JEFFERSON CITY • Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder was the lone dissenter today when the Missouri Development Finance Board approved a $100,000 grant for the Ferguson Commission.
The Ferguson Commission is a 15-member committee convened by Gov. Jay Nixon to address the “social and economic conditions” highlighted by protests after the killing of Michael Brown. More than 300 people applied to be on the commission. Nixon will announce and swear in the commission members at 2 p.m. today at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.
Kinder, a board member, said he believed similar studies have been done since the 1960s. And this one, like the others, would end up gathering dust on a shelf, he said.
Other board members didn't agree. Board Chairwoman Marie Carmichael called the commission timely.
"I think these events have brought people together in a way that creates a sense of urgency that might make it possible to bring an outcome on these social issues," Carmichael said.
The grant -- which will come from the board's cash reserves derived from issuance fees of tax credits, for example -- will be administered by the United Way of Great St. Louis. Additional funding through private contributions also will be sought. Mike Downing, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, said the commission could need $1 million.
Downing, also a board member, requested the funds to support the commission's "operating costs, research and other related expenses," according to a Nov. 12 letter to Carmichael.
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