CLAYTON — Voters will decide on Tuesday whether to empower the St. Louis County Council to fire county department heads.

Proposition B has been at the center of a tense debate between councilmembers and County Executive Sam Page. Here are seven things to know about the measure.

What would the proposal do?

If passed by voters, Prop B would give the council the power to fire county department heads and the county’s top attorney.

Five of the seven council members would have to vote in favor of such move.

Only the county executive has the power to do that now.

Why is council asking for the power now?

People are also reading…

There’s a new supermajority on the council; six of the seven councilmembers now frequently oppose Page.

And some of them have complained they can’t get enough information out of the people Page appointed to direct county departments.

Council Chair Rita Heard Days, a Democrat from Bel-Nor, said the council needs to be able to hold directors accountable and force them to the table on important legislative issues, such as budget cuts.

Page has called the proposal a “power grab,” and says it would, if passed, upset the balance in county government. The proposal would cause chaos in county services and confusion among directors, he said.

What do Page and council members say?

County department directors, who oversee services including health, parks and roads, would fear for their jobs if the council could fire them, Page says. Department heads would answer to eight bosses, instead of just one, creating confusion and chaos, he said.

Councilmembers have rejected Page’s claims.

Councilman Mark Harder, a Republican from Ballwin, said the proposition would make directors answer to the council, and actually reduce chaos by improving communication. The council also deserves a say in how department heads conduct county business, he said at a news conference Tuesday.

“We can have better government, better government accountability and make sure that people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing on a daily basis,” Harder said.

Could the council fire the police chief?

Page has said the measure would give the council the power to fire the county police chief.

Days said the proposition does not give the council that power, which rests with the police commissioners board.

The St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners last month unanimously passed a resolution to “not support” Proposition B, voicing concerns about a lack of clarity in the language. Some commissioners worried future councils might disagree with the current council and flex power over the chief.

But on Thursday, the county police union said it talked to “half a dozen local legal experts” who agreed the proposition “would have zero impact or effect on the St. Louis County Police Department.” The county charter states the commission is in charge of the department, the union pointed out.

“We have no position on ‘Proposition B’ because it simply does not pertain to the police department, the police chief or our members,” St. Louis County Police Association Executive Director Joe Patterson said in a statement.

Do department heads talk to the council?

Page has said his administration communicates plenty with the council. Councilmembers say there have been several instances where the administration hasn’t.

Republican Councilman Dennis Hancock, of Fenton, said he has been asking for the minimum cost to fix up county headquarters in downtown Clayton. But he said the Transportation and Public Works department hasn’t given him the information. The department director, Stephanie Leon Streeter, has said she has shared everything she could.

Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, a Democrat from North County, said last year that Page instructed department leaders not to communicate with members of the council. A spokesman for the county executive said any lack of sharing information wasn’t deliberate.

Other councilmembers said at the time they didn’t have a problem communicating with Page’s staff.

Could the council fire a director without cause?

Page says the council could fire department heads and the county counselor without cause and inject the agendas of seven councilmembers into the decision.

Hancock said department heads are at-will employees, and can already be fired by Page with or without cause. The council would have the same power, Hancock said.

The bill that sent the proposition to voters didn’t say the council needed a reason to fire a department head. It does say at least two members would need to introduce a resolution to remove a director, and that the resolution may outline a “basis for the introduction.”

Webb said this week that directors would have the chance to appear before the council to make their case. And while a hearing might happen behind closed doors, there would at least be public notices it’s happening as required by public records laws.

Page can fire his department directors without notifying the public, Webb said.

Councilmembers promised to only use the measure, if voters approve it, as a last resort. As long as a director is doing their job, they have nothing to worry about, Days said.

Will the proposition be challenged in court?

Almost certainly.

After a group of St. Louis County directors challenged the proposal in February, county Circuit Judge Bruce F. Hilton called the proposition’s language “misleading, insufficient, inaccurate, argumentative, prejudicial and unfair.” He ordered it off the ballot.

An attorney for the County Council appealed, and an appellate panel issued an order that put the measure back on.

Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Judge Thomas C. Clark II wrote in the order that the court shouldn’t prevent voters from considering the issue.

If anyone wants to challenge the measure, he wrote, they can do so if it passes.