Tim Whitney, undersheriff of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, will be the next county executive.
According to unofficial results reported by the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, Whitney won the Nov. 3 race with 45,102, or 59.78 percent of the total vote, to Democrat David Frank’s 30,182 votes, or 40.01 percent of the vote.
Whitney, 45, of Festus has worked in the Sheriff’s Office since 2002. He said he’s looking forward to this new chapter in his career.
“I’m very proud to have worked for this community and lived here my whole life, so I’m really excited about this next chapter,” he said. “My first chapter was serving in the Sheriff’s Office for 25 years, and now in my next chapter, I’m ready to begin. Hopefully, I’m able to accomplish some really great things.”
The county executive, who serves a four-year term and is paid an annual salary of about $124,971, is the chief executive officer of the county government, in charge of appointing county residents to various boards and commissions, such as the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Port Authority, with the approval of the County Council; executing and enforcing the county’s charter and Missouri law; voting to break a tie among the County Council; and submitting an annual, balanced budget for the County Council’s review and approval.
Dennis Gannon, current county executive, announced in late 2024 that he was not seeking reelection. His final day in office will be Dec. 31. Gannon was first elected to office in 2018 and was reelected in 2022.
Whitney acknowledged he’ll have some pretty big shoes to fill come Jan. 1.
“I have tremendous respect for County Executive Gannon,” he said. “When you have great leadership from one leader to the next, your job is to make things easier on the people who follow you. So I look at that as building on a foundation set by somebody before me, and it is my job to continue to build that for whoever follows me as well.”