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!