Since Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed stepped down weeks ago after facing a federal fraud indictment, Alderman Joe Vollmer has stepped in in the interim. And his first few weeks in office have been plenty busy. He talked with KMOX's Kevin Killeen about what could be coming next in the investigation into Reed and two other aldermen.
"I haven't seen nor heard anything lately the last mention of it was when the Mayor said that this was the tip of the iceberg," Vollmer said. "So if there is more, I'd hope they get it out of the way sooner than later."
At the time of the three indictments, the FBI had served subpoenas on the city's development agency, which administers tax breaks. But there's been no indication of anything new popping.
Right now, Vollmer wants to focus on recruiting more police officers and increasing pay for cops and firefighters.
"We have the money, we just need the employees. The budget is there for another 127 policemen," he said. "I would like to see the police and fire get a raise; we have to be competitive we're losing police to outlying districts because they pay more."
St. Louis aldermen and other local leaders are also debating a plan that would provide $1 million in federal COVID relief money to help city women get out-of-state abortions. Southside Alderman Joe Vaccaro said he's against the idea.
"If it passes, it's gonna end up in court costing us even more money to defend it," he told KMOX. "It's not how the money was meant to be spent."
The bill's sponsors point out that the money would be used to provide transportation, child care or other logistical help to provide access to abortion -- it would not be used directly to fund or encourage an abortion. The plan could come up for a vote next week.