•Councilmember Crow's April 8th Update

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Update from Councilmember Terry Crow: April 8, 2011

Last night, April 7th, the State Auditor released the findings of the University City Audit. The audit points out a number of improvements that the city needs to make in the coming months. Hopefully the audit will soon be made available on the city’s website. It currently is available on the Ucitycitizen.org and the State Auditor's website. Some of the areas where we clearly need improvement are in the areas of billing and collecting for our trash services, better documentation of our allocations of administrative costs, more competitive bidding in the area of contracting, particularly in the area of legal services and the parking garage operations. Hopefully all of council will view this audit as an opportunity for us to improve the services we provide our citizens.

The audit also cited the city on failing to follow the Sunshine Law, a point that the Auditor emphasized in his remarks. You may already know that the city has been served with a lawsuit regarding allegations of numerous Sunshine Law violations. I cannot and will not speak about the lawsuit. You can go to Ucitycitizen.org to view the petition and some of the related email exchanges that have occurred over the past 18 months and draw your own conclusions.

We continue to move forward in our budget discussions. I have met with Councilmembers Glickert, Ricci, Sharpe and Price over the past few weeks to discuss several budget topics. Though we may not agree on all issues, we are working to come up with proposals that will work to help us remain fiscally solvent and represent the values of our community. Recently, I have received a great deal of input from our citizens on two particular budget items. The first is charging for parking in the Loop. Several of our smaller businesses in the Loop are very concerned about how this will impact their business, and they should be. With so much free parking available in the East Loop, not in U. City, it seems that by charging for parking in our lots, we are basically inviting our businesses to move a few blocks to the east or relocate. A number of citizens have also co ntacted me regarding the closing of our Community Center during the week. The Community Center is open during the week for our elderly citizens to use as a gathering place and to receive hot meals. The Center operates at a deficit. The City Manager has proposed closing the Community Center and moving this program to Centennial Commons. Needless to say, the citizens who use the rooms at Centennial Commons are now looking for other venues since they would be evicted from Centennial Commons. I would appreciate hearing from you on this or any other topics.

If you are interested in learning more about how our Police Department works, the City is conducting a Citizens Police Academy. You can contact me for further information or contact Capt. Carol Jackson of the University City Police Department.

As always, if you would like to serve on a Board or Commission, please let me know. We are always looking for more citizens to help serve the needs of our community.

Our next council meeting is this coming Monday evening, April 11th, at 6:30 in City Hall. Please come join us.

Thanks,

Terry

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• UCityCitizen.org • Paulette Carr, Ward 2 Councilmember, City of University City • University City, Missouri 63130 •