ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County council voted Monday to approve bills that would strip some authority from County Executive Sam Page as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Council members voted 4-3, with Democrat Rita Days crossing party lines and voting with the three Republicans on the council.
Minutes after the vote, Page tweeted he will not sign the bills.
"I will veto bills 222 and 223," Page posted on Twitter. "They will not become law. My first priority is to protect the health and welfare of our residents and these bills undermine those efforts and jeopardize the safety of us all."
"Any good leader wants support, they want input, but we have not seen that with Sam Page since this pandemic started. It's been a one-man show," said Councilmember Tim Fitch, a Republican representing District 3.
Fitch introduced the two bills that passed, requiring the council approval for any mandate that lasts longer than 15 days. He said it's about oversight.
"That's all we've been asking for since it started, and we get crickets from him," Fitch said. "He's like, 'Nope, don't have to do that, I have all the authority and all the power to do it, and I'm certainly not going to share it with any of you.'"
Before voting on the bills, the council voted to stop reading through the more than 2,200 public comments on the bills. The comments came in during the council's meeting last week. Instead of reading through bills for a limited amount of time, the council decided to try to read through all of the comments that had come in.
Over the weekend, the four hospitals that comprise the St. Louis Metropolitan Task Force wrote a letter, saying they do not support the bills. Multiple organizations also submitted letters to councilmembers, urging them to vote "no."
"I felt it was irresponsible, and there is a lack of concern for the total population," Bishop Elijah Hankerson said.
Hankerson wrote one of those letters on behalf of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition. He said the virus has affected his church, his family and a member of the coalition even died from the disease.
"We say we are in this together, but realistically a lot of times we are out for our own interests," Hankerson said. "We understand if there are council members who have constituents saying, 'Hey, that's those people up in north county. Don't put those provisions on us.' But the Scripture says we are our brother's keeper."
As Page prepares to veto the legislation, Fitch said there is still a chance for change.
"It only takes one more vote to make it veto-proof, a lot can happen between now and the time that we would take a vote to override the veto," Fitch said.