Absent In Dellwood

It is fine if certain members of the Dellwood Board of Aldermen do not want to have the Show-Me Institute write an op-ed praising the city, but they are going to some rather extreme lengths to avoid it.

Several members of the Dellwood Board of Aldermen have intentionally skipped board meetings over the last few months in order to deny a quorum. If the board had a quorum, it would almost certainly vote to disband the Dellwood Police Department and contract out police services to the St. Louis County Police Department. Smaller cities contracting with larger entities to perform certain services is one of the best examples I can give to improve efficiency while maintaining a large degree of municipal independence. I view it as a win-win situation for the people of Dellwood. Apparently, half of the board views it as a threat to speeding ticket revenues, so they are going to an extreme, undemocratic tactic to prevent a measure that will save money and improve public safety at the same time. The absent members of the Dellwood Board of Aldermen are harming their citizens, and behaving embarrassingly while they are at it.

Generally speaking, the county police provide better overall services than very small municipal departments. (But, yes, there are some dedicated, talented officers within small departments.) Just as important, it costs cities less to contract with the county than to operate their own department. If you want to read more about why contracts like this are a good idea, check out this op-ed I wrote when Jennings did it last year.