Public advocate criticizes county spending, seeks open-records and local policing investment

Arnie C. A. C. Dinof identified himself as county public advocate and a candidate for county executive and used his public-comment time to raise several concerns about county policy and spending.

Dinof said the state legislature had recently compromised on HB 2018 (annexation benchmarks) shifting proposed percentages, thanked County Engineer John Lyons and Assistant Administration Director Rob Wiley for a recent paving action on Piney Road, and criticized what he called large or wasteful spending on the consent agenda. He specifically questioned two consent-agenda items he described as $1 million each — one for playground equipment at Climb 'n Dine Park and another for the Gateway Greenlight program — and urged the council to curb what he called wasteful spending.

Dinof also questioned why the county appears to be investing in a police instructor at the St. Louis County Police Academy and cited a $38 million law enforcement training center project he said is under construction in St. Louis County, asking why similar investment was not made locally. He requested all reports from lobbyists Mike Gibbons and Tom Dempsey under Chapter 610 (open-records request) and questioned why some council correspondence had fees cited for retrieval.

The council did not act on Dinof’s requests during the meeting. His comments raised transparency and spending questions that could prompt staff follow-up or open-records processing if pursued through formal channels.