CLAYTON — The new director of the region’s tourism bureau promised more transparency and better relationships with area officials after his predecessor retired amid controversy surrounding an expansion of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ convention center.
Robert Wallace, interim president of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Convention and Visitors Commission, testified Tuesday before ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council members, who have for months sought to question convention center officials over delays and at least $40 million in cost overruns.
Some members on the council had a testy relationship with former commission president Kathleen “Kitty†Ratcliffe. She never appeared before the council after members began asking for a hearing this spring.
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Wallace promised an improvement.
“What I want to do is finish what we have on the expansion and try to get a handle on that,†said Wallace, who took over after Ratcliffe retired Aug. 31. “And to improve our relationship so that we’re not called here that much anymore to be spanked. I’d like to be cooperative and be transparent.â€
Wallace, who goes by Bob, was an attorney for the commission for 13 years as a partner in the Thompson Coburn law firm. He took a leave of absence from the firm to fill the interim president role.
Some councilmembers warmed to him. Republican Councilman Ernie Trakas, of South County, was one of Ratcliffe’s sharpest critics, but he praised Wallace.
“I think we can only expect the honest truth of Bob,†said Trakas, who has known Wallace for years. “Whatever he says won’t be misleading. If he knows it, he’ll tell us. If he doesn’t, he’ll tell us that.â€
Other councilmembers remained skeptical.
Council Chair Shalonda Webb, a Democrat from North County, thinks the city will ask for more money from ºüÀêÊÓƵ County for a second phase of the expansion. The county issued $105 million in government bonds to help pay for the expansion in 2022. County taxpayers will be paying for it until 2047 from a 3.5% hotel-motel sales tax.
But the expansion has already sucked up more than $250 million, and the second phase of the project has yet to officially begin. The city hasn’t asked the county for more, but Webb thinks it’s inevitable.
“There is not enough funds to complete any of those projects that’s on these books right now, and where else are they going to get these funds?â€
Without information from other convention center officials, the county won’t be able to make any decisions about extending more money, Webb said. No convention center officials showed at the hearing other than Wallace and Craig Lucas, vice president of Kwame Building Group, the expansion’s project manager.
The council invited representatives from the downtown civic group Greater ºüÀêÊÓƵ, and the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Board of Public Service, which oversees the convention center expansion.
“It’s hard for us to make an informed decision when we ask for a meeting and we don’t have that information come forth,†Webb said.
“I don’t have a better understanding of what project two is and what it’s going to cost. I have no better understanding of what are your projected sales and how we benefited at all,†she added.
The expansion of the America’s Center, where the NFL Rams used to play before they left for Los Angeles, aims to revitalize the complex and help it compete with rival cities such as Denver, Indianapolis, and Nashville, Tennessee, which have poured money into their convention centers.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ regional leaders announced in fall 2018 a 92,000-square-foot expansion, including a massive new ballroom, kitchen and public plaza. The project fell short — it’s missing the ballroom, kitchen and plaza, and only added about 71,000 square feet.
Expansion officials have blamed skyrocketing pandemic costs and delays. In early July, the bureau’s chief, Ratcliffe, announced she’d retire roughly 10 months before her contract ended.
It’s not clear if the second phase of the expansion can be completed. And in August, a report said the adjacent Dome arena needs more than $150 million in repairs. The convention center relies on the Dome to draw some of its biggest events.