The ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council plans to meet next week to discuss limiting the money that highly paid county employees can make by moonlighting.
Councilman Dennis Hancock, R-3rd District, said the meeting is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday at the County Council chambers in Clayton.
At the forefront of the matter is Sam Alton, chief of staff for Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
During Alton’s five years on the county payroll, Alton has been paid $674,012 in salary. In that same time, he has earned at least $728,933 from his side jobs — with one municipal client still not releasing the total amount Alton has been paid since he began working for Bell.
Alton has claimed that his outside employment takes up “less than three†hours a week.
Hancock, who first questioned Alton about his moonlighting at a budget hearing in November, said he wants to discuss possible changes in the County Charter, which currently does not limit outside employment.
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“We want to see what we can do to make sure the county is getting the 40 hours of work a week that taxpayers are paying for,†Hancock said.
Hancock has maintained that he does not have his sights set on lower-paid employees who take off-hour or weekend jobs. “We’re talking about the senior employees, who make in the mid- to upper six figures,†he said.
Hancock is not the only elected official in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County who has called Alton’s moonlighting into question, or Alton’s claim that he works less than three hours a week on outside issues.
Maureen Roach, an alderwoman in Bellerive Acres, one of Alton’s outside clients, has also asked for changes in the County Charter in 2022 that aimed to stop County Executive Sam Page from working as an anesthesiologist.
Both Hancock and Roach have questioned Alton’s estimate that he works less than three hours a week for his municipal clients.
After filing requests earlier this month under the provisions of the Missouri Sunshine Law, the Post-Dispatch still is waiting on Breckenridge Hills and Pagedale to provide copies of invoices that Alton submitted to the cities in the last five years.
Along with not yet releasing any invoices, Bellerive Acres also has not provided the total amount of money it has paid Alton in the last five years.
Each of the three cities are using Alton as the lawyer to advise them on the Post-Dispatch records requests.
At first, Alton advised the cities that the invoices were not public records. After a discussion with a reporter, Alton conceded that the invoices are subject to being made public.
The city of Jennings also not yet provided copies of invoices. Alton earned almost $330,000 working as Jennings’ city attorney from Jan. 1, 2019 through August 2023, when Alton quit his post after conflicts with new Mayor Gary Johnson.
Deletra Hudson also quit her job as Jennings’ city clerk about the same time that Alton left. She began working as the Bellerive Acres city clerk shortly thereafter.