St. Louis County voters Tuesday rejected Proposition B, which would have granted the county council the ability to fire department heads.
The countywide ballot measure failed 62% to 38%. It would have allowed the council to fire department leaders and the county counselor with five out of seven votes.
Since six out of seven council members are antagonistic toward St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, there was a possibility that the current council could have exercised this newfound authority.
Prop B supporters contended that the measure provided a major check to the county executive’s power. But Page said it amounted to a power grab that could make it harder to attract people to work in county government.
The result is a major win for Page, whose political action committee spent $100,000 to try to defeat the proposition.
Had Proposition B passed, there was a chance it would have never gone into effect.
That’s because while the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District ruled last week in a lawsuit against the ballot issue that the votes will be counted, it also gave foes an avenue to challenge its implementation.
