Jefferson City Council takes city in new directions

by Randy McConnell

May 5,2007

The Jefferson City Council welcomed four new members—and possibly a sea change in municipal government— April 16.

In many ways, the new council looks more like its neighbor to the north—Columbia—than the long-conservative state capital. This council contains a member with a doctorate, a former Peace Corps volunteer, a former mental health worker/social worker who became chief attorney for a major state agency, and a journalist who now handles legal work for a bank holding company. Attorneys and white-collar managers abound on the council, and there are only a few Jefferson City natives left in the group.

Traditional business interests—such as insurance, real estate and retail—largely are unrepresented.
The recent council campaigns mentioned "economic development" but not in the traditional sense. They talked of improving "quality of life" through revitalizing neighborhoods and attracting a younger, white-collar workforce to live, walk and work downtown and in the neighborhoods abutting the central city. They want to rejuvenate the city's core before deterioration leaches into aging neighborhoods that sprouted after World War II, or WWI, in some cases. Subdivision developments weren't mentioned.

The transformation of the city council can be traced to a change in the city charter in 2002 that abolished partisan council elections. The change opened council service to state government professionals who had been forbidden from participating in partisan elections.

When the new council members took the oath of office this month, three were retired state managers previously ineligible. They joined Lincoln University and legislative employees who already sat on the council and were not included in the earlier ban on council service.

"I would not discount the effect that the charter amendment has had," said Jim Penfold, the new Second Ward councilman and former Department of Natural Resources official. "I think it had a direct effect on who is coming onto the council. It takes a while for the word to get out and people to get involved. Retirees [rather than current state employees] may be the first to have the time and inclination to run."

Among the notable points about this council:

• Its members tend to share Mayor John Landwehr's priorities, ranging from the conference/convention center to riverfront development to central city and neighborhood revitalization—all long-sought city improvements that have languished, often for decades. The new group of four members, however, has few firm ideas about directions to take, and they may veer from Landwehr's slant on public investment, government regulation and services as specific projects develop.

• The council veers sharply from the ingrown and sometimes cliquish nature of the city that even Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce consultants have said mar the city's attractiveness to newcomers and younger workers. In a town once known for taking generations to embrace new families, only Third Ward Councilman Brian Crane—plus Landwehr—was raised here and graduated from the local schools. The new council has roots that run from St. Louis to Chicago to Virginia.

• The council has, at most, modest representation from the capital's business community. Dan Klindt, an insurance agent and home developer, has the only firm ties to real estate. Mike Harvey from the First Ward sells cars for McKay Motors, while Kevin Brown of the Fourth Ward works as a systems engineer for Sprint. Ron Medin, while deputy general counsel for Central Bank, reflects the progressive politics of his East Side neighborhood and a background as a journalist. Three of the members are attorneys.

"They have every right to be afraid," Klindt said of businesspersons and conservatives who have been chattering about the new council's composition. He winced when Cindy Layton of the Fourth Ward called for "cautious development" of the "outer rim" of the city at the recent council retreat.

• The new council members are even more highly educated than their predecessors, reflecting the general demographics of the city. Richard Koon has one of what are probably very few doctorates found on city councils in Missouri, while attorney Jane A. Smith, once general counsel for the Department of Conservation, also has a graduate degree in social work. Altogether, at least six of the 11 council members (and mayor) have advanced or professional degrees. The lone blue-collar member, Pete Oetting of the Second Ward, lost his seat.

• Perhaps the greatest change is the upsurge in council members with backgrounds as government bureaucrats. "I will put my years as a bureaucrat up against just about everybody else," Penfold quipped.

• Although the city's partisan elections ended, longtime Republican observers believe the last election brought a majority of Democrats again to the council, or at least a majority with progressive political leanings.
But potholes don't have politics. When members ran as partisans, city issues and council alliances often cut across party lines, and the political leanings may reflect areas of interest and background—parks, social services, the environment—rather than, for example, the willingness to raise taxes or expand city programs.

Klindt ponders whether city government will become "too green."
The cautious notes that marked council campaigns and platforms sit well with veterans such as Edie Vogel, a four-term Republican who retired because of term limits but still harbors political aspirations in county government.

"I hope they don't go in with big dreams," said Vogel, whose family moved to the capital 160 years ago. "The wheels at city hall turn slowly."

Seeking a new city lease of life in Old Town
To lay the groundwork for the 21st century, the council expects to turn to Old Town.

The former council, at its last meeting, established the redevelopment area, which contains almost all of Jefferson City that existed by World War II—downtown, the Capitol, the southside business district, the Central East Side, the riverfront, the old state penitentiary site, Lincoln University, Jefferson City High School, Helias High School, majestic neighborhoods that contain rambling two-story brick homes of former business leaders and crumbling neighborhoods that have become blighted or nearly so.

It encompasses a huge section of the actual city because Jefferson City, facing county residents' opposition to annexation, largely has become a municipality with precious little room for commercial and residential expansion.

The effects are evident. About half the city's housing stock is more than 50 years old. Construction of new single-family homes largely takes place in unincorporated areas. Population and economic growth have been stagnant in this decade as the state government, first because of budget woes and now by design, has declined as an economic force. Projections for the 2010 census suggest a population decline.

To find a future, Jefferson City now has few choices but to look to the past.

"Ten to 15 years ago, we were trying to provide sewer service for everyone east of Overland Park, Kan.," said Landwehr, chuckling about the days when development of the West Side reached its zenith. "The burning issue was how wide the streets are going to be in new subdivisions and how fast we are going to get them built. The older neighborhoods hadn't started to collapse, and the council has changed in conformity to how our neighborhoods have changed."

Landlord registration – a new tool for dealing with neighborhood deterioration

The council's mid-April, weekend retreat made clear that the city has placed many of its neighborhood-improvement eggs in one basket that so far has drawn little public attention: landlord registration, which carries the possibility of a death knell for residential property owners who don't maintain houses and apartments that they want to rent.

It sets up a future battle over property rights in a city that long has accepted the ability of owners to maintain or neglect property as they wished, except for grass height.

Observed Nathan Nickolaus, the city counselor: "Landlords have few responsibilities and tenants have few rights" under current city ordinances.

Simply put, the ordinance that likely will go before the council by June would require landlords to register with the city, provide local contact information and, in an potentially controversial move, pay for tenant trash service if they want to continue to rent those properties.

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