The Metropolitan Sewer District Board of Trustees last week rejected a resolution to exclude foreign corporations as prime contractors, with a number of firms speaking in opposition to the measure.

The resolution would have restricted MSD from considering foreign corporations or business entities for service contracts “unless there is insufficient competition,” according to information provided by MSD.

The board voted 4-1 to reject the resolution. Board Chairman Bob Berry voted in favor of the measure. Trustee Eddie Ross Jr. was absent.

Trustee John Goffstein said he was troubled by the resolution, which he called “an important issue.”

“I don’t think it’s for us to include or exclude anyone from consideration in our contract adoptions,” Goffstein said.

Additionally, Goffstein said this issue should be “looked at on a case-by-case basis with objective criteria.”

“I don’t think we should be draconian in any way in our approach,” Goffstein said.

Berry declined to comment on his vote and told the Call his vote stands as is.

Jon Omvig, operations manager of AMEC, an engineering firm in St. Louis, told the board MSD originally selected AMEC for a watershed contract “based on a rigorous selection process.”

“We’ve been surprised by the reaction to this contract and the notion that it’s awarded to a foreign firm, considering AMEC or our predecessors that have been in St. Louis over 35 years …,” Omvig told the board.

For the particular project Omvig referenced, 92 of the 100 staff members who were expected to work on the project live in the metropolitan area, according to Omvig.

“I strongly support the district considering where the work’s done. As I said, we do it here … We have a strong local presence. I’m not native. I’ve only lived here for 30 years. But my staff is local …,” he said.

Craig Toder, president of Ross and Baruzzini Inc., a Missouri corporation that provides mechanical and electrical IT systems, engineering and architecture services locally, nationally and internationally, also addressed the board. Toder said the resolution is “an affront to the design community and damaging to the citizens and reputation of the region.”

However, Toder noted his company does not do “a great deal of business with MSD,” and that, if passed, the resolution would have had “zero effect” on his business.

“I’m not here to cry over lost contract,” he said. “I’m here to speak against this resolution because it is bad business. I’m here on principal.”

Toder noted American Water, until recently, was owned by a German firm; Ralston Purina is owned by Nestle, a Swiss company; and Anheuser-Busch is now a Belgian company.

“Should we not drink the water or beer, feed our pets these products because they’re foreign owned?” Toder said. “This is ridiculous because we are thankful these operations are still in St. Louis, employing thousands of our citizens and creating products and services of value that we use in our daily lives.”

Stephen Gregali, special assistant to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, also addressed the board. Gregali said the city’s administration believes it would be a “bad idea” for an entity like MSD to create “such a policy that should be taken upon by the counties and cities in the region.”

Referencing public comments regarding St. Louis corporations that “do business all over the world,” Goffstein said he is “not sure we want to put (those companies) in a position to explain to other bodies in other locations, bodies like ours … why their community has excluded others from taking on projects while they’re trying to bid elsewhere throughout in areas besides the St. Louis area.”