St. Louis County will continue to operate under a county executive form of government after a proposal to switch to a county manager system failed to move forward.

Seventh District Councilman Mark Harder, R-Ballwin, a critic of County Executive Sam Page, introduced legislation to allow voters to decide on implementing a county manager system of government in the Nov. 5 general election.

In order to be certified for the November ballot, the council would have had to have fully passed Harder’s bill by Aug. 27.

Currently, the county’s Charter requires a full-time county executive who appoints a staff, including a chief of operations and a chief of staff, to manage daily operations, with the county executive actively involved in leadership.

The proposed change would have made the county executive role largely ceremonial, similar to a mayor in a city with a city administrator, with a county manager taking charge of daily operations, overseeing county facilities, programs and staff, and assisting the County Council in policy creation and financial decisions, much like a city administrator handles city operations.

Harder’s proposal would have also eliminated the director of the Department of Administration.

At the Aug. 20 County Council meeting, Harder postponed his legislation, citing a lack of necessary votes to move the bill along.

“I’ve asked my colleagues for input. I have yet to receive any, so I will hold this bill until such time … we have better clarity. Maybe another meeting, whatever it takes, but I will keep moving this bill forward,” Harder said. “Hopefully we can come to some decision … I think we’ll see during the budget process … that we really need a county manager.”

At a prior Committee of the Whole meeting on Aug. 13, the council discussed the county manager proposal at length.

The county Charter Commission had considered the concept of a county manager in 2019, but the vote on whether to present the proposal to voters ended in a tie, falling short of the required threshold to make it onto the ballot.

The proposal had backing from members of the council at that time, including 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, and former 3rd District Councilman Tim Fitch, R-Fenton. Supporters of the county manager system who spoke at the 2019 public Charter Commission meetings included Sunset Hills Mayor Pat Fribis, Crestwood 3rd Ward Alderman Grant Mabie and Crestwood City Administrator Kris Simpson, who spoke again in support of the proposal at the August Committee of the Whole meeting. Simpson is also the president of the St. Louis Area City-County Management Association.

“Our organization exists to support and promote professional city managers with the idea that it’s a way to better service the public … This form of government is a very effective way to run a large organization, be it a city or a county,” Simpson said. “It’s really intended to model a structure used by corporations where the board of directors would hire an experienced CEO … If things aren’t working out, the board of directors makes a change and hires a new CEO. You don’t have to wait years for the next election.”

Christopher Grahn-Howard, the county’s budget policy coordinator, was Harder’s appointee to the Charter Commission in 2019. He told the Committee of the Whole that when he first heard the proposal in 2019, he was unsure, but came around to the idea.

“When this proposal was first brought to the Charter Commission from former Councilwoman and then Commissioner Colleen Wassinger, I was opposed to it, I didn’t think it was a great idea. … You got to think back to 2019 … we had just gotten out of the mess with County Executive Steven Stenger … so there was an attitude among the Charter Commission members to not overreact to the Stenger debacle,” Grahn-Howard said.

“In hearing the … information (on a county manager), I changed my mind. I actually voted in favor of letting the people vote on the issue. I was very well impressed with a lot of the … city managers that came before the commission and kind of pled the case,” Grahn-Howard said. “The things I heard repeatedly were a higher level of professionalism, taking out a lot of the minutiae out of the hands of the politicians in the county … Whether it’s this, or some variation on this theme, I think there is a value in looking.”