By Joel Currier
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Charles County Ambulance District Board passed Wednesday night a vote of no confidence in Dan McLaughlin, urging him to resign his board seat because of drunken driving charges.
The motion passed with yes votes from board members Michael Garman, Vivian Kaesser and Joan Peery and abstentions from Matthew Simmons and Mark Fenton.
McLaughlin did not attend and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
McLaughlin, 36, is a lawyer who lives in O’Fallon, Mo., and was elected to the board in April.
His three drunken driving cases stretch back about a decade. He is scheduled to have a court hearing today in St. Charles County on a 2007 DWI charge, which has been delayed more than 20 times.
Garman, who asked for the vote of no confidence, said McLaughlin’s actions showed a lack of integrity and reflected poorly on a district that routinely promotes sober driving and provides medical care to victims of drunken driving crashes.
“The citizens of St. Charles County demand excellence,” Garman said. “Our paramedics are excellent. We are very fortunate to have the finest ambulance district in the state. And I expect no less than that from the board.”
McLaughlin won the April election with nearly two-thirds of the vote after getting union endorsements from the St. Charles County Deputy Sheriff’s Association and the International Association of Firefighters, Local 2665, which represents firefighters and paramedics in the county.
About 30 people crowded the usually sparsely attended meeting, including some friends and colleagues of Garman and former board member Brenda Reyes, whom McLaughlin defeated for his seat. Six people voiced criticism of McLaughlin and called for his resignation. No one spoke in support of McLaughlin, but Fenton said he abstained from the no confidence vote because he felt the board lacked the authority under state law to force someone to resign.
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