ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – The St. Louis County Council is set to consider a controversial proposal Tuesday night that could allow the council to remove County Executive Sam Page from his post.
According to our partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the County Council is set to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night. The proposal is the latest development in a rocky relationship between the council and Page.
Councilwoman Rita Heard Days told the post that the goal of the proposal is to hold the county’s top elected official—the county executive—accountable. Days asserts that the council aims to ensure accountability in the interactions between Page’s office and the council, ensuring that the situation does not spiral out of control.
Details of the legislation are still being worked out. One idea would be to ask voters to approve a change to the county charter that would give the seven-member council the power to remove the county executive with five votes. The same rule would also apply to department heads. The changes would require updating the county charter and a vote of the people.
Days hopes to have a measure ready for the April 8th election. Under current county law, only voters can remove an elected county official, including a county executive, through the recall process.
Days concedes that voters might not support the idea of five people on the county council being empowered to remove an elected official like the county executive. Days saying that the measure is not final.
Page’s chief spokesperson, Doug Moore, declined to comment, saying they have not seen the legislation.