Some Jefferson County Council members called out what they said was a lack of transparency and leadership within the Port Authority on Jan. 12, during what should have been a routine vote for board reappointments.
Up for reappointment to the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners were Dave Crump and Derrick Good, both Republicans, and Bill Seek, a Democrat. The board comprises nine volunteer, non-paid members. No more than five of the board members may be from the same political party.
The members serve three-year terms and are nominated by the county executive and approved by the County Council.
The Port Authority was founded in 1976 to make improvements in Jefferson County along the Mississippi River. The Port Authority owns and operates a port in Herculaneum on former Doe Run Co. property used for the loading and unloading of shipping vessels, as well as land in Kimmswick, intended to be used for riverboats to dock at, allowing tourists to explore the area.
First, the council voted unanimously to reappoint Crump to the board.
The council then voted 6-1 to approve Good’s reappointment, with Councilwoman Lori Arons (District 3, Imperial) abstaining.
The council then voted 6-1 to approve Seek’s reappointment, with Councilman Bob Tullock (District 6, House Springs) abstaining.
Arons said before the votes that, based on information provided to the council, she sees “serious deficiencies in leadership, failures of judicial responsibility and a lack of transparency” within the Port Authority.
She said that, in the days leading up to the vote, she received numerous calls, emails, texts and Facebook messages urging her to vote “one way and one way only.”
In a phone interview, Arons declined to say who sent those messages or how they were telling her to vote.
“Disagreement over policy is appropriate, but personal intimidation is not,” Arons said. “Attempts to discourage or silence oversight by elected officials undermine public trust and have no place in public service. Accountability is not hostility; oversight is not obstruction. And leadership in public service is not a lifetime appointment.”
She said her decision to abstain from voting on Good’s reappointment was personal.
“I have my reasons, but there are some things going on that I don’t really want to share at this time,” she said. “I voted for what I thought was right, so that’s really what I want to leave it at.”
Tullock said he abstained from voting for Seek’s reappointment because he “didn’t feel (he) could make a decision objectively, one way or the other.”
“I just didn’t think it was appropriate for me to vote unless I could do a lot of research,” Tullock said. “I was contacted by the other two candidates, and I was able to ask them a whole host of questions about the Port Authority. Mr. Seek did not contact me.”
Transparency
Arons said it is a “foundational obligation” for any public authority to ensure transparency, adding that she isn’t seeing that with the Port Authority. She said the Port Authority’s board meetings are usually only about 15 minutes long, and then “everything else is done in closed-door, private” meetings.
Councilman Tim Brown (District 7, De Soto) and Tullock both said they’d like to see regular reports from the Port Authority on the work being done, the money being spent and any plans in the works. Brown added that he’d like to see a master plan or a five-year plan from the Port Authority.
Arons said she hasn’t seen much progress from the Port Authority. In 2024, the Port Authority purchased the Herculaneum port property from Riverview Commerce Park for $20 million. The port is the first publicly owned terminal facility in Jefferson County.
APH, an international company, has selected Herculaneum to further develop the port to accommodate the company’s specialized barges that will carry large metal shipping containers from Plaquemines, La., up the Mississippi River.
However, the deal is at a standstill while plans are being ironed out in Louisiana, said Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway, executive director of the Port Authority.
“We have been told there is a container ship that will bring containers up to our port,” Arons said. “Yes, it has the potential to bring great revenue to this county, but I feel that I have been told it’s such a great thing, but I have not seen it yet.
“Where’s the port? I have pictures of what it’s supposed to be like, but if you drive down there, it’s a gravel lot.”
Buchheit-Courtway said the port currently has two docks, one allowing trucks to unload product directly from barges and another that has a conveyor belt system to unload product from the barges. More than 3,000 feet of Union Pacific rail line is located close to the unloading area, she said. In addition, the port has a 150-by-100-foot building where organic aggregate materials can be stored for customers.
Buchheit-Courtway said she recently gave a presentation in front of the Missouri Port Authority Association and secured $1 million in the 2027 state budget to build another storage building at the port.
The port also uses a mobile home trailer as an office space for operators, she said.
Other County Council members, like Scott Seek (District 5, Festus) and Billy Crow (District 2, Arnold) disagreed with the criticisms from Arons, Tullock and Brown, adding that they see no problems with the Port Authority’s transparency, leadership or financial responsibility.
At the meeting, Scott Seek questioned other council members’ understanding of the Port Authority’s functions. He said Port Authority members have been open and responsive to his questioning.
Tullock questioned why Scott Seek voted in favor of reappointing Bill Seek, his father, citing Missouri’s conflict of interest laws. Bill Seek was last up for re-election in 2023, and Scott Seek abstained from voting at that time. Scott Seek could not be reached for comment before the Leader deadline.
“These individuals volunteer their time, often bringing with them education, institutional wisdom and real-world experience that many outside of those rooms may not fully appreciate,” Scott Seek said during the meeting. “Their service is not political. It is practical. When those individuals provide answers, it is the responsibility of others, particularly the elected officials, to seek understanding, not scapegoating.”
Progress
Buchheit-Courtway spoke to the council before the vote took place, recommending Crump, Good and Bill Seek be reappointed to the board. She said “all of them are worth their weight in gold.”
She also shared that, in 2025, a quarter of a million tons of product were unloaded at the Herculaneum port, adding that about 70 semitrucks come to the port daily to transport the product inland. Also in 2025, the Port Authority provided $150,000 to the Herculaneum Fire Department for its new boathouse attached to the Port Authority’s dock. She said the boathouse cuts down river rescue response times from about 30 minutes to five minutes.
In an interview with the Leader, Buchheit-Courtway said she spoke with Arons over the phone before the meeting and sent an email answering her questions and providing information about current and upcoming projects.
“I thought our conversation went well,” Buchheit-Courtway said. “I really had no idea that something like that was going to occur on (Jan. 12).”
Buchheit-Courtway said the port is not simply a gravel lot but a fully operational facility. She said the Port Authority’s operations began the day after the sale went through with Riverview Commerce Park.
She said the Port Authority strives for transparency and has monthly meetings open to the public, adding that closed meetings are held in accordance with Missouri Sunshine Law, which allows public bodies to hold closed meetings related to real estate, personnel or legal matters.
Buchheit-Courtway refuted the claim that the Port Authority is not making progress, saying that last year it purchased a $1.3 million Sennebogen 855 material handler with state grant funds to help speed up unloading times from barges onto semitrucks at the port.
She said the Port Authority also awarded KCI Construction Co. in Creve Coeur a $2.2 million contract to replace the road leading to and from the port with an industrial-use road. KCI was the lowest of three bidders for the project, and initial grading on the road should begin next week. The project, again funded with a state grant, should be complete by June 30, she said.
“Our port is open for business,” Buchheit-Courtway said. “We’re trying to get more customers to come, but we’re moving full steam ahead.”