Kids propose 3-city merger plan

Kirsten Gindler

Kids in three Pattonville School District schools have a plan to merge the cities of Bridgeton, St. Ann and Maryland Heights. They even have a name for the new city-St. Bridgeton Heights.

The kids like their merger idea and think a new city could be cheaper to run and more efficient. But, they also see problems in any merger.

Twelve-year-old Kirsten Gindler of Pattonville Heights Middle School is one of the students who is putting together the merger plan.

The 7th grader said the three cities merged into one "would make a perfect-sized city." She based her opinion on reading she's done on what makes an ideal-sized community.

Nikolas Fischer

Thirteen-year-old Nikolas Fischer of Holman Middle School also likes the merger idea. But, the 7th grader said problems would come "because you'd have to fire some people."

Kristen thought any merger could be staggered so most personnel reductions could be handled with retirements or people taking other jobs.

Most students said the biggest savings would be in reducing the number of administrators.

Jimmy Robb

Thirteen-year-old Jimmy Robb thought a merger would allow the city officials to reduce the number of governmental buildings. For example, he said each city now has a building to store road salt for de-icing streets in winter.

The 7th grader said a merged city would need only one salt building. He said the other salt buildings could be used for other things "or the land could be sold to raise money."

However, Jimmy said he favored keeping all three city jails open. "It would be a shorter ride to take prisoners to jail," he said.

Students at Holman and Pattonville Heights, as well as Remington Traditional School, are cooperating on the governmental issue. They are involved in the Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH) program at University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Under the CECH program, students select a governmental issue that touches their local communities. The subject of city mergers is a long-standing one in metro St. Louis. The area has dozens of independent cities-some of them very small.

Of the three cities in the Pattonville school study, two have undergone substantial economic change recently. In Bridgeton, the expansion of Lambert Airport caused the city to lose about a quarter of its population.

In St. Ann, one of the community's primary revenue sources-sales tax from the Northwest Plaza Shopping Center-has been hit by competition from newer malls.

Jimmy Robb said the kids met with officials from all three cities to gather information. He said officials at Bridgeton and St. Ann seemed enthusiastic.

However, the 7th grader said, "The Maryland Heights officials might have been a little leery about a merger."

Hope Benefield

Twelve-year-old Hope Benefield of Holman Middle said the Maryland Heights officials were supportive "but maybe a little skeptical." Officials of the other two cities were "more in favor" of merger, the 7th grader said.

Gindler, Benefield, Robb and Fischer, along with Brian Gibson of Remington Traditional, served as "facilitators" for the study.

Students from advanced learning classes at the three schools were divided into committees to study various branches of local government. The committees then sent reports to the facilitators, who put together the final, overall plan.

The Pattonville students present their final proposal at a CECH mini-conference May 8. The report then will be presented to officials of all three cities.

The facilitators said their merger study gave them a new appreciation of the complexity of local government.

Nikolas Fischer said, "It's harder than it looks to run a city."

He said the study made him more interested in local government. But, he added he probably doesn't want to get into government when he grows up. "There's too much pressure," he said.

Hope Benefield agreed with Nikolas. She said, before the study, "I didn't know much about local government or how much it took to run it."

But, she didn't think she wanted to be a government official when she grew up. "I'm not that good at politics," she said.

Kirsten Gindler said she has increased interest in local government. But, she said she'd probably rather be a journalist and report on government workings.