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St. Louis Board of Aldermen personnel committee schedules reviews, votes to close part of meeting for personnel matters
Summary
On Jan. 22 the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen Personnel and Administration Committee voted to close part of its meeting to discuss personnel matters and set dates to review legislative-assistant office time, staff salary comparisons, an employee handbook update, a constituent-management platform and to interview candidates for an executive secretary.
President Green presided over the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen Personnel and Administration Committee on Thursday and called the meeting to order. The committee conducted roll call, confirmed a quorum and approved minutes from its Jan. 15 meeting.
During the session President Green moved to close portions of the meeting under the statute cited on the record as "6 10 dot 0 2 1 3" to permit discussion of "hiring, firing, disciplining, or promoting of employees of the Board of Aldermen." A roll call recorded three aye votes and the motion carried; an objection was voiced during the roll call but the committee proceeded to closed session and later returned to open session.
Director Engracia read a list of outstanding personnel items that the committee asked staff to prioritize and schedule. "The list I have, outstanding is discussion of, legislative assistants time in the office pursuant to their agreement form, a salary discussion, for members of Board and staff in terms of comparisons from the personnel department, civil service positions, performance management platform, constituent management platform, policy for employees of the board running for office, and then, Chief of Staff Nelson was interested in coming before you to discuss the upcoming fiscal year's budget on February 5," Director Engracia said.
Committee members tentatively confirmed Feb. 5 for the Chief of Staff to present the upcoming fiscal-year budget and discussed meeting cadence — generally Thursdays at 11 a.m. — to address the outstanding items. Director Engracia said the constituent-management platform is already budgeted for this year and recommended prioritizing that review; she also said portions of the employee handbook have been drafted and that staff would circulate materials for committee review prior to a scheduled discussion later in February.
On the legislative-assistant office-time item, committee members asked if they were conducting a review or seeking action. Director Engracia noted that existing agreement language already calls for LAs to be in the office "at least 24 hours per week," and the committee agreed to put LA and other staff-policy items on an upcoming agenda for further consideration.
The committee discussed a recently posted executive secretary position. Members and staff clarified the application timeline: Director Engracia said the posting closes on Feb. 6 and proposed using an application-ranking rubric used previously to screen candidates. The committee agreed to reserve Feb. 19 as a possible date for interviews and to hold a separate, broader employee-handbook discussion the week of Feb. 26.
Members also discussed whether upcoming meetings and interviews should be in person or hybrid. The committee favored in-person meetings while allowing interviewees to participate virtually if needed.
A motion to adjourn was moved and seconded; members voiced their approval and the committee adjourned.
The committee did not take any additional formal votes on policy changes during the open session; it scheduled follow-up meetings and directed staff to circulate materials and prepared rubrics ahead of interviews and policy reviews. The next scheduled public item is the budget presentation on Feb. 5.
