STL Consolidation: Chesterfield Mayor Bob Nations

This was written by Katie, one of our summer interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
To read more intern articles and interviews on STL Consolidation, please click here.

At 2 o’clock on a Tuesday, I sent a brief email to Bob Nation, mayor of Chesterfield, MO, before my workday was coming to an end in hopes of scheduling a meeting. Being a critic of his stances on development, specifically in the Valley, I wasn’t exactly sure how I would like the guy. Instantly, not more than fifteen minutes later, I received an email asking me to call him to schedule an appointment. I called him, and after finding out we were driving on the same road at the same time, we decided to meet at the Chesterfield office once we hung up the phone. As I walked in to meet him, I was met with all the hospitality you’d expect from a St. Louisan (come to find out he wasn’t born here but has lived here for years). He seemed a little nervous which is to be expected when you are being interviewed last minute by a high school intern about THE hot topic in the city– the merger.

As we sat down to talk, he had quite a lot to say about Better Together’s merger. To sum up his opinion on their merger in one word, he called it horrible. He believed it was a “deceitful rouse” that was “contrived in secrecy by nonelected nonlocal people,” and he is glad that they withdrew the proposal. However, even though he was happy Better Together flopped, he did say it was reasonable to have the conversation of cooperation and consolidation. He even offered that he was “hopeful and optimistic” about the Board of Freeholders (specifically the last option of Article 6, Section 30). He believes it would be a better option because if done correctly, it would have more local input, as opposed to a statewide vote which he believed violated the consent of the governed. That being said, when directly asked if he supported consolidation between the city and the county, he wasn’t exactly sure. Being the mayor of a predominately conservative municipality, he told me he may be hesitant due to his stance against big government. I asked what type of merger would he prefer, and although he didn’t have any “preferred” merger, he did say he would be in favor of considering a reentry of the city in a manner that would not cause a big fall of taxes for the city (he didn’t fail to mention the SAFR’s report showing the city’s massive debt) and municipalities who don’t have the ability to provide should consider consolidating with other municipalities.

Specifically, I asked if he saw any benefits that he believes Chesterfield would receive from a merger, and his response wasn’t exactly shocking. From my experience in polling the Chesterfield area, they all seem pretty certain that there’s nothing a merger could do to truly benefit them. However, he did point out that for other cities, it could help boost efficiency if they are unable to provide services to their constituents. In addition, he believed the county as a whole could benefit from more professional management and nonpartisan elections to which a merger would provide. He, also, added that if it provided the county with reasonable tax increment financing, that would be helpful as well. However, on the contrary, he asked me to consider why we have small municipalities in the first place. It’s all about productivity. If there is a duplication of services, it can reduce efficiency. For example, Chesterfield’s Police Department, he’s stated, “is more professional than anywhere in the county, including the county itself” and getting rid of Chesterfield’s ability to police their neighborhoods could be less safe. He recounted a summer evening in his neighborhood when there was a prowler near his house. His wife called 911, but Nation called his neighbor who was a Maryland Heights police officer. The cop had the prowler down at gunpoint, and even though the police was aware, it took the police 18 minutes to respond. This was before when Chesterfield’s zoning was detrimental, and they decided they wanted their own autonomy.

This experience, as well as his distaste for big government, has made Nation dubious to a merger that he fears would cause the municipalities to lose their authority in zoning, public works, etc. and transfer the control to downtown St. Louis which is on the complete opposite side of town from Chesterfield. Not to mention, he believes people are proud of their individual municipalities and don’t want to lose that small sense of community. And, even though people think this causes isolation between the municipalities, but Nation swears that we do not suffer from fragmentation. In fact, he believes the public is “frustratingly uneducated” on the degree of cooperation between the municipalities, specifically the police forces. Two examples he provided includes, the chief of Chesterfield’s police force being the head of the Major Case Squad, which is a major crime unit across greater St. Louis that is assigned to help local police forces when a major crime unit occurs, and the SALT Cooperative where Chesterfield helps administer salt for school districts and municipalities all over the St. Louis Area. Nation is completely happy with the idea of cooperation and considering the options; however, a complete merger of the city and county doesn’t seem like a reasonable option to him.

To end things, I asked him if he would like to end on anything specific, and his response was another strong hit towards efficiency, stating that everyone wants a government that can get things done. And on the topic of the merger, it’s all about efficiency, tax dollars, and safety, and if those three things would be enhanced, then it is worth considering the option. However, the way things are, the county provides for the county, and the city provides to the city.

And on that, I close my planner that I was using as my last-minute notebook, shook his hand, walked down the stairs of this incredible government building, turned in my badge, and drove home. I still do not support the growing developments in the Chesterfield Commons, but his willingness to compromise and cooperative nature has shown me that if the municipality that seems so cut off from the rest of the city is willing to consider consolidation, the battle has not ended with Better Together.