Readers: No Clear Favorite For License Collector
Governor Nixon must now appoint someone to fill the county-level position of License Collector, vacated by Michael McMillan who has started a new position as president of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, see Poll: Who Should Gov Nixon Appoint St. Louis License Collector? for the introduction of last week’s poll. Here are the results:
Q: Who should Missouri Gov Nixon appoint as St. Louis License Collector to finish Michael McMillan’s current term?
- Brian Wahby 16 [17.2%]
- Terry Kennedy 16 [17.2%]
- Phyllis Young 15 [16.13%]
- Fred Wessles 9 [9.68%]
- Nobody listed here 8 [8.6%]
- Other: 7 [7.53%]
- Martin Casas 6 [6.45%]
- Jeffrey Boyd 5 [5.38%]
- Unsure/No Answer 5 [5.38%]
- Donna Baringer 4 [4.3%]
- Marlene Davis 2 [2.15%]
Nobody jumped to the front of the class, Wahby & Kennedy tied with Young just one vote behind. Readers provided 7 other answers:
- Steve Patterson
- no-one combine with collect of rev
- State Representative Josh Peters
- May
- Darius Chapman
- Dave Drebes
- Steve Patterson
Let’s go through the above list:
- I’m not sure if the two that put my name in were serious, or not. I’m flattered but I’d be a horrible license collector.
- In the comments on the original piece there were suggestions on doing away with the position, more on that below.
- I haven’t met Josh Peters but he was elected in April to finish the unexpired term of the 76th Missouri house district.
- May is in reference to Karla May, daughter of St. Louis Registrar Parrie May. More below.
- Darius Chapman works in the License Collector office as manager of Field Operations & Manufacturing Departments, see award
- Dave Drebes describes himself on his Twitter profile (@MissouriScout) as a “political observer.”
The separate elected positions of license collector and collector of revenue could be combined. One person interested in the job wants to eliminate the position:
“I would like to eliminate the elected position,” Sixteenth ward Alderwoman Donna Baringer
Baringer wants to be the new city license collector and then immediately put herself out of a job. (KMOV)
I think we need to reconsider every elected office, city department, etc in city government.
The St. Louis American had a different look at who Nixon might select:
Karla May – the new African-American consensus pick to succeed Michael McMillan as St. Louis license collector – comes highly recommended by her colleagues, past and present, in the Missouri House of Representatives. (Source – recommended)
I don’t have a favorite, but I do favor reducing the number of elected offices.
— Steve Patterson
Seems like a HUGE waste of money to elect someone as collector of licenses. I’m supprised STL doesn’t vote for the person who paints lines in the road…good grief! I vote for rolling this whole function into the cities revenue department. State constitutional amendment required?
Like you, I don’t have any strong opinions on who should get the job, but like Ald. Barringer I think we need to take a hard look at how the office is structured and functions. A better, 21st century, model would likely be a professional CFO monitored by (and reporting to) the mayor and/or the board of aldermen. If you need more “checks and balances”, an elected auditor, with broad powers, would be able to monitor the performance of this and every other office and department in the city. Just because someone is elected doesn’t make them accountable. Accountability comes from an operation being monitored by people who actually know what’s going on, not from voters guessing on stuff they know little about (like who is best qualified for this position), based on second- and third-hand information.
You’re describing the comptroller. http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/comptroller/
Just because she “wants” to eliminate the position doesn’t mean she can. Are voters really that stupid? Sadly, yes.
Short memories. Voters overwhelmingly rejected charter reform a few years ago which would have completely restructured many of the county offices and eliminated the board of estimate and apportionment. This was largely driven by fear in the black community over a possible loss of black political power.