Ellisville Council Ousts Mayor from Office

Update: The Ellisville City Council found Mayor Adam Paul guilty of abusing the authority of his office in violation of the city's charter by a vote of 5-1 Monday night. 

Paul himself, however, wasn't present to hear the news that he had just been removed. Paul and his lawyer had walked out of the impeachment proceedings against him several hours earlier, declaring that they already knew what the outcome would be. 

The vote fell along lines similar to those that brought the resolution containing the charges against Paul at the beginning of the year with Councilwoman Linda Reel the sole dissenting vote. 

Included in the resolution approved Monday night by the council are allegations that Paul unilaterally tried to have the city attorney replaced, directed city staff to remove residents from meetings and evaded an attempt to serve him a subpeona. 

Several of the council members who approved the resolution removing Paul did so on the eve of the expiration of the terms. Troy Pieper lost his bid for re-election while Dawn Anglin and Michelle Murray were barred from running due to term limits. 

Paul vowed again on Monday to sue in St. Louis Circuit Court to be reinstated if he was thrown out while Pleban said he would ask the courts to grant a stay of the council's vote. 

The hearings to present the evidence against Paul took place over several days and regularly drew crowds of his supporters.

One such resident, Jim Saufnauer, attended every one and said he believed the charges were fueled not by concern over charter violations, but by personal disagreements between the mayor and certain council members. 

"I think he was railroaded," he said. 

Speaking after he voted to find Paul guilty, councilman and former mayor Matt Pirrello denied that it was about a "vendetta" and instead said there was a more simple way to avoid the negative attention and legal bills the public hearing has earned. 

"We would not have spent a dime if the mayor had comported himself according to the charter," Pirrello said. 

Original story: When the vote on whether or not to remove Ellisville Mayor Adam Paul from office finally comes, the mayor himself won't be there to hear the decision.

Paul punctuated the high drama that has surrounded the removal hearing by leaving immediately after his attorney Chet Pleban finished with a 15-minute closing argument that slammed the council members as a “lynch mob” set on disregarding the will of the city’s population.

“There is a new sheriff in town and that sheriff represents the interest of the people who put them there,” Pleban said.

Pleban said he wouldn’t wait around for the result, then Paul and his attorney walked out of the room at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ellisville where the deliberation was being held. After reaching the building’s entrance, they turned to address the surge of media that had followed them out.

“My attorney knows what is going to happen, I know what is going to happen,” Paul said. “Rather than sit up there and let this self-serving council say how much they are just following the city charter and doing what is right … I’ve had it.”

Paul also reiterated his vow to sue in St. Louis Circuit Court to be reinstated if he was thrown out while Pleban said he would ask the courts to grant a stay of the council's vote. 

During his closing arguments, the city’s special prosecutor Keith Cheung repeatedly divorced the charges in the resolution from the larger controversers and personal dramas that have surrounding Paul’s impeachment.

“It’s not about Walmart,” Cheung said. “It’s not even really about Adam Paul himself, it’s about what this document [the city charter] says about the office of the mayor.”

The evidence, Cheung argued, clearly indicates that Paul did not understand or was willing to understand his responsibilities as mayor. One of the more serous charges involves Paul’s contact with a relocation expert working to help residents displaced by the city’s controversial Walmart project, against the advice of city staff.

“The mayor even acknowledged that he went ahead and did it,” Cheung said. “You don’t have that luxury. [The charter] says you shall not contact period.” 

After Paul’s high-profile exit, the deliberation proceeded in a markedly less dramatic fashion with the council thumbing through stacks of email transcripts as they discussed each charge one-by-one. 

The allegations leveled against Paul were broad, but all essentially charged that he overreached or abused the authority of his position under Ellisville’s charter as a “weak mayor” system of government while generally creating a hostile work environment for its staff.

Paul, his legal defense and his supporters have countered that he has been the victim of a conspiracy by his political opponents to oust him from office due to his opposition to the city's controversial Walmart project and the public financing it received.  

Read more on Ellisville Mayor Adam Paul's removal hearing:

• Who Are the Winners and Losers From Ellisville Impeachment Hearing?
  
• Three-Day Hearing Ends With City Manager's Testimony
• Courtroom Drama Defines Hearing to Remove Ellisville Mayor