Report Card Part I

Two months from now, April 2nd, Wentzville will be going to the polls to elect or reelect Aldermen from 2 wards and our Municipal Judge. I posted on January 22nd; The Race is On where I listed the candidates for each race and the reasons for my choices. It is known that Mayor Nick Guccione will be supporting Robert Hussey and Michael Hays because these people will bolster his convoluted agenda. He will also be promoting Michael Carter for Judge simply because Carter worked so hard for Guccione's mayor election last year, in other words he owes Carter.

Even though this is not a Mayor election, The Wentzvillian thought it a good time to evaluate Mayor Guccione's first year in office. He published a list (during his campaign for mayor) of eight bullet points, that will be addressed one by one. After reading his promises and results of his promises to the voters who supported him, rational thinking individuals may want to look harder at the qualifications and motives of the people he is supporting in the election of April 2, 2013.

1. "Put the needs of the people ahead of special interests."

Most recently: Mayor Guccione activated the local NAACP and another group by introducing a resolution to rename one of our downtown historic street names to Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. This subject brought forth a huge response from citizens opposing his agenda. Alderman Guccione made promises to these groups who supported his campaign for mayor, his idea of putting the people ahead of special interests is to ignore the people if he can find someone to blame it on.

Secondly; Joining the drive by the Parks Board Committee, Guccione pressured the Board of Aldermen to quit evaluating the contractor's on the parks projects. "The people want this now," he exclaimed over and over! Due to the media coverage created by Guccione, the Aldermen were rushed into making decisions they now regret: ROCK in the splash station area. So much rock was discovered that the project is currently $29o,000 over budget. With $2,000 left in the contingency fund, how will he complete the other 90 percent of the project? Had Guccione done his job, he would have sided with the Aldermen, not the Park Board Committee, and taken the necessary time to insure this kind of problem would not have occured. Now there is a huge problem with trying to complete the parks as planned. His idea of siding with the people is to ignore the voters and side with the employees, Mayor Guccione needs to learn the difference between Wentzville taxpayers and employees.

2. Attract more quality jobs and help our local businesses to grow." Mayor Guccione opposed the Sam's Club coming to Wentzville in every vote of the Board. His opposition was so intense that he didn't even attend the grand opening, instead he asked Alderman Rick Stokes to officiate in his absence, Sam's Club brought in hundreds of jobs to Wentzville and a great deal of revenues to the City coffers but being supported by his union during and after his campaign he remained loyal and did everything he could to block Sam's Club (this item also fits into 1 above). Alderman Guccione also had the honor of voting "Nay" every time there was a vote to allow WalMart to become a supercenter. His rational was that since his employer, Schnucks, was right across the Parkway he didn't want the competition. Guccione's idea of attracting jobs is to say "No" to jobs and business if it crosses his political or personal agenda, regardless of the effect on the City.

3. "Keep our city safe." Since I can't find any Guccione initiatives in this category, my question is; What did he do?

4. "Be fiscally responsible." This promise is laughable. The Aldermen handled the 2013 budget with nothing from our mayor other than the occasional snore. During the investigation for the City's investments, Guccione didn't have a clue where they were or even who did. Unfortunately, our mayor can't read a balance sheet, he is a butcher by trade, not an accountant or bank president, he is merely the CEO of a city with a 60 million dollar budget. In his realm, he doesn't need to know anything about City finances he has people he can blame if anything goes wrong. Mayor Guccione's idea of being fiscally responsible is to watch the aldermen and staff handle the money stuff.

The Wentzvillian's next post (Report Card Part II) will list the remaining four unkept promises.