State Rep. Sally Faith Elected St. Charles Mayor

St. Charles voters elected State Rep. Sally Faith as the new mayor of the city April 5.

Faith had 5,356 votes, or 52.2 percent to beat incumbent Patti York who won 4,872 votes or 47.49 percent.

Faith, 65, who has was elected in November to her fourth term as representative for District 15, planned to be in Jefferson City at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning to present two consent bills. In the next few weeks, she’ll resign as state representative and be sworn in as mayor.

Gov. Jay Nixon has the ability to call a special election to fill the remaining time in Faith’s term.

Although she has run in many races, Faith said she felt like this race was different because people kept stopping her on the street to tell her they supported her.

“That type of thing really kept me going,” she said. “It’s amazing. It’s just been so encouraging.”

York, 59, said she was surprised by the results because she got entirely positive feedback at the polls. She has been mayor of St. Charles since 1999.

“I ran a very positive campaign,” she said. “My opponent was a little more negative, but it resonated with people. I respect the vote.”

After 12 years as mayor, York said she is proud of what she has accomplished. When she started as mayor she said people told her, ‘We want to be like O’Fallon and St. Peters.’

“The biggest testament to me was when the mayor of St. Peters said, ‘I want to be like St. Charles,’” York said. “We’ve worked very hard to do that. I’m proud of all we’ve done.”

York said during every election she considers what would happen if she won or didn’t win, but she said she isn’t yet sure what comes next. Several people have said they’d like to hire her for one job or another, she said.
“I’ve always said, the good Lord tells me what he wants me to do,” she said. “He’s got something really cool for me to do. I just don’t know what it is now.”

Faith said in her first weeks as mayor she plans to introduce herself to the people in city hall. She said she wants to talk with each department director about what he or she likes about his or her job.

She said she also has to get up to speed on the Lindenwood Town Center project and the Streets of St. Charles Development.

Faith said she expects to have a different type of management style than York.

“I don’t micromanage,” she said. “My leadership style is lead by example. I will be there working hours to get things done. I will be reaching out to people.”