CLAYTON, Mo.—A new-look St. Louis County Council came together for the first time in 2025 on Tuesday, with new members installed following November’s elections. 

While the ideological breakdown of the body will remain a 4-3 split favoring Democrats, Gretchen Bangert (District 2), Shalonda Webb (re-elected to District 4) and Mike Archer (District 6) are not seen as particular allies of County Executive Sam Page, meaning he could face a veto-proof county council on particular issues.

The council and Page have clashed in recent years over the COVID pandemic and later the ability to spend federal COVID relief funds, along with the budget, senior property tax freeze and most recently the transition surrounding the appointment of a new prosecuting attorney. 

That new calculus played out Tuesday night, when six members, including the two new members, voted to override a Page veto of legislation that pays the legal bills for councilman Dennis Hancock. Hancock has been the subject of a nepotism probe that could lead to his removal from office. A quo warranto petition was withdrawn in court but the case remains under the review of the new prosecuting attorney Michelle Price Smith. A veto-proof majority also passed legislation Tuesday night that pays the legal expenses for county council clerk Diann Valenti, who was charged in connection with the Hancock case. Price Smith dropped the case last week.

The council and Page have clashed in recent years over the COVID pandemic and later the ability to spend federal COVID relief funds, along with the budget, senior property tax freeze and most recently the transition surrounding the appointment of a new prosecuting attorney. 

“I underestimated just how much politics can sometimes complicate the work of just serving the people. St. Louis government often feels more like Jeff City or even Washington DC sometimes, with partisanship overshadowing collaboration,” Webb said Tuesday afternoon after she was sworn in during a ceremony in Council Chambers. Webb has fought Page on COVID relief fund spending and investment in North St. Louis County.

“During the campaign, I heard over and over from people who want good jobs, safe neighborhoods, solid infrastructure and a healthy environment in which to live and raise their families. They’re proud of where they live, and they are tired of the constant turmoil in St. Louis County,” said Bangert, who accused Page during the election cycle of trying to get her out of the race with the lure of a possible county job. “We are all neighbors, we dream of a vibrant region even if we prefer different paths to get there. We as elected officials must listen to each other”, she said.

Archer, a South County Republican who defeated a sometime-Page ally in Ernie Trakas in the August primary, found his name invoked in a stunning revelation last month, when Michelle Price Smith, in testimony before the county council, said someone acting on Page’s behalf asked her to dig up “dirt” on Archer while Price Smith was under consideration for appointment as Prosecuting Attorney.

Page said Tuesday it wasn’t the result of anything he was aware of or initiated.

“I don’t know what happened there but it’s unfortunate, but that’s not something that I was involved in. I could just tell you that every day someone calls me and says they got a call that Dr. Page said this or Dr. Page said that. What are we supposed to do. And most of the time, someone was speaking out of turn,” Page said.

Mark Harder, the Ballwin Republican councilman in district seven noted Tuesday as Page did that on 90 percent of the agenda there are areas of agreement, even as he also said, “we’ve been in court a lot.”

“We’ve put together coalitions to make things happen and the few things that we may disagree with we find ways of bridging those disagreements and do what’s best for St. Louis County,” Harder said.

Despite shades of optimism Tuesday afternoon, another hurdle in the relationship between Page and the council could be on the way. Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, the new council’s chairwoman, is backing a proposal that would ask voters to approve a county charter amendment that would allow the council to remove the county executive with the votes of at least five members.

Currently, the County Executive can only be removed via a recall election.

In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Heard Days said the proposal could be tweaked to apply to department heads. 

Page said the switch would disenfranchise voters and change the checks and balances in the current system, essentially having a county executive serving at will.

Another charter amendment that could end up on the April ballot would switch to a County Manager form of government. A vote to perfect that legislation could come next week.