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 poetry across St. Louis City. The chair said the updates would codify work the group already does informally, such as event promotion and establishing onboarding processes.

New member, onboarding and support India Golunde joined the task force as a newly appointed member. "I've always been interested in poetry ... connecting to people all, you know, all sorts of people," Golunde said, describing her roles as an adjunct professor at STLCC and a claims coordinator at a door‑hardware manufacturer. The chair said she will set up 30‑minute introductory calls with candidates Anne Hobrich submitted to fill an additional vacancy and asked members to review submitted bios.

Social media, account access and city email Members raised concerns about the poet laureate’s official online presence. Patia Elaine Anderson, the St. Louis City poet laureate, told the group there is an Instagram she uses as an artist account but no current, city‑controlled poet‑laureate page; a Facebook page created in 2015 appears to exist but administrators and credentials are not readily recoverable. Patia described communications with people who previously administered the account and said a longtime poster, Janie, has been posting a poem a day but does not have the account passwords.

Christine Gracias (staff) said the councilor’s office will work with the information‑technology department to create a durable city‑controlled presence on social platforms and to explore whether the historic Facebook page can be transferred. "Our office still stands ready to work with our information technology department to create platforms on social media that ... are able to withstand the transition of different individuals," Gracias said. She also said she will edit the IT department’s use agreement so the poet laureate can receive an official city email address and will send the revised agreement for signature.

Role of mayor’s office and next steps Dan Gunther, the mayor’s office representative on the task force, said the ordinance requires a mayor’s office member and that his role is primarily to attend meetings and help coordinate invitations for the poet laureate to participate in city events when feasible. He said he is willing to act as a conduit but has no dedicated staff role beyond meeting participation.

Action items and logistics The task force approved minutes from the Sept. 8, 2025 meeting. The chair will: (1) schedule onboarding calls for the new member, (2) set a one‑on‑one meeting with staff to coordinate next steps on drafting ordinance changes, and (3) circulate the candidate bios Anne provided. Staff agreed to work with IT on social media transition options and to prepare an edited IT use agreement to provide the poet laureate a city email. Members confirmed the recurring meeting time (second Monday of the month at 4 p.m.); the next meeting was identified as Dec. 8. The meeting adjourned at 4:39 p.m.

Notes on terms and ordinance language: during the discussion members referenced both a two‑year nomination term and later a three‑year service term while reading the ordinance text; the transcript includes both durations and the task force agreed to review and clarify term language as part of the ordinance update process.