最新杏吧原创

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The 最新杏吧原创 Development Corp., under fire for its handling of a $37 million grant program targeting north city, reassigned its top lawyer last month to a post at the airport.

The decision to move David Meyer, SLDC鈥檚 general counsel and a 17-year veteran of the agency, comes amid heightened scrutiny of the organization following a troubled rollout of the .

But SLDC President and CEO Neal Richardson said in an interview that Meyer鈥檚 reassignment had 鈥渁bsolutely nothing to do with the north city grant program.鈥�

Richardson said City Counselor Sheena Hamilton made the decision in anticipation of 最新杏吧原创-Lambert International Airport鈥檚 terminal consolidation project and other redevelopment there that will require extra legal work.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 control those things at SLDC,鈥� Richardson said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 make those final decisions.鈥�

Unlike regular city workers, almost all of SLDC鈥檚 employees are at-will, meaning they can be fired by Richardson, who was nominated to the agency鈥檚 top job in 2021 by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. But SLDC鈥檚 handful of lawyers are an exception. They work for the city counselor鈥檚 office and are protected from dismissal by the city鈥檚 civil service system.

Meyer, whose LinkedIn profile said his job at SLDC ended in October, declined to comment. Hamilton, Meyer鈥檚 boss, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Because civil service employees can鈥檛 be fired without cause, the city-owned airport has historically been a place where some city offices have sent employees who clashed with leadership or faced job performance issues.

Meyer鈥檚 reassignment in the midst of the controversy over the grant program, some think, sends a bad signal.

Alderwoman Cara Spencer, who is challenging Jones in the upcoming April election, was on the board of SLDC until resigning her seat Oct. 28, saying she had lost confidence in the organization鈥檚 management. When she resigned, Spencer didn鈥檛 know that Meyer had been reassigned earlier that month and actually addressed her resignation letter to him, she said Friday.

The 鈥渃omplete lack of transparency is appalling,鈥� Spencer said. Meyer was 鈥渨ell respected,鈥� and she鈥檇 鈥渘ever heard a bad thing about鈥� him, she said.

鈥淎 very trusted voice in an organization that鈥檚 under a lot of public mistrust right now was unceremoniously shipped off to the airport,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淎nd this fact wasn鈥檛 disclosed to the public nor the board of directors that鈥檚 supposed to be overseeing the organization.鈥�

Otis Williams, who worked at SLDC for more than 20 years and was its director from 2013 until retiring in 2021, said he didn鈥檛 know what led to Meyer鈥檚 reassignment. But when he worked with Meyer, he considered him 鈥渁 valuable employee with a lot of integrity.鈥�

鈥淚 always felt he was a very honest individual and was looking out for the best interests of the organization,鈥� Williams said.

Meyer went to work for the city鈥檚 economic development agency in 2007 and had been its general counsel since 2020, helping to oversee major initiatives such as land acquisition for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and litigation to sever ties with Paul McKee鈥檚 NorthSide Regeneration. He鈥檚 represented the city on many development projects and also helped supply federal authorities with information during an investigation that led to the recent indictment of notorious apartment developers and landlords Vic Alston and Sid Chakraverty of Lux Living and STL CityWide.

SLDC is in the midst of trying to restore public confidence in its handling of a key Jones administration program designed to distribute $37 million in grant money to north city businesses and nonprofits.

Post-Dispatch reporting has highlighted some grants were earmarked for organizations that appeared to exist only on paper or were located in vacant buildings or outside of north 最新杏吧原创. Some $1.3 million in grants are slated to go to organizations tied to the family of Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard, a Jones ally, SLDC board member and sponsor of legislation expanding eligibility for the grant program to all of north 最新杏吧原创. One of those groups, purported homeless services provider the People Project Corp., was only registered with the state after the legislation passed.

Officials including Comptroller Darlene Green and U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., have since criticized the program, echoing concerns from applicants turned down for the money.

Meyer isn鈥檛 the first top official in SLDC to depart since Richardson took over. Others include longtime land bank director Laura Costello and chief of staff Daffney Moore, who had been his second-in-command.

Before he joined SLDC, Richardson was a manager at U.S. Bank. Some of Richardson鈥檚 top deputies are also veterans of that company, including Lance Knuckles, his senior vice president of strategic growth, and Stephanie Grise, a lawyer and former chief counsel for U.S. Bank鈥檚 community development arm who was hired this summer as SLDC鈥檚 chief operating officer.

SLDC still has two attorneys working for it: James Morrow, who began working for the city in early 2021, and Olivia Findley, who just joined the city counselor鈥檚 office in May, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Richardson said SLDC is looking for a replacement to fill Meyer鈥檚 position.