Council To Vote On Walmart & City Hall Relocation Issues

The Ellisville City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday night on a pair of projects which have been lightning rods for controversy over the last year and in recent weeks.

The panel is being asked to approve the issuance of Tax Increment Financing of TIF notes related to the Sansone Group's redevelopment project involving bringing Wamart to Manchester Road.

Sansone's attorney suggested last month that council members could be subject to a lawsuit if they did not issue the notes.

An attorney for opponents who are suing over the Conditional Use Permit the city issued last fall suggested last week that the council instead move to rescind the redevelopment agreement. That will be discussed in a 6:15 p.m. work session prior to the 7 p.m. council meeting.

Not on either council agenda for Wednesday is the discussion of hiring a special counsel to advise council members on legal strategy.

Also Wednesday, council members could take the next step in a project that could see city hall relocated further west on Manchester Road in the home of an auto dealership.

The council will have the chance to vote on a study to evaluate the Tri-Star Motors site as a future home of City Hall. According to Ward 1's Matt Pirrello,  preliminary studies have shown a need for between at least 8-13,000 additional square feet of space. 

Council members have also spoken of a desire to make it easier to access city documents, at least some of which are currently stored at the city's Public Works facility.

It is unclear if the city will still move to have a deal in place to purchase the Tri-Star property by August 1 as first hoped. Residents have complained that there were still too many questions outstanding about what it might cost to renovate the current city hall, as well as all costs associated with moving to a larger space.  Mayor Adam Paul has indicated support for renovating the existing site.

A final vote on reissuing city bonds to fund the $5.5 million purchase and renovation of the Tri-Star property has not been scheduled. City leaders have endorsed the idea of holding Town Hall meetings on the project sometime this summer.

Wednesday's meeting will come after another step in the legal fight over the impeachment of Ellisville Mayor Adam Paul. St. Louis County Judge David Lee Vincent will hold a hearing to reconsider the stay issued last week which temporarily restored Paul to office while Vincent considers if Paul's due process rights were in fact violated by the process which removed him from office earlier this year.

While Paul's attorney maintains that the stay restores his full voting authority and effectively means he was never impeached in the first place, city officials are looking for clarification about what the temporary stay means for votes taken during the interim period as well as guidance on what to do with a planned special election put on the November ballot to fill out the remainder of Paul's unexpired term.