The ongoing discord between St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and the County Council led to two veto overrides Thursday.
The bills have to do with an election on April 8th asking voters whether to allow County Council members the authority to fire department managers appointed by County Executive Sam Page. Page vetoed both bills.
He said he opposed one of them, for instance, because it used money from the Rams settlement to fund the special election.
The Council had enough votes to pass both anyway.
Council members, in a statement after their vote, wrote the measure is about strengthening accountability, would only affect "a small fraction of the county's workforce," and shouldn't disrupt operations.
Page is dubbing the other bill he vetoed as the "County Council gag rule." He's concerned it would prohibit any county employees from even mentioning any ballot issue without prior approval from the Council.
His administration released statements from several union leaders in opposition to that aspect of the effort, which he says is the council trying to "keep voters in the dark on what Proposition B really means."
"Simply put, public employees should be able to answer freely the questions residents ask them about legislation or policy," said Teamsters Local 610 Secretary Treasurer Dan Thacker in the statement released by Page.