St. Louis City poet laureate task force moves to draft updates to ordinance to clarify post‑selection support

The St. Louis City Poet Laureate Task Force moved to draft proposed updates to ordinance number 697879 to clarify the task force’s role in supporting the poet laureate after selection, members said during a virtual meeting.

The chair said the current ordinance focuses on nominating and selecting a poet laureate but does not describe the task force’s role during the laureate’s two‑ or three‑year term. "It strictly only outlines our role ... in selecting the poet laureate. It does not explain what our role should be thereafter," the chair said, and proposed adding language on onboarding, event promotion, workflow and advocacy for literary‑arts funding. The motion to draft updates was moved by the chair and seconded; the meeting transcript records the motion and a second but no formal vote on the draft language was recorded during this session.

Why it matters: members said clearer, written responsibilities would help the task force provide consistent support to the poet laureate, make onboarding smoother for future laureates and create durable practices for promoting…