Cara Spencer met the press for the first time as mayor-elect on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, game to take questions from reporters, generally light on specifics in her replies, and more than anything seeming to want to signal that her administration would be an open one.
Spencer, who handily beat incumbent Tishaura Jones on Tuesday, said that as mayor, she would prioritize access. “We want to have an open door policy with the community, with members of the media,” she said.
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She said she was looking through the technicalities of removing Neal Richardson as CEO of the city’s development arm, had asked for a legal analysis from the city counselor’s office regarding state control of the St. Louis police, and is “working on” bringing down the fences around City Hall erected to prevent homeless encampments there. (Those fences were erected by the previous administration just prior to then-Vice President Kamala Harris coming to town in October 2023 and have stayed up since.)
Asked about Jones’ chief spokesman Conner Kerrigan being able to get his full six weeks of paternity leave, which he started on Tuesday, Spencer said, “Making sure that our employees have the amenity of the benefits that they’ve signed on to is important to all of us.”
And about who should replace her on the Board of Aldermen: “We’re really enthusiastic about several of the folks that are stepping up that have shown interest.”
Given that Spencer has been mayor-elect for less than 48 hours, none of the gathered reporters were particularly dogged in pinning down the city’s next mayor on one point or another.
About halfway through Spencer’s presser, Alderman Rasheen Aldridge came out of City Hall and joined the media in listening in. Afterwards, he said, “It was a good four minutes. I’m hopeful.”
The day prior, Aldridge issued a statement congratulating both Spencer and Comptroller-elect Donna Baringer, but added that with the city’s top leadership now all white, he feels a renewed sense of purpose as the only Black man on the Board of Aldermen.
Prior to the press conference, Spencer announced several key appointments, including her campaign manager Nancy Hawes as her chief of staff and Emily Thenhaus as deputy chief of staff. Hawes is an attorney who has previously held leadership roles at big local firms Polsinelli and Armstrong Teasdale. Thenhaus has for the past five years been executive director for the Cherokee Street Community Improvement District.
Spencer also announced 29 people who will staff six committees advising her during her transition.
She has not yet announced a new streets director, although she made clear that Betherny Williams, who became the face of the city’s poor snow and ice mitigation in February would be on her way out. Spencer also has yet to name a new city counselor, though Sheena Hamilton, the city counselor under Jones, has announced her voluntary departure. Hamilton routinely rankled Jones’ left flank by fighting aggressively to protect the city’s bottom line on issues of police brutality and transparency matters. Under Hamilton’s leadership, lawyers griped that the city was betraying its supposedly progressive values—and that cases that could have been settled instead went to trial, resulting in juries awarding much bigger sums to, for instance, the man who had a tree fall on him in Lindenwood Park or the North City man whose son was killed by police.
Attorney Steven Kratky, who happened to be passing by Spencer’s presser, didn’t mince words on Hamilton’s departure, saying that Spencer’s pick for city counselor will “almost certainly be an improvement regardless of who they put in.”
