134 Business View Magazine - October 2016
bridge projects. So, In terms of improvements, we’ve
been able to build the type of infrastructure that the
people who live out here, want.”
Wildwood also provides its residents with very cost-
effective city services. The city team is small – there
are only 20 full-time employees. So, it relies a lot on
private contractors. “We contract with the St. Louis
County Police Department for law enforcement and
neighborhood safety,” says Thomas. “We don’t have
street or parks maintenance crews. We conduct an an-
nual bidding to establish maintenance contracts with
numerous local contractors, and by doing so, we use
them when we need them, and when we don’t, we’re
not paying somebody. So, it’s been a very cost-effec-
tive approach to maintaining our infrastructure and
the public spaces that we’re responsible for.”
Thomas maintains that the city of Wildwood will always
to be a popular place to live. “But we hope that we can
also make it a place where people can both live and
work,” he asserts. “There is some of that, to a degree,
