St. Louis County voters will get a chance to decide on a ballot measure allowing the county to fire department heads.
Hours after the item was struck from the April 8 ballot, the Eastern District Court of Appeals stayed St. Louis County Judge Bruce Hilton’s order. That means voters will decide on a measure allowing the St. Louis County Council to fire department directors or the county counselor with five out of seven votes.
Several heads of county departments sued over the measure. Hilton ruled earlier on Tuesday that ballot language for Proposition B “is misleading, insufficient, inaccurate, argumentative, prejudicial, and unfair.”
But Appeals Court Judge Thomas Clark II wrote in an opinion allowing Proposition B to go back on the ballot that people objecting to it could file suit after the April 8 election if it passes.
“Like any learned circuit court, this court does not make this decision lightly, balancing [the defendants’] well-meaning concerns with removing a ballot item from voter consideration,” Appeals Court Judge Thomas Clark wrote in his Tuesday afternoon opinion. “After applying applicable case law and following a review of the relevant statutory language enacted by the Missouri General Assembly, the court orders that the Appellants’ motion to Stay the Judgment and Order is granted.”
Since Tuesday was the deadline to take something off the April 8 ballot, St. Louis County Democratic Elections Director Eric Fey said Proposition B will go before voters.
Proposition B is the latest chapter in the increasingly acrimonious relationship between St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and the majority of the council. After the 2024 election, Page adversaries outnumber supporters 6-1 — which would mean the current council would have the votes to fire department directors under Proposition B.
Proponents of the plan contended it could provide a stronger check on the executive branch to make it responsive to the council.
“I do want us to make sure that we recognize that Prop B is about being accountable,” Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-St. Louis County, said on Tuesday. “It is about having checks and balances.”
Page said it was effectively a power grab that would throw off the county government’s checks and balances.
“Our circuit court agreed that the ballot language is misleading, inefficient, inaccurate, argumentative, prejudicial and unfair,” Page said on Tuesday. “The appellate court agreed with that — the language was confusing. But the time to challenge this is after the election. As it stands, voters will have to vote on this absurd ballot language. Meanwhile, we are weighing our options.”
Page added that the proposition was a waste of taxpayer dollars, saying it will cost the county $600,000 to put the measure before voters.
“Those dollars could be used to plow roads, fill potholes, hire people to open our property tax bills,” Page said. “But instead, we're doing this.”
In response to Page’s comments, Webb said the county could have saved money “over the last three months from not suing each other.”
“So I understand your position on that, but I do have a difference of opinion,” Webb said. “And I think it was disingenuous for you to be able to state your position on Prop B and not allow there to be a different voice.”
An initial draft of what became Proposition B included language that could have allowed the council to remove a county executive. That provision ultimately didn’t make it to the version of the ballot item that Hilton struck down Tuesday.
This story has been updated with the reversal of the decision to strike the proposition from the ballot and comments from officials.
