Wes Wagner, Jefferson County’s clerk and election authority since 2007, has resigned, effective Feb. 28.
Wagner, 46, said he is leaving in the middle of his third four-year term to pursue another job.
“I’m not leaving for health reasons,” he said. “I have a couple of opportunities I’m very excited about. I’m leaving to consider my options.”
He declined to discuss further his possible future employer, other than to say his next job would be in the private sector rather than government related and that at first, he would likely continue to live in the county, at his home in the area between Festus and De Soto, and travel as his new job requires.
“There are opportunities out there that demand my immediate attention,” he said of the timing of his departure, which will be a little more than a month before the April 4 election. “There are time-sensitive issues related to those opportunities.”
He said he hoped that County Executive Ken Waller, who will appoint a replacement to serve until the November 2018 election, would move quickly.
“I’ve given five or six weeks advance notice, and I think the most important thing is to appoint a replacement quickly so the April election can proceed smoothly. This is not about Wes Wagner; it’s about the election.”
Waller said under the county charter, he must replace Wagner, a Democrat, with another Democrat.
“I’m a little surprised at the timing of it,” Waller said of Wagner’s resignation, “but Wes has to do what’s best for Wes. It’s up to me to determine the timing of replacing him and who to replace him with.”
Waller said he’s moving forward with the process to name a replacement.
“I’ve put together a list of people who might be possibilities, and I hope to get somebody in there by March. I want to take the time to get someone who can work with the staff in place for the next 20 months.”
The last time Waller was called upon to appoint a countywide officeholder was in March 2011, when he named Linda Nees as treasurer to replace Mark Abel, who died earlier that month.
Nees was the chief deputy treasurer and had been running the office in Abel’s absence while he battled lung cancer. At the time, she had been working in the office for more than 19 years. She was elected to the post in 2012 and chose not to run for another term last year.
Waller said he would consider a member of Wagner’s staff as his appointee.
“It could be someone in the office,” he said. “If anyone is interested in it, I’d consider it. It doesn’t guarantee that that person would get the job, but I’d definitely be interested in hearing from anyone who’s interested.”
Wagner said his decision to step down in the middle of an election cycle was one he didn’t consider lightly.
“Opportunities have been afforded me that have time-sensitive issues that these particular companies want me to act on,” he said.
His staff of 11 employees will be quite capable of running the April election without him, Wagner said.
“There’s one employee who’s been there two years, but the others have been there at least 10 years, ranging from 12 to 30 years. Jeannie Goff (the office’s chief of staff who heads elections) has been here since 1986.”
Waller said that experience allows him the luxury of taking his time to choose a proper replacement for Wagner.
“Jeannie Goff will be able to run the office if a replacement isn’t put in place by the end of February,” Waller said. “There’s a good staff there. I’m not worried about their ability to run an election whatsoever.”
Wagner’s current salary is $81,149. The county charter dictates the job’s salary and would for Wagner’s replacement.
Before he was elected county clerk, Wagner served eight years in the Missouri House of Representatives from the district that included the De Soto area.
He is the son of Howard Wagner, who served as Jefferson County’s circuit clerk from 1987 through 2014, and for eight years before that, he was a member of the County Court and then County Commission, forerunners to the present County Council.
Wes Wagner is the grandson of former state Rep. William “Bud” Lewis, who represented the De Soto area from 1975 through 1988.