CLAYTON — The Democrats have taken back leadership positions of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County’s legislative body.
The County Council on Tuesday selected Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, as its chairwoman for this year, and Rochelle Walton Gray, D-4th District as its vice chair. Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, has served for several months as the council’s presiding officer after the resignations of Democratic chairman Sam Page and vice chair Hazel Erby last year left the Republicans with a temporary 3-2 edge.
Clancy, elected in 2018, was nominated by Walton Gray, and the vote of the four Democrats and three Republicans was unanimous. There was more drama in the vote for vice chair, as Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, nominated Mark Harder, R-7th District, and the motion failed with the four Democrats blocking it.
Rita Heard Days, D-1st District, then nominated Walton Gray, and the vote was the opposite result: 4-3. Walton Gray, elected in 2016, is the longest-serving Democrat on the council.
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The vote puts two strong allies of Page in the leadership of the council in a year in which he is seeking to retain the job of county executive. The chairman and vice chair roles have traditionally been rotated among members of the majority party from year to year, but Page broke with tradition by keeping the position for three years while he led a bipartisan coalition against then-County Executive Steve Stenger.
Clancy said in an interview after the meeting that she “wants to keep focused on the biggest policy issues in our region. Those are not new issues, they are the issues that have been consistently named as the priorities of citizens here in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.
“It includes things like economic development, public safety, housing, justice and within all of that, a lens of equity and opportunity. So I am hopeful and it is my expectation that I will work with my colleagues, every single one of us, to move forward on some of these issues.â€
Page said Clancy’s “commitment to equity and social justice remind us all not to forget about how our policies affect people.†And he said Walton Gray’s efforts chairing the council’s budget committee in 2018 and 2019 “helped keep the county afloat financially.â€
Loop Trolley
In comments at the meeting, Trakas said he and probably each of his colleagues was opposed to a plan for Bi-State Development to take over the moribund Loop Trolley, which ceased operations on Dec. 29 after a series of operational and financial setbacks.
Bi-State CEO Taulby Roach pitched operating the trolley for the next four years with nearly $1.1 million left over from federal grants and said he had preliminary approval from federal transit officials. Bi-State’s executive board voted 6-3 on Dec. 10 to approve Roach’s request and have him return to the board by February with a more detailed proposal to take over the trolley’s nonprofit operator, the Loop Trolley Co.
Speaking directly to Roach, who was in attendance at the council meeting, Trakas said, “I would urge you, Mr. Roach, to think long and hard before you take that on, because I can guarantee you I will fight with every bit of zeal I have against any proposal you come back to this council with for monies for that trolley.â€
Harder added: “This Loop Trolley commitment, if they choose to make it, will be under high scrutiny … so choose your projects wisely.â€
Roach emphasized after the meeting that his proposal would not call for local funding of the trolley for four years. He said “we always have to pay attention to what our policymakers are telling us. My job is to do an assessment and make a recommendation, which I will be doing to the (Bi-State) commissioners on Jan. 24. … It will ultimately be their decision as to how to move ahead on policy. And the comments by both councilmen in this case are very valuable and important to us.â€