Morrow

O’Fallon, Mo., Mayor Donna Morrow says she will oppose any attempt on the City Council to oust City Administrator Robert Lowery Jr. during her final three months in office.

In her first public statements on the rumors swirling around Lowery’s job status, Morrow confirmed that Lowery’s job performance was discussed during a closed executive session of the council on Jan. 8.

She wouldn’t comment on whether any council member actually called for Lowery’s firing during the meeting. She also wouldn’t say what aspects of Lowery’s performance have been questioned but didn’t regard those points as justified.

“There were questions asked about performance of Bob’s job and that’s all I can say,” she said. “I just don’t understand where the meat is on the subject.”

Morrow added, however, that she had been told that some council members - she wouldn’t disclose which ones - had been overheard at a local restaurant discussing their desire to oust the administrator.

Council members have refused to comment on what happened at the meeting, as has Lowery. The council meets again Thursday night.

Lowery Jr.

Morrow’s statement of support for Lowery means that any move to oust him needs the support of six members of the eight-person council as long as she’s in office. Both state law and a city ordinance require a two-thirds majority vote for dismissal of an administrator over the mayor’s objections.

The ordinance also says if the administrator is removed, he would have to be given a public hearing within 30 days if he asks for one.

Morrow didn’t file for re-election to a second term, so her successor chosen at the April 7 election will play a major role on the issue. Two councilmen, Pierce Conley and Bill Hennessy, are among the four candidates running to succeed Morrow.

Moreover, four of the eight council seats are up for election the same day. It remains to be seen whether Lowery’s job status becomes a campaign issue.

Morrow and the Board of Aldermen in office at the time agreed on Lowery’s hiring in 2005. She says he has been “an excellent city administrator” despite having occasionally disagreed with him on a particular issue.

Lowery, a former high-ranking Florissant police official and the son of Florissant Mayor Robert Lowery, is known across the metro area as the former head of the area Major Case Squad.