♪♪ - This year, registered voters in St.

Louis County will cast their vote to determine the next candidate for county executive.

Voters will select party nominees on August 4th before choosing the next county executive in the general election on November 10th.

This year, with County Executive Sam Page choosing not to seek re-election, voters will be selecting a new leader for the first time in several election cycles, creating a highly competitive, open-seat race.

There are three Democrats vying for a spot on the ballot come November.

Missouri State Sen.

Brian Williams has represented the 14th District in St.

Louis County since 2018 and presently serves as the Assistant Minority Floor Leader.

He is also employed as the Executive Director of the Construction Career Development Initiative.

Williams is positioning himself as a results-oriented leader focused on public safety, economic investment, and regional collaboration.

Jake Zimmerman has served as the St.

Louis County Assessor since 2011.

He is a former Missouri State Representative and Assistant Attorney General for the State of Missouri.

He ran for county executive in 2020.

Zimmerman is positioning himself as an experienced administrator rather than a political outsider who will end political dysfunction in county government.

The third Democratic candidate running for St.

Louis County Executive is Angela Walton Mosley.

Mosley was elected to the Missouri State Senate, representing parts of North County in the 13th District.

She serves in Senate Democrat leadership as the Minority Caucus Chair.

Mosley did not respond by our deadline to participate in this program.

Republican Dennis Hancock is unchallenged in the August primary and will advance to the general election.

Since 2023, he has served as a St.

Louis County Council member representing the 3rd District.

He is the former mayor of Fenton and has a professional background in telecommunications and facilities management.

Hancock's campaign presents him as an alternative to recent county leadership, emphasizing public safety, fiscal responsibility, and government accountability.

Nine PBS and St.

Louis Magazine have partnered to cover this race, but again, we have left what we cover, the agenda, up to the people of St.

Louis County.

Through online queries and in-person listening sessions, we heard from voters and stakeholders about what issues are most important to them and what they would like us to ask the candidates.

St.

Louis Magazine Executive Editor and Nine PBS Donnybrook Panelist, Sarah Fensk sat down with three of the candidates ahead of the primary to get their answers to the issues most important to St.

Louis County voters.

The first agenda item focuses on growing the region.

Residents expressed concern that St.

Louis has struggled to attract new residents and businesses in recent decades.

Many are concerned about our aging population and the loss of young people who leave for opportunities elsewhere.

They also raised questions about regional cooperation, including how St.

Louis County, the city of St.

Louis and the county's many municipalities can work together more effectively.

Ultimately, residents are looking for leaders who can put regional success ahead of local politics and build a shared vision for the future.

St.

Louis County has been stagnant for a while.

The region as a whole has been stagnant for a while.

What's one thing you do as county executive to make this region more attractive to new residents and to businesses?

- Well, I think the most important thing that I can do as county executive is put to use my experience in economic development.

I did economic development for five years for Verizon in the private sector and for 12 years as a mayor of Fenton.

What we need to stop doing in St.

Louis County is going out of our way to drive businesses away.

There was someone that I know who was going to start a small business.

She had a food truck.

She wanted a commercial kitchen.

She was going to do catering.

After almost six months of being told, well, I need one more piece of information.

I need another piece of information.

She got tired of trying to get a business license, went across the river in St.

Charles and had it in two weeks.

Doing business with St.

Louis County is just difficult, and we have to fix that.

- So that would be a way of maybe cutting through the red tape, streamlining the bureaucracy there.

- Exactly, it really comes down to bringing competence to local government.

And as the only person that's running for county executive who has any experience running a local government, I think that's experience I can really put to use for the residents of St.

Louis County.

- So the region's population is also aging.

What can county government do to encourage young people to put down roots?

- So many young people today look around and go, "There's nothing for me here for the future."

So they go to other places.

They go to the Nashvilles and Indianapolis, Kansas City and those places.

We need to keep those folks here by bringing good jobs here, the jobs that they can earn a good living with, to raise their families, keep their families here, because from all of that comes good schools, better infrastructure.

It all ties together, but it's all centered around bringing jobs back to the region.

One thing that people have talked about as a solution to the region's woes is that we maybe need to do some sort of government consolidation.

Would you give serious consideration to a city-county merger?

You know, what I tell people all the time is you get on an airplane and they tell you if the mask dropped from the ceiling, put your own mask on first before you try to help somebody else out.

That's where I see that we are in St.

Louis County.

We have to put our own mask on.

So I think we have to focus on our own problems, get those solved, and then maybe we can talk about doing some other things to help the rest of the region.

But when we talk about the region, we have to include St.

Charles County.

We have to talk about Jefferson County.

And those are the places where a lot of the jobs are going and a lot of the people are moving to.

So going back to the city, what about the idea of the city entering as just one municipality, coming back under that county umbrella?

Would you support that?

I don't think that many municipalities in the county would want that because of the way sales taxes are distributed in St.

Louis County.

You have, you know, it's all based on population of the cities.

So that if you bring in a much larger entity, that sales tax pool is going to shrink for everybody else.

We need more human beings, period.

And if you look at the regional trajectory over the last few years, the only place that growth has really come from is immigrants.

And in particular, it's come from refugee communities.

We've got to be forward thinking because this moment will change and the goons in Washington won't be in those jobs forever.

And when the moment comes that this country opens its doors again, if we want our next revitalization corridor, we've got to be ready.

It means the city and the county and the municipalities and regional jurisdictions working together so that people feel like this is a good place for them to come, start a small business, bring your family members, because more than anything else, it's what's given us population growth in challenged parts of the community.

The county wins when there's more population here, even if people choose to live in the exurbs in St.

Charles County.

The county wins even if people choose to live in the city.

Grow the base of humans, grow the base of services, we all win.

And we gotta get out of our own way.

We gotta beat back this regional inferiority complex where we're forever comparing ourselves to some coastal city or Chicago and telling ourselves we're not good enough.

- What would you do to try to change that?

- Well, one thing we could do is we could try to have our government stop being an embarrassment and start being something that people can be proud of.

Anytime I pick up the paper or your newsletter or turn on the TV and I see another dumb story with politicians squabbling with one another, that's the message we're sending to the state, to the broader region, to the country of the kind of place St.

Louis is.

If you want the region to be proud of itself, the most important thing that a government leader can do is try to act like an adult and try to give people something they can be proud of.

Do you support giving serious consideration to a city-county merger?

My litmus test is always what does it do for our parks and what does it do for our potholes?

Because I think there's a lot of potential regional cooperation on the table that could save you a few bucks and get you better services.

>> When you think about why Better Together failed, partly it failed because they wanted to make Steve Stenger the grand pooba of everything and maybe that wasn't a great idea.

>> Just maybe.

>> But maybe criminals should not be made super political overlords.

But I think if we focus it back on how can you save a few bucks while improving public services, right, ask the question that way and I think the voters might give you an answer you'd be interested in hearing.

What would you do as county executive to make St.

Louis County a place where young people want to put down roots?

Let's be mindful of our competitive advantages and let's appreciate that we're not New York and we're not Silicon Valley and we shouldn't try to be.

But what we are is a spectacular place when you're thinking about starting a family and you're wondering where you can afford to be in a decent school district or a nice suburban home with a little bit of grass in the backyard.

On those kind of metrics, we do great, not just compared to coastal cities where it's impossible to afford to live, but pure cities in the middle of the country.

What's one thing you do as county executive to make St.

Louis County more attractive to new residents and also to businesses?

- You know, it's simple.

When I think about our region, it's about some of the things we've done already.

As a state senator, I was proud to secure funding for an engineering program for the University of Missouri-St.

Louis.

With Boeing coming back here with 15,000 jobs, that's gonna allow us to attract talent and also create opportunities for people that are already here.

Our region has to also embrace the fact that we are a destination.

So when I think folks recognize that Missouri and in St.

Louis in particular is a place of convenience and not an inconvenience or flyover city, I think we find people really becoming attracted to our region and recognizing we have a lot to give.

And that's before you even talk about the art scene, the fact that we have Forest Park and so many free amenities.

We've had all those things, right?

This location is the one constant and we have these great amenities and yet this population is not growing.

What do you think the problem is there?

We have leadership that doesn't tell our story well.

The government doesn't feel close to people.

It doesn't feel modern.

It doesn't talk about regional opportunities.

It feels as if the city and the county are two different worlds.

It has to be a region that believes in diversity and believes that everyone, regardless of their background, this is a place that they can call home and not just home for a few people.

So there has been a lot of talk about maybe some form of government consolidation could be an answer that could help get us out of the doldrums here.

Do you support giving serious consideration to combining the city and the county?

Well, I think first, my goal would be making sure the county is cleaning up its own home first.

We have a budget deficit, which I think is important to address, and we've already started that process by solidifying $51 million in a hotel/motel tax that I carried legislation for due to the merger of the Convention Center Board and the Regional Sports Authority.

I also believe identifying services that we could potentially combine and partner in, public safety would be a good one to start with, and then give our county in particular and our region really kind of an on-ramp to see what the possibilities are and whether or not it impacts their quality of life.

What about the idea of the city reentering the county as just one of the 80-something municipalities in it?

Do you support that?

You know, look, I represent a region that has 46 municipalities, and I work close with local mayors and council people and other people.

And one thing I recognized is me having that relationship, working close with them, listening to them, hearing what community members feel, that'll be where I would start before I have any conversations about a merger.

- So we talked about the desire to grow the region when that hasn't been happening.

The region is also getting older.

What can county government do to encourage young people to stay here or encourage young people to move here from elsewhere?

- I understand what it's like to be a first-time homeowner and you're looking at the fact of how do I afford to live in St.

Louis County?

How do I address things around increasing costs of gas and groceries and property taxes?

And then I think about the fact that we live in a region where folks to some extent don't believe there's job opportunities or they can grow and live in a community that provides them a vibrant social life.

And they go into some of the most expensive rents in the country, even if they can't afford it, just to be able to have a quality of life they believe is inclusive to who they think they should be.

So it's going to be imperative the county executive embrace the arts, embrace, again, regional collaboration and make sure St.

Louis County First is an affordable place, especially for first-time homeowners.

The second agenda item relates to maintaining a functional government.

Participants expressed frustration over ongoing dysfunction in government, particularly between the County Council and the County Executive.

Citizens also raised questions about how the county will continue to provide basic services amid declining federal support and general revenue, including concerns about the future of the county animal shelter and a growing demand for its services.

They are also seeking clarity on the future of the Lawrence K. Roos County Government Center and how county government can become more accessible, transparent and welcoming to the public.

At its core, this issue is about ensuring that county government operates efficiently, responsibly, and in a way that earns public trust.

People told us, here's a quote I'm sure you've heard before, "The county council needs to stop their infighting."

What would you do early in your administration to make sure that county government isn't defined by that dysfunction?

People just keep talking past each other.

And everyone just seems to want to score points, to prove the other person wrong, to say it's their fault.

When you've got an 80-plus million dollar budget hole that needs to be addressed, I don't care whose fault it is.

What I care about is how we work together in good faith to get it done.

- So you mentioned the county budget.

This is obviously a big problem when it comes to things like functional government, just that we're in this budget crunch.

How would you plan to keep providing basic services at an acceptable level in light of the budget crunch that the county is in.

- Yeah, less money is coming in the door than is going out the door year over year.

And there has been one-time money falling from the heavens, so to speak, again and again, for north of a decade.

It happened in the form of legal settlements.

It happened with the Proposition P money for the police.

And every single time elected officials did what politicians do, which is they said, "We won't solve the problem.

We'll just spend some of this one-time money and paper it over."

What it can't be is duct tape to solve your budget problems.

You have to distinguish between wants and needs, and you have to live within your means and make tough choices.

But every human being in St.

Louis County does that every day of their life anyway.

They should expect the same thing out of their government.

>>So the animal shelter is actually something that we heard from our focus groups on.

What would you do about the animal control situation going forward?

>>Think back to when the Animal Protective Association, the APA, took over that shelter on a contract basis and from everything that I'm told made significant improvements and it seemed like things were moving forward and then it collapsed.

It collapsed in more political infighting and finger pointing and it became part of the war between the council and the executive.

We can't have basic public services like that get caught up in the political squabbling.

There is not a Democratic or a Republican way to rescue a cat.

The St.

Louis County headquarters, the Lawrence K. Roos building, there has been a lot of discussion about what to do.

It doesn't have the sprinklers.

There's some problems or it hasn't been kept up to date.

What would you do with that building?

- If you enjoy giant post-nuclear apocalypse-sized cockroaches, let me tell you, this is the government building for you.

- That's not an exaggeration.

- That is not an exaggeration.

Oh my God, the giant cockroaches I've seen, especially if you work after hours, that's when the big cockroaches come out.

So yeah, real talk, that building has problems.

In order to put sprinklers in, you have to take the asbestos out, and that costs big bucks.

You as the citizen don't care how big the cockroaches in my office are.

What you do care about is how bad is the parking, will I be forced to wait in a long line in the cold, and are you wasting my tax dollars building some government palace that you didn't need to build?

And that could include moving a sizable quantity of workers out of Clayton.

If that was the least expensive, you'd be in favor.

The charter requires the county to keep its headquarters in Clayton, and I think we ought to comply with the law.

The thing that's causing the dysfunction from my perspective in St.

Louis County is the lack of leadership coming from the County Executive's office.

He shows up a minute before the meeting starts, he leaves immediately after the meeting's over.

There's no conversation, there's no relationship building, there's no real relationship with the Council anymore.

I would hope to change that by being a leader and by working, continuing to work closely with the people that I work with today.

- So budgets are really tight right now in the county as elsewhere.

How do you plan to continue to provide basic services at an acceptable level?

- Well, I think the key word there is basic.

You know, we need to really ask ourselves what services should government provide.

So we have to provide police, we have to provide for transportation, we have to provide for the public welfare.

And we started doing this as a council, is take a long, hard look at what services are we providing?

Back in the day when Chrysler shut their doors, that was 15% of our revenue as a city.

We sat down and said, "Okay, what can we do without?"

We had some really nice programs for our residents.

We did things like shoveled their driveways in the wintertime for our seniors.

Chrysler money was nice.

It was.

We sat down and said, "Okay, yeah, these are the nice to haves.

These are the have to haves."

What would you point to?

I mean, you've been in county government for a while.

Is there something you could point to to say, "You know what?

We shouldn't be in the business of funding that."

You know, we went through the controversy last year with the animal care and control.

The county had outsourced that to the Animal Protective Association at a cost of about $3 million a year.

Last year, after the health department took it back in-house, the line item in their budget was $6 million for the same services.

But when you look at, is that a service that this county should be providing?

I'm not sure it is.

So county headquarters, what would you do with that building?

- Well, I'd probably do what I've been trying to do for the last three and a half years.

You know, the city of Clayton, just for background, the city of Clayton changed their fire codes in 2013 and gave everybody until December of 2027 to become compliant with the new codes.

The only building in Clayton that isn't compliant is the county headquarters.

I ask a very simple question.

What's the cost to bring the building into code compliance?

Three and a half years later, I still don't have the answer to that question.

You know, I've been in the facility management business for 25 years, and to me, putting sprinklers in the buildings and people I've talked to that are in that business all tell me it's not gonna be that expensive to do.

It takes, but it's gonna take an effort and it's gonna take the will to do it.

- So you'd salvage that building.

You'd keep that building as county headquarters.

- It's a size that fits what the need is, and it's central in the county.

We need to be convenient for people to get to.

- Would you do anything to change the way that it's run to make it and county government in general feel more accessible to the public?

- Do we need to be in a Taj Mahal?

No, we don't.

But yeah, should the building be functional?

I think it should be, and I think it could be.

We should be welcoming people.

We should be talking about expanding ours, not cutting them.

- What will you do early in your administration to make sure that the county government isn't defined by dysfunction?

- I went to Jefferson City again as a person in a minority party, and I had to convince individuals who had no inherent reason to be supportive to St.

Louis.

A majority of them did not live here.

So I feel very confident, and I believe that that would be a natural transition, and it would be something that I would be uniquely equipped for, considering how much success I've found in Jefferson City.

- So you think you could just show up, and just by nature of not being Sam Page, like that would solve the problem, or are there some specific things you'd need to do?

- Oh, there's specific things.

You know, I think about Jamestown Mall.

I worked close with Councilwoman Shalonda Webb to get the matching money.

I've already have worked with members of the council to identify tangible opportunities to continue to support St.

Louis County being not only a region that's growing and thriving, but recognizing it's the largest county in the state and it should feel like it.

Revenue is stagnant, costs for everything seem to be going up.

How do you plan to keep providing basic services at an acceptable level in light of those budget challenges?

Well, the first thing is address the budget deficit.

I was proud to redirect $51 million back to county taxpayers, which will go to general revenue is sitting on the governor's desk that I carried in the legislature this past April, which is now going to eliminate the $41 million budget deficit.

And then that's going to start a conversation on how do we modernize our government?

How do we sophisticate county government to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars?

As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, and the state level, I've been proud to balance a budget with a record surplus for the past several years.

So one of the specific services that the county has been trying to provide that has just, it's been beleaguered, is the animal shelter.

What would you do about the animal shelter?

- I think it's imperative that we do a strategic plan, identify what partnerships are out there.

Clearly I've worked close with the APA and different organizations that are now building a new facility in St.

Louis County where we can create a regional approach to protect our animals.

But again, that'll be a priority of mine, ensuring that that is a safe, quality facility for our animals and for our residents to trust that they're safe.

So the Lawrence K. Roos building in downtown Clayton, that has been another just it feels like a disaster at this point.

What would you do with that building?

First, I would not have waited until a year before the the alleged deadline that they have to be out of that facility, which is at the end of 2027.

So I'm a little bit perplexed that any county elected official in any office hasn't taken their own initiative and say, hey, what are we going to do to make sure our employees and most importantly, the county seat is not in jeopardy or potentially being unhoused.

And that property is valuable.

I think we should look into talking to really smart people who understand development, who understands real estate transactions.

Maybe we can sell that land in that building.

And there is a parking lot across the street that we can look into potentially building a new building.

Whatever we do, it needs to be in the interest of good steward of taxpayer dollars.

Most importantly, what's best to keep our employees safe and in a quality environment to work in for morale.

And then also recognizing we do have to maintain the county seat in the city of Clayton when it comes to the council and the county executive meeting.

As residents prepare to elect their next county executive, many voters may be wondering exactly what the position does and why the race matters.

St.

Louis County includes over 80 municipalities along with large unincorporated areas and is home to almost 1 million residents, making it Missouri's most populous county.

The county divides power between two branches, the executive branch, which is the county executive, and the legislative branch, the county council.

The county executive oversees the county's day-to-day operations, playing a major role in shaping its priorities and future direction.

The office makes decisions involving public safety, public health, economic development, infrastructure, parks and county services.

The county executive also manages county departments, proposes the annual budget, and implements county policies.

Some have argued these responsibilities make the county executive the second most powerful elected official in the state after the governor.

But the county executive cannot make any new laws.

That's the responsibility of the legislative branch, the elected seven-member county council.

The county executive is expected to attend the council's meetings and recommend priorities, but cannot vote on proposed ordinances.

When these two branches of government work together, county government can operate more efficiently.

The current county executive, Sam Pages four years in office, have been marked by a turbulent relationship with the council.

For many voters, the question is not only who should lead the county, but who can work with the council to get things done.

Addressing affordability for voters is a high priority.

Citizens want to know how county leaders will ensure that people of different income levels can afford to live, work, and age in St.

Louis County.

Many raise questions about equitable investment across the county, specifically leveling the investment and development playing field for North County.

Residents want to address the diminishing quality housing options for younger or lower income families.

The senior tax freeze has saved seniors in the county millions, but voters want to know what candidates are going to do about the growing tax burdens for all residents.

This issue is about making St.

Louis County a place where people of all ages and income levels can thrive.

How would you make sure housing is available for lower and middle income St.

Louis residents?

Do you think county government should play a role in ensuring that they're able to get housing that's built affordably?

We need to start figuring out how to have a zoning and planning process on a county level to create opportunities to build more homes in St.

Louis County.

Because St.

Charles County and other counties are growing because they have a process that allows home builders to be able to go through and get homes on the market, which allows there to be more inventory.

And you pair that with opportunities and an increase in wages and lower cost creates an avenue, I believe, for St.

Louis County to be an affordable destination.

And that will be a priority for me.

Do you think right now we make it too hard for people to build new housing?

- I think the county government has created so much red tape, it has become a very concerning level of inept bureaucracy across the board.

And I think it's gonna be imperative that the next St.

Louis County Executive place accountability measures, not just on the County Executive's office and the council, but other county elected officials, to ensure that they're running efficient offices, they're not raising costs on individuals, we're not seeing affordability continue to be an issue in our region, and most importantly, we're making government feel close to people.

And when government feels close to people, they feel seen, they feel heard.

And it goes back to so many communities that I represent today, that have just said, "We want government to be simple, "and when we need to get access to government, we don't want to feel like it's hard."

- So would you support a moratorium on multifamily housing that some communities are contemplating?

- I would say I don't think I have enough data to be able to make an informed decision at the moment.

However, I do recognize that there is a population of people who believe that living in St.

Louis County is too expensive and owning homes is very expensive and they can't afford it.

And we want to create avenues for home ownership.

We want to make sure that living in St.

Louis County is affordable.

And most importantly, we want to promote it to the extent to where living in an apartment becomes a second option instead of a first.

- The senior tax freeze, that has now saved seniors in the county millions of dollars.

At the same time, school districts are complaining that it's dealt a real blow to their budget.

Would you support the continuance of that program?

- My representative region has 11 school districts.

I have some of the top performing schools like Ladue, and then I have challenging schools like Normandy and Riverview Gardens.

And I've become very committed to ensuring that there's access in every community and every zip code has quality education and allows students to go and be productive and most importantly gainfully employed individuals.

The senior property tax freeze, which I did sponsor, however, I do believe the county has done a very inadequate job implementing it.

And when you think that there has been areas in our county that are affluent, that have gotten the freeze, and some that are less affluent, that didn't even know that the program existed, it's a very big problem.

So I think I'm going to focus on ensuring that we're targeting areas of need, and ensuring that the population of individuals who deserve the freeze and could really benefit from it are getting access to it.

- Do you think there should be means testing for the senior freeze, so that if somebody is on a fixed income, they would qualify, but if someone's living in a million-dollar house in Ladue, they're not necessarily getting that same freeze?

- 100%.

- How would you make sure housing is available for lower- and middle-income St.

Louis County residents?

Do you think county government should play a role in that?

- Well, I think county government can play a role in it.

I think that part of that affordability, though, it comes down to taxes.

And the way that we have our taxes structured.

I think we need to help people stay in their homes.

And that's why I'm proud to have sponsored the senior tax freeze in St.

Louis County.

It's saving seniors some four to $500 a year on their tax bills.

- Should we be working with landowners?

Should we be working with property owners and landlords and folks to encourage them to keep their properties up?

And I know that there are a lot of municipalities around that are criticized from time to time for being the landscape police.

But if I'm living next door to someone who's let their house run down, I don't like that.

That brings the value of my home down.

- So you mentioned the senior tax freeze.

Are you concerned about the impact of school districts?

Is there something the county should do to help them?

- You know, when you look at the numbers, I couldn't see any school district, fire district, any of the 330-odd taxing jurisdictions that are in St.

Louis County taking any sort of a real hit on their revenue side.

Seniors are still paying taxes.

They're still paying property taxes.

They're only not paying the increment.

And so when I hear a school district say, "Oh, we lost $3 million."

Well, losing $3 million means it got taken out of your account and put somewhere else.

Not getting $3 million that you were hoping to get isn't the same thing.

- Yeah, I think what they're saying is inflation is through the roof right now, right?

And so their costs are going up, up, up.

At the same time, now they're locking in low revenue.

This could compound over time.

- Well, but at the same time that their costs are going up, the property taxes of everybody in St.

Louis County are also going up by that same inflationary factor, except for the seniors.

So you still have several hundred thousand households that are, whose taxes are going up at the same rate of inflation that the school districts and everyone else are.

- Some suburban areas are seeing growing opposition to apartments and multifamily developments.

Do you think the region needs more multifamily as a pathway for younger or lower income people to get their footholds in a good school district or a nice part of the county?

- I Drive By Every Day is a brand new apartment development that's going up at I-44 and 141.

The rents for that are going to be fairly expensive.

This is for young, being marketed towards young professionals, just the kind of people we want to have in St.

Louis County.

And I think that we need to encourage some of that, but it has to be done in a smart fashion.

You can't, you don't want to put, you know, thousand unit apartment complexes in the middle of every neighborhood.

- So you wouldn't support at this point, a moratorium on multifamily housing in the county?

- We need to encourage people to come, not discourage them because we don't have housing for them.

- How would you make sure housing is available for lower and middle income St.

Louis County residents?

Do you think government should play a role in that?

- I see this because, you know, I'm the assessor.

My job is to tell you what your house is worth.

And depending on what happens with that number, right, somebody else, the schools and the fire department, will send you a tax bill.

And here's the thing that I've seen since the pandemic.

If you live in a million plus dollar house in Clayton or Ladue or what have you, the value of that home has probably gone up a little bit.

On average, maybe 4 or 5% per year goes up in value.

But the typical 100 to $200,000 house goes up in value on a year over year basis double or more percent.

It's obviously happening because we aren't building and making enough houses for normal people with normal incomes in this region.

You've identified the problem very well.

What's the solution?

A couple of things.

Number one, cut bureaucratic red tape.

Make it easier to build.

Make it easier to do responsible development.

There's too many permitting authorities in this town.

It takes too long to get a building permit.

Everything costs more money and takes more time.

I think we could learn some of the lessons of the so-called YIMBY movement from the coasts, which stands for Yes In My Backyard, making it easier to build things like accessory dwelling units and create opportunities for people who want to rent out part of their house.

Anything like that that creates non-traditional housing opportunities is good.

- So you mentioned the YIMBY movement.

It feels like the NIMBYs are kind of having a moment right now when it comes to multifamily housing.

We've seen some serious pushback on apartment projects.

So in terms of these moratoriums on multifamily housing that you're seeing a lot of communities adopt, is that something that you would support for St.

Louis County?

- I'm generally not a big fan of one size fits all things like that.

I think you wanna make decisions on a case by case basis about what's best for the community.

- Senior tax freeze, this has saved seniors in the county millions of dollars, but school districts have complained that this has dealt some big blows to their budget, that it's only gonna get worse over time.

Do you support the continuance of that program?

- You know, if I were designing it from scratch, there's things I would do differently.

- Like what?

- Well, where I think St.

Louis County went a little bit astray here is not putting any income limit on the very high end.

You know, my parents live in a very nice home in Clayton, and I mean no disrespect to mom and dad here, right, but they qualify for the senior tax freeze, and because they have an extra few bucks in the bank, courtesy of that tax freeze, you know, that pays for a nice restaurant meal or two for them on a monthly or yearly basis.

But it's not the difference between whether they can afford to stay in their house or not.

So, like, sorry, Mom and Dad, but I just think that maybe this should have been more targeted at people who need the help the most.

So you'd take away Mom and Dad's tax break?

Like, do you think you would work proactively to put in some sort of means testing?

At the end of the day, regardless of what I think about the means testing, the law is the law.

And the job of the administration is to implement it and to get it done right and to make sure that everybody who can benefit has a fair opportunity to take advantage.

Transportation and infrastructure were identified by residents as essential to the county's quality of life and economic success.

Citizens expressed concern about the condition of county roads and want to know how leaders plan to address aging infrastructure and improve safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

Many also raised questions about traffic safety, including whether investments in traffic calming measures like bump-outs can help reduce accidents and make streets safer without creating unnecessary inconveniences.

Public transportation was another key topic, with residents interested in the future of Metrolink and other emerging transit options.

This agenda item highlights the need for roads and systems that are safe, reliable, accessible, and capable of supporting the region's future growth.

So, County Resident Bob Watson told us, he said, quote, "I am surprised to see roads that are in need of repair.

Big Bend, Hanley, Laclede Station, stretches of all three roads are rated as poor under the county's own system.

And those weren't the only roads that were in bad shape, again, under the county's own ratings."

What needs to happen to fix that?

- Money.

(laughing) It's, and I don't mean to sound glib, but that's what it's gonna take.

And so, when you look at, and that goes back to what we talked about earlier, in terms of prioritizing spending.

What should we be spending our money on?

We have arterial roads in the county that are a mess.

We have subdivision roads in the county that haven't been touched since they were built, and some of them in the 1960s.

The council allocated $40 million out of the NFL Settlement Fund for subdivision streets.

That got us to page two of the 100-page list.

'Cause again, if arterial streets are drivable and accessible, that means that businesses are gonna wanna come to be along those roads.

It all ties back to economic development and being focused on what's it gonna take to grow the county and grow the region.

- In 2024 alone, the cost of traffic accidents throughout St.

Louis County exceeded $900 million.

One solution that you see a lot of advocates touting is calming traffic through infrastructure, things like bump-outs and median islands.

Sometimes people don't like these.

We saw what happened with Clarkson Road in Chesterfield.

- Well, I think we have to talk to the people who drive on those roads before we should start calming things down.

We have to ask ourselves, why is the traffic on those, why is there heavy traffic on those roads?

Well, maybe because there are businesses there.

And if we start restricting the amount of traffic, we're gonna impact those businesses.

And using Clarkson Road as the example, that's who we heard from.

It was primarily the businesses, not the people driving.

It was the businesses whose customers couldn't turn into their parking lots.

- So, MetroLink, MetroBus, do you think the current level of service in the county is adequate for the needs of people who live there?

- From what we hear, yes.

I've been talking to the people who utilize the service.

The one group that is the exception to that are those who are physically challenged, who need help from Colaride, and those types of specialized services.

They tend to be underserved members of our community.

The goal is to keep them in their homes.

The goal is to keep them in the community where they can be a productive part of our community.

- Filling a pothole isn't free.

Repaving a street isn't free.

And of course, the state of Missouri has a famously low gas tax.

And so state dollars for transportation are never what you want them to be.

So part of it is making sure that the county fights for its fair share of those resources.

Too often in the state of Missouri, rural interests dominate.

And I saw this every day when I was there in the legislature.

When folks here can't agree with one another on regional priorities, and when Democrats and Republicans can't talk to each other and figure out a way to come to Jefferson City with the same three set of requests for the whole region, there's a reason why so much transportation money goes to fulfill promises to build ever more four-lane roads to rural communities and not here where it's needed more what happened on Clarkson Road is instructive when you try to shove something down people's throats when you don't consult with the community you get bad results so if you think something is good if you think something gives the community a better deal safer streets and the kind of place that you'd want to live why don't you talk to the people who live there why don't you sell them the product rather than just tell them it's good for them and then be surprised when they get mad as hell.

Do you think the current MetroLink and MetroBus services in St.

Louis County are adequate?

No.

Years ago the county missed out on MetroLink expansion because of political infighting.

It was between Steve Stenger and the city of St.

Louis.

When you give up federal resources, matching funds and things like that that could really benefit this region, boy, that's penny wise and pound foolish.

But again, I think that if policy makers work with each other constructively, we can get what we need, which is better bus and train service.

I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that St.

Louis County has probably missed out on millions of federal dollars because the Department of Transportation or this county government as a whole has not been adequately equipped to target grants, to target federal money that we saw that was available through the Biden administration, to take advantage of so many different grant programs that we've seen St.

Charles County and other counties take advantage of to fix our roads.

And as county executive, I would make sure that we hire the best and the brightest individuals that can target opportunities for us to drive not just resources back to St.

Louis County to fix the roads, but for programs to help us address every facet of our residents' quality of life.

- But talking about things like medians and bump outs, as we've seen in Chesterfield with Clarkson Road, people living nearby don't always like these kind of traffic calming infrastructure.

Do you support more of that sort of thing, more bump outs, more medians?

- I can say day one as St.

Louis County Executive, we will be prepared to implement not only a plan but some of the best and brightest people we can find that have seen things that have happened not only in our region but throughout the country to ensure that first, we're protecting motorists on the road and no one's getting hurt.

We're getting on a pathway to ensure that there's less vehicular accidents.

And then we're also looking at a road system that we're taking advantage of every funding opportunity we can to be able to adequately pay for the best calming measures and not creating a nuisance or a burden for our county residents in the process.

So with MetroLink and MetroBus, do you think the current level of services are adequate in St.

Louis County?

Well, as someone who represents a region that has the most MetroLink stops, I've been proud to secure funding that has been the largest investment in this region around mass transit.

So I work very close with Bi-State and Metro around a lot of the issues pertaining to MetroBus and MetroLink.

And I think we should be able to use it more, and I think it should be one of the safest avenues to get around our region.

So I am in favor of figuring out how that we ensure that public transportation is more accessible, and most importantly, it's convenient for everyone in this region regardless of their zip code.

Emerging technologies is a hot-button issue for voters in St.

Louis County.

Residents want to understand how county leaders will balance innovation with responsible governance as new technologies become more common.

Citizens raise questions about where data centers should be located, their impact on water and energy resources, and how the county can support economic growth while protecting public infrastructure.

Residents are ultimately asking how candidates will ensure that technological advancements benefit residents, strengthen the local economy, and are implemented in a way that protects community interests.

Data centers.

Sure.

Do you think the county should allow data centers to be built?

So for me, I have a couple of ironclad principles that I think any policymaker should take into account when you answer this kind of question, which is, number one, will it raise the water rates?

Number two, will it raise the electric bill?

Number three, will it create a nuisance through noise or any form of pollution or anything else that will decrease people's quality of life?

If the answer to any of those three questions is yes, then this thing's probably a bad deal.

And you should expect people to be against it and you should not pull the wool over people's eyes.

And I think that the developers are ahead of the policy makers here and the policy makers need to get up to speed quickly.

So in the city, their police board recently signed off on a proposal to use drones as first responders.

Would you like to see St.

Louis County get in on a program like that?

You know, I've periodically been pitched proposals as assessor about how we could get drones to fly over your house and look at your house and get a better view of what your house looks like than maybe a human being on the street.

As you can imagine, I have not been quick to say yes to those proposals because I think it would scare the heck out of people.

I think they would want to know what you're doing.

So my first reaction when you talk about police drones is, gives me the okey-gokeys a little bit.

It feels a little like 1984.

But is it the technology of the future?

Maybe.

Does it need to be studied?

Maybe.

But I would suggest a whole lot of community consultation.

So you mentioned artificial intelligence.

As you say, this is here.

The policy hasn't really caught up with it.

I'm wondering about your personal use.

Like would you use AI in your administration?

In a limited way where real human beings control what you're doing.

If you can save time and save money, not a bad idea.

So let me give you an example in my current job where we don't use AI and where I think it would be foolish to do it is valuation decisions, right?

You don't want the all powerful computer in the sky being the one to tell you what your house is worth.

But what about when you file a complicated legal description of a deed?

My office has to make sure that the legal description matches.

And when a human being reviews that document and then does the data entry and types it in, they make mistakes.

My best staff probably have a 1 to 2% error rate.

So we have found that the AI has a lower error rate because it can read the legal description and immediately figure out if it's off from the actual map in the parcel fabric.

You know, you don't ever see what's going on in the wheels.

All you want is for the job to be done right.

But you would get hopping mad at me if you wanted to appeal your property value.

If you wanted to talk to the assessor's office and say, "You guys say we have three bathrooms, but really we only have two."

And I said, "Great, talk to the chatbot."

Right?

If I do that, you'll throw me out of office the next month, and you should.

Do you think the county should allow data centers, and I'm talking big data centers, to be built?

I made a point a long time ago to never say never.

I think that you have to look at the circumstances surrounding it.

You have to look at what kind of jobs are coming with it.

Do we have the infrastructure in place to serve it in that area without creating a detriment for the people around it?

You know, we have data centers all over the place.

Just not the big monster ones that you hear about for AI.

They create good jobs.

They create good paying jobs.

And, you know, those are the types of jobs we talked about earlier with, you know, young people and how do we keep them in the area?

Maybe one of the ways we do that is by making a concerted effort to attract those types of businesses.

Do you think the county needs to put in regulations that would minimize how data centers could put demands on electricity, put demands on water?

- We can control things to an extent with zoning, but I think that you have to look at what are we excluding from that as well?

What's the next, everybody's talking about data centers for AI, what comes after that?

What's the next generation after that?

And are we positioning ourselves to attract those folks as well?

And I think that's where we really need to be focusing our attention is not so much of what's here today, 'cause it's already here.

So let's focus on what's coming.

And while data centers seem to get a lot of headlines, they really aren't, I don't know that they're necessarily the boogeyman that everybody's making them out to be.

So something that seems to be coming is the idea of using drones as first responders.

This is something the city is doing.

The police board recently signed off on this.

Would you support the county doing a similar program?

You know, we use technology in policing today.

We have something called ShotSpotter.

It's spread throughout parts of North County where technology picks up the sound of gunfire and alerts the police so they can start vehicles rolling that way without having to wait for a 911 call.

So we're using some of that technology.

Technology's great if it's used appropriately.

So with artificial intelligence, is that something that you would use in your administration as county executive?

I use artificial intelligence every day.

Do you?

Yeah.

What do you use it for?

I use it for writing things.

I use it for looking up information.

I'm not a fan of being on the bleeding edge of technology, but I think proven technology and using technology in the way that it's designed to be used can be a very useful tool.

Do you think the county should allow data centers to be built?

I recognize that they've been around for some time, so I don't think it's fair to say that we're going to ban them, but I will say that I'll never be in support of a data center.

I felt deprived our region of its energy, its water, contaminated our environment, or wasn't transparent and disclosed who the provider or the client was.

- So when it comes to energy demands and water demands, what would you like to see the county do to make sure that one of these mega developments doesn't end up taking more than would be good for the county?

- I think the county should be dedicated to taking care of its residents as we are today.

And then if we do that first, then that puts us in a position to be able to address any large developments of any kind, not just a data center.

And my commitment to modernizing government, making sure it feels close to people, that it's transparent, and most importantly, as a leader, I'm talking in plain English about what government means for them, because I believe there's been so many communities throughout the entire county that have felt left out, has believed that government does not work for them, they have no trust in their elected officials.

- So the city has inked a deal to bring on drones as first responders.

Would you support the county doing the same thing?

- I support public safety.

My working relationship with public safety has been something longstanding and something I'm proud of.

However, I would have to evaluate how that would impact the community.

And again, we like to look at data.

We like to get community engagement, and that's something that I would do before I make a decision.

And as of today, I don't have that information.

So if the county did bring in drones, how would you ensure that constituents still maintain their right to privacy?

I think it's important to, one, have town halls put law enforcement and first responders in the room to articulate with the public what they're doing.

So we want to make sure that the community, one, has trust, and they believe that policing is transparent and that it's community-driven, but we also want to make sure that officers know that we want them to have a safe job when we know that it's high stress and it's high demand, and if this is an avenue to promote public safety in a safe, community-driven way, that's something I'll entertain.

- So artificial intelligence, this seems like the big emerging technology of our time.

Is that something you would use in your administration?

- To some extent, yeah.

- Do you use it today?

- I do.

- You do?

What do you use it for?

- I think I use it towards, you know, streamlining processes.

I think it allows us to be able to compare information data.

I like the idea of getting information that doesn't have a bias to it.

I think a lot of elected leaders sit in rooms with people that tell them what they wanna hear.

I've enjoyed the luxury of sitting in rooms with people and data that's driven by AI that doesn't always tell me what I want to hear and it allows me to think different.

But I don't think it should replace humans, but I definitely think it's a tool.

Nine PBS and St.

Louis Magazine engaged citizens in St.

Louis County about what issues are most important to them during this county executive election.

To see more of what the candidates had to say and read the full transcripts of the interviews visit ninepbs.org/elections.

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