At least two candidates will challenge Arnold Mayor Ron Counts in the April election for the city’s top office.
Ron Counts
Counts, Ward 2 Councilman Bill Moritz and former Ward 1 Councilwoman Doris Borgelt have announced they will run for the seat.
Moritz announced his intention to run during the Dec. 5 City Council meeting, and Counts confirmed he will seek a fifth four-year term the following day. Borgelt told a Leader reporter on Dec. 7 that she plans to run as well.
The filing period for those interested in running for public office in the April 8 general election opened Tuesday. The last day to file is Tuesday, Dec. 31.
Bill Moritz
“I feel like we are doing a good job in our city,” said Counts, 78. “We have a lot of things going on in a positive manner. I would like to see that continue.”
Moritz, 67, on the other hand, said he believes it is time for a change.
“I think if you haven’t gotten done what you want to do in the time that you have been there, maybe it is time for somebody else to try it,” he said about Counts. “I didn’t want to see him run unopposed again.”
Counts was first elected as Arnold’s mayor in 2009 when he defeated then-Councilman and current state Rep. Phil Amato. Counts was elected to a second term in 2013, beating Borgelt, who was a councilwoman at the time. Counts was then elected to a third term in 2017, beating challengers Amato and William Denman.
Doris Borgelt
Counts ran unopposed in 2021.
Borgelt, 68, who served as an Arnold councilwoman from 2011 to 2013, said she decided to run again for mayor because of how Arnold officials handled the plans for and announcement about a controversial road project called the Arnold Parkway. That proposed project has since been abandoned.
“After the debacle of the Arnold Parkway project, it showed they are still doing the same things that they were doing when I was in office, and they have been getting away with it for years,” she said. “It has got to stop. They are not transparent. They are doing stuff behind people’s backs, and they are not benefiting the city.”
Counts said he does not mind running against a current City Council member.
“Evidently, he (Mortiz) is not satisfied with the direction the council is going and the city, and he wants to make some changes,” Counts said. “He has that right, and I respect that.”
Moritz was elected to his Ward 2 seat in 2022. He previously served on the City Council from 2007-2013, but his work as a production manager for the Boeing Co. led to him moving out of the country for a while.
Borgelt said her prior term as an Arnold council member will aid her if she is elected mayor.
“I do my homework,” she said. “I like to see all perspectives instead of just what is presented to me by the staff. They have a tendency, if they want you to pass something, to only give you the good information. If they want something not to pass, they only give you the bad information. I think we should use all of the information and make our judgements from there.”
Moritz said he would like mayors to be limited to two terms in office.
“I don’t think I will be successful with (getting that change implemented),” he said of the two-term limit. “The argument can be made that if the voters want a change, they will make that change. It just continues that we have had a mayor in there for four terms, and what has he gotten done other than the Farmers Market?”
Mortiz also said he believes Counts’ rocky relationship with Amato, who represents the Missouri House’s District 113 that includes Arnold, hurts the city.
“We have a wonderful resource in Phil Amato, a guy who probably loves our city more than anyone else,” Moritz said. “He and Ron don’t get along. Because of that Ron won’t consult with him or ask him for help with anything.
“This thing with the Parkway project that blew up in everybody’s faces, well Phil sits on three committees that could have helped us with that. He is on economic development, transportation and local government. The fact that the two of them don’t work together is terribly frustrating to me.”
The Arnold Parkway was a proposed 2-mile, two-lane road that would have connected Hwy. 141 and Richardson Road, where the city’s two main commercial districts are located. The project would have required the acquisition of 38 homes, multiple businesses and a portion of the Water Tower Place Shopping Center.
The announcement of the road project spurred a group of Arnold residents to gather signatures in an attempt to hold recall elections for every elected city official. The group ended its recall effort on Sept. 27.
It also led to the shopping plaza owners filing a lawsuit against the city to stop the road project, dissolve the Arnold Retail Corridor Transportation Development District (ARC TDD) and end the collection of a 1 percent sales tax in that district that generates revenue that would have been used to fund the road project.
The city announced on Aug. 26 that it was not going forward with the road project, and council members voted in October affirming that Arnold would no longer pursue the project. Moritz was not at that October meeting.
Counts said he does not know if the controversial road project will hurt his chances of being reelected.
“My feeling is to move forward,” he said. “We have better days ahead. I feel like I am doing a good job, and I am going to continue to try to do a good job. I love my city, and I am going to do everything possible to make it successful.”
Counts said during his time in office, Arnold has become more financially stable, pointing to the passage of a 1-cent sales tax increase in 2023 to help fund the Arnold Police Department, which has helped relieve pressure on the city’s budget.
The sales tax for the Police Department is projected to generate $8,254,824 in revenue this fiscal year, covering most of the projected $10,756,665 needed to operate the Arnold Police Department, city officials have reported.
Counts also said closing the Arnold Golf Club and using it for the Pomme Creek Park instead has saved Arnold money.
Along with its initial nearly $4 million investment in the former golf course in 2007, the city paid $3,013,598 to operate the golf course over 12 years, City Administrator Bryan Richison said when the golf course closed in 2019.
“I think one thing I can hang my hat on is the safety of our city,” Counts said. “I think we have made a lot of strives there.”
Counts said he also is proud of community improvements during his tenure, such as the Farmers Market, the introduction of the Christmas in the Park event and the new playground at Arnold City Park. The second Christmas in the Park event was held Dec. 7 at the Farmers Market.
“I think these are some things that show we care about younger folks and what they care about. They make our city whole,” he said.
“There are a lot of things we need to do, and one of the things we need to continue to work on is the finances. I think we have done a great job with that. We have gotten rid of a lot of unnecessary things that we were losing money on.”
Borgelt said she believes Arnold deserves a mayor who wants to address issues that matter to residents.
She also said she would like to see younger Arnold residents seek city offices, adding that she believes she could help guide newly elected officials due to her prior council experience.
“I do know how things operate,” she said. “They are going to need someone who knows how it has operated in the past to make sure it changes in the future.”