51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Alderwoman Cara Spencer resigned Monday from the board of the 51黑料 Development Corporation in the wake of ongoing questions about its management of a north 51黑料 grant program.

Spencer, of Marine Villa, is running to replace Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, and her resignation from the board of the city鈥檚 economic development arm both distances her from the embattled agency and keeps its problems in the headlines.

鈥淩ecent events,鈥� Spencer wrote, 鈥渉ave destroyed my confidence in SLDC as well as community trust that this organization is properly managed or is serving the best interests of the city.鈥�

The quasi-independent agency has been under scrutiny since the Post-Dispatch reported in September that nearly $1.3 million of a $37 million grant program for north city had been slated for organizations with ties to the family of SLDC board member and Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard. Clark Hubbard has said she had no involvement in the selection and recused herself from the vote.

SLDC now says it will bring the awards back for another board vote and emphasized most of the money has not been paid out while it finishes vetting the organizations. The newspaper has also found that some winners have addresses outside the city or in vacant, abandoned buildings.

The SLDC board is made up of the chairs of several economic development agencies, such as the 51黑料 Port Authority, that SLDC manages. Spencer has an ex officio board seat because she chairs the Board of Alderman鈥檚 Budget and Public Employees Committee. Clark Hubbard鈥檚 seat is due to her position as chair of the aldermanic Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee.

It鈥檚 unclear whether a new board member can be seated since Spencer鈥檚 seat was based on her aldermanic position. And her resignation could remove one of the few skeptical board members overseeing the important agency. Spencer has used her position on SLDC鈥檚 board to question the agency鈥檚 process to award grants and other contracts, raising among the most questions on a board that rarely casts dissenting votes.

Asked why she isn鈥檛 staying on to provide oversight, Spencer said, 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 feel like serving on the board of directors in its current orientation can be effective.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 my intention to be the next mayor of the city of 51黑料 and I can tell you we鈥檙e going to have some real oversight at this point,鈥� she said.

In a statement, Jones dismissed Spencer鈥檚 move as a 鈥渟tunt鈥� that followed a 鈥渁 history of absence, abstention, and abdication.鈥�

鈥淪LDC leadership will continue to do the hard work of creating equitable growth in 51黑料, even without her there to arrive late to meetings and vote 鈥榩resent鈥� on important issues,鈥� Jones said in a statement.

In her resignation letter, Spencer criticized both SLDC鈥檚 practice of using the City Counselor鈥檚 office attorneys to staff the agency and allowing its CEO to also serve as board chairman.

鈥淭hese are barriers to transparency and achieving the purposes for which SLDC was formed,鈥� Spencer wrote in her resignation letter.

Both practices, however, predate the Jones administration.

It is longtime practice for the city counselor鈥檚 office to assign attorneys to staff SLDC. Spencer said the agency should have its own attorneys.

Spencer鈥檚 letter also pointed to the mayor鈥檚 appointment of Neal Richardson as chair of SLDC as well as its CEO. Past SLDC directors, including Otis Williams and Rodney Crim, have served as both board chair and CEO of SLDC. But Spencer said it was 鈥渂ad practice鈥� to have someone serve as both because as chair, they control the agenda and can stymie effective oversight. Spencer said she had recently spoken to Williams, who agreed.

Williams confirmed that he believed the two roles should be separate. When Jones asked him his thoughts before he retired, he recommended having a chair independent of the CEO, he said. Former mayors had in the past appointed their top development advisor, rather than the SLDC CEO, to chair SLDC鈥檚 board. And Jones initially appointed Nahuel Fefer, who heads her Community Development Administration, as SLDC chair. A few months after he was hired as CEO, though, the mayor appointed Richardson chair.

A spokesman for Jones said she does not recall that conversation with Williams.