It’s time to build a plan that will eliminate waste, improve processes, and grow revenues with the goal of generating equitable outcomes for the people of St. Louis. I’m running for license collector with the intention of eliminating the office I hope to win. Here’s why.
I’m a mother of seven, financial professional, non-profit founder and lifelong St. Louisan. For too long, we’ve been distracted by politics when we should be focusing on people. Even now, as politicians and civically engaged citizens discuss the potential consolidation of our city’s Board of Alderman from 28 wards to 14, the primary narratives all revolve around the politician. “How much will they get paid? How much will they have to raise? How will this affect establishment politics?”
I’m not worried about politics, I’m worried about outcomes.
We should be talking about how to build a legislative body and system for constituent services and community engagement that works for everyone and guarantees representation in our segregated city where, now, it seems almost impossible. We should be asking questions and listening to the people who live here and experience the poverty and crime that plague our city. We should be brainstorming and working collaboratively to identify potential solutions that we can vet and improve together to come up with a plan that can actually affect outcomes.
This is why I’m running. That opportunity to build an equitable system isn’t limited to the restructuring of the Board of Aldermen. The separation of the License Collector, Recorder of Deeds and Collector of Revenue offices creates unnecessary operational expenses and complicates processes which prevents us from being able to increase revenues. It’s a problem. Our city has a budget crisis, a crime crisis, and a poverty crisis. We need resources for mental health services, public schools, police training, infrastructure improvements, refuse and so much more, but we can’t afford them because we choose to operate dysfunctionally. That our leadership is focused on anything other than solving these root problems is unacceptable.
The License Collector’s Office exists to generate revenue and to ensure that businesses operate safely and legally in the City of St. Louis. We are missing out on millions in revenue by letting thousands of disenfranchised independent contractors, consultants, startups and micro-businesses operate under the radar because they simply don’t know they need a license. It’s time to modernize communication and to implement policy and systems-level change to rebuild our city government so that it serves all of its people, not just a few.
I’m running for license collector with the intention of doing whatever it takes to build a better system, and holding my colleagues in City Hall and the state Legislature accountable for doing the same. Every St. Louisan deserves access to opportunity and quality of life and I won’t stop until we get there, even if that means eliminating the office for which I’m running.
Dana Kelly-Franks is a candidate for license collector for the City of St. Louis.
