The St. Louis County Council is asking voters to authorize added whistleblower protections for the county’s more than 4,000 employees.
Council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to place the measure on the August ballot. If approved, anyone working for the county in any capacity could not face discipline if they speak up publicly about perceived law-breaking, mismanagement or discrimination. Those protections would not apply if an employee is found to be lying.
The vote represented 14 months of work on the issue, and two vetoes by County Executive Sam Page. Bills placing issues on the ballot cannot be vetoed.
“We will not delay this any longer,” Democrat Rita Days, the 1st District councilwoman and its chair, said Tuesday before the vote. “We have to put this on the ballot so the people of St. Louis County will make that decision. We don’t have time to wait. We have upwards of 10 to 15 lawsuits because whistleblower protection is not in place as it should be.”
Though Democrat Lisa Clancy of the 5th District agreed to put the protections before voters, she said she was worried about a lack of specifics when it comes to the county police department.
“Police reform is an issue of vital importance to our community,” Clancy said. “It is far too important of a topic to allow for ambiguity about whether or not this will deliver the police reform and fairness for officers of color that our community wants to see.”
Days pointed out that police officers are employees of the...
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