City Mayoral Contenders Would Fire or Contain SLDC’s Director Neal Richardson
Date Posted: February 27, 2025
Posted In: Ideas, News,
From St. Louis Business Journal: Cara Spencer said she’d look to remove Neal Richardson from leadership of St. Louis’ development agency, while Michael Butler said he’d evaluate his performance, while keeping the top official on a “short leash.”
The comments from the St. Louis mayoral candidates came in interviews with the Business Journal. Spencer is an alderwoman and Butler the city’s recorder of deeds, and the primary election is March 4, with an April 8 run-off between the top two vote-getters. The incumbent mayor, Tishaura Jones, nominated Richardson for the position in the months after taking office in 2021, has defended his performance and said she’d keep him on if re-elected. Andrew Jones, a fourth candidate who’s reported raising no money, hasn’t yet agreed to an interview.
Operation of the agency, St. Louis Development Corp., has come up for public debate amid questions about preliminary awardees in a $37 million North City grant program, which utilizes federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. Awardees facing scrutiny haven’t appeared to be based in the city, haven’t operated during business hours or don’t exist at all. SLDC has rescinded awards for some, though questions about others have persisted.
Jones said in an interview with KMOV this month that accounting firm Armanino has audited the program and “gave us the green light to proceed.” She said “most of the money is out the door and to the awardees.”
Jones also said SLDC is fully vetting businesses “to make sure they can spend these funds over the next two years,” and invited a critic of the program’s rollout, Comptroller Darlene Green, to sit on an SLDC advisory board.