Tim Bennett Jr. will serve on the Jefferson County Council representing District 5 through the end of the year. The director of flag football for the Festus Tigers Youth Football organization, Bennett said one of his main goals as councilman will be to encourage more family-friendly developments in his district.
The council voted 4-0 on March 23 to appoint Bennett to the seat, with Councilmen Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) and Tim Brown (District 6, De Soto) abstaining. Five other candidates applied for the position.
“I’m extremely appreciative; it does mean a lot to me,” Bennett, 39, said of his appointment. “Initially, in the warm-up phase, if you want to call it that, I’ll be getting my bearings on what’s going on and how it works. I’ve got a little bit of an idea, but until you actually step into the role, you don’t truly know. You can attend 1,000 meetings, but being in it is a little different.”
District 5 covers the southeastern portion of the county, including Festus, Crystal City and Herculaneum.
Scott Seek was elected to the seat in November 2022 but resigned earlier this year amid controversy over his vote to reappoint his father to the Jefferson County Port Authority. The seat is up for election again at the August primary. As of Monday, Bennett, Anthony Pousosa and John Jay Lee have filed as Republicans for the primary.
Councilwoman Lori Arons (District 3, Imperial) voted in favor of Bennett’s appointment. She said she met with most of the candidates before they were interviewed by the council on March 23 and thought highly of Bennett.
The other candidates for the seat were: Lee, Pousosa, Misty Whetstone, Grant Winnett and Douglas Reuther.
Arons said it was a tough decision to pick among the candidates.
“I do feel we made the best choice,” Arons said. “It’s really hard to take what’s on paper and match that with the person. So, I talked to all but two of the applicants. I found (Bennett) to be very genuine when I met with him. I think that carried a lot of my decision. I think he will be great to work with.”
Groeteke said the council voted in a closed session on who should take the seat in the order in which the candidates were interviewed. The interview order was selected by a random drawing.
The first candidate, Lee, did not garner a majority of votes. Bennett, who was second to be interviewed, received a majority of “yes” votes and was immediately appointed. The council did not hold a vote on any of the remaining candidates.
“I did not support his candidacy, but the majority of the council did,” Groeteke said. “I didn’t get a chance to vote on any candidate I thought was the better candidate, but that’s the way our rules were written.
“It’s a complicated process,” Groeteke said. “The first (council member) replacement we did years ago was pretty straightforward, and then it got more and more complicated as different issues cropped up. So, it’s been debated and re-debated how we do this, and we usually end up with only six members in there voting on who gets appointed. If it becomes a 3-3 tie, how do you fix that? Have a fistfight in there until you decide? It’s very difficult, trust me.”
Brown did not respond to several requests for comment before the Leader’s print deadline.
About Bennett
Born in Louisiana, Bennett moved to Jefferson County when he was 2 years old. He grew up mostly in
Hillsboro and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 2004. He married his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, who attended Herculaneum High School, and they have three children.
After graduating, Bennett earned his associate degree and Peace Officer Standards and Training certification at Jefferson College and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Missouri Baptist University. He worked in law enforcement for 10 years, starting with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and also serving the cities of Festus, De Soto, and Crystal City before ending his career in Pacific.
Bennett said he was raised in a union household and worked in construction most of his life. His mother was one of, if not the first, women to join the pipefitters union, Bennett said. His grandfather was a Teamster, and his father owns a construction company in O’Fallon.
“I got out of (law enforcement) to help my dad start his business,” Bennett said. “I do some work with him, consulting, sales, or on the job or whatnot.”
Bennett currently works as an auditor with Torch Electronics.
Late last year, Bennett applied for a position on the Festus City Council for the April 7 election and said he had no intentions of filing for the District 5 seat. When he heard Seek had stepped down, Bennett said he reconsidered his campaign.
“I thought about it pretty hard,” he said. “My wife and I went back and forth about a few things, and with everything going on, instead of trying to talk to the 13,000 residents of Festus, you know, being able to talk to the 30,000 residents of District 5 would be a huge step up. Maybe I could help the county and our district as a whole, as opposed to just a couple of people in our area.”
Bennett is currently on the Festus Planning and Zoning Board and serves on his subdivision’s homeowner’s association board.
He was also elected as director for Festus Tigers Youth Football last year. He said the program played most of its prior seasons at Seckman High School but is switching this year to playing in Festus. The program is open for children in kindergarten through second grade for flag football.
“This first year, we’re trying to get our feet wet and get everything situated,” Bennett said. “Next year, we’re going to try and offer an all-girls league past second grade, up to I think eighth grade. I think overall it’s a really good thing for the organization, for the city and the district. We’re the only youth football organization around, so we have kids from Crystal, R-7 and even as far north as Windsor.”
Bennett said he chose to raise his family in Festus because of its small-town charm. As a councilman, he said he hopes to preserve the feel of his district while expanding opportunities for developers.
“It’s a good area,” he said. “I don’t want a big city; I don’t want St. Louis. That’s not the goal here. The goal is to be able to sustain and grow, and still be able to have a good hometown feel.”