City Council - Regular Meeting

We're live. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call the September 14th, 2026 meeting of the University City City Council to order. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Dancy. Present. Council Member McMahon.

Here.

Council Member Brenner. Present. Council Member Fuller.

Here.

Mayor Crowe.

Here. Thank you very much. Before you, you have the agenda. Before we move forward, City Manager Sharpe.

Honorable Mayor Crowe, I would like to request that we move items K-3 and K-4 to City Manager's Report as L-2 and L-3.

Thank you very much. Are there any other changes? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the change requested by the city manager? Motion made by council member Brenner, seconded by council member McMahon. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. You now have before you an amended agenda. Is there a motion to approve the amended agenda? Motion made by council member Fuller. Is there a second? Seconded by council member Dancy. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. We have no proclamations this evening. We have before you the June 15th study session minutes for the annual operating budget. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by council member Brenner. Is there a second? Seconded by council member McMahon. Is there a discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. You have before the August 10th study session minutes of the Amherst project update. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Council Member Fuller. Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Brenner. Is there a discussion?

Yes.

I will abstain for the approval of minutes item E2 and E3. Thank you.

Any other comments? Those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have. Yeah, before the August 10th regular meeting minutes, is there a motion to approve? Council Member Dancy, is there a second? Council Member Fuller, is there a discussion? Yes. Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Please note that Linda Cram was sworn to the Green Practices Commission, Rebecca Howley was sworn into the Stormwater Commission, and Andrea Lubershain was sworn into the Urban Forestry Commission. We'll now move forward to our first set of citizen comments. This is limited to 15 minutes. For those of you who may have just walked in, there are signup sheets over by the door. Please fill out a signup sheet. When you come to the podium, as your name is called, please give your name and address. Looks like everybody's speaking on non-agenda items. If I'm incorrect, someone please catch me and let me know. Please limit your comments to five minutes. Our first request to speak is, I believe it's Mark Gillespie. You have to hit the button at the bottom of the microphone and a green light will come on.

Five minutes. Our first request to speak is...

I think many of you know me, some of you do. I've been a resident here since 1967. Grew up here, haven't had many reasons to come here. I've been to previous meetings. Can you hear me? Okay, I'll do that. Since 67 with a few stints away for military service. My mother, I'm here speaking on behalf of her. I'm at 912 Morehouse Lane. She's at 7179 White Oak Lane. She's 99 years old, and she's been a resident here with no stints. I've come today about a safety and security issue I have, the Canton improvements that run behind to the north of White Oak Lane. the sidewalk street improvements between Purdue and Ferris. I support it, but to be honest, there's no homes that face that street. The sidewalk is completed now. But what happened is the fencing area there has a break at our address rear, and that leaves our property open to any pedestrian traffic along the Pagedale side. They removed the large pin oak tree, it was very large, and said they would return after stump removal, and instead they moved the fence to avoid the additional surveyed obstructions with several. So what really is the plan? What I was told, what we were told, my sister and I, was the properties that are out of code, compliance will receive new privacy fences. Some even installed gates were installed and I have photos to support this and it's no curb cut there. So why would they need a rear gate? Properties within compliance like ours will not receive fences, even though the fence posts were placed in our yard and then later removed. So owners in compliance with setbacks, he said they were unable to mix fence materials. They were not in the plan. So we got penalized for maintaining our property within the survey. That's like saying, okay, you guys get extra recess if you're bad, but good kids get more homework. I don't get it. So we've reached out. We talked to Mr. Scott, Mirella Selich. They met with us. I've called the city manager's office and spoke to the assistant. She called me back. I've sent an email and left a message with Councilman Smotherson. I haven't heard anything back. We also have several, when I talk about safety and securities, what that new fencing, and you'll see it when I pass these around at the end, It's basically created an attraction and we've had issues with dogs. So now most of the area is blocked off except our backyard. For 11 homes there, we have nine dogs on one side. Seven are controversial breeds. We have three Rottweilers, two pig bulls, and two barbells or something. or I'm not sure, they're very large. So like I said, and one attacked Rico, we had a dog 15 years, we put him down and one of those did attack. He went through the screen, my mother's screen porch. If I wouldn't have been there, it would have been bad. So this is a safety security issue created by this project. that it adversely affects the residents that it should be helping. Mother's 99, she's there. And we're asking for her rear to be secured that property at 7179 White Oak Lane and at a minimum continue the privacy fence that were placed on other properties that were out of compliance. It seems like a faulty logic to reward properties that were out of compliance with new privacy fences and since ours was in compliance to leave the old fence, which has been damaged by the tree removal and partially removed because they were going to do the fence then they stopped. So that's what I wanted to say and the pictures should explain it.

Thank you very much.

Oh, sorry, Mayor and Councilman. Just want to point out that as I went through the project manager and the Director Selich, she said it was up to her boss. And I think Ms. Sharp, I think that's who she mentioned. That's why I left a message with your office. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next request to speak is Jeff Wren.

Good evening. I apologize. This is my first time speaking in front of a city council. Uh, we received a letter last week, sir, your name and address. Sorry, Jeff Ren. Uh, it's regarding 1251 Ferguson Avenue in new city. Um, we received a letter last week regarding a rezoning. Uh, I believe you have it listed as R E Z dash two six dash Oh one. Um, We were told in the letter that it was going to be part of the meeting tonight. I don't see it. But so if I'm catching you off guard, I apologize. Let me just kind of read what I've got. My family owns the adjoining commercial property at 1251 Ferguson Avenue, and I work in the business that's located there. We are not opposed to a rezoning, a redevelopment of 6801 Raymond property. or to residential development in general, if it can be appropriately accommodated on the lot. But because this rezoning would place a new residential property directly alongside our existing commercial property, we believe that the development should function entirely on its own property without shifting any consequences of the rezoning onto ours. The primary concern is that there is a survey shown as part of the proposal that has a zero setback on our adjoining property. It does show setbacks on the surrounding sides, but not on our adjoining property line. We would respectfully request a minimum setback of 10 feet on the property line or anything greater as the city would determine, and any appropriate screening or privacy fence along the common property line to separate the residential from our commercial property. We'd also ask that any required parking, access, vehicle maneuvering, construction, or future maintenance and drainage be accommodated entirely on their property. We'd also ask that any of our existing parking and commercial access to the alleyway be protected. We do not believe that the burden of fitting a duplex onto this small lot should be transmitted to any adjoining property and by eliminating the setback on our side or relying on our property for access to their site. We do have detailed requested conditions of approval and we'd like to give that to you as part of the public record on that decision. And we'd ask respectfully that you take that into account and either discuss this further or make our conditions part of the resolution to rezone. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next request to speak is David Sandell.

Good evening, Dave Sandel, 6900 Del Mar Eye Neighborhoods. I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend, Starbright. Starbright was recently introduced at the Hemond Park Jazz Festival. Starbright is the first intelligent community Wi-Fi accessories to go with Elon Musk's Starlink platform, which is a panel down here. While it was at Heeman Park, it did some cool things. First thing it was, it provided 100 megabits of internet capacity coming down from Elon Musk's network through this panel. The second thing it did was it connected to approximately 100 people who were in the area. As you know, in Heeman Park, the cellular signal is not strong. So what Starbrite does is it automatically connects your phone to the internet without you knowing about it. It's completely secure. It's a new technology called Passpoint. So if I'm in the park with an AT&T phone or T-Mobile account, it'll automatically connect to you. We also had a streaming camera feed on it, a wide angle camera looking at the stage and that was broadcast up over the satellite, right to a phone and a couple other people. And it also has this little sensor array in here to gather community analytics. What it did was it observed the number of devices in the park. Didn't talk to them, didn't interrogate them, totally anonymous. It counted 160 devices. So a little history about this. You all know Elon Musk. He has a, what's the name of his rocket company? I just had a brain freeze. SpaceX. He owns a company based SpaceX. SpaceX owns Starlink. So here we are Starlink at the Starlight concert. So I decided to call it Starbright. It has one amazing feature. If you're at the park or wherever you are in University City and you look at your device, students, entrepreneurs and small businesses can curate their own digital features that you can see. So for example, if I was at the Jazz Festival, everyone knows Youth City has a lot of jazz talent. You look at your phone, And you could see other little icons for these other performers in University City. You can then go home, see their live feeds or the recorded feeds. And when you have your phone, you can put it in portrait mode and it will fill your entire screen. So you could see the Starlight concerts on a full screen mode. If this was in a high school stadium, you could do the same thing. Great Wi-Fi, cellular pickup, counting the number of people. And students could curate their own features, their projects, their little startup companies, their art projects, whatever. So this platform has a lot of potential. It works. It's very stable. It's great. And I'd like to propose that we have some type of executive meeting to sit down and review what it could do, what it's capable of, and its upside is. It's important for me to know and get some feedback from the community because I'll be approaching some investors about deploying this in University City, probably eight different locations. It'd also be really good to know how this fits into the Caleb program. Is that the right word? What's the fun? CalEP program, yes. How it might fit into CalEP. And the third thing is it's completely compatible with a stormwater commission platform. So if you're at home and you're watching on your screen, watching some event or thing in University City and a flood alert comes up, this can transfer automatically over to the flash flood system and you can see the flood live with analytics right on your TV.

eat your heart out HBO.

So this all works today. The only one feature is, is that stormwater commission has not approved that code red feature yet. It's in the budget, but we haven't put it in, but it's capable of doing it. So my ask is to put together some form of executive meeting where we can all talk about this and I can develop some budgetary guidelines. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next request to speak is Hannah brick.

Hi, Mr. Mayor and members of the city council. My name is Hannah brick and my husband, Liam and I reside at four zero nine West gate Avenue. It is hard to believe we are here in mid September and we are still the owners of 10 79 Wilson Avenue. We've been checking on our Wilson Avenue property weekly throughout the summer. When we checked on Sunday, the 6th of this month, around 825 a.m., we discovered that someone had broken into the house. They gained access by kicking in the back door, prying off and damaging the doorframe in the process. There was evidence that someone attempted or gained access to 1073 Wilson, already owned by the city, and 1083 Wilson as well. We shared this information with Becky Alvin, who agreed to talk to the police department about increasing patrols on Wilson Avenue as more neighbors move and the homes are left vacant. We spoke with another Wilson neighbor to see if she had any information about the break-in. While she did not, she did share that she had spoken with Jessica McCullough of Security Title recently about potentially scheduling her closing date for 9-18. This was the first we had heard of a 9-18 closing date, which Becky and Jessica confirmed may be available for our property as well. We feel so powerless in this process. We have tried our best to be proactive, quick, and thorough with each step, yet we do not feel the same as being returned to us. Why had we not been told about the 918 closings? Our email chain about the break-in led us to signing a termination of easement, which has been holding up our closing. The easement has been brought up for months as the reason our closing is delayed, yet another neighbor told us she was able to sign her closing without terminating an easement on her property. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be an easy process was not, like almost anything related to this buyout. Securities Title sent us to entirely the wrong address for their office, leaving us to wander around and between two downtown Clayton buildings during a recent heat wave at 38 weeks pregnant. While Security Title was apologetic, this felt so discouraging, like another chapter in this comedy of errors that this buyout has become, which is feeling more like a tragedy. We were able to sign the bulk of the closing paperwork late last week, and we are cautiously optimistic that this means we are close to the end of this process. Our first child is due this month, really this week. And we are concerned that one, any additional break-ins may jeopardize the state of the home as agreed to under the contract previously signed with the city. And two, timing may be tricky with any further signatures or appearances required if I am an active labor admitted to the hospital or recently discharged with a newborn. The city has a deadline in order to receive the federal money. Reviewing the signatures and dates in tonight's agenda packet, many were signed well before this meeting. Previously, the council has discussed holding special votes outside of scheduled council meetings in order to fast track this buyout. If that is still a viable option, please consider using it for your own sake as much as ours. While this buyout is a tedious project on your to-do list, it is hugely impactful and life-altering experience for our family. Please do not forget about us and our neighbors as you work to finalize this buyout. Thank you for your continued efforts, and we remain hopeful that this will be completed soon.

Thank you very much. That concludes this section of citizen comments. We'll move forward now with the rest of the agenda. Are there any council comments this evening at this section? Hearing none. We have no public hearings this evening. Let's go through to the consent agenda. We have two items on the consent agenda now, items K-1 and K-2. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion made by Council Member McMahon, seconded by Council Member Fuller. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Ms. Sharpe.

honorable mayor crow members of the city council i have one update that i would like to share with you all um it's concerning the uh street lights at olive and kingsland uh we have heard about those lights for a while now and the fact that they were out um i did look into this matter um Really, when I first assumed the interim role and learned that the issue was that during a project by Missouri American Water, there were wires severed underground and they repaved the street. So the delay in the repair has been. fighting essentially with Missouri American Water to get them to rectify this issue, which we will continue that. However, Director Salad noted that St. Louis County was doing work where they would be opening up the asphalt again. So she proactively reached out to them to see if we could work together to get those wires repaired while they have the ground open. And they have agreed to accommodate us. So my hope is that once that work is complete, we should see those lights restored. And then we will be speaking with our city attorney about going after. We will have to cover the cost for that. It should be under twenty five thousand. So it will fall within my threshold. And then we will seek reimbursement from either Missouri American Water or their insurance company. So given that this has been a frequent topic at the meeting, I wanted to make sure I provided an update on the record.

Thank you very much. We now need to move to voluntary acquisition program agreement for purchase and sale of flood buyout program properties 1052 Wilson, 1087 Wilson, and 1153 Wilson. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Council Member Brenner. Is there a second? Seconded by Council Member Dancy. Ms. Alvin.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the Council. Before you is a request to approve the purchase of 1052 Wilson, 1087 Wilson, and 1153 Wilson as part of the flood buyout program. The properties are part of the HMGP grant, so 25% of the cost for all three of the properties is $153,764.21. FEMA will reimburse for those 75% of the cost, which is $461,292.63. Are there any questions on this matter?

Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Next item, Alco Wrecking Company.

Good evening. Again, we have another flood buyout project before you. This is the agreement with Alco Wrecking Company for demolition and land clearance services and asbestos abatement. This agreement will cover... demolition, excuse me, asbestos abatement, demolition, grading, and seeding of all the properties that are still in the flood buyout program. The maximum cost would be approximately $1.2 million, $1,227,337.50. I tried to break it out to the HMGP and the FMA because they're reimbursed and calculated a little bit differently on that reimbursement. This is, I said maximum amount because if a property withdraws from the program, we obviously are not going to demolish it and therefore will not pay for that service.

Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve? Motion by council member Fuller. Is there a second? Seconded by council member McMahon. Is there a discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. Ms. Sharp, anything else? We're good.

That's all for City Manager's Report.

We have no unfinished business nor new business tonight. Are there any council members' reports for the evening? Hearing none, we will move forward with the next section of citizen comments. Our next request to speak is Mr. Tom Sullivan.

Tom Sullivan, 751 Syracuse. Every time I come here, it's deja vu all over again. The same problems never are addressed. But it seems one is finally going to be taken off the list. As I've been saying for some time, the North Loop area needs some attention. There are many dumpster lids that need replacing, utility wires are hanging down everywhere, and there's an occasional street light out. In one block long alley, there are five wires hanging down, a street light that's out, and one dumpster with a lid that's been missing for months. Nothing is ever done. I think it's getting to the point where this can be considered neglect of duty on the part of council members. This is on top of city finances, which seems to be a mess. Once again, the gas company is tearing up my street to install new pipes or connections. A few years ago, shortly after the street was paved, the street was torn up the first time by the gas company. You would think this could be coordinated a little better. Also, the street was paved without first repairing the curbs. Only University City does this. There are dozens of places where the curb is missing, crumbling, or cracked. Next month will be four years from the opening of Costco, which was to bring untold riches to University City, including the revitalization of the third ward. Total number of improvement projects completed in the ward, zero. Total plan, zero. Every time the subject comes up, it seems the city backs off further. Also, the old Cicero space has now been vacant for nine years and headed for its 10th anniversary next year. It is greatly missed, along with the bread company. After University City made the front pages again recently, someone in the media asked me, whatever happened to University City? It used to be a model city, they said, to which I responded, your key phrase is, used to be, it's not anymore. Thank you for listening to my comments.

Thank you. Our next request to speak is Steve Glicker.

Steve Glicker, 7750 Blackberry. I'm here tonight to ask for your resignation, Mr. Crow, immediately. And it pertains to the driving range situation. I mean, what a disgrace. And I think you're complicit in the whole ordeal. You repeatedly referred to the former city manager as a professional. So I'm sure that Mr. Rose communicated all of this to you and included you in everything. Therefore, you knew about it all. Isn't that right? If you didn't, why didn't you stop the trucks immediately? You could have stopped them at any time, but you didn't. You let it roll on the entire project because you and Mr. Rose thought this was going to be a great deal. Then you went out of your way and put forth great effort to cover up this abomination. In the spring of 2025, residents were up here asking for an update. You and Mr. Rose slithered away under your rocks and didn't say anything. Then you commandeered our communications division to post the same misinformation for well over a year. The same flyer over and over and over with a different date. This is the same division that provides us with reliable, up-to-date information every day. They even provided us like a play-by-play status on the leaf mulch pile. So they're very efficient and trustworthy. But on the driving range, we received nothing from you because you and Mr. Incompetency colluded over this whole thing and covered it up. Isn't that right, Mr. Crow? Then in the fall of 2025, the exact same question, for an update rebounds up here and you say nothing. You had nearly five months to formulate an answer to that question, but you and Mr. Incompetency slithered away like a couple of snakes. But someone up here responded that night. They promised updates, but you and Mr. Incompetency squelched that, didn't you? We never received that update. You're supposed to be Mr. Transparency. Do you recall your long-winded tirade? You practically declared yourself the king of transparency that night. You couldn't have overemphasized it anymore. Where was the transparency in this whole ordeal? So you lied about being transparent. Your campaign literature says that you're responsive. Where was that throughout this entire situation? So you lied about being responsive. Your campaign literature also claims that you're a professional. Can you provide us with an example of when you displayed any resemblance of professionalism in regards to this dumpster fire that you got going? Because you wouldn't respond because you weren't honest. with the citizens, someone tipped off the post dispatch. They started snooping around and digging around and applying for sunshine requests. And all the culprits involved began to disappear. The director of parks, the planning director, they both knew that this was a train wreck. And then Mr. Incompetency decides to retire. Nothing to see here, is there Mr. Crow? I'm sure that was all just a coincidence. Then after a couple months later, the article comes out from the Post-Dispatch. We finally received the truth from a third party, not from you. Why is that, Mr. Crow? Explain to everybody here why we never heard the truth from you. Are we to believe that you found out about this entire boneheaded situation from that article too? Were you oblivious to what was going on around here? You didn't know any of the details that were in that article? I don't think so, Mr. Crow. You lied to us. You covered up this whole mess. You weren't honest with us. You're corrupt. You can't occupy that seat any longer with unprofessional behavior like that. You need to take your corrupt, destructive talents to the city of St. Louis. You'd fit in great there. They'd welcome you with open arms. Lying, cover-ups, sleazy behavior, you'd be a superstar down there. You'd climb the ladder fast. Your credibility is shot here. You're untrustworthy, and public trust has been broken. For all those reasons, you need to resign. And if those aren't enough, there's $2.6 million in damage from your blatant negligence that also says you need to leave. Adios, Mr. Crow.

Our next request to speak is Patricia McQueen.

Hello, I am Patricia McQueen. I live at 1132 George Street, St. Louis, Missouri, zip code 63130. Okay. Okay. Dear Mayor Crowe, members of the City Council and City Administration, I'm a resident of University City in the Third Ward and am writing to respectfully bring to your attention an ongoing safety and infrastructure concern on the 1200 block of Purdue Avenue. For more than a year, Significant street buckling has developed both near the entrance to the 1200 block and near Wellington and Purdue Avenue. In addition, an apparent sinkhole or underground void formed beneath the sidewalk in front of 1259 Purdue Avenue. These conditions have continued to deteriorate over time. Although orange safety cones have been placed around portions of the affected roadway, no visible repairs have occurred for several months. This section of Purdue Avenue is heavily trafficked by residents who walk, run, push strollers, and walk their dogs throughout the day. As these conditions worsen, concern about public safety continues to grow. The apparent sinkhole beneath the sidewalk is apparently troubling because it may pose a risk of injury should the sidewalk fail. In addition, the deteriorating roadway adversely affects the appearance and quality of the neighborhood. Given the length of time these issues have existed and the continued presence of safety concerns, I respectfully request an update regarding the city's assessment of these conditions and any plans for repair. Specifically, I would appreciate information regarding the current status of the project, whether repairs have been scheduled, and an anticipated timeline for addressing both the roadway buckling and the sinkhole beneath the sidewalk. I have photos documenting both conditions, which are in the packet, and will be pleased to provide them to assist with evaluation and planning. I appreciate the city's commitment to maintaining safe and accessible public infrastructure and respectfully ask that this matter receive prompt attention before the condition worsens further or result in an avoidable injury. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response and to learning what steps are being taken to address these concerns. Respectfully, Patricia McQueen, Third Ward.

Thank you very much. That concludes our citizen comments for the evening. To members of council, do you have any comments as we close out the meeting? Hearing none, is there a motion to adjourn? Motion made by Councilmember McMahon. Is there a second? Seconded by Councilmember Brenner. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor please signify by saying aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you very much for joining us this evening.