St. Charles County Executive Wants Voting Changes in East West Gateway

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – The St. Charles County chief says a change in voting is needed in the East West Gateway Community Board.

County Executive Steve Ehlmann believes the city of St. Louis should be stripped of one of the three votes because the city’s population has declined significantly.

“Because they now have three votes, the same number they had when there were twice as many,” he said. “We now have two votes, which is about the same number as when there were half as many. The math just doesn’t add up.”

The East West Gateway board will begin work on amending the bylaws, and Ehlmann plans to propose the change.

St. Charles County has three votes on the board, which divides up tens of millions of federal dollars and also makes policy on issues like fighting crime. St. Louis County has four votes, and the city of St. Louis has three. Ehlmann says that’s just unfair.

“One of the things I suggest when we change the charter is to take one seat away from the city of St. Louis and give it to St. Louis County. If we do that, it will be a lot closer to equal representation for everyone,” Ehlmann said.

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FOX 2 reached out to St. Louis County Executive Same Page’s office but did not hear back. However, East West Gateway CEO Jim Wild clarified the county’s position on the votes.

“I think they see the work at East West Gateway and the actions taken by the board members as collaboration, cooperation and helping each other when they need help,” Wild said. “They are willing to look beyond that in their situation.”

Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office sent FOX 2 a statement on Wednesday that includes the following:

“The East West Gateway Council of Governments is meant to be a convening body – a body that highlights the fact that crime, homelessness, public transport and other issues don’t stop at our borders, and our solutions shouldn’t either.

It is clear from recent votes that council continues to unite behind the mayor’s vision for the future of our region. We look forward to working with our regional partners.”

Additionally, St. Louis Communications Director Conner Kerrigan sent the following statement:

“It is clear from recent votes that council continues to unite behind the Mayor’s vision for the future of our region and we look forward to working with our regional partners.”

When we told Ehlmann that county officials weren’t concerned about the extra votes, he replied, “Well, maybe they haven’t done the math yet.”

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