A merger between St. Louis City and County would require a vote of approval by the state as well as by city and county residents but that won’t be happening anytime soon, according to the leader of The Freedom Principle MO, a membership-based Missouri First 501(c)4 organization.
Voters rejected a recent prior attempt to unite the two governments called “Better Together” more than three years ago, according to media reports.
The city and county were originally separated nearly 150 years ago in 1876.
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“Voters were overwhelmingly opposed to it in the county and I don't see St. Louis or the outstate residents really caring about the merger aspect of things,” said Byron Keelin, president of the Freedom Principle MO.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, County Executive Sam Page, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, and Alderman President Megan Green are considering combining the city and county governments as a way to recover the dysfunctional government.
Merging the city and county would require re-establishing a Board of Freeholders under the Missouri Constitution, which would have the authority to combine or reorganize regional governments, according to media reports.
"It's going to take a lot of really good negotiating in order to build that kind of support and I don't think that we have the leadership in the county under Sam Page or Tishaura Jones to make that happen," Keelin told the St. Louis Record.
While St. Louis City and County discuss merging, returning control of the St. Louis City Metropolitan Police Department to the State Board of Commissions is an issue the state legislature is expected to vote on in the new year.
Two Senators, Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Springs) and Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles) have introduced legislation and if the lawmakers are successful in returning control of the St. Louis police to the Board of Commissions, Keelin expects Page to oppose the move.
“It’s taking away power from a locally elected official,” Keelin added. “But it’s not as if they won't have a say in the running of this, however it will have some ramifications on the further defunding and dismantling of the police.”
Keelin expects legislation to give the mayor the power to appoint people to the commission or the ability to be a part of the commission.
“There are various proposals,” he said. “One allows the comptroller to be the head of this commission and another allows the Board of Governor president or the mayor to be the head.”