A constitutional amendment has been proposed in Missouri, and the Olivette City Council has scheduled two Town Meetings to discuss the measure with residents.
The Better Together Constitutional Amendment would join St. Louis city and its county into one jurisdiction, and idea that is already generating discussion. The measure would not go before the voters until November 2020. Flyer printing is a good tool officials can use to create handouts to explain details of measures like this.
If approved, the measure would mandate that the new entity have 33 council members, but only one assessor, one prosecuting attorney, and one mayor. However, many questions have arisen about how the police would operate.
Pat Kelly, the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis's executive director, points out that local departments have valuable assets, and no one is sure what would happen to them. A state-of-the-art police building is being constructed in Creve Coeur, and the Brentwood station is only ten years old.
Tim Fitch, the former police chief of St. Louis County, doesn't believe the plan will succeed, but rather, the communities will decide themselves whether or not they want a local police presence. Others agree, noting that similar calls for unification were defeated in 1930 and again in 1962.
The meetings are set for 7.00 pm on March 6, and 2.00 pm on March 10, at the City Center in Olivette.