Turnip Truck 101

Before I get into more of last Wednesday's Aldermen meeting (click here) I wanted to mention that The Wentzvillian poll has Mayor Nickolas Guccione's job performance down one point from last week to 20%. If you haven't taken the time to vote in this poll, please do so.

I found it interesting that Guccione said in the meeting; "Mike (Hays) and me are going to various venues around town." He is prancing his ponies Hays and Hussey everywhere, giving them all the free face-time he can get for them. It's pretty disgusting to watch him use the mayor's office to drag his candidates out and endorse them at functions of the mayor. I urge my readers to lend support to the reelection of Ward 1 Alderman Cheryl Kross and Ward 3 Candidate Darrel Lackey.

Now what I promised: The Mayor is responsible for appointing members of the various boards, e.g., Board of Adjustment, Planning & Zoning, Parks, etc., the ensuing discussion during his "Mayor's Report" was comical. He needed to appoint a member to the Board of Adjustment who's term expired that day and he waived around a list of 20 applicants for boards. These applications were for different boards and dated back to 2009. Why he didn't tell the board that he needed board members before they expired was a mystery to the Aldermen.

Guccione explained that he needed several positions filled and only had two recent applications. The Board of Aldermen are trying to approve individuals from the wards with an equitable distribution of representation and it's the Mayor's responsibility to offer them the candidates. Ward 3 has a shortage of representation and Alderman Rick Stokes stated that he would like a resident of Ward 3 to be appointed to the Board of Adjustment. Guccione looked at his list and said that he wasn't sure how accurate it is anymore since some applicants had been on it so long. Alderman Cheryl Kross asked the Mayor; "Can you call the individuals and ask if they are still interested in serving?" Guccione paused, looking at the list and then back at Kross. I could see in his eyes the committee putting out a cigarette butt on the floor of his mind clouding his thought process, then he said; "I don't have time to call all of these people, I can't do it." He held out the list toward Kross and said; "You can do it if you like." The mayor is trying to get the Aldermen to do that job for him too.

This job should have been done before he brought the outdated list to the meeting. It's the Mayor's responsibility to have current volunteers lined up to be appointed but for some reason Guccione doesn't know that. I'll tell you, at that moment I had visions of Guccione sitting on the back of a turnip truck heading down Pearce Blvd. toward City Hall. Here we have a Mayor with an Executive Assistant who handles tasks just like this one and Guccione doesn't know to give it to her to make the calls and update the list, instead he says things like: "I don't have time," and "You can do it." I wonder if he knows he has an assistant and if he does, does he know her name? This is basic management, use the staff for the day to day activities of the city but Wile E. doesn't understand it.

Almost one year as Mayor and the things Guccione doesn't know about the job is overwhelming. He doesn't know that he is supposed to give the Aldermen his goals, not only to be budgeted for the coming year but to announce his goals to them so they could work together toward making them happen. Now we find that he doesn't even know that he is responsible for rounding up applicants to be appointed to the citizen's boards  This one in particular baffles me especially since he is so practiced in saying; "It's my appointment, it's my appointment." Here we have a Mayor with a 20 percent job approval rating and he wonders why. This is the same man who is endorsing Michael Hays, Robert Hussey, and Michael Carter in the April election, Guccione's performance should tell you everything you need to know about his sock-puppets.

I'm sorry I didn't get to the park projects discussion but it will be addressed in full in the next edition of The Wentzvillian.