By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – The citizens group that's studying the St. Louis city charter says it is making progress towards identifying areas of city government the public may decide to change in the coming year.
For months, more than 100 members of the so-called Stakeholder Assembly have been reviewing St. Louis' 1914 charter to learn how such functions as the mayor's office and board of aldermen are designed.
Now, research consultant Alva Smith says the group is preparing to decide which areas to consider for change next year.
"The thing they had to come to some kind of an agreement on initially is: which are the specific parts of the city charter that they wanted to look at?" Smith said. "So in early 2004, I anticipate that there will be a great deal of debate about what if anything should be done."
The stakeholders will meet again in January and draft recommendations for charter reform in the spring.