The Invisible Man — Michael Hays

 

The scrambling in City Hall continues after our legal services team rejected the city's offer of a six month extension on their contract. Sitting around waiting for the city to find a replacement would do nothing positive for their firm's reputation. Cunningham, Vogel, and Rost has represented Wentzville through three administrations and now because two aldermen and the mayor don't like the advice of City Attorney, Paul Rost, they kicked them to the curb.

 

Aldermen Cheryl Kross, Sonya Shryock, and Mayor Guccione all have personal reasons for not wanting Rost as Wentzville's city attorney. I've underscored; personal, because each of these people created problems for themselves and rather than hire an attorney for themselves, they thought Rost should act as their private attorney. When Rost, who looks out for the interests of the city gave them his opinion, this group didn't like what he advised.

 

Guccione was in serious legal trouble after he violated the city's copyright laws during the 2012 election. The board was about to turn his case over to the prosecuting attorney when Mayor Paul Lambi issued an executive pardon one week before Guccione was sworn-in as mayor. Guccione figured wrongly that the city attorney was there to represent him through the ordeal, he found out that Rost represented the city, not individuals within the city. After that was all finished, Guccione was going to spare no expense in relieving Rost of his position, having no board support, he needed to wait until the legal services contract was up for renewal.

 

Kross and Shryock's dislike of Rost is an entirely different story. These two aldermen have gotten themselves into some potential legal problems that I'm holding onto until such time that a determination has been made. Once I get the first indication of anything going public, I assure my readers, I'll be all over it. They each went to Rost with their problems and they also didn't like the advice they were given. Time will tell about the possible slings and arrows headed their way. These two aldermen are not enough to reject the recommendation of the Professional Services Committee so, enter Alderman Micheal Hays.

 

Hays came to office by appointment of Guccione and was elected in 2013 via one of the most unpopular elections ever in the history of Wentzville. This may not have happened if Kross hadn't flipped on her vote to allow Guccione to appoint him, now Guccione had his first real ally on the board of aldermen. Hays has literally done nothing productive on the Board of Alderman, his sole mission is taking up space until such time that Guccione needs him to vote on an issue. I defy anyone, anywhere, to successfully refute that assessment.

 

So here we are, Guccione, Kross, and Shryock dislike Rost because they don't feel he helped them with their personal problems, still not enough votes to have him removed from his job. Now we add the vote of Guccione's pet monkey, Hays, and it's instant revenge.

 

Something inside me says that none of these revolutionaries gave a thought to the fact that when they threw out Rost, they were throwing out the entire legal services team. Tom Cunningham, Bond Counsel, has a reputation of being one of the best, if not the finest Bond Counsel in the entire state, and they didn't renew his contract because they didn't like the advice of the City Attorney. I have to wonder about the leadership qualities of any of those who voted against Cunningham, Vogel, and Rost on September 25th.

 

At any rate, the scrambling goes on in the city — Wednesday's Board of Aldermen meeting, October 9th, has the possibility of being exciting. "NEW BUSINESS: Item 3, (ID # 4834) Professional Services Committee," and "Item 4, (ID # 4833) Municipal Legal Services," holds the potential for some real serious discussions. I look to see Aldermen Stokes, Gard, and Gossett bring up some very interesting questions for Guccione, Kross, Shryock, and the invisible man, Hays.