West Newsmagazine 9-9-20

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September 9, 2020
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I 53
STATE AUDIT, from page 16
dures need improvement. Procurement
documentation was not always retained
and the contracts may not have been
adequately reviewed or evaluated prior to
execution.”
SLEDP is a joint venture with St. Louis
City in which the county executive and the
city mayor appoint a leadership board for
the organization. SLEDP is charged with
driving economic growth in the region.
Each year tens of millions of dollars flow
through SLEDP to benefit area businesses
with loans, workforce development and
reinvestment grants.
Although the county council asked Galloway’s
office to conduct the audit after the
fallout of Stenger’s indictment and resignation,
at least one council member has a
problem with how Galloway did her job.
“I write today to express concern regarding
your audit of St. Louis County government.
The initial audit was presented
to the County Council on August 19 and
subsequently leaked to the St. Louis Post
Dispatch the following day in an apparent
attempt to target County Executive
Sam Page,” council member Ernie Trakas
(R-District 6) wrote in a letter to Galloway
dated Aug. 21. “As a Republican, my
County Executive Sam Page
interest is not to defend Sam Page, but to
defend the truth.”
Trakas, who also chairs the county’s
Ethics Commission, was disturbed by Galloway’s
failure to disclose her uncle’s prior
professional relationship with Stenger.
According to a 2014 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
article cited by Trakas, Patrick Lynn
was a political consultant to Stenger.
Lynn also served as a strategist to Mark
Mantovani during this most recent primary
season. Mantovani was a fierce opponent
of Page and finished second in the August
Democratic primary. Trakas accuses Galloway
of trying to deliver the draft audit
findings prior to the primary election as a
WEST HOME PAGES
(Source: County Executive Sam Page/Facebook)
“political missile” aimed for Page.
Response from Page
When West Newsmagazine reached out to
a spokesperson for Page, we were referred
to comments made by the county executive
at a news briefing on Aug. 24.
“I’m not really focused on the politics or
what’s going on in the background,” Page
said in response to a question about the
assertion made by Trakas that Galloway
could have been politically motivated.
“Politics is everywhere.”
While Page did not address any of the
audit recommendations specifically, he did
say his staff would review and respond to
each and “adopt the ones we think are good
ideas.”
For some, actions speak louder than
words.
Just five days after his comments on the
audit, Page announced a series of sweeping
changes to his staff. As was first reported
by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Page not
only shuffled around many high ranking
staff members but also changed nearly
everyone’s job titles.
More than a dozen changes in all were
announced. In some cases, new faces were
brought on board like Veta T. Jeffrey, formerly
of Midwest Bank Centre, who was
named chief diversity officer. Other familiar
faces were dismissed including two
former county council members: Barbara
Fraser and Pat Dolan. Several members of
Page’s growing staff will remain but with
new job titles. Page’s designated No. 2,
Winston Calvert, saw his title change from
chief of staff to chief strategy officer and
chief advisor.
Despite audit findings critical of the
county executive for not maintaining
clear and current job descriptions of
many positions in his administration, no
descriptions were released or immediately
available upon the announcement of the
staff changes.
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