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.

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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.

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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.

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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.