In the days after the May 16 tornado, 5th Ward Alderman Matt Devoti and other attorneys from his law firm were in the affected neighborhoods doing triage for legal needs.
The 30 or so days he spent in north and west St. Louis helped him understand what the city needs to provide as winter sets in even further.
“In my opinion, the City of St. Louis is never going to be in the financial position to help rebuild or to build,” Devoti said recently on Politically Speaking. “What we can do, and what we must do, is help folks find shelter that is within our capacity.”
But like many members of the Board of Aldermen, Devoti does not believe the city is moving fast enough to get relief to affected residents. The problem, he said, lies in the contracting processes.
For example, he said, city policy requires multiple bids, even for more immediate needs. Those bids have to be run through selection committees, and contracts have to be approved from the city’s fiscal oversight board. And don’t even think about using a digital program like DocuSign to get the required signatures, he said.
“You've got to find somebody [and] stick a contract under their nose,” Devoti said. “It's archaic in 2025, but that's the system that was in place.”
Devoti was complimentary of Comptroller Donna Baringer, who he said is already looking to make her office’s internal processes more efficient. But many changes will require action by the board.
“The critical mass exists, and I can tell you that within the halls of the board, the work is getting done,” Devoti said. “It is not now to the point of filing a board bill, but we are getting near there.”
Devoti said he and his colleagues share the frustration of residents at the slow pace of relief. But he said it is critical to do contracting reform correctly.
“It needs to be done in a way that protects the financial responsibilities of the city to its residents,” he said.
Here’s what else Devoti discussed on the podcast:
- If he could, Devoti would make the office of city sheriff an appointed rather than an elected position. “There is so much drama, so much chaos and hand-wringing over a position that if it was merely appointed by the circuit judge, you and I would never be talking about it,” he said. “With all due respect to city voters, we have a position whose entire duties revolve around that circuit courthouse. His supervisor should be the circuit judges.”
- Devoti was the lead sponsor of legislation that put limits on the use of golf carts on city streets. Though the bill became law after prime golf cart season, “I haven't seen since the mayor signed the bill, a kid driving a golf cart in the Hill neighborhood, and that was a big problem,” he said.
- In addition to helping with the rewrite of the contracting process, Devoti wants to focus on changing the way the city handles nuisance properties. He envisions a system in which every complaint about a nuisance issue, from behaviors to property, comes into a central location and is then assigned to the proper department. “The idea is that we have a framework in place that everybody knows, and we could literally follow from step to step to step what is supposed to happen, and when the ball gets dropped, we can trace it back and figure out exactly why it's getting dropped,” he said.
