The mood was mostly jovial as the sun rose over St. Louis City Hall on Monday, with aldermen, budget officials and others meeting to put final touches on a city budget more complex than usual.
But for Ninth Ward Alderman Michael Browning, there wasn’t much to be cheerful about.
From the Central West End alderman’s perspective, the city was about to pass a budget he believed to be “undemocratic,” a move that would effectively see the city capitulating to a nonelected Board of Police Commissioners and put the city in choppy financial waters…