All eight City of Dellwood aldermen appeared before a St. Louis County judge this afternoon. It’s the first time they’ve all been in the same room in a month.
Four aldermen – Karen Bober, James Lovings, Donald Haynes and Richard Culberson – have boycotted the last four Board of Aldermen meetings to avoid voting on a contract with St. Louis County for police services.
On Dec. 20, the city’s attorney Donnell Smith filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, which would compel all aldermen to attend scheduled board meetings.
Today, St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Dolan heard pleas from Smith to order the aldermen to attend meetings. By not attending the meetings, the aldermen are breaking the city’s municipal code, which states that they must attend two meetings per month, he said.
Attorney John Maxell represented Bober, Lovings, Haynes and Culberson at the hearing. In his plea he said the court does not have the authority to order the aldermen to attend the meetings. If his clients attend the meeting, the vote will be split down the middle and the mayor will cast the tie-breaking vote, he said.
Maxwell said the four other aldermen – Linda Cunningham, Kimberly Kemp, Richard Williams and Dawnn Tanksley – have made a pre-judgment on the police issue. His clients will not attend a meeting until the issue is given a public hearing, which he said they have not yet done.
According to the court filing, the Board of Aldermen held a public hearing on Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Dellwood Recreation Center.
According to city guidelines, there are two exemptions for an absence – an illness or a special circumstance, Smith said.
The boycotting aldermen claim that this is a special circumstance, Maxwell said.
“That is what they are hanging their hat on,” Maxwell told the judge.
A special circumstance is a family emergency or vacation, Smith said, not a when an alderman doesn’t want to cast a vote.
“If you submit to that theory, then anytime half of the board does not want to vote on issue, they can boycott meetings indefinitely,” Smith said. “And there is a total shut down of city functions.”
Judge Dolan did not say when she would make her decision at the hearing.