’s sake and for our people’s sake down there,� he said. “It’s not a good culture.�

In the meeting, Robert said Ratcliffe has done a good job over the years, dealing with the struggle to keep the Rams football team and finding $250 million for the ongoing convention center expansion.

But he said Ratcliffe has also admitted to being “preoccupied� recently, to the point where she has not had time to focus on “operational items.�

“We have an operational and sales problem at our business,� he said.

The board’s discussion marks the latest blow to a prominent but embattled public agency that has struggled mightily over the last few years with the convention center expansion, which is tens of millions of dollars over budget. It also provides a rare look inside the organization as it grapples with the cost overruns that have created doubt that the full project can be completed and made it harder to book future conventions.Ìý

After the meeting Tuesday, a spokesperson for the commission, Brian Hall, said the board was simply working on succession planning as Ratcliffe nears the end of her contract in June next year. He said he did not know if she planned to leave.

Board members declined further comment in interviews. Ratcliffe could not be reached.

But, later that day, Steve O’Loughlin, the board chair, put out a statement thanking Ratcliffe for her contributions over her 18-year tenure and announcing plans to recruit a new leader.

“As she approaches the end of her contract, we are committed to recruiting a new tourism and convention leader to guide Explore St. Louis into the future,� O’Loughlin said.

Critics, who have been calling for Ratcliffe’s resignation for months, were unimpressed.

Bob Clark, the executive chairman of design-build firm Clayco, told commissioners in a letter that new leadership is needed immediately to salvage the expansion. “Now,� he said. “Not later.�

St. Louis County Councilman Ernie Trakas, a longtime critic, said a new leader might even get a fair hearing from the County Council on a request for more money to finish the expansion.

But he said Ratcliffe would have no chance.

The discussion comes amid a hard few years for Ratcliffe and the commission as they have struggled through the troubled expansion of the America’s Center, built on the northern edge of downtown in 1977.

In 2018, St. Louis regional leaders announced plans for a $175 million project. They said they would add 92,000 square feet of new exhibit space along Cole Street, in the center’s northwest corner. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ would build a new 65,000-square-foot ballroom along Ninth Street and a new kitchen to service it. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ would replace an unsightly parking lot with a public plaza and green space and build new loading docks to accommodate bigger conventions.

But they have hit obstacle after obstacle ever since. The city took months longer than expected to issue bonds for its half of the cost while leaders gauged the pandemic’s impact on city finances. County officials then waited until April 2022 to green light their own bonds.

All the while, costs have skyrocketed amid inflation in the construction market. When the city’s Board of Public Service, which is overseeing the project, requested bids for the expansion, it got one for the first half that was roughly $40 million over budget, and none at all for the second half.

Ratcliffe said in April 2022 that the overrun would shrink by a minimum of $8 million. But that hasn’t happened.

On Monday, the Post-Dispatch revealed that as of the end of April of this year, change orders on the first phase had reached $7 million, leaving nearly all of the city’s contingency funds exhausted. Officials, worried they wouldn’t have enough money for a second phase, also pulled roughly $20 million in additional work into the first.

Later Monday, the CVC board called a special meeting for Tuesday morning, to be held virtually.

On Tuesday, a Post-Dispatch reporter joined the Zoom, using the link provided to the public by the commission.

Robert was then talking about the search for Ratcliffe’s replacement.

“Kitty’s done some remarkable things,� he said.

But she hasn’t been able to focus on operations, he continued.

Key team members have tried to retire and have not been allowed to leave, he added without further explanation.

“We honestly have a morale problem among our team and people are genuinely concerned to speak up,� he said. “It’s not the culture that we’d accept at any of our businesses.�

Then O’Loughlin, the board chair, saw the Post-Dispatch reporter on the call, and halted discussion.

The meeting, he said, was supposed to be closed to the public.