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Residents urge caution on ICE partnership, raise safety and permit concerns during public comment
Summary
Public commenters included a retired fire chief warning of toxic leadership concerns, a resident alleging inconsistent building-department guidance on electrical work, and a resident urging the city not to voluntarily partner with ICE.
During the community remarks portion of the meeting, multiple residents addressed the council on separate topics.
Brett Ellis, identifying himself as a retired fire chief, praised Webster Groves firefighters and their service but urged the council to reflect on leadership culture. "Culture becomes whatever leadership tolerates," he said, and asked the council to consider how words and policies affect public-safety staffing and morale.
Dan O'Neil said his 1947 house remains wired with two-conductor cloth-insulated wire and alleged the building department would not allow him to replace wiring during remodeling while a different homeowner received permission to do similar work. The mayor said staff would follow up and asked Mr. O'Neil to expect a call to resolve details.
Andrea Lacey urged the city to avoid voluntarily partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying that a partnership "would come at a cost" and expressing concern about recent ICE conduct nationally; her remarks were made during the public-comment period and no council action followed immediately.
What’s next: The mayor indicated staff follow-up on the building-department complaint; the ICE partnership topic was already the subject of prior resident letters and council members had received those materials.
