ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Statements and reactions are beginning to flood into the KMOX newsroom after the indictment and resignation of former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger.
RELATED: Sam Page named interim county executive following Stenger's resignation
Stenger's interim replacement will be selected by a vote from the County Council at Monday night's emergency meeting. Council Chairman Sam Page announced tonight's 6:30 p.m. meeting, Monday morning and said he originally wanted the vote to be placed on Tuesday's agenda, but he was informed the emergency election needed to happen today to ensure "continuity of government."
The interim County Executive can be any democrat and one possibility could be the man who narrowly lost to Stenger in the August primary, Mark Mantovani.
RELATED: Stenger resigns after indictment on 3 counts of alleged bribery, mail fraud
Joan Bray, the former state Senator and organizer of the "Draft Mantovani Campaign," calls Stenger's indictment a "setback" in efforts to move the county forward. She says the council needs to listen to the voters to make their decision on Stenger's replacement.
She also says a top-to-bottom review of how things have been run in County government will be in order for no matter who is selected as the replacement.
"I would certainly want the auditor to go over things and alert me to things that are not quite right," Bray says. "Or give a clean bill of health or whatever, absolutely should be done."
Stenger was indicted on three counts bribery and mail fraud, then sent a resignation letter to the County Council, Monday morning. The letter states:
"It has been an honor to serve the people of St. Louis County as St. Louis County Executive. The past four years have been some of the most fulfilling years of my professional career.
I have determined after much thought that it is in the best interest of our County and my family that I resign as St. Louis County Executive effective immediately."
@SteveStenger's resignation letter. @kmoxnews pic.twitter.com/1d6KFvxQhL
— Brian Kelly (@Brpkelly) April 29, 2019St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson says Stenger made the right choice to resign and "will work with the new County Executive." She tweeted a short statement on the news of Stenger's resignation, saying "These are very serious charges. This clearly would've had a negative effect on the county executive's ability to govern. That affects the whole region."
Unite STL, the organization leading the charge for Better Together, says their plans are "unaffected by today's development, we do believe that it underscores the need for change and the potential benefit of reforming and streamlining St. Louis Government."
County councilman Tim Fitch said he was not surprised by the indictment, but adds the County needs to look past the indictment, look forward, and get back to what the people elected them to do, which includes oversight.
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway says she saw this coming.
Galloway says her office, in 2017, outlined an audit process that would investigate concerns with projects but, "Stenger's actions made it clear then, as it is now, there was no real intention of ensuring a full accounting of taxpayers' dollars."
Galloway says public corruption should never be tolerated, she's again pushing for a law to allow her office to work with law enforcement during audits.
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