City versus County

This week I once again found myself upset at government, this time my city government.  I live in Lake St. Louis, a little city in the western part of St. Charles County, Missouri.  It is a residential community with a couple of lakes and a lot of golf and tennis and retirees and parks and not a lot of crime.  

Back in November the voters in St. Charles County voted on a proposal that would ban red light cameras throughout the county.  I am not a fan of red light cameras, and I am apparently not alone as the proposition passed with over 73% of the vote.  Statistics show that accidents increase in the municipalities that install these cameras.  Many of the violations are for infractions like failing to come to a complete stop when making a right turn on red.

These cameras are about money, not safety.  Although they did not do much for safety they did increase red light fines about tenfold in St. Peters, Missouri, making a ton of money for the city and the red light camera company that had the contract with the city.  

These cameras and the companies that run them have run into a lot of trouble in other areas of the state and country.  These CEOs have gotten into legal trouble in Chicago and elsewhere for kickbacks to city officials.  Kansas City has stopped using theirs, and refunds are being sent to drivers who paid the fines.  The City of St. Louis is still using them but is in the middle of a lawsuit being decided by the Missouri Supreme Court which will ultimately decide the issue for the entire state.

There are questions about not following state laws which require points to be assessed on a driver’s license for moving violations.  There is a question about the presumption that the owner of the car is the driver.  There are questions about a person’s constitutional right to confront your accuser in court.  The Missouri Supreme Court will rule on those issues.

In the meantime, state legislators are taking the matter into their own hands.  At least two bills have been introduced by state legislators which would ban the red light cameras statewide, one by Bryan Spencer and one by Paul Curtman.  Both bills have widespread support in Jefferson City.

So, you may ask, what does any of this have to do with Lake St. Louis, and why am I upset with my city?  It turns out Lake St. Louis has joined in a lawsuit with other St. Charles municipalities to sue the voters of St Charles County.  Technically they are suing the Director of Elections but the bottom line is that they are suing because the voters told them they could not have their red light cameras.

I contacted the interim Mayor of Lake St. Louis, Kathy Schweikert, and asked her why the city was, in effect, suing its own residents.  Kathy took over after the unfortunate death of Mayor Sidebottom.  I do not know Kathy, but she was kind enough to respond to my question and engage me via e-mail.  Apparently the aldermen voted to be part of the lawsuit against the county in order to protect their right as a city to do as they please without having the county (or citizens) tell them what they can or cannot do.

 

There is, upon reflection, some validity to this argument.  If you imagine an out-of-control County Council which was making decisions and forcing them on citizens and upon municipalities within the county, then cities would want to have the right to resist things that were not good for their city or residents.  Of course, that is not what happened here; this was a vote of all county residents, not a decision of the County Council.

 

I asked Mayor Schweikert if the citizens of Lake St. Louis could themselves start an initiative petition and get the issue of banning red light cameras put on a municipal election ballot, thereby bypassing the county altogether.  After consulting with the city attorney she informed me that as a 4^th class city in Missouri the statutes did not allow the citizens of Lake St. Louis to put proposals on the ballot.  I do not understand why this is, but apparently it is in the Missouri statutes.

 

I then asked the Mayor how the citizens of our city could properly combat actions of the city that we did not approve of, such as red light cameras.  She replied that we could always do an initiative petition at the COUNTY level, and put the matter on the ballot for all voters in the county to decide. I pointed out the obvious – that the voters of St. Charles County had already voted on this issue and had overwhelmingly rejected red light cameras, and that she was now suing to overturn the results of that vote.

 

Not exactly, according to the Mayor.  It seems the question was put on the ballot not by a citizen’s initiative process, but by the County Council.  And therein lies the problem, and the explanation.  They don’t want the members of the council to be able to put any decisions of the city up for a vote of county citizens.  Kathy specifically mentioned Joe Brazil, who is the new Vice Chairman of the council and who recommended the item be placed on the ballot.  

 

In addition to the mayor I also contacted both of my aldermen.  One of them, Gary Torlina, responded.  The other, Alderman Zito, did not.  Gary reiterated much of what the mayor had said, indicating that the lawsuit was not about red light cameras but about overreach by the county.  I asked him if he would respect a decision properly enacted by the voters of the county and he responded that he wanted compliance with statutes, which did not really answer my question.

 

The founders of this country took great pains to limit the power of the federal government.  They made a short list of things the federal government could do and then enumerated much that they could not do.  They then made it clear that all other powers were to remain with the states.  It was the STATES that were to be responsible for most of the governing.  In addition to a few responsibilities such as foreign affairs and defense it was the federal government’s role to protect the rights of the individual against abuses by the states.

 

The State of Missouri has specific responsibilities, including education and transportation, but they also have a responsibility to ensure that county and city governments respect the rights of individual citizens.  Likewise, in my opinion it is a responsibility of county government to ensure that the municipalities in that county also respect the rights of its individual citizens.

 

If we consider laws that cities might impose on their citizens, such as the current smoking ban in Lake St. Louis or hypothetical laws against alcohol or pink houses or soft drinks over a certain size, we can see that opinions may vary on the appropriateness of such laws.  As a libertarian I am inclined to allow people the freedom to live their lives as they see fit, without burdensome regulations that do not involve the protection of life, liberty, or property.  I realize that in our culture today I am in the minority, but I think liberty is more important than fulfilling some politician’s vision of a Utopian society.

 

Setting that aside for a moment, what is clear here is that neither individual liberty nor the will of the citizens is at the heart of my city’s lawsuit against the voters of the county.  It is about some ridiculous power struggle with the county council. The voters have made it clear they do not want red light cameras.  Lake St. Louis is not interested in what the voters want.

 

There is a big difference between telling city governments what they MUST DO and telling them what they CANNOT DO to their citizens.  Red light cameras are a great example of city leaders chasing after dollars to fund their pet projects and ignoring the will of the people, who want nothing to do with them.  We have just seen the tremendous disconnect that can occur between the people of a city and their leadership in municipalities in St. Louis County.  

 

In this case, regardless of the technicalities of how it ended up on the ballot, the citizens have spoken at the ballot box by an overwhelming majority.  For these cities to file a lawsuit against the voters is unconscionable and irresponsible. At this point we will have to wait for the lawsuit against the voters to be decided, as well as the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court and the actions of the Missouri State Legislature.  In the meantime, we should consider why cities such as Lake St. Louis cannot allow citizens to put proposals on the ballot in municipal elections.

 

Oh, and it is time to start paying attention to what the people we elected to run our cities are doing with the responsibility we have entrusted to them.