Garrett Believes He's Got the Right Stuff for Florissant's Top Job

Robert Garrett isn’t far from the mayor’s office. And you could say the job is a family tradition.

His home on St. Francois is just a couple blocks down the street from . In fact, Garrett lives in the house built for his mayoral grandfather, right across the street from the old City Hall location.

Three of his ancestors served as mayor of Florissant: great-grandfathers Sidney Garrett (1915-1919) and August Albers (1905-1914) and great-great grandfather Charles Castello (1865-1890 and 1892-1893).

“I grew up on this block,” Garrett said.

He points out where his grandparents kept chickens, a barn where the police department stored equipment and the well where his family chilled watermelon during the summer.

For now, Garrett, a former Ward 6 councilman, hopes to follow his ancestors' collective lead by becoming Florissant’s next mayor. He is one of six candidates seeking the position since the incumbent, ., opted not to run for re-election.

“I think I’m probably the best qualified to do it,” Garrett said.

Garrett pointed out his years serving on the city council, his law and engineering degrees and his experience serving as a mediator.

“My attention to detail comes from my engineering background,” he said. “I got to be known as a person who tries to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.”

The candidate's wife, Toni Garrett, serves as his campaign manager. She said Garrett has gotten into official mediation, but what make him qualified for the job are his lifelong skills and those gained while serving on the council.

“He knows how to talk to people and figure out where they’re coming from and seeing other points of view, so he can help them come to an agreement everyone is satisfied with,” said Toni Garrett, a mathematics professor at St. Louis Community College at Meramec. 

Candidate Garrett is semi-retired from his patent law practice, Haverstock, Garrett and Roberts.

“I ran my own business for 30-plus years, including dealing with personnel issues. Those can be a pain,” he said.

Rose Vierdag said Garrett was her councilman for many years. Although she's undecided on whom to vote for, she said Garrett would make an excellent mayor.

"He's a very smart man, and he never jumps into anything," Vierdag, a Ward 6 resident, said. "He always does his homework and knows the topic before he backs it."

Garrett never just went along with other candidates, she said.

"He always made up his own mind," she said. "He's very qualified and has the expertise with his legal background. He knows exactly what's going on at city hall."

No regret on Cross Keys

Garrett opted not to run for Ward 6 councilman after several qualified candidates applied, he said. He lost the Ward 6 election in 2002 to Glen Goldstein after holding the office for 18 years.

“One of the issues back then was the Cross Keys redevelopment, which I came out as strongly supporting,” Garrett said. “A number of people were upset at candidates, and they opposed anybody running that year.”

The Cross Keys redevelopment was Florissant's first experience with tax increment financing (TIF). Longtime Florissant Mayor James Eagan opposed TIFs. Many residents and some Florissant council members opposed the use of a TIF to construct a building put Lowe's competitor, Home Depot, right across the street. Lowe's developed its own building at New Halls Ferry Road and Lindbergh Boulevard without the use of tax incentives.

There were other reasons he lost that year, Garrett theorized. Goldstein was a strong candidate from a well known family and was strongly supported by the Florissant firefighters union. Garrett lost a close race during an election in which several polling places had changed locations, he said. Not to mention, he wasn’t supported by Mayor Lowery.

“I probably wasn’t his favorite councilman back then,” he said.

Now, his relationship with Lowery is more cordial--Lowery appointed him to a commission recently, he said.

Garrett said he doesn’t regret his decision on Cross Keys; although, he believes it’s the biggest reason he lost the Ward 6 election.

“These days, most people look at it and realize it was a big improvement, and it was the right way to go," he said. "But that wasn’t necessarily the case 10 years ago. It’s definitely better than what we had in there, with most of the stores empty, outdated facilities, becoming more and more of an eyesore.”

However, he agrees that cities should be careful in evaluating whether to use tax incentives.

“There’s a limit as to what we should be looking at in regards to TIFs,” he said. “You have to develop as a region, not just as a city. You reach a point where it’s one city stealing from another.”

Florissant has done a good job in economic development, in part because it’s been able to retain businesses and attract new homes, he said. He credited former Mayor James Eagan with the decision to hire an economic developer for the city’s ongoing success with attracting and retaining businesses.

Change isn't a cure-all

Garrett said he’s open to changing Florissant’s form of government to a city administrator, as some have suggested.

“It’s something worth considering, but I don’t know it’s a total solution,” Garrett said.

He warned that a city manager isn’t a cure-all. Hiring a city administrator likely would cost more money, he said, noting that the Hazelwood city manager makes more than the Florissant mayor. Hazelwood also has an assistant city administrator.

Considering that the mayor acts as city administrator, a $130,000 salary isn’t out of line, he said.

He said the thought is that bringing a city administrator in would mean someone with an educational background in city management would make the administration more efficient.

“But a number of city managers and administrators do not have that background. It doesn’t mean they’re not qualified,” he said. “Former chiefs of police have a background in administering a police department. In many ways, that may be even better than an educational background.”

He said going to a city administrator also would not necessarily eliminate the political element. He pointed out when the O’Fallon City Council had a political changeover, it forced out its city manager, Robert Lowery Jr.

It depends on the personnel involved and the manner in which people want to proceed, he said.

Garrett said he couldn’t say what changes he would make once he becomes mayor.

“Until somebody is really in a position, they don’t understand or see the entire picture. They’re not faced with the problems or consequences of their decisions,” Garrett said.

“It’s easy to criticize anything. It’s difficult to come up a with solution,” he said.

The Budget Blues

However, Garrett said the city must to rein in the budget. He said while he was in office, the city sold its water company and that money was supposed to be set aside.

“I haven’t tracked it, but my understanding is the city has delved into those funds quite heavily over the past few years--perhaps in some circumstances with good reason, perhaps in others not with good reason,” he said. 

That’s one reason he would like to see more transparency during the budget process. That way, residents can see consequences for taking action or not taking action.

“Historically, this has been a process of a number of working sessions with the mayor, department heads and the council, and not in open session,” he said. “These are public sessions, but they’re not well attended.”

Later, when the council is approving the budget, people come up and object to minor items rather than major items.

He said it would be better to make the budget process more transparent when possible--although that's not always possible due to confidentiality issues, he said.

Basically, Garrett said he believes he’s most qualified to lead Florissant, and so he should lead the city. It’s always been his home and always will be.

He sits at his dining room table on a soggy morning and looks around the home his grandfather built.

“I intend to die here,” he said.