"That Sucks."

 

Did you ever feel the hairs on the back of your neck bristle while walking along a dark road in the night, or get the feeling that you were being watched, or maybe a sense that you were being followed? Doing what I do — exposing politicians who don't always color insides the lines — has from time-to-time put me in a somewhat less than desirable position, and I'm fine with that. You can't rack up the number of political enemies I have made without expecting some retaliation, especially from those I've been critical of. I started this post with this because I want to let those who are following me know that I know who you are, where you work, and who ordered it. To those who pursue me I say; follow away, but don't get so comfortable that you don't look over your own shoulder occasionally, you too have an observer. When the time is right names will be posted here.
 

Last week's meeting of the board of aldermen of November 20, 2013 (click here), had it's moments. I will be pointing out a few of the highlights, but first an observation: It's just a little more than four months to the election and perhaps technology is responsible, but the usual array of hopeful candidates are no where to be seen. Leading up to every election in recent memory there has always been several would-be-aldermen seen at every aldermen meetings. Almost every wanna-be started showing up at the meetings about six-months prior to an election, to either mouth off, have a photo-op, or just take notes, but they aren't here yet. From what I've heard, Mr. Joe Howard may be running against Sonya Shryock for the Ward 2 seat and that may be why he stood up to offer a rant against President of the Board, Rick Stokes. If you'd like to watch it, it takes place during the "Open Forum" section of the agenda. I've also been informed that another lady may be entering the Ward 2 race, but as yet there's nothing concrete. In Ward 1, rumor has it that Jay Webber may be coming out of mothballs after his 2012 loss to Forrest Gossett. If everything is as before, Mayor Nickolas Guccione will play a big hand in helping Webber once again, beware of the King Nickolas brand of mud-slinging to be flying around again this year.

* * * * *

Retiring Purchasing Director, Jerry Hillin, gave his farewell address to the aldermen recapping all that has been accomplished and his hopes for the future. Hillin has been a very busy man during his time here, he wrote the new City purchasing policy and along the way, made a few enemies in City Hall. Always outspoken, Hillin once again took a shot across the bow of the elected officials ship. He said he would pay for a plaque to be placed in the entrance of city hall which would read: "BEFORE YOU ENTER, LEAVE YOUR POLITICS AT THE DOOR." Shortly after that impromptu message, Mayor Nickolas told him to move on. The City owes a lot to Jerry Hillin for all he's accomplished for the future of good government in Wentzville. I for one will miss him and wish him well in his retirement.

* * * * *

I ask all of my readers to go to the city video of this meeting at 3:38:30, and just watch the discussion of the signage for "Double Fine Zones." The presentation was given by Acting City Administrator, Doug Lee, and Public Works Director, Susan Mueller, who showed examples of the proposed "Double Fine Zone" signs. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the discussion, it's something you need to see, to believe. Alderman Sonya Shryock dominated the discussion with what appeared to be like someone picking out drapes. She made some strange statements about elderly drivers and how she thinks the signs should be much larger. In her opinion, what is good enough for neighboring cities is not good enough for Wentzville's (seemingly blind) elderly drivers.

* * * * * 

The "Aldermen Reports" were interesting, and there was a first. For the first time, perhaps ever, Alderman Cheryl Kross didn't prattle through a mountain of questions and minutia. When asked for her report she simply said, "I have no report." I need to think about that for a while.

There seems to be a mystery revolving around the report given by President of the Board Rick Stokes. From what I saw, Mayor Nickolas has singled out Stokes by having the directors send an email to Guccione anytime Stokes contacts them by phone or email, regardless of of the subject. It's funny that Guccione puffs up his chest and begins barking with hostility anytime Stokes or Gossett ask him a question. He really hates those guys, which means they must be doing the right thing, and that makes them okey-dokey with me.

Stokes asked him straight up if he was the only alderman that the directors report to Guccione about anytime he contacts them. Guccione got his hackles up, and for the second time in as many meetings he cited 125.100 Section C, stating, "It is a violation of City ordinance to undermine the duties of the Mayor." Unfortunately, Guccione doesn't seem to understand that his argument is not germane to that ordinance. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Mayor Nickolas must have forgotten that unlawful use of the City logo is a real crime. The Mayor is stirring the political pot with no basis of fact, he's after Stokes to get anything he can to use against him in the coming election, whether it's fact, or not.

* * * * *

 

The next item to look at is the "Mayor's Report, Ethics Policy Discussion." This item has been hotly contested for the last few weeks and it has become clear what's going on. Shryock has been asking to discuss this at several prior meetings and it has to do with accepting charitable donations by elected officials, here is where the story gets messy.

Shryock really doesn't have a dog in the ethics fight other than to be Guccione's front man. Guccione has recruited Shryock to do his bidding and she thinks it's in exchange for his support in the coming election. What she knows is; because of her poor record she has absolutely no chance of being re-elected on her own. So she figures if she nuzzles up to Guccione, he would support her campaign, I hope she tells me how that strategy worked out for her. She's begun following him around town like a puppy, but what she doesn't know is that Guccione doesn't care if she gets re-elected or not, he can use her now and for the next four months. He has her replacement waiting in the wings and he will use Shryock until that time, afterall, he still has Hays and Kross in his pocket, it's pretty pathetic. Her job performance rating is the lowest on the board and in her effort to salvage her seat, she turned from her opposition of Guccione—caving in to his politics, for that reason alone she really doesn't deserve a second term. Kross did that very thing about 10 months ago when she turned her back on the board to flip on her vote for Guccione's appointment of the unpopular choice of Michael Hays. I wonder today if, Aldermen Chris Gard and Gossett regret their vote to approve the appointment?

Back to the discussion: The ethics policy was revised after the incident involving Mayor Paul Lambi who confessed to the Missouri Ethics Commission his guilt in taking charitable donations for his benefit. Guccione wants to have this section repealed so that he can solicit donations for charitable organizations.

During the discussion, Alderman Forrest Gossett tried to explain why the policy excluded allowing elected officials to accept charitable donations without pointing fingers at Lambi. Guccione got huffy again and in his paranoid way barked; "This is pretty insulting Sir. You talk about a Mayor in the past using charitable donations for their own benefit, Sir, but I never saw that, show me that in writing, Sir!" Guccione has either got a real short memory, or he was asleep in the closed sessions of that time, because the report clearly states that very thing. At one point during the battle with Gossett, Guccione said. "That sucks!" I've never heard a mayor use that term from the dais before, then again, Guccione does a lot of things I've never seen a mayor do or say before, and he doesn't do a lot of things a mayor should do and say.

Guccione used Shryock to bring the ethics policy back to the board, he will do anything to get it changed. I wish Shryock luck with her April election, she's gonna need it. When she's sitting at home after losing the election, I wonder if she'll remember how much she hated Guccione when she was a contributing member of the board during her first year in office? Please watch this "Mayor's Report," I think you'll find it both informative, and entertaining.

 

The Spankings Are Coming — Tra-La, Tra-La!

 

What an interesting Board of Aldermen meeting of November 13, 2013 (click here), the proceedings were revealing to any serious follower of Wentzville government. The chamber was filled to capacity with residents to rail against the Lombardo Homes of St. Louis, LLC. plan development for the Villas at Stonemoor, but unfortunately most of the residents left before the public hearing for the City budget. Although the fireworks were flying during the Stonemore discussion, those who did leave missed some of the most exciting parts of the meeting.

 

The Stonemoore subject is complicated, but the hour-long public hearing and ensuing discussions exposed some acutely provocative arguments. Stonemoore is a subdivision within Ward 2 yet the engineer leading the drive to derail Lombardo's plan was none other than Ward 1 Alderman, Cheryl Kross. According to what I heard, Lombardo lived up to the requirements set by the City, but a blood-thirsty group of homeowners led by Kross were there to do anything they could to change it, up to and including changing the ordinance, which could have been a time consuming venture. You must remember, Kross will be running for re-election in 2015 and is trying to suck up to as many residents of other wards as she can for her mayoral run in 2016. I found it interesting that Ward 2 Alderman Sonya Shryock said nothing through the extensively exhausting discussion of the ordinance, but of course, she'll be running for re-election this coming April, so she left the controversy to her closest compatriot, Kross.

 

Kross was relentless in her stand to disallow Lombardo to build the Villas as planned, which was accepted by Planning and Zoning by a 7 to 1 vote, while Shryock stayed silent. This whole political protest was trumped up by Shryock, Kross and none other than our CEO, Mayor Nickolas Guccione. I used the word 'political' because one of the residents, Mr. Joe Howard, went off the track to accuse President of the Board, Rick Stokes, of "Chicago Style Politics," and having a conflict of interest. At 1:05 into the meeting, Mr. Howard went off on Stokes with a politically motivated tirade, culminating in demanding Stokes to recuse himself from the vote. I've heard Mr. Howard's accusations before, but not from him, they came to me through the grapevine from Guccione, Aldermen Kross, and Shryock, I know who inspired Mr. Howard to come forward with such detailed and defamatory statements. Guccione's dirty campaign tactics to oust Stokes has begun, I fully expect to see these kinds of attacks to come more frequently the closer we get to the April election.

 

The discussion became so intolerable, what I assume was the owner of Lombardo Homes threw up his hands in disgust, and after telling his spokesman, Attorney Brad Goss, "Give it up, give them what they want," he walked out of chambers. I wonder ... if Lombardo hadn't purchased the vacated lots in Stonemoore, would they have just gone back to St. Louis, never to build in Wentzville again? After the dust cleared, and the vote was taken, Shyrock gave a speech about how great the firm of Lombardo Homes was, and how proud she was to have them building homes in her Ward 2. The whole thing stunk to high heaven, I've seen a lot of builders get raked over the coals by the city, but I've never seen one the caliber of Lombardo take such a beating, it was embarrassing.

* * * * *

 

It was truly a disappointment to see that only one citizen asked a question during "(ID # 4898) Public Hearing - 2014 Proposed Budget." The meeting was well into it's third-hour and as stated earlier, most everyone there had a different agenda and left long before. Still, it's unsettling to see how few taxpayers seem to care about how their money is spent.

I've talked about sock-puppets on our Board of Aldermen for several years and how many of Wentzville's aldermen have little or no insight, or understanding of government budgets. Thanks to this public hearing, the video captured a sock-puppet in action. At 3:33:28, Alderman Shryock's hand popped up to begin her input on the city reserve funds. Then at exactly 3:37, Alderman Kross begins coaching Shryock using both hand signals and mouthing words to her. Watch Kross carefully during this discussion and you will see the interaction between the sock-puppet (Shryock), and puppeteer (Kross). Watching this first-hand-live was a real hoot.

* * * * *

Another interesting subject was covered under "New Business (ID # 4893) City Special Events." Last year, the aldermen warned us that they may very well be cutting out some of the many special events hosted by the City, i.e. Thrill of Hills, various parades, and Wabash Days. Visiting this again this year, if you paid attention to discussions throughout the year, Aldermen Kross, and Shryock were the most vocally aggressive in seeking to unfund several, or many of the events, that all changed during this meeting.

There was a long silence after Guccione asked for discussion. The problem here is that no one wants to be known as the alderman who killed special events in Wentzville. They talked about it last year during the 2013 budget meeting but there was an election right around the corner. They warned the staff that events may be cut in the 2014 budget but no one wanted to say anything, Kross, the most vocal regarding event cuts was quiet as a mouse. Finally Shryock spoke up; "I didn't want this on the agenda ... but (looking at Stokes) you can do what ever you want." Stokes restated his stand from last year; "I don't mind funding special events, what I want to know is which department is going to claim responsibility for which event?" This is all Kross and Shryock needed, they want the staff go back and cut out which ones they don't want and bring their recommendation back to the board, they want staff to be the bad guys. This discussion went on for quite a while without direction, finally Stokes spoke up to defer to Guccione to make the decision. This is a win-win for everyone; the alderman don't look bad, and Guccione looks good for not only funding the current events for 2014, but he actually increased the budget from $85,000 to $90,000.

* * * * *



Mayor Nickolas Guccione gets huffy at the dais on occasion but it's always when he feels attacked or provoked. As anyone who knows him will testify, he is all-political and quick to challenge anyone with a preemptive strike by accusing them of using politics to better a position, whether they are guilty or not. He claims not to read The Wentzvillian, but I think he's fibbing — he pays close attention to what's posted here.

During his "Mayor's Report" of November 13th, he threw down the gauntlet at exactly 4:48:30 to one or all of the board members. He cited code: 105.100, section C which talks about undermining his office and interfearence with the day-to-day activities of the city. He stated; "I'm not accusing anyone of anything but I have a laundry list that I will make public. I haven't called anyone out but I will." I've heard that he's been questioning the directors about which aldermen are contacting them and he's checking emails. "Anyone wanting to challenge me for mayor in 2016, I have no problem with that."

Many of you who watched the video, may be puzzled about what's going on, but given the following information it may become clear: Monday, November 4, 2013, The Wentzvillian posted "The 'Unholy Alliance' Exposed," in which I issued the following warning: "Now for a note to Mayor Nickolas: Beware, Alderman Kross is only sucking up to you until after she secures her seat in the 2015 election. She wants to be in your good graces just until she can run against you for Mayor in 2016. Get the picture?" Then a comment posted November 10, 2013 on "Was Lambi Really Wrong," from one of my favorite readers; The Mole: "The Mole: The Wentzvillian hit it on the head. Not a day goes by when Kross is not either on the phone or emailing ridiculous requests of the "skeleton crew" directors. They are over-burdened and Kross just keeps piling it on. Where's the Mayor when all of this crap is going on right under his nose?" These two paragraphs hit Guccione right between the eyes and spurred his threatening outburst. Watch closely who Guccione is looking at during his entire statement, but he's "... not accusing anyone." Let's see if he has the fortitude to proceed with his forewarning — the spankings are coming tra-la, tra-la.

 

Was Lambi Really Wrong?

 

I implore all of my readers to watch the video of the Board of Aldermen meeting of November 6, 2013, particularly the work session portion entitled "(ID # 4872) Budget Review" (click here). Pay attention to the comments and questions posted by Aldermen Cheryl Kross and Sonya Shyrock, beginning at 2:05:50 when Shryocks hand pops up and states: "Most of the Directors did a great job on their budgets." I'm scratching my head trying to figure out which directors (who are good enough to still be here) did a bad job in Shryocks's estimation. It's a wonder to me why after watching this section of the meeting, that any of our directors are still here at all.

 

I was disappointed to hear our Parks Director, Ms. Mary Jo Dessieux has turned in her retirement papers. I asked her if she had won the lottery, or had a rich uncle die, because she's way too young to retire. Watching this portion of the video and seeing the wolf pack of Kross and Shryock try to gut the parks department budget gave me the answer.

 

The parks department has always, and I want to emphasize the word ALWAYS, been subsidized by the general fund. City parks are not self-funding, never have been and never will be, therefore, the general fund is tapped for the shortfall. This year the number is in the $200,000 range, when in years past it was as much as a million dollars. Kross and Shryock can't seem to understand that parks will never show a balanced budget but that didn't stop Shryock from demanding; "I want this budget balanced now!" Obviously, Ms. Kross and Shryock want some services cut from our current parks to make up for the shortfall, even to the extent of under-funding the new unfinished parks.

 

Kross at one time said; "Every year we have this white elephant in the room that we can't seem to take down with the tranquilizer gun." I watched the department heads while these discussions went on and noted the frustration in each of them while they tried to baby-sit Kross and Shryock through their prospected budgets. It wasn't pretty. In the end, Kross and Shryock were the only ones to want the Parks budget balanced.

One discussion I found interesting was brought up by Kross and supported by Shryock was regarding the addition of a Park Ranger in the 2014 budget. Kross doesn't want a new park ranger so as a solution she wants to take police officers off of their regular rounds to patrol the City parks. Recently, we had Mayor Nickolas Guccione getting "double fine zones" put in various subdivisions around the city without increasing police resources and now Kross wants more area patrolled. Kross uses the term; "life, health, and safety" a whole lot, which she started using a couple of years ago after hearing another alderman use it, yet she is willing to take our police off of the streets to patrol the new and existing parks. What am I missing? Shryock has little, or no chance of seeing a second term as alderman but she is following Kross right up to the edge of a cliff where Kross will pat her on the back over the edge.

Kross dominated the budget discussions with micro-managing, line-item minutia, while supporting unsustainable tax cut analysis burdens on Finance Director, Jeff Lenk. Lenk was directed to have his calculations ready by Friday, he said he would do his best to get it done before the budget public hearing to be held November 13th. After laying more work on an already over-worked finance department for something that will come back as an exercise in futility, Kross wasn't happy with Lenk's answer. "Oh my! How will we have time to read all of this before next Wednesday." Really, this is all you have to worry about, "when will you have time to read it?" From what I heard, Mr. Lenk gave good reasons why a tax-cut at this time would be unsustainable in coming years, but his assessment fell on deaf ears. If after making Lenk do this new analysis and it shows that a tax-cut is unsustainable, Kross needs to turn in her keys to the city.

This meeting of November 6th exhibited exactly why our high-level staff members are quitting or retiring at an alarming rate. Kross acts like the city has a full compliment of employees by making unreasonable demands of the few over-worked directors that we still do have. I wonder if our newly hired Public Works Director, Susan Mueller, and Finance Director, Jeff Lenk had any idea of the madhouse they were getting into. I'm now asking myself; Was Mayor Lambi really wrong when he had a muzzle on Alderman Cheryl Kross?

 

The "Unholy Alliance" Exposed!

 

Wentzville residents need to know why there are so many messed up things going on in our City Government. It's time to tell the whole story, that would have gone unheard had it not been brought to my readers here. So I'm ready to come clean about the reasons behind why Alderman Cheryl Kross abandoned the rational side of the Board of Aldermen to snug up to the most governmentally maladroit mayor of Wentzville in it's history — Nickolas Guccione.

A most unlikely confederation, since Kross is a Tea Party ultra-conservative, and Guccione a radical Obama Socialist-liberal, you'd kinda hope they'd cancel each other out, but they don't. I'm also braced to make another political adversary; Alderman Sonya Shryock, because of her incessant, and petty accusations that Chief of Police, Lisa Harrison, is engaged in unethical behavior and thereby needs to change her "no fraternizing with elected officials" policy, or be removed from her office. Guccione wants to promote his police friend to be Chief and Shryock may want hers ennobled, both of which are currently employed by the Wentzville Police Department.

 

In order to tell this story we need to go back in time to before the election of 2012 when Alderman Nickolas Guccione used unethical, and illegal means to beat Alderman Leon Tow to become mayor. Guccione was pardoned for his crimes against the City by the outgoing mayor, Paul Lambi, and later apologized to the board for being a sneaky, underhanded rat.

 

The conservative members of the board, at that time; Leon Tow, Chris Gard, Rick Stokes, and Cheryl Kross had several meetings with a prominent supporter (who will remain unnamed) to choose the candidate who would oppose Guccione. The choices were between Tow and Kross, with Tow being the final selection due to his time and experience in Wentzville Government. I  remember meeting with Kross when she asked my opinion whether or not she should run for Mayor. I told her that since the term changed to four years, if she didn't do it now, she may never get another chance. She never told me what she decided to do but I understand that the group met the next day and selected Tow. Kross came away bitter but supported the group's choice and assisted by campaigning for Tow.

 

After the election of 2012, Stokes was sworn-in to his second term as Alderman of Ward 3, and also elected to his second consecutive term as President of the Board of Aldermen. This is when Kross snapped, she wanted to run for mayor but when she didn't, she figured she'd be the next board president. When that didn't happen her deportment changed, she began voting irrationally, and her hatred of Stokes grew, she did anything she could to get back at him. It was three months prior to the 2012 election that she flipped on her vote to allow Guccione's appointment of Michael Hays to take a seat next to Stokes in Ward 3. The Guccione/Kross connection had been made, oil and water mixed and crazy things began happening again in Wentzville government as it did during the days of the Lurchettes (Bill [Lurch] Schuette, John Luby, and Nickolas Guccione). Kross must take great pride in destroying a board that had worked so hard to finally bring sanity back to Wentzville government, even with a dysfunctional Executive Branch. It's all about her pride and revenge today, she has sold out her core values and turned her back on good-government in the name of petty vanity. Unity of the board was the watchword, they made a difference in the way Wentzville government operated in a fair and orderly manner. All of our aldermen should be applauded for what they accomplished before the 2013 election; Tow, Kross, Gard, Stokes, Sample, Shryock, and Gossett.

 

It was this same 2012 election that brought Sonya Shryock to the Board of Aldermen for Ward 2. Shryock has struggled to assimilate in her first term and was drawn to her new mentor, the now very bitter Cheryl Kross. They began voting in a block and with Hays being there to vote anyway Guccione wanted him to vote, the shift from sanity to chaos was in full swing.

 

Shryock didn't like Guccione and displayed it frequently in her first year, but when Chief Harrison made a departmental policy to disallow her officers to socially fraternize with elected officials, Shryock went on a witch-hunt that included the Chief of Police and our City Attorney. Shryock had made friends with a few of our police officers, one of which a lieutenant, and was not going to allow Harrison to stop her from seeing her friends in social settings. Now Shryock had a common thread with Guccione, they both didn't want Harrison to be Chief of Police in Wentzville and they both had it in for Paul Rost. All of a sudden, oil and water mixed again and the Unholy Alliance of Guccione, Kross, Hays, and Shryock was assembled, they were determined to take over and in a big way. The best interest of the City is not on their agenda, it has all gotten very personal.

 

So this is how it started, and that brings us to the past few months. I'm going to start with Shryock because the incidents surrounding her drive to make Chief Harrison change her "No Fraternization" policy or be replaced, has had a butterfly effect that led to Attorney Rost and Wentzville's legal service company, Cunningham, Vogel, and Rost, P.C., to refuse a six-month contract and subsequently go hourly until the City can get a new City Attorney, tick-tock, tick-tock, cha-ching.

 

In a memorandum released by the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney titled: "Subject: Special Investigation — Misuse of Official Information by Police Officer Julie Jackson," some very interesting interviews took place between Shryock and President of the Board, Rick Stokes, with St. Charles investigators. This may get confusing but I will try to sort it out as I go along.

In the interview of Alderman Rick Stokes by the St. Charles investigators, dated September 5, 2013 in part reads: "... Stokes said that on August 20, 2013, Shryock called him on the telephone and stated that she had a 'couple of citizens' that had complained to her that they thought it was 'unethical' for the police chief (Harrison) to be dating a member of the 'Police Chief's Association.' She (Shryock) further said that these 'citizens' saw an unmarked SUV parked overnight at Harrison's residence and that 'they' knew who the SUV belonged to. ... Stokes then asked Shryock if the 'citizens' were law enforcement officers and she responded that she didn't want to give names. Stokes further advised that he had told Shryock that she should contact the City Attorney and should not conduct her own investigation into this matter. Shryock responded that she had already talked to the City Attorney and he advised her to stay away from this matter and the Chief's private affairs, unless she had evidence that the Chief's private associations resulted in personal or financial gains or some kind of criminal activity. Stokes informed her that she should follow this advice and that failure to do so could result in some type of civil lawsuit."

Now I want to jump to the interview of Alderman Sonya Shryock conducted by the St. Charles investigators dated September 11, 2013: "... Shryock said that in response to this citizens complaint, she did some checking and determined that the described vehicle was not a Wentzville Police vehicle and the male subject, who drove it, did not fit the description of any Wentzville officers. What!, How on earth could she have possibly known that?...Hmmm! However, Shryock said that she later learned from 'someone' (name unrecalled) that Chief Harrison was dating someone from the Missouri Chief's Association. She told Stokes in his statement that she "didn't want to give names" and to the investigator, "she couldn't remember names." She also told Stokes that the citizen knew who the vehicle belonged to, and to the investigator she learned the name later. ...Hmmm! When asked if either the 'citizen' that made the original complaint or the person that said Chief Harrison was dating someone from the Police Chief's Assn., was a police officer, Shryock said, 'No.' She further added that no one from the police department has talked to her about this matter." Shryock admitted that she has friends on the Wentzville Police Department and that she did her own 'checking,' but no one in the police department talked to her about this...Hmmm!

Again from Shryock's statement to the investigator: "...Shryock stated that after learning that Chief Harrison may be dating someone from the Missouri Police Chief's Assn., she became concerned that this may be a 'conflict of interest' and raise some ethical issues. ... As a result, she reported this matter to Mayor Nick(olas) Guccione, who instructed her to discuss it with Paul Rost, the City Attorney. Shryock said that the city attorney advised her that this was a personal matter, concerning Chief Harrison and she should not pursue it any further." Good advice!

"Shryock indicated that she became frustrated after her discussion with the city attorney, as she felt this issue, as to a potential conflict of interest, should be addressed. Could it be that she was more interested in seeing her police friends socially, than solicitude regarding what an alleged conflict of interest charge could do to one's career? As a result, she informed Alderman Kross, Alderman Gard, and Alderman Stokes of this information." All of this after she was advised by the City Attorney to stay away from it, and don't talk about it.

"Shryock said she was later contacted by Alderman Gard and informed that Chief Harrison was concerned that a number of officers were going 'behind her back' and contacting certain city aldermen. He (Gard) further indicated that a lieutenant within the department could lose his job because Chief Harrison suspects him of going behind her back and reporting things to her (Shryock). She (Shryock) said this is not true and she is concerned that someone could lose his job based on false rumors." She's worried about a friend losing his job based on false rumors? What about Chief Harrison who could lose her job because of the false rumors Shryock started? What about the damage created by Shryock's allegations to Chief Harrison's reputation? And, what about Shryock's invasion of Harrison's privacy? This paragraph answers the question of why Alderman Chris Gard went off on Shryock during his "Alderman Report" at the meeting of the 9th of October which I posted on October 14th, We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This! (click here)

"Prior to the conclusion of the interview, Shryock again stated that this matter and the rumors have been blown way out of proportion, but reiterated that she still feels there are ethical issues, involving the Chief, that are apparently being ignored." The rumors were blown out of proportion because Shryock would not listen to the City Attorney who told her to let it go, and don't talk to anyone about it. There is much more in this 12 page investigative report and if anyone is interested to know the entire story, I suggest you hunt it down. This entire matter was created by Alderman Shryock and she has put a liability on the city if someone decides to sue Wentzville. Shryock should be investigated by the City and made to reveal her sources and/or censured for what she's done here. Shryock is a loose cannon on the board and is creating more problems than solutions but she does fit nicely into the Unholy Alliance of Guccione, Kross, and Hays.

So here we go; Shryock is now very angry with Rick Stokes for telling the investigators what she told him (Stokes), and angry with Attorney Paul Rost because he told her to let go of her alleged ethics violation charge against Chief Harrison. In my mind, I cannot reconcile why Shryock thinks she knows more about ethics than the City Attorney. Let's see, Guccione hates Stokes and is still seething at Rost for not helping him with his unethical campaign during the 2012 election. Kross hates Stokes for not supporting her 2012 desire to run for mayor, and beating her out of the Board President position. From what I've heard, Kross has no ax to grind (other than the "Nay" vote to hire Harrison) but if the rubber meets the road and the bus is aimed at Chief Harrison, Kross may very well go along just because the enemy of her enemy (Stokes) is her friend; Shryock and Guccione. Only one character left; Alderman Hays; he doesn't care what's going on, he is going to vote any way Guccione tells him to vote. There you have it, the reason, our legal services team quit the City, the reason Michael Hays was appointed to the Board of Aldermen, and why Cheryl Kross and Sonya Shryock jumped over to the dark side. This group is now legislating on; hate, anger, vanity, and ego, any questions?

Now for a note to Mayor Nickolas: Beware, Alderman Kross is only sucking up to you until after she secures her seat in the 2015 election. She wants to be in your good graces just until she can run against you for Mayor in 2016. Get the picture? And you thought Rick Stokes was going to be your main opponent. Why do you think Kross is attending organizational meetings all over town and every HOA she can make (even though most of them are not in her Ward 1), and joining any City committee you'll appoint her to. Is it possible she's doing the same thing you do, did, and are doing? Could it be that she's sneakier than you are?

 

Yawningly We Go Along, Go Along, Go Along...

The budget meeting of October 26, 2013 brought together all of the departments to present their respective budgets. Besides the Directors, four Aldermen, and Mayor Nickolas Guccione were there to hear each department present. Those absent were; Aldermen Chris Gard, and Sonya Shyrock, both representing Ward 2, perhaps their constituents should ask them; what is more important than Wentzville's budget?

 

The meeting started at 8:00 AM and was scheduled to end at 6:00 PM with four breaks, one of those being a half-hour catered lunch. During, and after each Director presented their budget the mayor and aldermen had an opportunity to ask questions. Three of the Aldermen initiated discussions and asked questions: President of the Board, Rick Stokes, Aldermen Cheryl Kross, and Forrest Gossett. As you may have guessed, Alderman Michael Hays and Mayor Nickolas Guccione asked no questions and offered no original discussions, their lack of preparedness was astounding.

 

It's necessary to tell of Guccione's deportment: As an observer, Guccione looked to me like he had had a bad night, a very bad night. I noted more than a dozen times he had his head down with his eyes closed for at least a minute at a time. One of the Directors approached me after the meeting and asked if I'd heard him snoring? Here we have the CFO of the City, a man who is responsible for everything that goes on in the City, sleeping through the budget meeting. Most of the meeting I watched him because I knew that he would not engage and I wanted to let the voters know exactly who they elected. One time, Gossett was in discussion with a Director, a few seconds after he had finished, Guccione jerked his head up and opened his sleepy eyes, I assume the silence woke him. Twice he woke up to see me smiling at him and the third time he got up from the table and went up to the dais trying to hide behind Kross, I guess he thought no one could see him sleeping up there away from the action.

 

Mayor Nickolas tried everything he could think of to stay awake including trash basketball, and puffing on his E-cig, of course every time there was a break he would run right on out to the parking lot with Hays in tow, to light up, being cool like the Marlboro Man. After one of the breaks, Chief Harrison had to go out on the parking lot to retrieve the tardy mayor and his pet monkey. When he returned he had a toothpick dangling from his lips that he flicked and chewed on for the rest of the meeting. Guccione's obvious, and astonishing  limitations while trying to conduct this budget meeting were embarrassing, it makes me wonder what would happen to the city if he didn't have aldermen like Stokes, Gard, and Gossett there to keep him somewhat focused. According to talk on the streets, he has already picked his stable of candidates to oppose Stokes, Gossett and Shryock in the election next April.

The meeting ended around 4:00 PM and it had to be a record for a budget presentation of this scope and magnitude. Why did the meeting adjourn so soon? Its easy, there were only three of the four Aldermen present who were prepared to ask questions. Michael Hays was seen nodding his head a lot in agreement with everyone, and Guccione was asleep most of it. Maybe if Guccione would sleep through the regular meetings, they might get out before 10:00 PM. Just a thought!

 

* * * * * 

 

Discussions of a new city hall will take place in executive session and a decision will be made by January 15, 2013. The $285,000 spent for a study and all of the town hall meetings deciding where it would be located may be thrown out the window. These Aldermen will decide where it will go and the location will not necessarily be where the people of Wentzville wanted it to be. I did learn that it will not be on the site of the current Public Works Department. So of the three sites chosen by the people; Corner of Linn Ave. and Pearce Blvd, Public Works location, and the Whisk property, which are all in the downtown area, they may not be the actual site chosen. I am convinced that their selection will not be in the historic center of Wentzville, I hope I'm wrong. In my opinion, Aldermen Kross and Shyrock are spearheading the movement to keep it out of historic downtown.

 

Not one seated Alderman lives in historic downtown or have interest there and frankly, I don't know if I trust any of them on this issue, but I do believe that Aldermen Gard and Stokes offer our best opportunity of listening to we the people of Wentzville. What I do know is that Wentzville does not own the property in question and that's why the executive session decision. If I had to guess, it would be one of two places: Although I don't agree that it's historic Wentzville, It could easily be the Whisk property because of an easy connection to Highway 70; second, it may be located on the property behind Holt High School and be on the planned Schroeder Creek Road extension which will eventually be tied into Pearce Blvd.  I still believe the best place (along with many, many other citizens) is on the property in the center of town owned by the Freese family and leased to Commerce Bank, on the corner of Linn Ave. and Pearce Blvd.

 

* * * * *

 

There have been rumors floating around for some time now within the City that some aldermen want to have Chief of Police, Ms. Lisa Harrison removed from her position. I do know that Guccione was the only Alderman to vote "Nay" when she was selected by the Board of Aldermen because he wanted to hire from within and was, for that reason, opposed to hiring Chief Harrison. Alderman Shryock has a different, and perhaps more petty reason for wanting her gone, and that's because Harrison instituted a no socializing with elected officials policy in the department. The reason Kross wants her gone is simply; the enemy of my enemy is my friend, which I will explain next time. Now it comes to Hays' pathetic reason; if Guccione wants her gone, Hays wants her gone. In accordance with Municipal Code it takes a two-thirds majority vote of the Board of Aldermen to remove a Director level employee, one more vote and she's gone. I have copied the section of Municipal Code below:

 

SECTION 120.080: REMOVAL

B.   The Mayor may with the consent of a majority of all the members elected to the Board of Aldermen remove from office any appointive officer of the City at will, and any such appointive officer may be so removed by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to the Board of Aldermen independently of the Mayor's approval or recommendation. (R.O. 2006 §120.100; CC 1988 §2-75; Ord. No. 642 §§2--3, 10-26-77)

President Bush used to talk about "Points of Light," and I believe that a number of these "points" may have been connected here within Wentzville's city government. In recent months some interesting, but seemingly disassociated events have transpired that may have connected the random dots. With the assistance of a report on an investigation by the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney, very soon I will reveal what I believe to be a subversive plot to overthrow our Chief of Police, Lisa Harrison. The extended Coup d'état of Alderman Cheryl Kross, Sonya Shryock, and King Nickolas will be exposed. Oh, and I forgot to mention Guccione's pet monkey.