# City of Olivette, Missouri v. St. Louis County, Missouri

> Missouri Court of Appeals · January 10, 2017 · 507 S.W.3d 637

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9871161

## Case

- **Full name:** CITY OF OLIVETTE, MISSOURI, Et Al., Respondents, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, Et Al., Appellants
- **Court:** Missouri Court of Appeals
- **Decided:** January 10, 2017
- **Citations:** 507 S.W.3d 637; 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 10; 2017 WL 105979
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Van Amburg
- **Judges:** Quigless, Dowd, Van Amburg
- **Cited by:** 3 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9871161

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding that use of the word "and" between "public safety" and "public health" indicated a legislative intent for those "phrases [not] to be synonymous or redundant and [for] each of [those] terms [to] mean something different."

## Opinion text

Lisa Van Amburg, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion insofar as it holds that the ordinance is beyond the scope of § 192.300. In my view, however, voter approval of the ordinance as an assumption of municipal functions is required only by § 2.180.21 of the County’s charter and not by Article VI § 18(c) of the Missouri Constitution.
As the majority notes, § 2.180.21 of the charter authorizes the county to perform municipal services and functions “when accepted by a vote of a majority of the qualified electors ....” This requirement alone is fatal to the County’s position. But regardless of whether an earlier version of Article VI § 18(c) of the Missouri Constitution mirrored this language, I do not construe the current version to mandate a vote. Missouri voters approved and adopted the current version of § 18(c) in 1970. It states that, “When such a proposition is submitted to the voters of the county[J the ballot shall contain a clear definition of the power, function or service to be performed and the method by which it will be financed.” I interpret this to mean that, when the nature of the ordinance is such that it requires a vote under a county’s charter, then the ballot measure should contain sufficient specifics to inform the voters’ decision. In other words, this sentence simply prescribes the content of the ballot.
Therefore, I would opine that the ordinance does not exceed the county’s authority under the Missouri Constitution, but voter approval is still required under the county’s charter.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9871161. Public record. Not legal advice.