The Old St. Charles City Hall, home to the St. Charles County Council on Saturday.
St. Charles city council saw sound defeat for a long-time council member and a contested race that won by just one vote, according to final unofficial results from Tuesday’s municipal election.
St. Charles County will do a routine manual recount of some precincts Thursday morning and count provisional ballots before certifying the election next week.
Both candidates who came out on top defeated incumbent council members and ran on heightened transparency in city government.
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The vote comes after public opposition sank a proposed hyperscale data center project in St. Charles in August. City officials faced criticism for secrecy around the development, which was later revealed to be a Google data center.
Ousted longtime council member
Fourteen-year council member Mary West of Ward 4 was ousted by Scott Shipman, who won with about 65% of the vote.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last year that West is cousins with Chris McKee, the president of developer CRG that originally eyed St. Charles for the Google data center project. Constituents also criticized West for getting involved in a lawsuit over the council’s right to sell park land.
West did not respond to request for comment.
Shipman served as St. Charles County Assessor for two decades before running for city council. He said residents have expressed concern about the council’s push for costly projects to bring in new business at the expense of residents’ quality of life.
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“We've gotten ourselves into such competition with (other) cities about new projects coming in that they're willing to give away almost anything to get them here,” Shipman said. “I think many of the cities in St Charles County feel that we don't have to develop everything out.”
Shipman said his victory is a testament to how healthy discussion can help shape the city’s future.
“I think spirited debate ends with a great decision,” Shipman said. “These are great communities here in St. Charles County, and people want to build.”
One-vote margin
Ward 1 incumbent Bill Otto lost to anti-data center candidate Chris Kyle by one vote, according to final unofficial election results.
Out of 1,147 total votes, four were counted as write-ins.
Kurt Bahr, the director of elections for St. Charles County, said officials still need to recount ballots from some precincts by hand and count provisional ballots before certifying the election Monday. Because the margin for this race is so slim, election staff are required to hand count one of five precincts in Ward 1.
“At that point, whoever loses this race — because it will likely still be within the 1% margin — has the legal right to petition the courts for a full hand recount,” Bahr said.
Neither candidate is allowed to ask for a recount until the election is certified next week. After that, a judge can order a recount of all ballots in the race. Bahr said a recount for a race this size would likely wrap up in a single day.
Thursday’s manual recount is open to the public and will take place at the county election authority’s office at 397 Turner Blvd. in St. Peters.
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