Jefferson County Councilwoman Tracey Perry’s resignation at the April 11 County Council meeting has brought up some questions.
Perry, 54, who represented District 5 for more than three years, said she was being harassed over her place of residence, so she decided to step down.
She says that even though she and her husband, Kevin, sold their home in the Jefferson R-7 area last year and bought a home in a De Soto-area gated community, with the idea of renovating it and moving in later, she maintained residency in District 5, as is required under the county charter to serve out her term, which expires at the end of the year.
Some residents have objected to Perry’s continued tenure on the council and have raised the question whether votes she has taken since she sold her home late in 2021 are valid.
County Counselor Wes Yates said that would be a matter for the courts to decide – if anyone wants to file suit to challenge them.
“Votes are considered valid until an ordinance is questioned in court,” he said. “The matter of whether her seat was improperly held would have to be decided first, and then each vote would have to be challenged individually before a judge. By the time you get them through court and exhaust all the appeals, that would take years, and in the meantime, homes are being built and sold and people who were appointed to boards have made hundreds of decisions. Anything is possible, but I don’t see a judge ruling against some of these matters.”
Yates said he had spoken with Perry several times about her residency leading up to her March 11 resignation and he was told she maintained an address in District 5.
However, he said, late in the week before the April 11 meeting, it came to light that Perry had changed her voting registration address on Nov. 15, 2021, listing the De Soto property address.
That change, Perry said, was triggered after she renewed her driver’s license.
Jeannie Goff, chief of staff of the County Clerk’s Office, said local election authorities are informed of address changes filed with the state Department of Revenue.
“My license expired. My permanent address was going to be in De Soto. Why wouldn’t I have that on my license?” Perry said. “You can have multiple addresses. I continued to live in my district. You can have an apartment and a house.”
County Clerk Ken Waller said Perry again changed her voter registration address through the state’s online system on Feb. 7, and listed an apartment in Crystal City as the place she lived while also listing a Festus post office box as her mailing address.
He said Perry voted at Sacred Heart Church in Crystal City in the April election.
“The County Clerk’s Office has no issue with Tracey Perry,” he said.
However, Yates said he did have an issue.
“I advised her (late in the week before the April 11 meeting) that it would be best for the county, and, given what was going on with her and her family, probably best for her that she resign,” Yates said. “In my mind, and I’m not a judge, the fact that she changed her voting address to De Soto and then back to Crystal City means she did not hold continuous residency in her district, which is required under the charter.”
Yates said because of all the questions, he was contemplating a quo warranto legal action.
“It’s not a lawsuit,” he said. “It’s a legal action asking a judge to determine whether she can legally hold her seat. I can’t determine that, and neither can anyone else other than a judge. But it’s a moot point because she resigned.”
Perry said she first sent Gannon and Yates an email on the morning of April 11 indicating she intended to resign in 30 days, and later in the day sent another one that had no specific date.
“None of (the letters), including the one she turned in after the meeting, were signed,” Yates said.
Gannon said he had Perry sign and date the letter she gave him after the meeting.
“I just got tired of all the harassment,” she said about her final letter. “I could have fought it, and maybe I should have, but in the end, I decided I wasn’t going to fight.”
Yates said since Perry resigned, some residents have contacted his office and asserted that because her final resignation letter specified that her resignation would be effective at the “close of business April 11, 2022” that should have meant 5 p.m.
Yates disputed that assertion.
“First, County Executive Gannon didn’t even receive this letter until after the meeting. But while many county government offices close by 5 p.m., for the County Council, for the county executive and the county counselor, the close of business doesn’t happen until the county executive brings his gavel down at the end of the meeting.”
Perry was serving as the seven-member council’s chair this year, but Councilman Phil Hendrickson (District 3, Arnold), is now the chair.
Hendrickson said he and the remaining members will decide how best to proceed concerning the vacancy created by Perry’s departure.
The council could decide not to appoint a replacement until after the August primary election, or it could appoint someone who’s not running for the seat to serve until the winner of the August election can be sworn in.
Scott Seek, Tony Pousosa and Robert “Bobby” Kaye have filed for the Republican Party’s nomination for the District 5 seat; no Democrats have filed.