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Judge Thomas C. Albus ordered the removal of Curtis Faulkner from the county Bipartisan Reapportionment Commission for being in violation of a charter provision that commissioners “shall hold no other public office or employment.�

The ruling granted Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s petition to have Faulkner barred from the redistricting panel. Bell filed the petition last week, arguing that if Faulkner remained on the commission, any maps the panel draws could get tossed out.

Faulkner, a Republican representing the 4th District, also sits on the seven-member Board of Education of the Special School District of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County.

Unlike two other commission members, Faulkner had refused to step down, saying the charter provision didn’t apply to him. Both Amy Poelker, a Republican alderman from St. Ann, and Jean Pretto, a Democratic member of the Mehlville School Board, resigned from the commission after they were told about the charter language.

Faulkner will be replaced on the commission by another Republican. The commission has 14 members: one Democrat and one Republican from each of the seven County Council districts

Redistricting is required every 10 years to try to make each district’s population as equal as possible. Voters in each district elect a representative to the County Council, the county’s legislative body.

Faulkner’s attorney argued that the redistricting commission was not a public office and that the quo warranto petition was therefore “not the proper remedy,� to resolve the dispute, Albus said in his ruling.

Albus disagreed.

“The commission to which respondent has been appointed is endowed with the power to establish districts in which members of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Council shall stand for election. This power seems to the Court to be at the very heart of the sovereign function of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County,â€� Albus wrote.

Albus also said Faulkner’s attorney “conceded� that his school board position was a public office under the county charter. In public comments, Faulkner had argued the charter provision barring people holding a “public� office didn’t apply to him because he believes that word in this situation refers to elected officials.

Faulkner was named to the school board seat by the district’s Governing Council, a 22-member panel consisting of one Board of Education member from 22 public school districts in the county. The council interviews and “elects� the seven members of the Special School District board.

Faulkner, who serves a three-year term that ends in 2023, has been on the school board since 2018, representing the Hazelwood and Jennings school districts. In 2016, he was the Republican candidate for the 4th District on the County Council, but was defeated by Rochelle Walton Gray.

Vacancies replaced

In his petition, Bell had asked for an expedited hearing, arguing the immediate court intervention was necessary to allow the commission to redraw maps ahead of a Dec. 2 deadline. The charter requires the commission to file a final map “no later than six months� after either the final U.S. census is released, or the county executive appoints the reapportionment commission, whichever is later.

Page appointed commission members on May 28. The charter requires the county executive name seven Democrats and seven Republicans from lists submitted by the county Democratic and Republican central committees.

Page doesn’t have to follow the lists to fill vacancies on the commission but must pick replacements from the same district and political party.

On Monday, Page’s office announced two new appointments to fill vacancies left by Poelker and 7th District Democrat Helena Webb, who also resigned last month for other reasons.

Poelker was replaced with John Kelly, of St. Ann. Webb was replaced with Karen Cloyd, of Wildwood.

Pretto was replaced last month with Glenn Koenen, a former U.S. House candidate.

Page said his office was accepting applications to replace Faulkner until 5 p.m. Friday. The deadline was extended from last week, when Page said he hoped to fill what were then three vacancies on the commission before its next meeting. The commission was scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

At a Monday morning press conference, Page said he appointed the commission from lists of 14 candidates offered by each party and considered them all “eligible.� Those who had second public offices were eligible — as long as they forfeited their other public positions, he said.

“We certainly accepted the list coming from each central committee as being eligible, and the folks that were nominated by each committee, at least on the Republican side, were eligible,� Page said.

“They only had to forfeit their other elected office in order to serve on the redistricting committed. And when they chose not to forfeit their other office, their other elected or appointed office then they became ineligible. So they had to choose.�

A final map needs at least nine commissioners’ approval. If the commission doesn’t agree on a map, circuit court judges would then draw the new districts.

The new council districts would apply to the 2022 general elections in November. Elections for County Council seats are staggered every two years. Next year, voters will elect council members for the council’s four odd-numbered districts. The current incumbents are Council Chair Rita Heard Days, D-1st District; Councilman Tim Fitch, R-3rd District; Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District; and Councilman Mark Harder, R-7th District.

Updated at 4:30 p.m.