One day after CEMA Commissioner Sarah Russell was
placed on administrative leave for failing to sound the alarms during Friday's storm, we've uncovered that a city audit acknowledged issues within CEMA more than a year ago.
After an EF3 tornado tore an 8-mile path of destruction across the city Friday afternoon, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer says one thing became abundantly clear with regards to CEMA.
“It was clear to us immediately in the aftermath that we needed additional resources,” Spencer said. “We mobilized immediately to bring in additional resources.”
However, a
city audit released in March of 2024 outlined a number of concerns with CEMA, including that the department only had three employees, and only one of which was an emergency specialist, while other cities have six emergency specialists.
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“Asking one person to be a specialist in all of emergency management is a monumental task and does not set us up for success,” CEMA Commissioner Sarah Russell stated in the 2024 audit.
“I can’t speak to that specific report, but I have been aware that we have underfunded CEMA for a long number of years,” Spencer said. “This is not new. It’s been going on for some time.”