Watkins, Gap-1, & The Missouri Ethics Commission

In 2011 and 2012 The Wentzvillian posted several articles which exposed alleged pay-to-play ethics violations by then-Mayor Paul Lambi and Mr. Ed Watkins. Lambi was outraged in Board of Aldermen meetings trying to defend himself against allegations regarding a mysterious $15,000 check and his connection with "Graduate America Priority 1," or "GAP-1." Executive sessions came frequently as the City Attorney, Paul Rost, Mayor Lambi, and Aldermen discussed the allegations. The Wentzvillian's speculations in the articles regarding the goings-on in those sessions are what spurred the City to have the St. Louis Police Department come and sweep the Wentzville City Hall for bugs.

 

This subject remained dormant as the Missouri Ethics Commission investigated the facts around the alleged play-for-pay scheme dreamed up by Watkins and Lambi—until a few weeks ago. The Board of Aldermen directed the City Attorney to draft a letter to the Missouri Ethics Commission to find out the status of their complaint, low and behold, last Monday case number 12E005 was filed; "Missouri Ethics Commission, Petitioner, v. Ed Watkins, Respondent; JOINT STIPULATION OF FACTS, WAIVER OF HEARING BEFORE THE MISSOURI COMMISSION, AND CONSENT ORDER WITH JOINT PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSION OF LAW."

 

After digesting these documents signed by Ed Watkins on June 8, 2013, I have more questions than Answers. Other than Lambi not being a Co-Respondent, under the "JOINT PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT" header, items 2: "Respondent Watkins is a founder, shareholder, and registered agent of WE News, LLC, which was formerly known as Westplex ENEWS, LLC."; Item 3: Respondent Watkins is the owner of the fictitious name 'Winning Endeveavors.'"; Item 4: "Respondent Watkins is the founder of 'Graduate America Priority 1,' or 'GAP-1.'" In or about September of 2011, Respondent Watkins, together with Paul Lambi, filed paperwork with the Missouri Secretary of State to incorporate GAP-1 as a public benefit non-profit corporation, but on February 23, 2012, Respondent Watkins filed articles of dissolution. In July 2012, Paul Lambi filed with the Missouri Secretary of State a registration of fictitious name for Graduate America Priority 1 identifying "WE News, LLC as the owner of the business name." Why would Lambi register the same fictitious name that Watkins dissolved just four months earlier?

 

Now to jump around a bit: Item 5: "Mr. Lambi was paid by WE News, LLC, as C.E.O. of Winning Endeavors, Paul Lambi was also the mayor of Wentzville, Missouri, from 2004 through 2012." Item 11: As the founder and owner of WE News, LLC, and doing business as GAP-1, Respondent Watkins sought to establish an educational facility in the City of Wentzville." Item 12: "Respondent Watkins approached Rankin Technical College with a proposal to locate an educational facility in Wentzville, and requested a fund-raising agreement with Rankin that would have paid Mr. Lambi through GAP-1 a salary of approximately $60,000 per year for fundraising."

 

I advise anyone interested to read this nine page public document for yourself, there is just too much to put here, but the bottom line is that Ed Watkins admitted to the facts in this document. So, where does this leave Lambi? Watkins got a $100 slap on the hand with the promise that if he violates any of the items listed within the next two years he would pay an additional $900. Some allege that Lambi may be in even more serious trouble, it depends on what the Missouri Ethics Commission does with the information they've gathered during their investigation. We could have to wait another two years, who knows?

 

I've linked just a couple of several posts revolving around this situation below. During that period of time there was a lot of excitement surrounding this case and the involvement of Mayor Paul Lambi. Time will tell, and I assure you I will stay on top of it.

 

"The Illegal Practice Of Using One's Influence..." (December 16, 2011)

"Den Of Bell-Tails" February 14, 2012

 

 

Divide and Conquer

There is an inordinate number of strange things going on in City Hall today. The finance department has been decimated and Mayor Nickolas Guccione has been handed a fissure in the unity of this once strong knit Board of Aldermen, which he will surely exploit to his advantage.

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Last August, in an effort to find the City's investment accounts, the Board of Aldermen decided to abandon it's association with a long time auditor and go with another firm. At that time, the City had no idea how much or even where it's  money was invested—it's worthy to note that Nickolas Guccione was an aldermen when all of this was going on. Numbers have been thrown around over the past nine months in the range of $38 to $55 million dollars, that's a fair amount of dough to lose track of. As of today, the City believes they have located all of the accounts, banks, and investment firms holding Wentzville's money. The audit is still ongoing and will identify exactly how much money was invested and how much was retrieved. The Aldermen hope these numbers match and at this time they have no suspicion of wrong-doing or misappropriation.

Closely after the announcement to audit the City's investments using the new auditor, the City Finance Director, Dennis Walsh announces his retirement. Shortly after Walsh retired, the Accounts Payable Manager resigns, and then unexpectedly, this week the long-time Assistant Finance Director, Dana Belaska handed in her resignation. The question I had which was answered by President of the Board, Rick Stokes, was; "Can the City finance department function after losing these key employees?" I was assured that temporary employees have been brought on board and with the new Finance Director starting next week, everything is under control. The audit results will be public very soon and we will know if they located all of the City's investment accounts.

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Mayor Nuckolas Guccione is an opportunist, he always lays with the side that looks like it's a winner, that's why he will never commit or take responsibility for anything. His appointed Alderman, Michael Hays, who was allowed to serve on the Board thanks to Alderman Cheryl Kross (when she flipped on her vote), never adds anything to the meetings. I've learned over my short time on this planet that people become engaged in things they know about, and Hays has definitely lived up to that. He served 15 years on planning and zoning and if there is ever a discussion about that, or other committees, he's all over it. Unfortunately, that kind of representation does not get the business of the City done, so he's become a follower. It is amazing how much he resembles Guccione when he was an alderman, they both live under the same mantra; Get along to go along.

With the recent split in the Board, Guccione will choose to stay with the side he feels will do him the most good, as of now, it looks like he's snugging up to Aldermen Stokes and Chris Gard. Since Hays is of the same cloth, he will do whatever Guccione does. Next year, Stokes will be up for re-election and I'm confident that Guccione feels Stokes will be a huge political threat to run against him for mayor in 2016 so he will pull every trick he can to have him replaced in the 2014 election.

I know that Guccione all ready has enormous targets on both Aldermen Sonya Shyrock and Forrest Gossett and if he gets them replaced, he'll have the split board he wants where he will break the ties. There are some folks who say that Shyrock and Gossett are easy outs and if that's the case, Stokes, Gard, and Kross had better mend the fences soon or they will be having the same miserable time that Kross had in her first year.

A better Wentzville is not Guccione's goal—power—that's what he wants. After next April, he could have the power to screw up the City more than he and the Lurchettes had five years ago. It's known that he is not a leader, it was proven in his first year as an alderman and it hasn't improved at all since. His rein of terror will last at least two years after next year when he brings in feel-good legislation that will cost taxpayers dearly.

For the sake of Wentzville, this current Board of Aldermen need to reattach and keep their eyes on the brass ring. I've seen divides like this in the past and they have always worked out terribly for the City. The reasons this board is splitting are trivial and have nothing to do with the business of Wentzville and how it's governed, but if it's not resolved it will have a paramount effect. They need to stop taking the business of Wentzville personally—do the job and move on to the next one at hand—or everything you've accomplished will go down the crapper. You will be to blame for the chaos to come!

Guccicare

I need to voice my opinion one last time regarding the move of the city to put a $28 dollar fee on the ballot to set up a department to fix broken water and sewer laterals. This issue was inspired by our ultra-liberal mayor, Nickolas Guccione, and it just doesn't make sense that this Board of Aldermen would go along with it. Guccione is clearly setting up the city as an insurance company and the Aldermen are underwriting it because they say; "It will be voted on by the people." If that excuse is acceptable to them, I have a few questions and requests on the subject of Government run insurance.

Regardless of what Alderman Cheryl Kross wants to think about this being OK, it's still another layer of taxes and fees which further burden taxpayers. She has fought fiercely against any additional fees and taxes but this one is perfectly all right with her. What this is, is a liberal plan to take care of those few residents who experience a broken main each year, and bitch about how much it costs, saying "It's connected to the City infrastructure, the City should pay for it." Water and sewer laterals have been the responsibility of the homeowner since the first outhouse became a water-closet, what's changed?

This is a feel-good issue brought forward by a feel-good mayor who otherwise has no idea of what leadership means. I have to ask; what idiot would vote "no" on this issue? It's a no brainer, which seems to fall right in Guccione's wheel-house. But why stop there? Mr. Mayor, when a resident's driveway starts to crack over the years and costs them thousands of dollars to have it replaced, why not set up an insurance policy and department to cover that? After all, it is connected to City streets, why shouldn't the City pay for it? How many voters do you think would vote "no" on that? I  fail to see any difference at all.

Alderman Chris Gard said, "I haven't had one resident complaining that the City should pay for broken mains," Guccione rebutted, "I had two complaints just last week," yeah right! There's a right way of doing things and then there's the Guccione way. Getting one or two complaints over the years does not constitute setting up an insurance department for a few instances per year, that everyone else will pay for. I trust the City will publish exactly how many water and sewer laterals break each year. This whole situation stinks, and I'm surprised the Board of Aldermen is going to allow it on the ballot, and give our touchy-feely mayor a bullet point on his campaign literature. "Oh, looky, looky. what I done. I gave you Guccicare."

The Time Is Short, They Need Direction—Again!

The fate of a new city hall building placement is at hand and in the very near future,  in an executive session, the Board of Aldermen will be deciding its location. A serious dialog has been going on for more than fifteen years and I really wonder how long our current board members have even lived in Wentzville. Therein lies a major problem of having a Board of Aldermen who have a maximum of four rears of service on the Board. In May of 2012 The Wentzvillian posted; "City Hall Opinions" which listed each of their opinions regarding location.

Public opinion regarding the location of a new City Hall building was huge then (and still is), it mandated the passing of a resolution by the City. In 2003, "Resolution 03-098" in part reads; "That the Mayor and Board of Aldermen state the location of a future site of City Hall in the downtown district is preferred." Mayor Paul Lambi took great interest in historic Wentzville and spearheaded the Board of Aldermen to work toward building a new City Hall building in the downtown area.

On March 22, 2006, the Board of Aldermen voted to accept a proposal by Holleran, Duitsman Architects (HDA), in the amount of $272,000 to provide professional services for the planning of a City Hall and Public Works Facility and authorize a contract not to exceed an amount of $275,000 for the study (by the way, it ended up costing more than the limit). There were hundreds of citizens interested in this project and attended numerous public meetings and surveys held by HDA to support a new location in our historic district. Four locations were identified by HDA with the favorite of the citizens to be at the intersection of Pearce Blvd and N. Linn Avenue.

Last Wednesday evening at the Board of Aldermen work session, they had a discussion; "(ID # 4567) Discussion of Wentzville City Hall Project." Questions asked by some of the Aldermen were quite frankly disturbing. It is disheartening that Aldermen, who are relative newcomers to our city, eagerly disregarding the wishes and hard work of those who came before them. Equally disheartening was the lack of leadership displayed by our mayor, Nickolas Guccione. He should have been all over this with his recommendation, but in his usual "follow the pack attitude," said nothing. This is your chance to shine and you need to take a stand.

City Administrator, T. Michael McDowell, started the discussion and boiled it down to two sites. One on the Wentzville Parkway by the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) and an undescribed downtown location. He further said; by going through the studies made "five or six years ago" he figured out the downtown location was where the old Commerce building sets today, the corner of Pearce Blvd. and N. Linn Avenue.

Ward 2 Alderman, Sonya Shyrock, asked if they could look at other places to locate the new building. She wants to take a ride around town with McDowell to show him her new choices. From what she said, it sounds like she wants to redo the study and public opinions given over the last fifteen years, but I could be wrong because she never named her choice(s). I think she's in favor of the downtown location, but I can't say for sure.

Perhaps the most frustrating question was brought forward by Ward 1 Alderman, Cheryl Kross, to paraphrase, she asked; "Was there a resolution made by the City recommending a downtown location?" I know for a fact that she does not want City Hall in the downtown location at Pearce and N. Linn, and suspect she doesn't want it at the LEC location. In a discussion with her a month or so ago, I found her reason to be somewhat cryptic: "If we build a city hall building on that site, people would be tearing down historic buildings on Pearce Blvd." That's a noble thought but I think perhaps there may be an underlying agenda for not placing it there. To Aldereman Kross, who is a staunch conservative, I say; The city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this project already, do we really need to spend more to make the right decision?

The discussion was left with, they would further discuss the location choice at the June 26th Board of Aldermen Meeting and make the decision in closed session. Citizens need to be at that meeting to express their opinions—again!

Wentzville is at the crossroads, the new City Hall building could be an enhancement to Wentzville's history, not just another modern building out on the Sprawlway having little or no impact on our city's image. A classic three- or four-story building downtown would become a landmark in historic Wentzville rather than just another throwaway bit of dated architecture out by the subdivisions. Our historic image could be ensured and we wouldn't have to rename our city "The Fountains, Missouri," or "Bear Creek, Missouri," or "(insert a subdivision name here), Missouri." It's frustrating to have to ask every time we elect a new rash of Aldermen but: To my Wentzville neighbors, if you have any pride in our city, you need to be heard. Call your Aldermen or write city hall, don't let them disenfranchise you and our city's founders. The time is short and they need direction—again!