A movement to oust Jefferson County Executive Ken Waller from office will continue, even though Waller has announced that he will not participate in a lawsuit that is a major reason behind the drive.
“As of now, yes,” said Jeremy Day when asked whether a petition drive calling for Waller’s recall would continue after Waller said Friday that he was removing his name from a lawsuit which alleges that elected officeholders have been underpaid since the county charter was implemented in 2009.
Day said more than 100 signatures were collected over the first four days after he filed a document of intent to circulate the petition with the County Clerk’s Office.
“Those were all online,” he said. “We haven’t counted the number of (physical) signatures yet.”
Other sponsors listed in the document are Linda Van De Reit, Dan McCarthy Sr., Andrea Berghold, Patrick Stoll, Jason Jarvis and Jennifer Wright.
Under the county charter, 21,179 verified signatures of registered voters will be needed to bring the recall to a public vote.
Day said he and others will be circulating petitions at public events during the summer. “We have a list of several events coming up in June, July and August that we’re going to attend,” Day said. “We’re not going to do it just by social media.”
Waller said he will have a front-row seat if the petitioners take their case to the public.
“I’ll be at the same events, shaking hands, greeting people and trying to be the best public servant I can be,” he said.
Waller said the petition drive was a factor in his decision to leave the lawsuit.
“If I sat here and told you that it didn’t have anything to do with it, I’d be lying,” he said. “It had a small part to do with it. I know some would question the timing of this announcement. But I talked it over with my wife and my family, and we decided together that withdrawing is in the best interest of me and our family.”
Petition alleges lawsuit
violates law, charter
In outlining the reasons why Waller should be recalled, Day’s petition alleges that the lawsuit to recover back pay violates both state law and the charter.
That suit was filed in late 2015 by former Public Administrator Bruce King, and 12 current or former officeholders later joined it, although Assessor Terry Roesch and now Waller have withdrawn.
“We are happy that Mr. Waller is the second person to remove his name from the lawsuit, following Terry Roesch,” Day said. “The rest of the plaintiffs on the lawsuit are strongly encouraged to drop out ASAP and save the taxpayers around $1.5 million. A clear message has been sent by the citizens of Jefferson County that politicians who sue the taxpayers for raises, back pay and pension funding under the flag of law clarification will be held accountable.”
Waller has said he simply wants a judge to determine how the charter directs the county to pay its elected officials.
“I don’t know what effect my withdrawing from the suit will have on whether I would share in back pay or benefits if the judge rules that way,” Waller said. “That didn’t ever play into my decision to get into the suit, and it didn’t play into my decision to get out of it.”
Drug-monitoring ordinance also an issue
The petition also alleges that Waller “empowered” the county Health Department to pass an ordinance allowing the county to join St. Louis County’s prescription drug monitoring program after the County Council voted against it.
“We believe that he was involved with it,” Day said. “We believe he had conversations with Kelley Vollmar (Health Department executive director), and that the minutes of the May 15 Health Department meeting indicates that they were considering a bill that Ken Waller introduced. The bills are very similar.
“We believe he definitely was involved in it, and that our charter does not empower the Health Department to create ordinances. You can talk about the merits of this particular bill, but we’re upset because of the way it was done. He declared war on the residents of Jefferson County by passing legislation without the representation of the people, which is the County Council.”
Waller agreed that he communicated with Health Department officials once they decided to proceed with their own legislation.
“We had met with St. Louis County officials and lawyers when we were drawing up our legislation, and upon request, I forwarded that to the Health Department for their review,” he said. “They needed to know what information they had to have in their ordinance (to join the St. Louis County) registry, and really, why would you reinvent the wheel?”
Day says petition drive
is not personal
Day, a Republican who ran an unsuccessful campaign for county clerk in the November 2014 election, has had a couple of heated verbal confrontations with Waller during County Council meetings, but said the recall drive is not a personal vendetta.
“It’s absolutely not personal. Not at all,” he said.
“I strongly disagree,” Waller said. “It’s always been personal. Some of the individuals on that petition have not liked me since day one. It’s as personal as you can get.”
The petition asserts that Waller has “outraged” and “publicly humiliated” numerous residents with his behavior at council meetings and other public forums and has asked the county counselor to issue “cease and desist” orders against some residents seeking information from county departments.
Day said he knows of at least two such incidents.
“This was done against residents who are seeking to get a response from their government about specific problems, and he’s (Waller’s) preventing them from getting those answers by just shutting them down,” he said.
Waller said residents are told not to communicate with county officials after they have filed suit against the county or hired a lawyer to represent them.
“There are cease-and-desist orders issued for code violations and things like that, but I can’t think of a time that one has been issued for anything else while I’ve been in office,” Waller said.
Group hoping election
can be set for April 2018
Day said he hopes that if the drive is successful, a vote to recall Waller would be placed before voters on the April 2018 ballot. A simple majority would be required to recall Waller.
However, the county charter seems to contradict itself on when a recall election could be scheduled, and county officials said that issue would have to be cleared up if the group collects the required number of signatures.
Waller is in his second four-year term as county executive. The office will come up for election next year, but Day said that doesn’t matter.
“The charter affords this power to the citizens,” he said. “There is no time period to say, ‘Stop. We don’t need you in office anymore.’”
Waller said he was “disappointed” that the group is pursuing the recall drive and, while acknowledging disagreements with some residents, said he has is not guilty of “dereliction of duty” and “incompetence,” as alleged in the document. The drive, he said, won’t change his approach to the office.
“I have a job to do and I will continue to do it to the best of my ability,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of really good things for this county over the last seven years. I’ve been dedicated to the county and this job for years, and that’s not going to change.”