After months of widespread and unflagging criticism, organizers of the city-county merger initiative on Monday pulled their beleaguered consolidation proposal from ballot consideration.
鈥淔aced with the reality that we have an enormous challenge, in terms of winning the ballot initiative, we decided to step back,鈥 said Mark Wrighton, chancellor of Washington University and chairman of Better Together鈥檚 campaign, UniteSTL.
Better Together leaders said they would not soon refile their petition to merge the governments of 50度灰视频, 50度灰视频 County and all 88 county municipalities but will instead focus on working with local officials and residents 鈥 including their opponents 鈥 toward structural change.
The effort鈥檚 defenders have been privately urging the organization for weeks to pause and restart. The investigation and indictment of 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger, who had been slated to play a key role in the initiative, threw county leadership into turmoil.
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鈥淚 said that this needs a reset,鈥 50度灰视频 Mayor Lyda Krewson recalled telling Better Together leaders weeks ago. 鈥淚 just thought, 鈥楴ow is not the time to push.鈥欌
At the same time, a groundswell of the measure鈥檚 supporters, including Krewson, were prodding Better Together leadership to rethink a particularly controversial component of the petition: the requirement for a statewide vote.
Better Together has long said that its proposal made such sweeping changes 鈥 consolidating courts and police departments, for instance 鈥 that it required an amendment to the Missouri Constitution and a statewide vote.
But many residents and municipal officials considered that component a deliberate scheme to overpower local voters. Even Better Together board members raised the issue.
鈥淓ssentially, I think it鈥檚 time to pause, to think about the process going forward,鈥 board member Will Ross, associate dean for diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, told the Post-Dispatch before a Better Together board meeting last week. 鈥淭he process of unification is so important, we just don鈥檛 want to do this wrong. It鈥檚 becoming too divisive.鈥
The Better Together board met Wednesday. Spokesman Ed Rhode said nothing newsworthy happened. But Ross said before the meeting that he would present his concerns to members, predicting not all would be happy to hear them. Afterward, Ross said there would indeed be 鈥渕ajor new developments鈥 in the merger initiative, though he wasn鈥檛 sure if it was 鈥渞eal, systemic change.鈥 He declined to further discuss the matter.
No consensus
Others told the Post-Dispatch of their concerns last week, too.
Arindam Kar, a Bryan Cave lawyer who sat on the task force that helped write the Better Together proposal, said he was 鈥渟addened鈥 and 鈥渄isappointed鈥 that the Better Together campaign hadn鈥檛 built consensus.
Former Stifel Financial Corp. CEO George Herbert Walker III, a founder of Better Together, said he had discussed worries with fellow board members, and he hoped the Better Together goals were still alive.
Boeing engineer and task force member Kira Van Niel said it had been painful to hear African-American residents say they had been ignored in the process. 鈥淭his community needs to listen fully to the lived experience of their neighbors,鈥 Van Niel said.
Joe Adorjan, chairman of the Better Together board, acknowledged that the effort was struggling.
鈥淧eople are concerned. We鈥檙e all concerned,鈥 Adorjan said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to see this city, county move forward.鈥
Monday鈥檚 move represented the third time Better Together had pulled its petition from state consideration.
Better Together announced its proposal in January and filed an initiative petition and constitutional amendment language with the state in the hopes of forcing a statewide vote next year.
But Better Together was almost immediately attacked by residents and officials from the region鈥檚 multitude of municipalities, publicly outraged by two main parts of the measure: the statewide vote, and Stenger鈥檚 automatic appointment as first chief of the merged 鈥渕etropolitan city.鈥
Those sentiments grew over the months. A variety of agencies, residents and officials mounted fights against Better Together.
鈥楧ivisive at all levels鈥
The last several weeks have been especially tumultuous. When news broke in March that federal prosecutors were investigating Stenger, Better Together removed him from the proposal. But the group had a hard time shaking the shadow.
It looked to rebound when the 50度灰视频 County NAACP announced last month that it was supporting the measure. But at that same announcement, county NAACP branch President John Gaskin III admitted he was employed by Better Together鈥檚 campaign.
The next week, about 35 black elected officials from 50度灰视频 and 50度灰视频 County denounced the Better Together city-county merger proposal and called for Gaskin to resign. The national NAACP president then suspended Gaskin, leaving Better Together with little, if any, official African-American support for the measure.
鈥淚f these are the people leading, no wonder we鈥檙e in trouble,鈥 Normandy Mayor Patrick Green said on Monday after Better Together pulled its petition. 鈥淗ow could you not see this was going to be so divisive, at all levels?鈥
Krewson said she hopes the work to unify the region鈥檚 governments continues.
鈥淚 think we need to revisit this down the road,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t needs rehab and recuperation, not hospice. I would hate to think this is the end, and I don鈥檛 believe it is.鈥
New 50度灰视频 County Executive Sam Page said he had 鈥渟everal serious reservations鈥 about the proposal and was encouraged to see Monday鈥檚 news.
鈥淚t shows they鈥檙e listening,鈥 Page said in a statement. 鈥淚 hope that future efforts at reform will be built from the ground up, engaging community leaders, the African-American community, the Municipal League and other stakeholders.鈥