We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This!

 

I've figured out why more citizens of Wentzville don't attend the Board of Aldermen meetings — because they have lives! Why any private citizen would want to spend seven-plus hours watching local government pass or fail bills and resolutions just doesn't make sense, and Mayor Nicolas Guccione knows it. With tongue in cheek I suggest—it's a sadistic plot. Anytime he can stretch a four-hour meeting into seven or more it means fewer people watching him stumble over misdirecting the meeting, thereby not seeing him for the failure he really is.

This is getting old, but once again I don't know where to start. Guccione made an ass of himself so many times during the Board of Alderman meeting of October 9, 2013, it had to be seen to be believed, but there was more; the "girls" Aldermen Cheryl Kross and Sonya Shryock continued playing leap-frog; Alderman Chris Gard made an unusual statement during his Alderman Report; Guccione's pet monkey, Michael Hays, did absolutely nothing productive again; and President of the Board, Rick Stokes, chastised Guccione for his poor leadership, but the funny thing is; I don't think he even realized how serious Stokes was.

Generally I watch the meeting video before posting just to make sure that I actually heard what I actually heard, but "Due to technical difficulties the video for the meeting is unavailable." If I were Guccione, I wouldn't want anyone going back to see how poorly I ran the meeting either.

One of my faviorate Aldermen to watch (NOT!), especially when I want to take a nap, is Guccione's pet monkey, Michael Hays. He usually says nothing — ever, but this time he decided to open his mouth and remove any doubt that he is really interested in what's going on. It came after the aldermen heard the "Public Hearing" for McBride Peruque, LLC., who wants to build out the subdivision; Peruque Hills Estates. Almost 300 lots were left un-built after the original builder bailed on the project. It's complicated, but it boiled down to McBride asking to change the side-yard setback from six feet, to five feet. Hays, who spent way to many years on planning and zoning needs to go back, if they'll have him. His reason for voting "Nay" on the first reading revolved around his bedroom habits which was way too much information for me. It was said that in other instances, this type of change had been approved in other subdivisions in Wentzville, but not under Hays' watch. He said: "Just because we did it before doesn't mean we will do it again. If I were to vote for this, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night." What the hell, you don't need to sleep at night, you've been doing enough of that while trying to conduct Wentzville city business as an alderman.

 

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I can't cover all of what happened last Wednesday night during this writing, but over the seven-plus hour meeting several things need to be addressed.

1) Alderman Chris Gard, who is one our most rational aldermen very seldom gets upset at the dais. In the three years he's served on the board, I can think of only two. That's why I was surprised to hear him get angry at an un-named member of the board of aldermen because his name was mentioned in a report of an investigation conducted by the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney. Subsequently, he apologized to Chief Lisa Harrison three times during his tirade. I have read the report and know the facts of the case, but I doubt any of my readers would understand what's going on without the information in the report, and I'm reluctant to divulge it at this time. I'm sure viewers of the meeting were puzzled, and in my cynical way; I wonder if the video of the meeting suffered from a real technical difficulty — or an actual legal problem.

2) If there were ever any doubt that Aldermen Kross and Sonya Shryock were voting together on everything, that thought was put to rest at this meeting. Both voted "Nay" on the final reading of Bill No. 3501 which funded the new Economic Development Director position. Then, on Bill No. 3502 which funded the IT Manager position, Shryock paused for an uncomfortable 20 to 30 seconds before she reluctantly voted "Yes." What's funny about this is that Kross did exactly the same thing immediately following Shryock, these two are definitely in lock-step.

3) Now before I close, it must be mentioned how dissatisfied President of the Board, Rick Stokes, was about the lack of direction Guccione gave in keeping the meeting orderly. It was getting late and Stokes said, "Mr. Mayor, you need to get control of this meeting, we cannot continue operating like this." Guccione's reply was barren of sincerity, "Oh, I know." This meeting didn't close until 1:20 AM and they still hadn't gone into executive session, by the time they went home, it was after 2:30 AM. Guccione let the public speak during "Open Forum," and "Public Hearings," and then proceeded to let them talk from the podium and their seats during "Bills and Resolutions," or pretty much whenever they wanted to be heard. He has no idea of how to run a meeting which doesn't surprise me, it took him a year-and-a-half to learn how to use the gavel (sometimes).

I saw Mayor Paul Lambi conducts meetings, and he was good at it, rarely did he let anyone other than petitioners speak during "Bills and Resolutions," and rarely did he ever have a meeting run past 11:00 PM. So what's the difference? Simple: Guccione doesn't see the public as citizens talking when they want to, he sees them as voters that he doesn't want to offend by telling them, "the public had their chance to speak during 'Open Forum,' and 'Public Hearings,' after that comes the business portion of the meeting, and the public just listens."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Mayor Nickolas Guccione is incompetent when it comes to anything having to do with government, and it glows when he's at the dais. I feel sorry for the staff who has to sit for over seven hours listening to citizens talking when they shouldn't, and discussions that are covered over and over while the mayor naps. The employees probably work 10 to 12 hours a day running their departments and then they have to sit through another seven hours of Guccione's lack of control of the meeting, it's a crime. He doesn't care, he doesn't work cutting up chickens on Thursday, it's his day off, but the employees need to get some rest if they are expected to function in the high-stress administration of King Nickolas.

The meeting of October 9th was a product of the Aldermen giving Guccione his head. They stopped running the meetings for him and are letting him excel at screwing it up. The last two regular meetings ran until after midnight. Don't the aldermen have grounds enough over the first year-and-a-half  to censure Mayor Nickolas for incompetence? Stokes called him out, but that alone is not going to straighten out the mess Guccione has created, it's going to take something else. Guccione just does not understand what's going on around him. I can't believe the aldermen who have eight-to-five jobs don't complain about getting out of city hall before midnight, these agendas under Guccione are no more loaded than the ones in Lambi's administration.

A lot more happened during the seven-and-a-half hour meeting and I will report more next time.  Right now, I've got surf to deal with.