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Visit www.callnewspapers.com to read about stu-dents’ efforts to restock Mehlville High’s food pantry.

Panel seeking clarity on rumorsof dissolving Police Department

Construction underway on new library,Grant’s View, at Gravois and Musick

Our town ..................... Page 3AOpinions ..................... Page 4ACounty news ............... Page 5ACrestwood news ......... Page 6ACalendar...................... Page 7ACalendar...................... Page 8ASports ......................... Page 9ASunset Hills news ....... Page 10AClassifieds ................... Page 11ACrossword puzzle ....... Page 12A

Inside the Call

Megan LeFaivre-Zimmerman photo

Eureka tames Oakville TigersThe Eureka Wildcats tamed the Oakville Senior High School football Tigers

Friday night, 46-6. The Tigers now fall to 0-2 on the season and will face Hazelwood East Saturday afternoon on the road. Above, Eureka’s Chaun Smith, left, attempts to bring down Oakville’s D’Juan Reaves Friday night. Stories and photographs from Friday’s games are featured on Page 9A.

The first lawsuit against St. Louis County from the police response to protesters in Fergu-son was filed last week — a $40 million federal lawsuit that alleges “excessive force and rogue actions” by unnamed county police at the protests. To read this story and others, visit www.callnewspapers.com.

Web exclusive

Citizens critical of Sime don’t have all the facts, officials say

Residents, Mehlville officials concerned about proposed subdivisionBy GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

A proposal for a 30-acre subdivision next to Rogers Elementary School has some residents and county historians upset at the prospect of Oakville’s oldest historic home being demolished to make way for new houses.

The county Planning Commission could vote on the new subdivision at Fine and Telegraph roads as early as its next meet-ing, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, in the County Council Chambers at the Administration Building, 41 S. Central Ave., Clayton.

A decade ago, the planning panel recom-

mended approval of the site, which is sur-rounded by vacant property and is directly adjacent to Rogers Elementary School, for a Planned Environmental Unit, or PEU, for 99 lots, but the development fell through.

New owner Pulte Homes of Atlanta, Ga., proposes a 57-home subdivision built over

(See CONCERNED, Page 5A)

Volume 17, Number 36 1 Section, 16 Pages Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 callnewspapers.com9977 Lin Ferry DriveSt. Louis, MO 63123

For a related story, see Page 3ABy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

Crestwood residents clamoring for the removal of City Admini-strator Mark Sime simply don’t have all the facts, according to Mayor Gregg Roby and Ward 2 Alderman Tim Trueblood.

In recent months, Sime has come under fire from some residents, including former Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Miguel and former Ward 4 Alderman Steve Nieder. In June, Miguel, who joined other

aldermen in voting 7-0 to hire Sime in January 2013, cited a series of decisions made by Sime, a retired Air Force colonel, that have caused Miguel to lose confidence in the city administrator.

Following City Clerk Tina Flowers’ resignation in July, some residents publicly alleged that city officials, including Roby, Sime, City Attorney Lisa Stump and Ward 4 Alderman Michael Vincent, had targeted Flowers in an effort to force her to resign.

At the Aug. 12 Board of Aldermen meeting, Roby defended Sime,(See FACTS, Page 6A)

By GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

The Sunset Hills Police Advisory Board is seeking clarity from city officials whether rumors are true that the Police Department could be dissolved and police services out-sourced to St. Louis County.

The police board is slated to discuss the issue when it meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, at the Community Center, 3915 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

The board will discuss asking the Board of Aldermen to make a definitive statement if aldermen have any intention of outsourc-ing the Police Department, along with a discussion of who is actually in charge of the Police Department and whether Police Chief William LaGrand’s personal use of a city car should be reinstated.

If the police board passes any of the reso-lutions, the issues will also be discussed by

(See RUMORS, Page 10A)

MFPD board begins workon preliminary ’15 budgetBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

The Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors recently began work on the district’s preliminary 2015 bud-get.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Bond told board members that the district’s 2014 tax rates will be presented to them in September for adoption before Oct. 1. At that time, the board will consider approval of a preliminary budget. A final budget will be presented to the board for approval in December, Bond noted.

“... I just wanted to talk about the mate-rial premises that will be used to develop the preliminary budget,” he said. “With

(See BUDGET, Page 3A)

By GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

Construction is underway on the new Tesson Ferry Library — which will not only have a new location, but a new name.

The new library will be called Grant’s View, since its glass wall will overlook Grant’s Farm across the street. The location at the intersection of Gravois and Musick

roads is set to open in a year, when the cur-rent Tesson Ferry Library, which opened in 1958 on Lin Ferry Drive in Green Park near its namesake road, will close.

Although the new library’s neighboring subdivisions are called Grant’s View, the library’s new name has nothing to do with the subdivisions and was inspired only by its

(See LIBRARY, Page 4A)

Page 10A - Call Publishing, Thursday, September 4, 2014

Police board chairman seeksto put a stop to speculation(Continued from Page 1A)the Board of Aldermen when it meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, at City Hall, 3939 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

Many north county cities have disbanded their police departments in recent years due to corruption or lack of money to pay for police, and the topic has been discussed nationally in light of the Aug. 9 shooting of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police offi cer Darren Wilson, who lives in Crestwood. Before Wilson went to the Ferguson department, he served on the Jennings Police Department until it was disbanded in 2011 due to a federal cor-ruption investigation for fraud.

However, no complaints or investigations have been publicly leveled at the Sunset Hills force, police board Chairman Frank Pellegrini said, and the Police Department enjoys widespread support among residents.

“We just want it clarifi ed one way or the other, because I think if there’s an issue serious enough to dissolve an entire police department, it should be publicly discussed and presented to voters,” he said. “I think the citizens have a right to know what’s being contemplated, and I don’t think this is something that should be discussed in secret meetings and then have a Pearl Harbor day where they announce some-thing’s going to be done.”

Although Mayor Mark Furrer is rumored to have publicly stated at a meeting of a civic organization that he intends to dis-solve the Police Department, Furrer denied to the Call that he wants to dissolve the department or that he said anything to that effect.

Furrer said he was unaware of the police board agenda until he learned about it from the Call and was stunned at the idea of out-sourcing the city’s police force.

“They’re talking about dissolving the Police Department? You’re kidding,” he said. “No, I have not heard that. I sure don’t see any need to dissolve our Police Department, unless somebody tells me that they looked into it and conducted a study and it would be better for our residents.”

The rumor that the Police Department might be disbanded has spurred some Sunset Hills offi cers to start looking for other jobs, Pellegrini noted, so he wants to force a public discussion about it to stop any speculation.

If the police board, any police offi cers or LaGrand were concerned about such a rumor, however, Furrer said they should have talked to him about it, but no one has.

“Shame on (the police board) for not bringing it up to me — I can’t stand these babies,” Furrer said. “If they have a ques-tion about a rumor, for God’s sake, why don’t they ask me like a man? I’m man enough that if I heard something, I’d ask the person who asked it — these people have no spine at all.”

Furrer denied another rumor that he or a city employee had gone to the St. Louis County Police or to Fenton to discuss con-tracting for police services for Sunset Hills.

County police chief’s aide Sgt. Colby Dolly said that he was unaware of anyone from Sunset Hills meeting with the com-

mander in charge of municipal services, Lt. John Blake, whose offi ce is next to Dolly’s.

South county cities offer police services both ways — Green Park and Grantwood Village contract with St. Louis County for police protection, while Crestwood has its own Police Department, in addition to its own Fire Department. Sunset Hills resi-dents receive fi re protection from either the Mehlville Fire Protection District or the Fenton Fire Protection District.

The Sunset Hills Police Department cel-ebrated its 40th anniversary last year. It is operating on $2.5 million this year, out of the city’s $8.3 million budget.

The department currently has a 911 dis-patch center and 26 police offi cers, includ-ing a third detective added last year at LaGrand’s request, along with seven civil-ian employees. The building that houses the department was built in 1998.

The department was fi rst established with 10 offi cers and one civilian employee in 1973, under then-Mayor Joseph Redel.

Before the department was established, Alwal “Al” Moore served as the city’s marshal from the city’s founding in 1958 until that position was eliminated when the Police Department opened.

The St. Louis County Police Department has taken over services for similarly sized departments: in 2011, it took over for the 24 offi cers in Jennings. When the county Police Department contracts to provide services for a city, the city’s police chief has typically retired, the city has fi red all its police offi cers and the county force has allowed all the fi red offi cers to apply for jobs with the county to police the same area.

Faced with a loss of revenue from the closing of the Chrysler plant, Fenton chose to dissolve its police department more than a decade ago in favor of contracting with the county police and is served by its own county precinct.

Although outsourcing police is usually viewed as a cost-cutting move, Furrer said it is his understanding that Fenton residents pay more for police services now than they did when they had their own department.

Although Furrer declined to discuss whether he asked the chief to resign after Furrer took offi ce in April because it is a personnel matter, Ward 1 Alderman Dee Baebler said that Furrer asked LaGrand to resign, which LaGrand declined. The chief is near retirement age.

In May, the Board of Aldermen voted 7-1 in closed session to take away LaGrand’s personal use of a city car, with only Ward 1 Alderman Richard Gau, who is on the police board, dissenting.

Pellegrini was on the committee that hired LaGrand in 1991. He said the per-sonal use of a city car was offered as a term of employment when LaGrand agreed to serve as chief, so he views it as an integral aspect of the chief’s compensa-tion package and wants it returned.

Furrer declined to discuss the decision to take away the chief’s personal use of a city car, although he noted that the vote was nearly unanimous.

“You can see it was pretty much unani-mous to do away with the personal use of the chief’s car, as far as commenting,” he said.

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