ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis alderwoman is proposing a significant shift in the city’s governance, a plan that would strip the mayor of power in favor of a city administrator.
Daniela Velasquez, Ward 6 Alderwoman, has introduced a plan to transfer various responsibilities from the mayor’s office to a newly-appointed city administrator. She formally introduced the proposal as Board Bill 162 at a Friday aldermen meeting.
Under the proposal, the mayor would continue to serve as the city’s political and policy leader, though the mayor’s office would lose oversight of city departments and the authority to appoint department heads.
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Those powers would shift to a city administrator, who would take on general day-to-day management of city operations like appoiting and managing department heads. The bill would also prevent the mayor and board of aldermen from interfering with decisions under the city administrator’s authority…