A month after ousting its CEO amid reports of poor morale and high turnover, the ӣƵ Economic Development Partnership moved to get a handle on workplace culture and its hiring procedures.
At a special meeting Wednesday, the board voted to establish an “employee experience committee” to review the Partnership’s human resource policies. The committee will oversee matters involving employee compensation, benefits and conduct. It will also “evaluate workplace culture” and ensure professional development for staff, according to the resolution the board passed.
“This is in line with a number of previous discussions in terms of just looking at our overall employee culture and making sure we have adequate policies and procedures in place,” interim CEO Rodney Crim said.
Rodney Crim at the Four Seasons Hotel in ӣƵ on Sunday, April 10, 2016. Photo by Jon Gitchoff
Crim, a top executive at the Partnership since its 2013 formation, succeeded CEO Sheila Sweeney in January.
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Sweeney was hired in 2015 after CEO Denny Coleman retired. Her tenure saw significant turnover, and former employees told the Post-Dispatch the Partnership was beset by low morale and often used as a political tool for ӣƵ County Executive Steve Stenger.
Formed in 2013, the Partnership was designed to merge some of the business recruitment functions for ӣƵ and ӣƵ County.
Based in Clayton, most of its staff was an outgrowth of the ӣƵ County Economic Council, and it still manages county boards such as the ӣƵ County Port Authority and Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority. The county executive appoints 11 members of the board, and the mayor of ӣƵ appoints four.
The new “employee experience committee” revives a dormant human resources committee that Crim said had not been active in recent years. Partnership board chairman Karlos Ramirez appointed Ed James, a longtime member of the ӣƵ County Port Authority, and Missy Kelley, CEO of Downtown STL Inc., to the new committee.
“I think it’s really a good move, and I think we’re following through with what the bylaws and the intent of this Partnership is really about,” said Partnership board member Mike Walter, a former business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. “Why it’s taken so long I’m not sure.”
Board member Kathy Osborn, who heads the Regional Business Council, said last week that she would not accept a reappointment to the organization from Stenger. She did not participate in the meeting Wednesday.
In a letter sent to area elected officials, Osborn urged Stenger to allow Crim to perform “a top to bottom review of the staffing, positions and compensation of the Partnership staff.”
Ramirez commended Crim for pushing for the review and said it would “move the organization forward.”
The board also established a committee to advise it on real estate issues and appointed Mary Campbell, associate vice chancellor for real estate at Washington University; Otis Williams, executive director of the ӣƵ Development Corp.; Linda Martinez, deputy mayor for development for the city of ӣƵ; and Sandy Parker, board member of the ӣƵ County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.
