Grumble, Bumble, Stumble, and Mumble

I always find it fascinating to watch Mayor Nickolas Guccione grab onto a subject that he had nothing to do with claiming it for his own. He's desperately trying to be the champion of the taxpayers but with few, or no ideas of his own, he latches onto anything proposed by someone else. Off he scurries with his new idea avoiding research and giving no thought to the consequences—this is the part where it usually ends up badly for our hero—a safe falls out of the sky onto the head of Mayor Wile E. Coyote.

Now that I have your interest, the Board of Alderman meeting of February 27th (video) was over before 11:00 PM but in my elevated years I found it difficult staying awake. The Peruque Valley and Heartland Park projects, "(ID # 4369) was an exciting discussion and I will dedicate my next writing to cover the story. Other than the parks discussion it was the subtleties of the meeting that piqued my real interest.

Let's start with the smoking issue brought up in; "Heal Thy Self," which I posted on February 26th. Mayor Guccione got his brilliant idea from Alderman Forrest Gossett during a phone call when Gossett told him that he had seen employees smoking in City owned vehicles. This led to the "To All Employees" letter which was the subject of my scrutiny yesterday, the rest is history. Guccione claims to anyone who he thinks might believe him that he does not read The Wentzvillian. Coinsidently he brings up smoking in front of the buildings even to the extend of giving a no smoking distance from the front door of city hall, a number that was posted as a comment to this blog.

I've stated on numerous occasions that our mayor is incapable of making decisions and this is the subject for his new idea to disallow smoking within 25 feet from the entrance of any municipal building. The fun part of this is that he brought it up after reading it here and he introduced it into discussion yet he will not issue a directive. It's funny that he issued a directive on the 25th that there will be no more smoking in city vehicles but he won't issue a directive for a smoke-free zone at the entrances of city owned buildings. Why is that? Well, Mayor Coyote rode one of his ACME rockets into the side of a cliff (it begins to smart after a while) and The Wentzvillian challenged the hypocrisy of his directive.

"I'm not going to tell people they can't smoke in public." He wants the Aldermen to take the next ride on his rocket. He stated that he won't make the decision unless the Aldermen make it for him. He's slicker than a firehouse pole. Rather than conform to OSHA and Federal rules, which seems to be a no-brainer (something that is well within Gucciones ability), Mayor Coyote won't issue the directive and defaults to the Board to make it for him. If a Mayor can't make a decision based on Federal guidelines, I question whether or not he is a Mayor.

Now let's move on to another funny story. Last week the Board of Aldermen set the agenda for the "Strategic Planning Session" (retreat), without the assistance of the Mayor, who was supposed to do it. Every year since I've been watching City Government the Mayor has always set aside a half-hour or so to give his goals for the City to the Aldermen at the retreat, oops, I mean Strategic Planning Session. I thought it curious last week that his goals for 2013 weren't discussed as a topic for the meeting. Guccione was suspiciously silent and didn't mention that it was his place to tell the Aldermen his plans for the coming year. After thinking about it a while, Guccione doesn't have any goals!

"Looking at our agenda for the Strategic Planning Session we didn't include the Mayor's Goals," said Alderman Cheryl Kross. Her offering was met with Guccione's patented deer in the headlights look, I love her, she's cuter than a junebug in a jumpsuit. Again he didn't know what to say but agreed to take a time slot. When opening on Friday evening was suggested Guccione said "I won't be there Friday." They then offered Saturday and Guccione knew he was trapped he was going to have to fabricate some goals to give to the Aldermen. Saturday ... or Friday ... whenever ...  Guccione grumbled, bumbled, stumbled, and mumbled.

I was disappointed last year because the retreat video experienced "technical problems," I didn't have the opportunity to hear his goals for last year. This year I have been guaranteed that citizens will be able to watch Guccione give his famous "Goals for 2013." I can't wait to see what he's going to say simply because he has no goals, never has, and never will. He is going to have to find out what the Aldermen have done to effect the coming year and lay claim to it. I'll bet he won't take credit for the Splash Station or the other new parks. Honestly, I cannot think of a single thing that he can ask the Aldermen to achieve for him, but a wink's as good as a nod to a blind mule.

More Wile E. Coyote funny stuff came up in a discussion regarding appointments to committees and boards. I need to tell you about it so I'm putting this reminder to myself for my next writing  to explain just what happened, funny stuff, you'll love it.