ST. LOUIS 鈥 Debate on a $153 million pandemic aid package was delayed Friday at the Board of Aldermen, with board president Lewis Reed saying he needs time to flesh out a gift card plan that he鈥檒l add to encourage COVID vaccinations.
Reed said such an amendment will be ready for a special meeting of the board he set for Tuesday.
He said he has yet to decide how much to allocate for the gift cards but that it could be $500,000 to $1.25 million. Details on the cards鈥 value and how they could be used also have to be worked out, he said.
鈥淚n certain areas (of the city), we have very low vaccination rates,鈥 Reed said in an interview. 鈥淚t鈥檚 vitally important ... to get to some young folks who aren鈥檛 being vaccinated. If we ignore it, it鈥檚 going to impact all of us.鈥
Reed said he still expects final action on the legislation, which allocates the next round of federal pandemic aid, to occur at the board鈥檚 regular weekly meeting next Friday.
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He also said he鈥檚 confident he has enough support on the board to approve his overall $153 million bill.
He added that a majority of the board shares his opposition to any attempt in floor debate to tack on to his bill Mayor Tishaura O. Jones鈥 proposal to give $500 cash payments to about 10,000 residents hurt by the pandemic.
Most of the rest of Jones鈥 own $81.4 million pandemic aid plan is included in Reed鈥檚 bill.
A spokesman for Jones, Nick Dunne, said Reed鈥檚 decision to hold off a preliminary vote until Tuesday 鈥渄efinitely caught us off guard.鈥
鈥淪t. 不良研究所导航网址ans deserve to know why the Board of Aldermen continues to kick the can down the road instead of delivering urgently needed relief 鈥 including $5 million in direct financial assistance to help put food on the table 鈥 to the residents of our city.鈥
Dunne added that 鈥渨e鈥檙e open to negotiations鈥 regarding the gift card idea.
Reed has said he opposes Jones鈥 direct-payment plan because of what he considers to be 鈥渧ery loose guidelines鈥 on how those payments would be administered.
He also has expressed concern that it would aid only a small part of the city population.
Reed鈥檚 overall plan was endorsed Wednesday by an aldermanic committee.
Reed in a news release on Thursday night said he wanted the board to suspend its rules at its weekly meeting Friday to allow the bill to be taken up then. Normally that can鈥檛 happen until the second board meeting after a bill emerges from a committee.
In addition to wanting time to craft the gift card amendment, Reed on Friday said he decided against a rules suspension so critics couldn鈥檛 accuse him of pulling 鈥渁 legislative maneuver鈥 to advance his bill.
鈥淭hat way people couldn鈥檛 cry foul,鈥 he said.
Reed said rescheduling the debate for Tuesday doesn鈥檛 change his timetable to wrap up board action before aldermen begin a two-month summer break after next Friday鈥檚 meeting.
鈥淚t鈥檚 right on track to what I said鈥 previously, he said.
Reed said he had put out the release Thursday in case he decided to pursue the rules suspension.
If aldermen give the measure first-round approval Tuesday, it then would go to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
The estimate board, the city鈥檚 top fiscal body, previously endorsed Jones鈥 version. If that panel rejects the aldermanic version, there could be efforts to forge a compromise.
A stimulus advisory panel appointed by Jones had suggested that the city consider using a lottery or other incentives to boost vaccination rates.
Jones didn鈥檛 include a lottery or gift cards in her plan but said incentives would be considered in the future.
The St. 不良研究所导航网址 County Council last month approved spending $875,000 in the county鈥檚 federal pandemic aid to distribute gift cards, likely to be $50 and $100, to be used on food and other necessary household items.
Missouri state officials also are considering offering incentives; various other states, including Illinois, already do so.
Reed鈥檚 bill, at Jones鈥 request, already includes money for other efforts to spur COVID inoculations, including $1 million for mobile vaccination clinics, $500,000 for canvassing and $500,000 for vaccine education and marketing.
Four aldermen interviewed said they had expected the pandemic aid bill to be the subject of a lengthy debate at Friday鈥檚 meeting and were taken aback when it wasn鈥檛 taken up.
鈥淚t was a giant surprise,鈥 said Alderman Joe Vaccaro, 23rd Ward. He said he didn鈥檛 know the reason.
Despite Reed鈥檚 statement to the contrary, Alderman Megan Green, 15th Ward, speculated that Reed was still rounding up votes to defeat a possible amendment to add the $500 direct-payment program requested by Jones.
Aldermen Sharon Tyus, 1st Ward, and Carol Howard, 14th Ward, also said they were surprised by the decision.
Among other Jones-requested items in Reed鈥檚 bill is money to help pay residents' rent and utility bills, aid the homeless and fund neighborhood violence prevention initiatives, youth jobs, behavioral health providers, child care agencies and expansion of public Wi-Fi.
Reed鈥檚 bill also has significant additional spending, including $5 million for police overtime pay, $20 million to renovate abandoned buildings and $33 million to spur development along four major north St. 不良研究所导航网址 streets.
This article was updated at 6:45 p.m.