Six hours of my Saturday, October 26th, was spent watching the Board of Alderman budget meeting. Unfortunately for me, with all the Power Point presentations given by each department there was no video of the mayor and aldermen doing their thing, so I had to trot down to city hall to watch in person. I will report my findings later in the week because I need to make good on the promise made to my readers on how Alderman Cheryl Kross found a way of spending more tax-dollars than we needed to spend.
A month ago on September 26th, I posted "I'll have no Truck With Plot — Sheldon Cooper (click here), where I wrote about the rejection of the findings of the Professional Services Committee that consequently caused the Wentzville legal services company to decline a six-month extension on their contract. On November 8th, the contract of Cunningham, Vogel, and Rost, P.C. (CVR) to represent Wentzville will end and the city has been scrambling to figure out what to do ever since.
The blame for our legal services team dismissal of the extension can be spread around, but the brunt must fall on Alderman Kross and Sonya Shyrock, they had personal reasons to get rid of City Attorney Paul Rost. These alderman cost the city dearly because now rather than pay legal services on a contracted basis, Wentzville will pay hourly rates-plus, until they can contract another firm. The remainder of the blame goes to Mayor Nickolas Guccione for breaking the tie because he disliked Paul Rost for not getting him out of his 2012 ethical problems, and Alderman Micheal Hays for doing whatever Guccione wanted him to do.
After going into public record I found a letter from CVR which outlines the hourly rate the city will pay them until another firm is contracted, and until such time all outstanding items are resolved. "Our billing rates for attorneys currently range from $250 to $305 for shareholders, $145 to $205 for associates, and $80 to $125 for legal assistants. Any Bond Counsel services requested will be charged based on such fee arrangement as is agreed to. Consistent with our policy, we will bill the City on a monthly basis for professional fees and expenses incurred on your behalf and bills will be addressed to the City for payment. We will include in our statements separate charges for photocopying, messenger and delivery service, computerized research, travel, long distance telephone, and telecopy expenses. Other fees and expenses (such as accountants, consultants, or other professionals, if required) generally will not be paid by us, but will be billed directly to the City.
Each of the three "shareholder" attorneys are charging between $250 and $305 per hour and it's not a case where we are being charged for one or the other, all three will more than likely be billing at the same time. If we average it out, Wentzville will be paying around $832 per hour for just the attorneys, no telling how many hours the "associates," and "legal assistants," will charge, I think it fair with everything listed we're somewhere in the ballpark at $1000 per hour, just for attorneys. and all because Kross, Shyrock, and Guccione had an ax to grind. With the pending cases, new cases, and bond work to be done before the City can secure a new legal services firm, it could add up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few months. Thank you Alderman Kross, Shyrock, and Mayor Nickolas, I hope you got this added into your "tight budget."
What's worse, even after a new legal team is contracted and being paid by the City, we will still be paying CVR for the many "... (ongoing law suits), Economic Bond Counsel who handles the; Bear Creek CID, GM Chapter 100 Bonds, ongoing advice and monitoring of existing issues, (SRF Bonds, revenue bonds, TDDs, CIDS, NIDS, etc.), and work through the new City Attorney as the point of contact. ..." It's anybody's guess how long (maybe years) these things may stretch out but until they are wrapped up, I strongly suggest that Alderman Kross, Shyrock, and Mayor Nickolas be made to sign over any paychecks the City gives them until such time that everything done currently by CVR is handled solely by the new legal services team. I don't think tax-payers should be made to pay for expenses to the City incurred by elected officials who have personal axes to grind. Of course, Hays should give back his paychecks simply because he's filler on the board for Mayor Nickolas.
What has transpired here is exactly why elections are so important to any city or government entity, we must elect people who are qualified and look out for the best interests of those who elected them. Take a look at their records, inside, and outside of the office they are seeking. If the voters had looked at Nickolas Guccione's record as an alderman, he would have been happily cutting up chickens and climbing the Schnucks corporate ladder, instead, he's the CEO, CFO, CO of the police force, leading 200 employees, safe-guarding Wentzville's operating expenses of $18,000,000, and a budget of over $50,000,000. With that kind of responsibility it's easy to take one's eye off of the ball, in the case of Nickolas Guccione he has never even seen the ball. As for the aldermen who created this situation, they didn't look far enough down the line, they never once asked the questions: What could happen if I take my personal grudge to my decision making for the City? What could happen if I insult the City's legal services team by not approving the recommendation of the professional services committee? And, would CVR really not accept our conciliatory six-month extension of their contract?
To watch our City Attorney, Paul Rost, sit through that grueling meeting where this group of unthinking aldermen raked him, and his team over their insulting coals was hard for me. Rost appeared to handle it in stride, but in my life I've learned never to insult or underestimate the power of an attorney, you never know when it might come back to bite you in the ass. Not once, did Kross, Shyrock, Hays, or Guccione ask themselves, or anyone else, the hard questions. They merely skipped their way into La-La land, hand-in-hand, merrily singing; "We're off to see the Wizard, the insidious Wizard of revenge."
So who actually got revenge on whom, and who is the real victim here? As I see it, CVR lost in the long run, Wentzville lost, the Tax-payers really lost, and after the next elections we can hope those responsible will lose; Kross, Shyrock, Hays, and Guccione. Cunningham. Vogel, and Rost, P.C. represent several cities and have earned accolades statewide, they really don't need Wentzville or this nut-bag group of politicians who drove them out of town. To Kross, Shyrock, Hays, and Guccione, I say: If you want to soar with eagles, don't be a duck, you might just find yourself being dinner, or did this unholy alliance just find that out?
What's worse, even after a new legal team is contracted and being paid by the City, we will still be paying CVR for the many "... (ongoing law suits), Economic Bond Counsel who handles the; Bear Creek CID, GM Chapter 100 Bonds, ongoing advice and monitoring of existing issues, (SRF Bonds, revenue bonds, TDDs, CIDS, NIDS, etc.), and work through the new City Attorney as the point of contact. ..." It's anybody's guess how long (maybe years) these things may stretch out but until they are wrapped up, I strongly suggest that Alderman Kross, Shyrock, and Mayor Nickolas be made to sign over any paychecks the City gives them until such time that everything done currently by CVR is handled solely by the new legal services team. I don't think tax-payers should be made to pay for expenses to the City incurred by elected officials who have personal axes to grind. Of course, Hays should give back his paychecks simply because he's filler on the board for Mayor Nickolas.
What has transpired here is exactly why elections are so important to any city or government entity, we must elect people who are qualified and look out for the best interests of those who elected them. Take a look at their records, inside, and outside of the office they are seeking. If the voters had looked at Nickolas Guccione's record as an alderman, he would have been happily cutting up chickens and climbing the Schnucks corporate ladder, instead, he's the CEO, CFO, CO of the police force, leading 200 employees, safe-guarding Wentzville's operating expenses of $18,000,000, and a budget of over $50,000,000. With that kind of responsibility it's easy to take one's eye off of the ball, in the case of Nickolas Guccione he has never even seen the ball. As for the aldermen who created this situation, they didn't look far enough down the line, they never once asked the questions: What could happen if I take my personal grudge to my decision making for the City? What could happen if I insult the City's legal services team by not approving the recommendation of the professional services committee? And, would CVR really not accept our conciliatory six-month extension of their contract?
To watch our City Attorney, Paul Rost, sit through that grueling meeting where this group of unthinking aldermen raked him, and his team over their insulting coals was hard for me. Rost appeared to handle it in stride, but in my life I've learned never to insult or underestimate the power of an attorney, you never know when it might come back to bite you in the ass. Not once, did Kross, Shyrock, Hays, or Guccione ask themselves, or anyone else, the hard questions. They merely skipped their way into La-La land, hand-in-hand, merrily singing; "We're off to see the Wizard, the insidious Wizard of revenge."
So who actually got revenge on whom, and who is the real victim here? As I see it, CVR lost in the long run, Wentzville lost, the Tax-payers really lost, and after the next elections we can hope those responsible will lose; Kross, Shyrock, Hays, and Guccione. Cunningham. Vogel, and Rost, P.C. represent several cities and have earned accolades statewide, they really don't need Wentzville or this nut-bag group of politicians who drove them out of town. To Kross, Shyrock, Hays, and Guccione, I say: If you want to soar with eagles, don't be a duck, you might just find yourself being dinner, or did this unholy alliance just find that out?
The Aldermen/women who voted against retaining VCR as legal counsel should be picking up the tab for the extra legal cost to the city. I hope there is something in what seems to be a very, very tight budget to cover these costs. If the city does have a revenue vs expense problem we hope the taxpayers remember who was responsible for the all the RED INK on the city Balance Sheet. Since Ms. Shryock is up for re-election and is a cause for the city going under financially we hope she haqs her bags packed for a swift exit out of town. Sorry young lady but you don't cut the mustard in the eyes of more and more people who put financial responsibility at the top of your scorecard every day. TA TA!
ReplyDeleteSonya Shryock has done a lot of damage in her first term as an alderman. She went in on the charade sponsored by Kross and Gooch using the Professional Services Committee's selection process as an excuse to remove one of the best legal teams in Missouri, all because Gooch and Kross didn't like Paul Rost.
ReplyDeleteThe Wentzvillian eluded to a report posted by the County Prosecuting Attorney where Shryock was directly involved in a plot to have Chief Lisa Harrison removed from her position. Wentzvillian, you need to tell what you know about this, it's public information, quit dancing around it and tell the voters of the plot. Gooch wants Harrison fired and Kross, Hays, and Shryock are in on it. Shryock is expendable, Kross and Gooch are staying in the background and are going to let Shryock take the hit. They all know Shryock cannot possibly win her re election bid in 2014 so they will get someone else and let her absorb the scandal. TELL WHAT YOU KNOW!
this is the first time I ever heard that our chief of police is targeted by the mayor and some alderwomen. is that true?
DeleteThis is a crock of bull, Lisa Harrison is one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I understand she's brought sanity to our police force and the majority of our officers like her and the way she commands. It's so much less chaotic then before she was sworn in. Gooch, Shryock, Kross, and Hays should be ashamed of themselves for wanting her to be fired.
DeleteWord on the street is that Ms. Shryock has been trying to enlist help to dig a hole for someone to step into. There isn't a sane person out there who would help her in what she is trying to do. The Police Chief is as straight as they come in a Missouri city.
DeleteI've given this some thought. With the present state of employees leaving the city I would be very very suspicious of anyone bring hired at this time. My guess anyone who gets a position at the city is a plant or freind of the aldermen/ mayor. Now, the only way to fix this would be to vote the aldermen & Mayor out if office then terminate all employees hired at the time of this terror.. My guess is you'd already have to go back to 2011 as I'm sure the city politicians have already stacked the employee list.
ReplyDelete