Shut Up and Sit Down

The board of aldermen meeting of October 28th played for just over four hours. During that time there were glimmers of excitement surrounded by long stretches of tedium but nothing earth shaking. Mayor Lambi did make an ass of himself again (what's new) and I'll discuss that later on. One subject that caught my attention was the one about the lease agreement between the city and the MEAA (Mid East Area on Aging) regarding rental of the building known as the Green Lantern Senior Center.

For those of you who may not know, the MEAA coordinates the Meals on Wheels program and provide lunches and activities for senior citizens in Wentzville. Up until just a few years ago, MEAA used the full kitchen facilities to cook all of the meals. With rising costs, the MEAA had to consolidate and ceased preparation of meals in Wentzville and are now prepared in an O'Fallon facility. It was this crisis that spawned WASSI (Wentzville Area Senior Services, Inc.) board to shore up support and maintain senior services in Wentzville.

During the ongoing investigation of the city's contracts in an effort to trim out excess spending the MEAA agreement was brought forward. Originally signed in 1979 it has been on auto renewal ever since. The terms include a $250 per month rental of the building while the city picks up the utilities.  During the review, it was noted that it cost's the city $50,000 annually to operate the building and  the MEAA pays only $3,000 per year to rent the facility. Alderman Vann Sample of ward 2 pointed out that three thousand dollars is a paltry amount to pay and alluded to increasing the rent to offset city expenditures.

One of the faults of any junior alderman is the lack of history and in this instance, I think Sample should back off before the MEAA is forced to pack it in and take a walk. Opinions vary but I believe it to be good government to subsidize our senior citizens. Sample commented later on the parks project saying he wanted the "sports fields built faster and faster." $47,000 for seniors is a really paltry amount compared to spending $20 million dollars on sports fields and an aquatic center which may have limited appeal for many seniors. This leads me to believe that Alderman Sample cares more for his children's activities than the wefare of our senior citizens in Wentzville.

Lame-Ass-Blunder of the Week

Now for the Lambi "Lame-Ass Blunder of the Week:" In past years our mayor was so easy-going and congenial but that was when the Lurchettes were making law. They let Lambi do nothing and rubber stamp anything he wanted. In today's city hall this board is trying to make him accountable and earn his title. I must add that they are failing miserable simply because Lambi doesn't seem to understand what a mayor is supposed to do and more than likely never will.

While discussing the MEAA contract, purchasing manager, Jerry Hillin was asked questions and offered information. Hillin, a very experienced, thorough and dedicated employee of the city takes direction well but when Lambi (who can't find his own ass with a radar screen) is his boss, he's in deep do-do. When Hillin asked for direction Lambi's temper once again got the best of him, he essentially told Hillin to shut up and sit your ass down. Of course he didn't say it in exactly that way but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who heard it that way. I have never seen a mayor, or alderman for that matter, ever treat an employee with such disrespect in a public meeting. I seriously don't think Lambi is drooling out of both sides of his mouth.

Jump to Conclusions

There are a lot of us that bitch about things in general and in today's time it's easy to bitch about everything but somehow I get the feeling that I'm taking it to a new level—raising the bar as it is. Anyway, I have a complaint, not only about the city but some of their contractors as well.

Complaint

Last night at the regular board meeting in the city I was disturbed about something that I have a little inside information about. Dennis Walsh in his city administrator's report stated that the Vision  (city newsletter) was really messed up. He went on to say; "The printer decided to move photographs into the wrong places so we are no longer going to use him." No hearing, no trial, no consideration that it may not be his fault, merely—the printer is fired.

I have been working in and around the printing industry for more years than I really care to speak of and I've learned a few things about it in that time. Without getting technical, photographs do not change places in documents unless there are anomalies or entities in the source document, or as Walsh stated, the printer intentionally went into the document and moved them. I know this newsletter costs between $2,000 and $3,000 dollars and I cannot believe any reputable printer would eat that cost by intentionally sabotaging the job as Walsh suggested. That leaves me to believe that the source document generated by the contractor's designer is to blame. Of course, the contractor is going to blame it on thier printer simply because that's where the problem surfaced, how else could it be explained. Enough about that for now I have to think about my blood pressure.

SubComplaint (same newsletter, different subject)
Santa Claus Has Just Committed Suicide

I couldn't help noticing the politically corrected front page articles; "Holiday Tree Lighting," "Holiday Parade...," and Holiday Night Lights." What a crock of crap! These things used to be prefaced by the word; "Christmas." I see pictured a Christmas tree, not a Hanukkah bush, or  Kwanzaa pole but a CHRISTMAS TREE! I also thought I saw Santa Claus, not Hanuclaus, or Kwansaaclaus—SANTA CLAUS! Whoever is responsible for this needs to be boiled in oil and burried with a stake of holly through his/her heart. I just wonder how much our Vision newsletter contractor had to play in this, or did the printer do it? Oh, my blood pressure!

SubComplaint #2 (same newsletter, different page)

Let's move on to page 7: The article entitled "Filing Opens for Municipal Offices." The problem here is; there is a picture of an old "holiday tree" next to a "holiday" dumpster. My complaint is that when the printer "moved the photographs," he didn't put Mayor Lambi's photograph (on page 3) in the Dumpster on page 7. I guess we'll have to wait until a few weeks before Easter, I mean "Holiday Sunday" to do that. Hmmm, all of a sudden I feel better.

Bloomer Blow-Out

The Wentzvillian has been accused of unfairly representing our Mayor since I first started blogging about Wentzville government two years ago. I've been called a plethora of names (with and without expletives) by those on the other side of my opinions. The one that hurts the most is one attribited to our first lady of Wentzville, Rose Lambi, when she contemptiously referred to me as the "Devil" (I'm beginning to think she doesn't like me anymore).  I look forward to her continued slander and defamation of my character but I'm going to have to figure out a way to live with myself knowing the way she feels about me.

Talk on the streets of Wentzville is loud that Lambi should get a real job and leave the operation of our city to someone who can lead it forward. Today we have three candidates running for mayor and any of them could do a much better job than he. This morning I received an email from someone who supports the general concensus regarding Lambi's future in Wentzville politics. I'm posting it here unedited:

"Thank you for attending what sounds like awful meetings and keeping your readers informed. I am not a resident of Wentzville, but live in the unincorporated area. I have lived in the area since 1959, I work in Wentzville, I shop Wentzville and do 98% of my business in Wentzville, and therefore pay taxes and have an opinion about things in Wentzville.

I appreciate your honesty and cut to the chase approach in explaining the issues.

I personally think Mayor Lambi needs to increase his pant size. It seems he has outgrown them physically as well as mentally.

Keep it up."

I couldn't have said it better, thanks for reading. The Wentzvillian invites its readers input and looks forward to presenting testimony from our area's concerned citizens.

Hot News in Wentzville Today!

An Element of Truth

The election of April 2012 will bring a huge surprise that could rattle the campaigns of the candidates; Leon Tow, Nick Guccione, and Mayor Lambi (if he decides to apply.) The rumor of having a fourth mayoral candidate is no longer a rumor it has become a near reality. The Wentzvillian was contacted by a long-time resident of Wentzville who wishes to remain anonymous (for now) and relayed some interesting revelations:

"Wentzville is in a very unique position, not only geographically but politically. The election of 2012 offers a window of opportunity which will have a far reaching impact on the future of our city in St. Charles County. Today, Wentzville truly stands at the crossroads.

I've watched our government and stayed current on the positions of our elected officials. For the most part I like what I see. A majority of our aldermen are unified and show great interest in fiscal responsibility and fettered growth, something that I've never seen here before. Mayor Lambi has obviously lost touch, and the candidates running for mayor nether show the same passion as the other aldermen nor the ability to communicate with this board in attaining its goals. The records of these candidates contain no history of fiscal responsibility and fail miserably in communication with the board or citizens of Wentzville.

We need a mayor who is dedicated to fiscal responsibility and the maximization of our resources; personnel, property, and equipment. For far too long, our fully capable city employees have had little or no compass and in many instances had to guess what direction they should take. The mayor is the Chief Executive Officer and he is in charge of an almost dysfunctional operation—that is his fault. His  eight year record shows a fractured ability to lead and little desire to work with the board of alderman in reaching fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, I see no indication that the other candidates have any platform or better qualities than our current mayor. With a new City Administrator and Chief of Police being hired soon, it's a perfect time for someone to step in and take charge of the city.

It is for the reasons I mentioned, I will be running for mayor of Wentzville in 2012. I will bring to the table a vast resume of experience in both the political and private sector. With the term of  mayor being increased to four years there is a launch window to elect a mayor who knows how to lead and when to follow. I trust you will maintain my anonymity until I officially announce my platform within the next few months."

The Wentzvillian will respect this candidate's wishes and not publish the name until notified.

Lambi Stalls Defeat of Tax Ordinance

The dreaded "Storm Water Utility TAX" rears its ugly head and gets another day in court here in Wentzville. This rancid topic has been hanging around on a meat hook for four years and the subject of two Wentzvillian blogs this year: May 25, 2011 - Bend Over Wentzville Here Comes Another TAX!; and September 2, 2011 - Storm Water Utility "TAX" Revisited. 

Mandated by the Federal Government's Clean Water Act, cities across the country are having to ensure water runoff quality. In an effort to assist in funding these new requirements states have made provisions which allows them to create a "utility fee" to pay for adhering to these new requirements.  Historically, storm water has always been paid from the general fund and the general fund comes from taxes. This new fee would free up all of the tax money regularly scheduled for storm water to be used for whatever the city wants and citizens have no say. It must be kept in mind that this is a very unusual fee and when instituted by MSD in St. Louis it was challenged in court. The court ruled it a tax, not a fee, and MSD is appealing that decision—it's still ongoing.

Introduced by; then City Administrator Andy McCown, supported by Mayor Lambi and the Lurchettes, it made it through the first two readings when Lurch (Bill Schuette) got cold feet after hearing about the law suit. Rather than realize there was something inherently wrong with this fee (tax) it was tabled by this band of knuckleheads before the third reading to wait for the outcome of the law suit.

In the board meeting of October 12th, Alderman Cheryl Kross supported by Alderman Stokes petitioned the board to bring the storm water utility fee back on the table with the intention of voting it down. Seeing  board consensus on this subject, our illustrious Chief Executive Officer (Lambi) jumped in giving all the usual excuses why the city desperately needs this and how it's a Federal mandate. He never once mentioned that the implementation of this tax was not a matter of the mandate, but only a right given to cities to impose it. Taxes are governed by a vote of the people and calling this a fee does not override the simple fact that it is a tax. Lambi flat out lied in the meeting stating; "The city has spent $400,000 in preparation for this fee." The original study was for $97,000 and they added another $20 or $30 large when the consultant was asked to do more analysis. The city spent an undetermined amount on preparing the ordinance and too many PowerPoint presentations trying to convince aldermen that it is necessary. Any money spent on coming into compliance would have been spent from the general fund anyway and has nothing to do with the ordinance. Anything spent over the items listed trying to get this ordinance made into law was counting chickens and Lambi should have known better than write checks his ass couldn't cash.

After more discussion and comments on the MSD case by City Attorney Paul Rost, the aldermen agreed to have another work session to hash it out. The tax ordinance will have to wait two more weeks before it's voted on. This waste of time concession to the mayor will be the same old PowerPoint presentations given by the staff to new aldermen who already know the facts. Between you and me, I think the board of aldermen merely want to show how the mayor lied or is hiding the fact that he spent more money on the come than he had the horse power to spend. I look forward to a very entertaining work session.

Cry Havoc and Unleash the Dogs of War

The Board of Alderman's regular meeting of October 12th, 2011 held no mercy for our  omnipresent, Chief Executive Officer, and all mighty potentate; Mayor Paul Lambi. It all started during the "Alderman's Reports" when Alderman Kross wanted the city to entertain a resolution which would not allow elected officials to solicit money for private citizens or organizations from other elected officials during open session. The suggested resolution was not just a shot across the bow of Lambi's rowboat, it was a full frontal attack. Watching him squirm during the short ten minutes of this process was worth every minute of enduring the subsequent three hours of blight. In order to understand this seemingly insignificant resolution we'll have to go back in time:

I truly believe Mayor Lambi is a good and generous man but I also believe he is not an effective or even competent mayor. Never the less, he has always had a tendency to bring his benevolence into city hall with inappropriate liberal requests of the board and city. Just a few weeks ago during his "Mayor's Report" he told of a homeowner who ran over his water meter with a lawn mower and could not afford to pay the $180 it costs to replace it. Lambi offered the first $75 of his own money to help and publicly solicited the aldermen to contribute to help out. Another incident was several months ago in a public meeting. He proposed that the city enter into a "contract for services" with the 501c LINC Corporation in the amount of $18,000. Their county funding had all but dried up and Lambi thought sure that the aldermen would buy-in under public pressure. Prior to these, over the last five years he has wanted the city to pay for all sorts of give-aways to needy organizations or individuals. When The Lurchettes were in power, they were all too incompetent to know they were being used and granted many of his cornball ideas.

Lambi defended his right to say anything in board meetings because it's a constitutional right—freedom of speech—even to the extent of calling on City Attorney, Paul Rost for support of his argument. Rost explained that any citizen can come into the meeting during open forum and exercise their constitutional rights. As far as elected officials, there are policies of behavior at the Dias and the aldermen can amend or drive those policies in any direction they want. Alderman Vann Sample suddenly turned into a junk yard dog joining in on the meal: "The citizens who come to open forum are allowed to ask for support of anything they wish, but when an elected official uses their report to ask others to support some personal cause, I believe it to be inappropriate behavior." It is embarrassing to the elected officials as well as the community to be put on the spot in a public meeting with requests for support of financial or other needs. If Lambi is seeking support for something, he needs to talk with the aldermen before springing it on them unexpectedly in the middle of a video taped public meeting.  All of the aldermen except for Tow and Guccione chimed in on the sound drubbing of Lambi and his unethical tactics.

I'm certain that Lambi promises people things and then purposely puts the alderman in uncomfortable situations in an attempt to keep his promises. What it really serves to do is embarrass and further alienate them. Lambi invited the LINC Corporation chairman to lobby in an attempt to shame the alderman into donating money for their cause to the board of crickets. The latest incident (paying for the water meter) is what took the aldermen over the edge and unleash the dogs of war.

If you haven't taken the time to watch board meetings at; wentzvillemo.org, you've missed out on a great many nuances that fill in the blanks during a proposal such as that offered by Kross. From the casual audience, the introduction of this resolution would sound like any other political mumbo-jumbo, but when you're an informed citizen, not only do you know what's going on—you'll have a better government. The election of our representatives is extremely important. The men and women running for office in any community are only incompetent when their communities voters are incompetent. Lambi has illustrated the damage an uninvolved figurehead can do. Please get involved and check out the credentials and records of our candidates before you go to the polls to cast your vote! Wentzville can ill-afford another incompetent Chief Executive Officer but if we do elect one, Cry Havoc and Let Go the Dogs of War!

Committee Formed for Hiring New CA

The special meeting on the evening of Tuesday, October 11th dealt with the selection process for a new CA (city administrator) and appointment of the committee. Oh, I forgot to tell you; Andy McCown will not be coming back to Wentzville. At the meeting of September 28th Mayor Lambi lost another battle trying to hire his buddy McCown for acting CA at a rate equal to $165,000 a year. Of course he would only have been here two or three months but that could add up to over $40,000, that seemed like an awful lotta dough to me. The board put the poo-poo on the idea and Lambi pouted the rest of the evening. They also put the kibosh on hiring a consultant firm to search for a CA stating; "the city has an HR Manager" and that she can handle it. I'm not going into the whole WA-WA-WA thing again but that sums up Lambi's meeting that evening.

Back to the matter at hand: The selection committee will be comprised of the Board of Aldermen, HR Manager (Amy Holloway) and the mayor. Lambi tried to get the acting CA and directors of each department on the committee but the board once again denied his bid. They discussed and set benefits on top of a base salary of $108,000 per year plus a $6,000 car allowance which was vigorously debated by Alderman Cheryl Kross.

A discussion was had regarding a requirement that candidates need to be a member of the ICMA (International City/County Management Association) and Lambi once again made a fool of himself trying to demand its necessity. He stated; "it was an elite organization and as Chief Executive Officer I will not accept any recommendation from the board without it!" When queried, Dennis Walsh stated that it comes with very expensive price-tag. ICMA dues are 0.008 x base salary—in this case it comes to around $850 per year. Aldermen Vann Sample Jumped on Lambi's remark, "I don't want to hear that you will not accept board recommendations..." It's the first time I'd heard Sample chastise the mayor for his CEO (I'm important) talk—now it's unanimous—all of the aldermen have taken shots at him at one time or another in recent weeks for his idiotic blathering. Lambi likes calling himself "Chief Executive Officer," it gives him some sort of self-worth, I guess. It's apparent to everyone that if he had been doing his job as mayor, the Aldermen wouldn't have to be doing it for him. Another item Lambi slid in; was when he mentioned hiring an Assistant CA. There is no intention of doing that but he mentioned it for some reason and I found out later that he promised the job to another friend. It's tough finding friends when your going down, Lambi can't even buy one.

The procedure was finally set except for one more foot in Lambi's mouth. In his frustration over not getting his way, he compared the candidate to several successful men; "he needs the qualities of Ghandi, Bill Gates..."(among others.) Aware of Lambi's chauvinist characteristics, Alderman Cheryl Kross jumped in; "HELLO, Mayor, I'm here!" Red-faced and grinning like the Cheshire Cat he tried desperately to slight the fact that once again he had let his disregard of women shine through. He stumbled around to add some successful women to his list, Mother Theresa was his first choice, but the cat was definitely out of the bag regarding his low opinion of women in general. Alderman Kross should bring a pot to meetings and beat on it with a wooden spoon to get Lambi's attention and remind him that it's not nice to discriminate.

Rattle Those Pots and Pans

The October 5th board of alderman's work session addressed the budget, another completely enjoyable two hour lesson in drollery. Acting City Administrator Dennis Walsh presented and the entire staff was on hand to field questions.

This board is intent on cutting the budget and completely focused on trimming the fat out of the city. Addressed in The Wentzvillian of September 29th; Payback Time for a Decade of Unbridled Growth, there are some hard choices to be made—reducing taxes and employee benefits are two of the proposed remedies. Alderman Vann Samples is on record that he does not want to lower the real estate taxes and on the other hand he is fighting a reduction in employee benefits. Samples was not in city hall during boom times when the city was increasing the size of Wentzville government so he seems unaware that we have a bureaucracy based on a population of 50,000 citizens, Wentzville falls considerably short of that number today sporting 13,000 platted and 3,700 undeveloped lots. With the election only 5 months away most of the aldermen are tip-toeing around the subject of layoffs but unless staff comes up with the directed half-million dollars, downsizing could be a possibility. Politicizing issues will come more frequent in the coming months.

Speaking of "cutting the fat out of the city," Mayor Lambi was in particularly rare form again last night. During the budget presentation, Alderman Cheryl Kross asked questions of Walsh regarding the reserve funds in every budget department trying to determine if they were non restricted funds. Along about the third time she questioned one of the unallocated funds Lambi had had enough of her inquisition and in his inimitably condescending manner cut in to challenge, "what (possible) value would that be?"

Lambi has a history of treating women aldermen disrespectfully. Since Kross was elected three years ago, he has continuously attempted to intimidate and belittled her in public meetings. In previous years when Peggy Meyer and Cheryl Kross were on the same board, Lambi was particularly aggressive in his quest to make them both look like idiots. There were times that I felt terrible about the abusive verbal beatings they took from Lambi. After one particularly hard badgering he gave Kross, he was called on his attitude toward her and gave an apology to her both publicly and in private. His pseudo remorse didn't last long. These are not isolated or infrequent incidents, any current or past alderman can verify them. Lambi, plain and simply is a chauvinist, his chauvinism is manifested in his public treatment of our women Aldermen. He has shown us that he thinks women don't belong in the political arena, it appears to him they should "get back in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans." I'm surprised that a husband or close friend of one of these women hasn't invited Mayor Lambi to a meeting on the parking lot.

One highlight of the meeting came when the aldermen asked Walsh about the ongoing investigation of the benefits comparison analysis and when it might be presented for board scrutiny. As Walsh began to answer their question and realizing he didn't have all of the information (which is understandable due to his performance of two major roles,) he called on the Human Resources Director Amy Holloway. She presented a list of items that she and her department are ready to report on which made the alderman's eyes sparkle. I thought she should have taken a bow. Great job Amy! (It's a good thing you're not an alderman and come under the scornful eye of the master.)

Influence Peddling in Wentzville?

Wikipedia defines: "Influence peddling; the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence."

Surely, your thinking, this couldn't happen in the itsy-bitsy town of Wentzville. Could it be that one of our elected officials is doing just that thing? Tune in again later for more on the subject of Influence peddling and Wentzville.

Wentzville Candidates—An Open Invitation

Attention Wentzville Candidates:

The Wentzvillian is being read by voters all over the city, receiving over 400 hits per month and our numbers are increasing every day. This expanding community of citizens have a need to know where the candidates who are going to be representing them stand on important issues concerning the future of Wentzville. Issues such as public safety, growth, taxes, budget, parks, roads, and other infrastructure, These subjects are paramount to voters when going to the polls to elect you as their mayor or aldermen. We know that elected officials, staff, employees, and prospective candidates, along with hundreds of voters follow The Wentzvillian, so we are offering candidates the opportunity to state their platform here for Wentzvillians to see.

The Wentzville Chamber of Commerce has historically held a "Candidate's Night" each year, and are planning another this year. The problem with this forum; it's only one time—one evening. Historically the event has been sparsely attended and it could never reach the audience we have here every single day. The citizens who attend "Candidate Night" are concerned voters, and even though the audience may be small, attendees do  talk to other concerned voters and so do The Wentzvillian readers. To be heard by Wentzville voters candidates need to be accessible to the most voters possible, as often as possible. The Wentzvillian offers candidates the opportunity to campaign to  hundreds of interested and motivated voters.

The process is simple, just email (or comment here) your platform topics or comments you want voters to hear. We will post your statement and it will become a part of this blog to be seen 24 hours a day until the election April 3rd, 2012. The Wentzvillian is like having a "Candidates Night" every day and every night. To reach the Wentzvillian, you may either leave a comment here (below) or click the following link: thewentzvillian@aol.com to send an email. Every candidate's post or email will be posted as they come in. We also invite citizens to post comments or email us with questions for the candidates. Comments and emails should be signed. If you wish to have your name omitted from the posting we can oblige but it must be available (comments may be edited for objectionable material.)

The citizens of Wentzville look forward to read what our candidates have to say and how they can make Wentzville a better place to live, work, and play.