ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.—Hours after six St. Louis County department heads won a circuit court ruling to take a proposed charter amendment off the April ballot, an appeals court ruling put it back on, handing a legal victory to St. Louis county council members.

The charter amendment will ask voters if the council should have the authority to fire department heads, who are currently nominated by the County Executive and confirmed by the council.

A number of them filed a suit trying to keep the amendment from the ballot. They argued that the ballot language is deceptive and the the council’s interference is intimidating.

Judge Brue Hilton wrote Tuesday morning that the St. Louis County Council’s ballot language “is misleading, insufficient, inaccurate, argumentative, prejudicial and unfair.”

But in a rulilng late Tuesday afternoon, appeals court Judge Thomas Clark wrote that the ballot measure has the potential to create confusion due to conflicts in existing county statutes, but that state law doesnt require the court to take the question off the ballot because of it. Clark said voters can legally contest an election result after the fact and also challenge the measure's effect.

"Respondents have the ability to raise their claims about conflicting language,the need for clarification about the scope of Proposition B and/or its applicability to various county officials, but following voter approval," he wrote.

"The circuit court agreed that the ballot language is misleading, inefficient, inaccurate, argumentative, prejudicial and unfair. The appellate court agreed that the language is confusing but the time to challenge this is after the election. As it stands, voters will have to vote on the absurd ballot language. Meanwhile, we are weighing our legal options," said Doug Moore, a spokesperson for County Executive Sam Page.

Tuesday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for the St. Louis County Board of Elections to finalize the April ballot. 

At Tuesday night's County Council meeting, Page was critical of the roughly $600,000 it wlll cost the county to hold the election, saying the money would be better spent on county services. The comments drew a retort from Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, who said the county could have saved money without having had the council and county administration "suing eachother" recently.

Webb said the ballot measure was about ensuring accurate, complete and accountable information is being provided to the county council.