Sam Alton said publicly in November that he worked “less than three†hours a week at the side jobs that have earned him more money than he has made as chief of staff to ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
As it turns out, invoices that Alton himself submitted to three local municipalities show that he substantially understated — by more than half — the time he actually does spend moonlighting.
In 2023, Alton submitted bills to Pagedale, Breckenridge Hills and Bellerive Acres for 381 hours of legal work, which works out to an average of more than seven hours a week.
That total is based on Alton working 52 weeks a year with no vacation. If he took a four-week vacation, the weekly average would be nearly eight hours.
The total also does not include any hourly bills from Vinita Park, which quit using Alton as its city attorney after 2022.
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Alton did not respond to a message left by the Post-Dispatch.
Since he took the job as Bell’s chief of staff, the No. 2 job in the office, Alton has earned more money on the side than he has at his main duties.
During Alton’s first five years on the county payroll — January 2019 through December 2023 — Alton was paid $674,012 in salary. In that same time, he earned more than $776,000 from the side gigs.
Alton made his “less than three†statement on Nov. 7, at a County Council budget hearing. But in the first four weekdays of November before the hearing, Alton already had racked up 12 billable hours, his invoices show.
Specifically, the “less than three†answer was in response to questions from Councilman Dennis Hancock, D-3rd District, who expressed concern about Alton’s moonlighting.
Saying he doubts Alton could make that much money working less than three hours a week, Hancock has held that aim to set limits on the amount of outside work that higher-paid county employees can perform.
When told Monday about Alton’s invoices, Hancock said he was not the least bit surprised that Alton is working more than three hours a week on outside jobs.
“I think it was just a convenient thing for (Alton) to say to get us off that line of questioning†at the budget hearing, Hancock said.
Hancock said he intends to call more hearings on the matter soon, once the council handles several more time-sensitive issues.
Also voicing concerns about Alton’s side jobs were Council Chair Shalonda Webb, D-4th District, and council members Rita Heard Days, D-1st District, and Mark Harder, R-7th District.
Along with refuting the “less than three†hours claim, the invoices also show that Alton’s outside workload has actually increased over the past three years.
In 2021, Alton billed the three cities for a total of 212 hours; in 2022, the billable hours increased to 246½ and then reached 381 in 2023.
Copies of the invoices Alton submitted to the cities were obtained by the Post-Dispatch after roughly a three-month effort.
The cities, which get their legal advice from Alton, first claimed that the invoices were closed records because they were protected by attorney-client privilege.
The Post-Dispatch countered that Missouri courts have ruled that although some information on legal bills can be redacted, the amount of hours billed and money paid are open records.
The cities relented and began, at varying speeds, to fulfill the records requests.
One of the three cities, Pagedale, wanted to charge the Post-Dispatch $750, or about $4 for every page. Pagedale officials eventually provided the copies free of charge.
While Alton’s side-job workload now is only three cities, he has in the past worked for as many as six while also working for Bell.
Bell has defended Alton’s outside work and has said he has no problem with it.
Bell himself is no stranger to working the North County legal circuit. Before being elected as top prosecutor in 2018, Bell served as a municipal judge in Velda City, and as city attorney in Wellston.
Also, the hourly figures for 2023 do not include legal work he was doing as the city attorney for Jennings, which paid Alton a flat annual salary of more than $71,000 for his work.
Alton left the Jennings job in August after butting heads with Mayor Gary Johnson, who was elected in 2023.
When interviewed about Alton’s work for north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County municipalities, Johnson said the real issue is not how many hours lawyers are working.
Johnson said the entire system of legal representation in smaller municipalities — a problem at the forefront of the Ferguson Commission report — still remains a problem.
“These attorneys have entrapped North County municipalities,†Johnson said. “There is a great potential for conflict of interest, and they’ve held too much power for too long.â€