Politics & Government

AG's Office Investigating U. City Over Sunshine Law Complaints

The city has until July 20 to respond to a letter from Assistant AG Jason Lewis detailing complaints against the city.

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UNIVERSITY CITY, MO — The Missouri Attorney General's office is looking into multiple complaints that University City officials have violated the state's Sunshine Law related to the proposed $200 million development at Olive Boulevard and Interstate 170. A letter from Assistant Attorney General Jason Lewis to Mayor Terry Crow, dated July 5, details the complaints and asks for more information to assist the state with its investigation. The city has until July 20 to respond.

The first complaint detailed in the letter alleges the city's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) commission held meetings at a venue too small to accommodate the anticipated attendance, in violation of state law. The TIF commission is currently weighing whether or not to approve $70.5 million in public subsidies for the planned shopping center.

Patch reported in May that around a hundred people were turned away from the first public hearing at the Mandarin House due to concerns from the fire marshal. In addition, many people crowded into the back of the room say they couldn't hear much of the proceedings. Nonetheless, the city decided to hold a second public meeting in the same venue, telling Patch that attendance would be limited to 350 people and that members of the public who spoke the first time around would not be allowed to speak again.

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The Missouri chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union quickly weighed in on the issue.

"University City officials must abide by the Sunshine Law by not moving forward with a public hearing unless it is held at a place that accommodates everyone who wishes to attend," said Tony Rothert, the group's legal director. "Limiting the number of people at a public meeting about an issue that most directly impacts communities of color not only violates the open meetings law, but defeats the law's promise that all members of the public may participate in this debate."

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Facing a backlash, the city retreated from its plan to limit attendance, even setting up an overflow room with a live television feed and upgrading the space's sound system. And no one was prevented from speaking, though repeat speakers were asked to keep their comments short.

Nonetheless, several people told Patch they were dissuaded from attending the public hearing by the city's plan to limit attendance, and the city cited that rationale when scheduling a third continuation of the public hearing — this time at the University City High School auditorium.

Another complaint alleges the city failed to provide documents in response to a Sunshine request from local watchdog Tom Sullivan. Sullivan has requested emails between Councilmember Paulette Carr and Novus Development related to the Olive/170 project.

Carr also sits on the TIF commission and, along with Third Ward Councilmember Bwayne Smotherson, was responsible for early work to bring the development to Olive and 170. Carr has been involved in the project since Fall 2016, but Sullivan was only provided with a handful of emails dating back to April.

"They clearly are not all the correspondence," Sullivan said at a council meeting in June. "So I'm asking again that Councilwoman Carr release the emails between her and Novus, otherwise it looks as if she has something to hide."

Carr told Patch that Sullivan is wrong about that and that she never had any negotiations with Novus.

"There were no negotiations prior to the issuance of the May 2017 RFP [request for proposals]," she said. "The only negotiations that have taken place have been solely by the City Manager. I have provided all emails pursuant to Tom Sullivan’s Sunshine Request to the City Clerk and I understand these have been provided to Mr. Sullivan. I am not sure what information Mr. Sullivan was seeking in those emails, but I have provided every record he requested."

A third complaint alleges the city failed to provide conflict-of-interest statements for members of the TIF commission and city consultants.

In response to a Sunshine request last month, the city told Patch that no conflict of interest statements exist for any city-appointed TIF commissioners or consultants related to the Olive/170 project. For such a large, publicly-funded development, experts say that's abnormal. Patch asked the city to explain why no such statements were produced, but we received no answer. Now the Attorney General's office is asking the same question.

"Please state whether TIF commission member are required to complete such statements or other financial disclosure statements under state or local law, whether they are retained by the city, and whether the city has closed the statements from public access under the Sunshine Law," Lewis writes.

Sullivan previously accused the TIF commission's chairman, lawyer Gerald Grieman, of conflicts related to his work for Carr, Crow and the Torah Prep School, which stands to benefit from a proposed sale of the school district's Ronald E. McNair administration building.

Greiman said he hasn't represented Torah Prep since 2012, and that his relationships with Carr and Crow do not warrant recusal, as Sullivan demanded.

Acting community development director Rosalind Williams has also been accused of conflicts of interest related to the project. Before her current appointment, she served as an unofficial adviser to Carr and Smotherson. According to Novus President Jonathan Browne, the two have a long history, dating back to her work in Kirkwood, and Williams has submitted a private proposal to "to guide the City through the TIF approval process," according to a document Patch obtained from the city manager.

A final complaint deals with the so-called Ferry Report, an analysis by the St. Louis Development Corporation's Jonathan Ferry detailing whether $70.5 million is a reasonable amount of public assistance for the project.

Ferry has previously scored projects in St. Louis City, and his reports typically show a range of projected rates of return for projects with and without public assistance. Ferry grades each project on tax revenue, economic value and the amount of public assistance, among other criteria, coming up with a final grade for the project that indicates whether the amount of TIF assistance requested is appropriate for the overall project.

In cases where Ferry has evaluated TIFs in St. Louis City, his work is almost always presented during the project's public hearing, and Ferry himself is present to explain his findings. University City has now held three public hearings on the Olive/170 project, and Ferry's work is still secret.

The city has promised to release the document only after its contract with Novus Development has been signed.

City manager Gregory Rose has said the report contains proprietary information that could put the developer at a disadvantage, such as what rents Novus is thinking about charging its future tenants.

Patch asked the city to redact any proprietary information and simply release Ferry's final score — typically a number out of 5. The city refused to release any part of the report or explain the specific task Ferry was assigned.

But the Attorney General's office doesn't seem to be taking no for an answer.

"Please explain the city's position on closing the entirety of these reports under the Sunshine Law, instead of performing limited reactions of specific material," Lewis writes. "In your response, we ask that you describe the reports prepared; the content of the reports; whether any reports contained a final score rating the Olive/170 project; whether the city considers a score rating by the analyst to be closed information under the Sunshine Law; and the specific provisions of the Sunshine Law the city believes provide authority to close the reports."

The Attorney General's office has also asked for all public records requests the city has received between January 1 and June 30, and all correspondence associated with the fulfilling the requests.

Read the letter here:

"I'm glad the attorney general's office will investigate the complaints that residents have been making about University City violating the Sunshine Law," Sullivan said. "City officials are making quite an effort to cover up information about the proposed Olive/ 170 development that should be available to the public."

The next hearing is scheduled for August 23 at 6 p.m. at University City High School (7401 Balson Avenue).

This story has been updated with a comment from Councilmember Paulette Carr. We have also clarified language stating that Carr was responsible for early negotiations regarding the Olive/170 development. She says all negotiations were conducted by the city manager.

Photo by J. Ryne Danielson/Patch

A map of the proposed development:

Catch up before the next public hearing by reading Patch's previous reporting below:

Read other coverage here:

Public documents can be found here:

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