ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Voters in November could decide to restructure St. Louis County's government to include a non-partisan county manager in charge of day-to-day operations.
Councilman Mark Harder, a Republican, introduced legislation at Tuesday's council meeting that would put the charter change proposal on the ballot.
Harder said he's doing this because there have been too many problems with the way the county government is run.
"We can't seem to do some of the basic functions of government. By having a person who is totally focused on those functions, we feel that this would be a better way of getting things done, getting streets fixed, paying our bills, and balancing our budget. Making sure we're doing all the right things that people expect government to do and what they paid for and what they deserve," said Harder.
Harder's office said in a release that the county's current structure "often puts elected officials and their appointees in both the executive and legislative branches at odds with each other. This has created stalemates when it comes to the operation of county government as was most obvious in the last two years of the budget development and approval process."
The county manager would be appointed by the county executive and serve at the discretion of the council or executive, "thus making that role more flexible in terms of meeting the needs of the county," Harder's office said.
Under the proposal, the county executive and manager would be analogous to a mayor and city manager under city government structure.
Operational decisions would be shifted to the manager, who is specially trained in government operations, and elected officials would focus on "policy and vision," Harder's office said.
It would need the votes of at least four council members to be placed on the November ballot, while Harder says he has three council members on board.
Councilwoman Lisa Clancy said she would consider the idea, but in a statement also said, "I'm surprised to see that Councilman Harder would favor giving so much power to an unelected bureaucrat."
Harder said, "This is a major change to our form of government and the way our charter is currently written. So we want to make sure we get it right and that we've covered all the bases."
A similar idea was considered by the county's Charter Commission in 2019, but fell to the wayside after a tied vote on whether to put the proposal on the ballot.
Doug Moore, a spokesperson for the county executive's office, said the Charter Commission already reviewed the idea.
"Commission members saw it as an ineffective way to run government by leaving it in the hands of someone not elected by county voters. I have heard Council members are skeptical of the change as well," Moore said.
“I want to get this discussion started again because what we have been doing isn’t working,” Harder said.
The County Council plans to hold a public meeting before voting on the proposal.
Councilman Harder said it's time for a change.
"St. Louis County is not in a good spot right now, both from a financial standpoint and an optics standpoint, and how we fit into the governments of the region. We should be leading and not following, and not dealing with crisis and scandals every day of the week it seems like," he said.