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City leaders were appointing residents to the newly formed Parks and Recreation Citizens Advisory Committee.

Ward 2 Alderman Kevin Roach abstained.

Roach, who had become a thorn in the side of Mayor Tim Pogue, didn’t like the process for determining who was on the committee. Roach wanted more of a give-and-take between the aldermen and the mayor. Pogue instead gave the aldermen a full slate of appointees and asked for one vote.

“I knew there were people who had applied who didn’t get interviewed,� Roach told me in an interview. “I just had general misgivings.�

The vote passed. Afterward, Roach looked more closely at the applications and realized there was a problem. One of the two appointees from his ward — Megan Gibson — is the daughter of Alderman Mike Utt, and Utt had voted yes.

For 100 years, Missouri has had a strong anti-nepotism clause in its constitution, barring elected officials from appointing family members to jobs.

“Any public officer or employee in this state who by virtue of his office or employment names or appoints to public office or employment any relative within the fourth degree, by consanguinity or affinity, shall thereby forfeit his office or employment,� reads Article XII, Section 6 of the Missouri Constitution.

It may seem relatively harmless to appoint a family member to a non-paid position in government, but case law in Missouri shows some elected officials have been removed from office for just that.

In 1994, for instance, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a motion to remove a Clay County presiding commissioner, Peggy Shull, from office. Shull had voted with the other commissioners to appoint her sister-in-law to a mental health tax board. It was an unpaid position. A judge removed Shull from office, and the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the decision.

Utt could have recused himself from the vote, but he didn’t. And in December, Utt made the situation worse. For years, Ballwin has given perks to members of its Planning and Zoning Commission, granting them free access to the city’s pool and recreation center (a potential $497 value), as well as unlimited golf on the city’s 9-hole course.

Aldermen decided the new parks committee deserved the same treatment. Utt seconded the motion to give the committee that included his daughter perks, and he voted yes. Roach again abstained. By this time, he had read up on the nepotism clause and believed Utt was in violation.

In February, Roach filed a complaint with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. “This amounts to a blatant and obvious conflict of interest,� Roach wrote in his complaint.

It’s not the first time Roach has turned to other government officials to hold his colleagues in Ballwin accountable. Last year, Ballwin city attorney Robert E. Jones received a letter of admonition from the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel for falsely claiming that he represented an aldermanic candidate who was seeking to remove his name from the ballot. Jones had never met the man. Roach filed the complaint that got Jones disciplined and also led him to refund his attorney’s fees in the case.

Jones is still the city’s attorney. He offered a “no comment� when I asked about the nepotism complaint. Utt didn’t return phone calls.

Despite the apparent violation of the state constitution, Utt likely doesn’t have to worry much about being removed from office. That’s because Bailey is too busy chasing ghosts, like filing cease-and-desist letters with school districts alleging vague violations of law for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Roach says the attorney general’s office told him there are no plans to take action against Utt.

“I think that they don’t want to do it, just because they have other priorities,� Roach says. “You read in the paper that he’s going after the Hazelwood School District and that’s totally way out on the limb, a completely speculative use of resources. I bowled one right down the middle for them.�

In the meantime, Roach will have plenty of time for bowling, if that’s his hobby of choice. On Tuesday, in the only contested race on Ballwin’s ballot, voters ousted him as an alderman, elevating first-time candidate Pamela Haug to the position. Haug was one of the people appointed to the parks committee by the mayor and aldermen last September.

Her election helps make Roach’s point about why the issue with Utt and his daughter should matter. People often use municipal committees as jump-starts for elected office. And there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as some members of the public aren’t given an unfair advantage.

“When family members appoint family members, it eliminates independence and objectivity,� Roach says. “Public offices are supposed to serve the public, not family. That’s it.�