ST. LOUIS 鈥 The embattled chief of the region鈥檚 tourism bureau will leave her job amid growing concerns about sales, staff morale and the management of the downtown convention center expansion.
Kathleen 鈥淜itty鈥 Ratcliffe, 65, will retire Aug. 31, roughly 10 months before her contract expires, the St. 不良研究所导航网址 Convention and Visitors Commission announced late Tuesday. A search for a successor is supposed to begin soon.
The decision followed a difficult few years for Ratcliffe as the face of troubled convention center expansion, a taxpayer-funded project so far over its original budget that it鈥檚 not clear it can be completed.
And Ratcliffe鈥檚 critics, who said the expansion plan was too small to make a difference and irresponsibly managed, welcomed the announcement.
鈥淭he CVC right now is a mess, and we need to fix it,鈥 said St. 不良研究所导航网址 County Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District.聽鈥淭his is a positive step.鈥
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Next steps should include a state audit of the expansion spending, Trakas said.
Commission board members, however, praised Ratcliffe for 18 years of service. In a written statement, they recalled her work helping the local hospitality industry through the 2007-09 recession and its aftermath, the negative press after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, problems with city crime rankings, and the pandemic, which effectively shut down the tourism economy.聽
鈥淜itty鈥檚 work ethic and dedication to advancing our tourism community are amazing, which is what the past 18 years have called for,鈥 said Steve O鈥橪oughlin, a major local hotelier and chairman of the commission board.聽
But in the past few weeks, the tide has shifted.
On June 1, it was reported that after Ratcliffe said officials would find at least $8 million in savings on the first phase of the expansion project in April 2022, overruns increased costs by $7 million, leaving nearly all of the city鈥檚 contingency funds exhausted.
On June 2, in a virtual meeting mistakenly left open to the public, a commission board member called for Ratcliffe鈥檚 removal, citing issues with sales and operations and trouble with staff morale. The board member declined to elaborate afterward.
But it was later reported that hotel room bookings secured by the commission here, a key measure of its sales team鈥檚 performance, remain well below pre-pandemic numbers even as other cities are reporting full recoveries. The St. 不良研究所导航网址 Area Hotel Association called the statistics 鈥渧ery alarming.鈥
On Monday, the Post-Dispatch reported that despite years of work and political wrangling, the convention center expansion won鈥檛 make St. 不良研究所导航网址 more competitive in the way leaders once envisioned.
A review of floor plans for nine cities identified as competitors when the expansion was first planned indicates that, as the project stands now, the America鈥檚 Center will rank roughly where it did in 2016 in terms of exhibit halls, ballrooms and meeting room space.
Meanwhile, the St. 不良研究所导航网址 County Council had planned a hearing on July 9 where they intended to question convention center officials about the problems with the expansion.
Councilman Mark Harder, R-7th District, said Tuesday that鈥檚 still on, and Ratcliffe and others involved in the expansion project have been invited.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Kitty Ratcliffe will be there,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ut hopefully others will be.鈥澛
The Convention and Visitors Commission is expected to honor the remainder of Ratcliffe鈥檚 contract, which expires next June. A separation agreement was not immediately available for review.
Ratcliffe was paid $384,783 in 2022, the most recent year for which data was immediately available.