The fight over who appoints the next St. Louis sheriff is still paused after the mayor’s office, the Board of Aldermen and the Missouri attorney general agreed to wait a few more weeks before resuming debate.
The Board of Aldermen met in a closed meeting Tuesday. That was a day after St. Louis Circuit Judge Thomas McCarthy persuaded the three parties to enter into a consent agreement. And that happened days after a different St. Louis judge said it was too early to decide who has the authority to select the next sheriff because the order to remove Alfred Montgomery from office is not yet final.
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge wouldn’t speak about what happened during the Tuesday closed session but said the board should be involved in the next steps.
“We're trying to just ensure that there is an open, transparent process,” Aldridge said.
The past few weeks have left more questions than answers over who has the right to pick the next sheriff after a judge ruled Alfred Montgomery be permanently removed from office.
Mayor Cara Spencer, the Board of Aldermen and the attorney general’s office have been at odds over which body has the authority to choose the next sheriff or schedule a special election.
The state attorney general has argued that Gov. Mike Kehoe has the appointment authority while, last month, the mayor's office filed a lawsuit against the state for the right to pick the next sheriff.
Weeks later, the board filed its own motion to join the suit and argued its members had to be considered in the legal process. A state statute declares county commissions are responsible for scheduling special elections if the vacancy occurs more than nine months before the general election. The board has argued its members, the mayor and the comptroller’s office should make the decision together.
The Board of Aldermen filled sheriff vacancies in the 1970s. Former police Chief John Hayden Jr. has served as interim sheriff since a judge appointed him to the position in October.
Near the end of the year, aldermen set a special election for March 3 but have since dropped that date as well as candidate application hearings.
“Outside of picking an interim, I'm a firm believer that there still needs to be a democratic process in picking a new sheriff,” Aldridge said. “Not by alderpeople, not by the president, not by the mayor, not by the comptroller, but by the people of the City of St. Louis, who I believe will make that decision when that election happens.”
The consent agreement among the board, mayor’s office and attorney general’s office came days after Spencer sent a letter to the board saying the city counselor’s office believes state law, case law and the city charter point to her office as having the power to appoint a sheriff in the event of a vacancy. The board has hired outside counsel to represent it.
Spencer acknowledged the board’s history in selecting sheriffs but questioned whether the board has the authority to select the sheriff.
“The [city counselor’s] office sincerely believes that state law, our City Charter, and case law lean towards the Mayor being charged with the duty to appoint,” Spencer said in her letter last week. “Because the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that when determining 'county commission' duties in St. Louis, courts must look to the City Charter to see who has that duty. The Charter assigns the Mayor the duty to appoint officials during a vacancy.”
Aldridge disagrees.
“I think we're actually being generous by saying, ‘Hey, it shouldn't just be us only, but the board should do this application process, take that to the full board and send that recommendation to [the Board of Estimate and Apportionment] to make sure that it continues to be a local pick,’” Aldridge said. “I think it's important not to have executive overreach and just having one person pick who this should be.”
Aldridge said he hopes the judge rules in favor of a local pick and while a March special election isn’t possible, he hopes for one in August or during the general election.
“We want people to know where the interim sheriff stands and hopefully by having an election so that they can know where the permanent sheriff will stand,” Aldridge said.
