Phil Hendrickson will serve another year as chair of the Jefferson County Council.
The council voted unanimously Jan. 11 to re-elect Hendrickson (District 3, Arnold) to serve a second year as its leader.
Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) was elected vice chair by a 4-3 vote.
He succeeds Renee Reuter (District 2, Imperial), who had served as the vice chair for two years but asked not to be nominated again.
Groeteke had been vice chair three previous times – in 2011, 2017 and 2018.
Hendrickson, 68, is in the third year of his first four-year term on the council after he was appointed in August 2017 to replace Bob Boyer, who became county Auditor.
Hendrickson said he thought he had a successful first year as the chair, despite the unique challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented.
“I think the council played well with each other, which was one of my big goals,” he said. “I think we worked together and for the most part, avoided the conflict that has been part of the history of the council.”
Hendrickson said he and Reuter worked together to come up with protocols to make the meetings run more smoothly, and that he communicated with County Executive Dennis Gannon over the year.
“I think I have a good working relationship with Dennis,” Hendrickson said.
He said his goals for the coming year are similar to his first.
“The big one is to continue to keep the peace,” he said. “Not necessarily a goal, but a desire, is to see some things put on the not-so-long-term plan, such as a countywide master plan, which is long overdue, and I’d like to see progress on planning for a new jail and courthouse. I think we would have made progress on those things last year if it wasn’t for COVID.”
Groeteke, 66, said he’d also like to see movement toward a new master plan.
“We have an agreement with the county executive to examine that sometime this year,” he said.
Groeteke said the main function of a vice chair is to back up the chair.
Hendrickson, Groeteke, Reuter and Jim Terry (District 7, Cedar Hill) voted for Groeteke, who was nominated by Reuter.
Council members Brian Haskins (District 1, High Ridge), Tracey Perry (District 5, Festus) and Dan Stallman (District 6, De Soto) voted for Perry, who was nominated by Haskins.