CLAYTON, Mo. — A four-year-long battle between a former councilman and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page ended this month with a settlement that will cost county taxpayers more than $600,000.
The county will now pay former St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch approximately $339,000 in pension payments he did not receive during his four years in office, plus about $160,000 for Fitch’s attorney’s fees, and another approximately $105,000 in interest.
That does not include how much money the county spent on a private attorney hired to handle the litigation. 5 On Your Side has filed a Sunshine request seeking that information.
“If they would have just followed all of the ordinances, it would have saved the taxpayers approximately $300K and that’s a conservative estimate of their attorney’s fees as well,” Fitch said.
Fitch served as the county’s police chief for 31 years before joining the council in January 2019.
Page argued the county should not pay Fitch his police pension during his time on the council because he was earning a pension as a county council member.
Fitch sued, arguing his position on the county council was not a full-time position and that he was an elected official – not a county employee. He also agreed to forgo any pension payments for his county council seat so he could get his police pension.
“Sam Page has always looked at tax dollars as play money,” Fitch said. “If he has someone he thinks speaks out against him or is against any of his policies, he will do everything he can using tax dollars to fight that individual and that’s why I ended up having to sue.
“I was willing to say turn my pension back on years ago and he said, ‘No,’ and ‘Sue me if you don’t like it.’”
A circuit court judge sided with Fitch in June 2022, and Fitch said he signed a settlement agreement that did not include the $105,000 in interest.
The Page administration appealed that decision.
The Court of Appeals ordered both sides to mediate the issue, which resulted in the settlement agreement signed Nov. 14.
“We knew we were right on the law, my attorney proved we were right on the law, the courts agreed with us that we were right on the law, this was just political smoke by Sam Page,” Fitch said. “He wanted to use taxpayer dollars to go after someone that opposed him for four years on the County Council and that’s what he did. He wasted taxpayer dollars at a time when we know we’re $40 million in the hole. And he continues to waste taxpayer dollars like that. He’s got a history of that. This is nothing new.”
Page's spokesman Doug Moore sent a statement to 5 On Your Side, which read: "We do not have any comment beyond the settlement agreement."
The settlement agreement also states, “This agreement shall not be treated as an admission of liability by any party.”
The agreement also forbids Fitch from lobbying the council to pass any future legislation amending the county’s pension ordinances or salary ordinances.
“Should a current member of the County Council or media ask retiree for his position regarding any hypothetical proposed future legislation amending the County’s pension ordinances or Council salary ordinance, retiree agrees he will only state: ‘Pursuant to a settlement agreement with the County, I take no position,’ and further agrees he will not post a position on social media.”
Fitch’s term expired in December 2022 and he did not seek re-election for the county’s Third District, which covers Fenton, Valley Park, Manchester, Creve Coeur, Frontenac, Town & Country and other unincorporated areas of west St. Louis County.