St. Louis County Council majority poised to issue subpoenas for records of Page's part-time medical work

Jun. 29—CLAYTON — A St. Louis County Council majority is expected to give final approval Tuesday to a measure directing a local hospital and an anesthesiology practice to turn over records of County Executive Sam Page's part-time medical work and compensation.

The measure, posted to the council agenda Monday afternoon, is the latest development in a dispute that arose after Councilmen Mark Harder, R-7th District, and Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, accused Page, a Democrat, of violating a charter provision that "the county executive's entire time shall be devoted to the duties of the office." The two sought an investigation last fall after KMOV (Channel 4) and KSDK (Channel 5) reported that Page, then a member of Western Anesthesiology Associates, was working part-time as an anesthesiologist at Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur.

The vote Tuesday would give final approval to a unanimous decision by the four-member council ethics committee last month to issue subpoenas to Mercy and Western for details of Page's work schedule and compensation.

The ethics committee is chaired by Harder and includes Fitch, Council Chair Rita Heard Days, D-1st District, and Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-4th District. Because they represent a majority on the seven-member council, the motion to subpoena Page's work records is expected to pass. Harder and Days confirmed that they would vote to approve the measure.

Page spokesman Doug Moore declined to comment. Page has said his medical work is performed during his free time and doesn't interfere with his public duties, denying the ethics committee's requests for details of his work schedule and compensation. His reelection campaign has also referenced the issue in a fundraising email that accused "Republicans on the council" of following "Trump-inspired" politics.

Western Anesthesiology has not responded to repeated requests for comment. Mercy has said that it doesn't have the requested records because Western is responsible for scheduling anesthesiologists.

The county charter appears to give the council the power to compel records and testimony, but it was unclear Monday what power the council would have to enforce the subpoenas.

The council's ethics committee in 2019 — with different members then — subpoenaed Robert and P. David Glarner, the owners of the former Northwest Plaza shopping center, as part of a council investigation of former County Executive Steve Stenger's pay-to-play schemes. But the Glarners sued to block the subpoenas, which had included the threat of arrest for failure to appear before the committee. The council withdrew the subpoenas after the county and the Glarners agreed to renegotiate the terms of the lease.

Harder refused Monday to comment on what the council would do if Western and Mercy sought to block the subpoenas.

"This is a process of feet and inches — there are decision points along the way," Harder said. "We hope they'll cooperate and give us the information we want. If not we'll have to make decisions at that point."

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