Running Out Of Options!

 

I've been doing a great deal of thinking about the vacancy left in the City Administrator position since the unexpected passing of T. Michael McDowell earlier this month. Since 2011 Wentzville has been without a City Administrator more than it has had one.

 

A little history: Wentzville has had a problem with keeping a City Administrator since Andy McCown announced his retirement on January 23rd, 2008. Dianna Wright started June 2nd, 2008 and in an executive session held August 24th, 2011, Alderman Nickolas Guccione made a motion (which passed) to terminate her services. On Thursday August 25th, at 1:30 in the afternoon she was officially fired by Mayor Paul Lambi. Since that time Wentzville has been served by numerous interim City Administrators until the appearance of T. Michael McDowell this past May.

 

Now, what is happening: Mayor Guccione appoints Chief of Police, Lisa Harrison and it is approved by the board of aldermen. Less than a week after that, Chief Harrison resigns as City Administrator and resumes her duties as Chief of Police. Last Friday, August 16th, Guccione appoints Doug Lee who has been serving as the assistant City Administrator and assistant to the Public Works Director, Susan Mueller. That appointment would need approval of the board, but I've heard that Mr. Lee does not want the job. So what now?

 

Normally, a vacancy of that sort would fall to the Finance Director but in this case our Finance Director, Jeff Lenk has only been with the city for about two months, so who's next? Director of Planning and Zoning, Mr. Doug Forbeck who has been with the city longer than any Director, Alderman or Mayor, but I don't think he would take it. So here we are, waiting for the company who provided McDowell to present a replacement.

 

After some deliberation, I've begun thinking about cities around the country who have an all-in-one Mayor/City Manager. Could our Mayor serve as both, and if he could, should he? I know Guccione doesn't have the educational qualifications, but he has served five years on the Board of Aldermen and a year and half as Mayor, he must have learned something.  Almost seven years of public service as a legislator and administrator, could he do the job? Personally, I think he should give it a shot, even if it's to prove that he is competent and dissuade beliefs that he should have stayed a butcher at Schnucks. Guccione serving as Mayor/Interim City Administrator would solve a great deal of the problems currently facing the city.

 

PSS: What do you think?

 

The Promise

To the good citizens of Wentzville,

It's Election Day here in Wentzville and I just read a mass mailed letter to a selected special interest group of voters from someone named Michael Rasher, the letter was a rant against Leon Tow, Rick Stokes, Chris Gard, and Sonya Shyrock. After looking into this person, I find he is not a registered voter in Wentzville, owns no property here, is not a resident, and there was no return address. He states things in the letter that could only have been fed him by none other than Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood because the facts are so skewed, they make no sense.

In this letter he accuses Leon Tow of a plot to; "destroy city hall staff." Guccione/Sherwood/Rasher claim; "they fired Dianna Wright because she would not do unethical works," Nick Guccione was instrumental in "firing" Dianna Wright, without his motion, it's entirely possible that she could still be working for the city today. But of course telling that factoid would blow the whole fairy tale. Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood are two of the most unethical candidates in the race today, if Wright was so ethical, why wouldn't Guccione lead the charge to fire her, as he did. This letter is just the finale to six months of unethical campaigning on their part and after reading the lie in just the second paragraph, the whole damn letter was discarded.

There's not much more I can say about Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood that I haven't already said, but if they are elected I will have plenty more to expose. They don't like me much today but I don't really give a rats-ass what they like. I promise the citizens of Wentzville to continue exposing their self-serving agendas right out of office, but it won't be with lies, it will be with the truth supported by public record.

Nick, Donna, get ready, you are both in the sights of my microscope and no matter how disgusting that thought might be to me personally, anytime you try to pull your unethical crap on the citizens of Wentzville, you will pay for it. You can't hide, once your in the public eye and you think you can do anything you want to do, you're through! That is my promise to the citizens of Wentzville, especially those you used, lied to, and conned.

The Epiphany

Last nights "Special Meeting" was as expected—fairly boring. There were a few moments of flimsy interest between naps and even though the aldermen discussed subjects of great significance to the city, it had been a long day. It was like listening to someone read columns of large numbers but instead all you hear is an angelic breathy-voice singing "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..." That dream goes on until the person next to you pokes you in the ribs with his elbow because the snoring was getting loud (thank you Sir Cumference). The struggle to stay awake lasted until the "Work Session" portion of the meeting.

Before I get into the meeting, I'd like to take a moment to talk a little about Mayor Lambi. He has always been an excellent orator and a  very good representative of Wentzville. I watched him conduct the meeting and admired his ability to communicate, keep decorum, and his knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order. Regardless of the outcome of his current troubles, he was good for Wentzville. I sat there thinking of our next Mayor and how they would carry out the business of the city.

Image is a very important aspect of being mayor, how we are perceived by the outside world is crucial to a progressive city such as Wentzville. The election to be held next month is unique to Wentzville, it will be the first time a Mayor is to be elected for a four-year term. Throughout the history of Wentzville, there have been numerous one-term (two-year) mayors, who were dumped for one reason or another. Today, we don't have the option of eliminating a dysfunctional mayor after his first two-year term. When you go to the polls to elect either Leon Tow or Darrel Lackey you can be sure you have chosen a mayor with the experience and knowledge to lead our city for the next four years.

There was one humorous thing happen during the "Staff Reports" when the board was addressed by Chief Harrison and purchasing manager; Jerry Hillin. The topic of discussion was city-wide uniformity of employee  uniforms. Hillin spoke of cost saving ideas such as; returning uniforms for replacement rather than allowing employees a set amount they can spend on uniforms each year. He went on to cite the example: "Some employees are required to wear steel-toed boots in the performance of their duties and are allowed $150 per year for the boots." He stated that many of those employees at higher levels don't wear out the boots at the same rate as those who are in the trenches and he suggests; "If the employees were required to turn in their old boots when requesting new ones, it could have a cost-savings for the city."

Hillin went on to talk about jeans and other apparel and a policy that was written in 2009 presented to City Administrator Dianna Wright. He said: "Some employee(s) went out and bought pink headbands and pink socks with their uniform allowance, after that, the policy was thrown out prior to getting Board approval." I never caught the connection between the policy and pink socks but there must be some for Wright to can it.

The board and staff discussed this matter for what seemed like hours when Alderman Nick Guccione had an epiphany, he asked of Hillin; "Why don't you make the employees turn in their old boots before getting new ones?" A great suggestion, so insightful, I wonder why Hillin didn't think of it. At one point in the "Work Session" Guccione wanted to make a motion, Mayor Lambi had to tell him that no decisions or votes are taken in "Work Sessions," we don't set policy or legislate, making a motion is out of order.  My question here is; why after five years on the Board of Aldermen he doesn't know governmental procedure? Remember; this alderman is the one who is running for mayor. It appears, not only is he  indecisive and a poor communicator, his focus and attention to matters at hand may be somewhat impaired.

More Candidates for 2012 Announce Their Bid

The Wentzville election is more than seven months away and five months from the filing deadline but the number of candidates revealing themselves is swelling. The biggest news and most disheartening for Wentzville is that Mayor Lambi stated in a public forum earlier this week: "The only thing Alderman Leon Tow and I have in common is; we are both running for mayor." Not only does this complicate the mayoral race, it also reveals the narcissist that Lambi is. He fervently believes himself to be the best, most invincible mayor that Wentzville has ever had the privilege of electing. Lambi is also a glutton for punishment if he wants four more years of beatings from this mostly conservative board of aldermen.

With Lambi, in the fold, Tow and Nick Guccione will be in the same predicament as 2008 when Guccione and Lurch butted heads with Lambi—in that race Lambi won with only 36 percent of the vote. Had one of the other candidates stepped back, Lambi would have been sent packing two years ago by a landslide. Perhaps his memory is failing when it comes to the small number of votes he received but what the hell, any self respecting narcissist would call a 36 percent win a slam dunk in his favor. If Tow and Guccione are really interested in the welfare of the city, one of them will back off and let the salvation of Wentzville take place. There are a great number of uninformed voters out there and with three in the race, Lambi could sneak back in again. One other problem is; there's a rumor of a fourth candidate—could be a plant from the Lambi camp to further dilute the vote, it's been known to happen.

Of those known or rumored, this is the line-up of prospective candidates (underlined) for the various wards:

Ward 1: Incumbent Leon Tow is vacating to run for mayor.

Forrest Gossett, is a friend of Alderman Cheryl Kross.

Jay Weber, is a friend of Alderman Nick Guccione.

Ward 2: Incumbent Vann Samples was asked if he is going to run for a second term, his reply was, "Why wouldn't I?"

Donna Sherwood, rumored to be campaign manager for Guccione and a one time Lurchette supporting Bill Schuette and ex mayor Vickie Boedeker. This is Sherwood's third run at a seat.

Dianna Wright rumors are coming more frequently that she may run but a new one has surfaced; she could be running for mayor.

Ward 3: Incumbent Rick Stokes is running for a second term.

Matt Garvey, is a friend of Guccione

A third candidate may be in the hopper.

For the record as it lines up now, The Wentzvillian is supporting; Forrest Gossett for Ward 1 and Rick Stokes in Ward 3. I'm waiting to hear more about the candidates from ward 2. Regarding the mayoral race, the term of office is now four years so I urge voters to take a long-hard look at the records of the candidates before casting their ballots—it's going to be terrible to find out that, one year after the election, we have a chimpanzee headlining the circus.

Footnote: Tow made a good showing when he ran for mayor against Lambi in 2006, for more information go to his website; http://www.leon4mayor.com/. Guccione ran third in his bid against Lambi and Lurch in 2008, when his website is available, it will be posted here. Except for the somewhat inconsistent voting of Alderman Vann Sample, the aldermen incumbents have done a good job of curbing spending and cutting the budget.

Payback Time for a Decade of Unbridled Growth

Sooner or later the unbridled growth of Wentzville over the past decade had to come back and bite us in our asses. With thousands of homes, miles and miles of streets plus everything that goes along with them, the recession is teaching us—the only thing that can support growth is more growth.

About five years ago Mayor Lambi forecasted that by the year 2010 Wentzville would have a population of 50,000 and that by 2015 the number would increase to 80,000 residents. Gearing up for this anticipated growth he continued the vision of his predecessor (Vickie Boedeker) and became the vanguard of Wentzville's resource expansion: A larger police force and oversized-illconcieved law enforcement center; then you have the acquisition of parkland which begs more equipment and personnel; all of this means more infrastructure hence the need for a larger public works operation i.e. more equipment and manpower; finally, increased resources equates to more administration and personnel to support the city. When the housing bubble burst, Wentzville was left with  unbuilt subdivisions, empty streets, and aging infrastructure that must be maintained. Today with a population of 29,000 some hard choices are having to be made in city hall—where to cut the budget and still maintain necessary services. This subject will be addressed in another blog in the very near future.

Now it's time to talk about just one instance of our street maintenance that was seen last week while driving to Walgreens at the corner of Meyer Road at the Wentzville Parkway. Noticing signs and cones across the Parkway on Bridlespur and being the nosy person I am, I drove on over and entered the Fox Run subdivision. Wow, what a mess. It seems the city is replacing many of the street slabs there and for some reason they decided to remove all of them at one time. They took out slabs in front of peoples driveways throughout the subdivision resulting in complaints and phone calls to their aldermen. I don't know the thought process behind this project but I do know that the residents of Fox Run subdivision should swarm to city hall for the next Board of Alderman meeting. Since Mayor Lambi is the Chief Executive Officer and governs all of the things that happen regarding the city, he needs to hear from the citizens first hand about how he has been handling projects in our city, the buck stops with him. He loves to take credit for everything positive in the city, whether he had anything to do with it or not, so give him credit where credit is due.

Rumors:

Dianna Wright is going to run for Alderman of Ward 2.

Forrest Gossett will run for Alderman of Ward 1.

Matt Garvey will oppose Rick Stokes for Alderman of Ward 3. There is supposed to be a campaign kick-off planned for Thursday September 29th, 7:00 PM at the Olde Towne Pub. If it's true, there might be some interesting conversations.

Welcome Back to Mayberry, Andy!

I've hesitated to comment on last weeks board of alderman's meeting of September 14, 2011, probably because I have been trying to figure out why the process of finding a new CA (city administrator) hasn't been started. The aldermen and mayor have known that Dianna Wright would be gone—they've known for sure since August 24th when in executive session it was decided to offer her the option to resign. Then two weeks later, after she declined the boards offer, again in executive session, they voted unanimously to fire her. Hadn't anyone noticed that when she left there was no one in her office?

Other than Dennis Walsh, our finance director taking over as acting CA, the only person crying about Wright's leaving is Mayor Lambi, but he's been crying a lot lately. Wednesday, Lambi introduced the idea to hire an interim CA, stating what a heavy burden has been placed on his staff and himself, wah, wah, wah. He said, "it's painfully obvious how much additional work has been placed on Dennis Walsh, and it's taking more time than I can spare," wah, wah, wah. "I don't want to burden Dennis to the extent of his jeaprodizing his health." Wah, wah, wah. He opened it up for discussion and the aldermen, in turn commented.

Alderman Tow asked Walsh, "are you so overburdened that you cannot cover both jobs?" "No, I can do it with the help of the other directors," said Walsh. Alderman Kross said that our directors were hired because they were intelligent, and capable to direct their departments, they will step up to the plate, "Mr. Smith, Can you do your job?" "We are well equipped to handle our ongoing projects," he answered. Lambi jumped in; "All of our department heads are capable but they need a CA, a CA is the ramrod," wah, wah, wah. Then he stated how he has only so much time to give and he's "already at city hall six to eight hours a day," wah, wah, wah. That's interesting, for the last few weeks I've passed city hall three times a day and I've seen Lambi's car there only twice. Unless he's carpooling or taking some other form of mass transit, I seriously doubt he's hanging around that much.

It's at this point, Lambi gets to his point; he wants to hire Andy McCown to fill in and direct the search for a new CA. McCown would require; travel, lodging, and an hourly wage for three days a week. McCown was the CA here and retired three years ago to move to Arkansas to be nearer his children. Don't get me wrong, I really like Andy McCown, he was always nice, gentile, and attentive to problems but, why do we need someone to travel to Wentzville to "fill in" for our absent CA. My answer is that Lambi and McCown were close for a number of years and Lambi wants to help his "bud" by having him come up to save his sinking ship. At least then he'll have someone in city hall who will talk to him.

Does the city really want to spend travel money (back and forth twice a week to and from Arkansas,) lodging, and hourly wages for three days a week? It's funny that Lambi says he's spending six to eight hours every day and McCown will do it in three days. Hmmm! The estimated term for McCown will be two to three months. Anyway, the aldermen would agree if McCown was the assistant CA under Walsh's direction. Lambi perked up, "That's exactly what I'm asking for," Lambi responded. It's amazing how long it took him to wise up the alderman to hire an "assistant CA." That guy can change his tune on a dime when he's not getting his way.

Storm Water Utility "Tax" Revisited

It's been four years since the City of Wentzville proposed the implementation of a "Storm Water Utility Fee"and had the first and second reading on this controversial ordinance. The third and final reading was postponed indefinitely until a lawsuit against the St. Louis MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District) who inflicted a similar "fee" on its citizens was resolved. From this point forward in this writing, the term "fee" will be replaced with it's actual definition; "TAX."

This bastard tax was brought forward by then City Administrator, Andy McCown in an effort to keep from paying the $300,000 per year expense from the general fund to update and maintain Wentzville storm sewers. It was picked up on by "Lurch" (Bill Schuette) combined with other Lurch-like aldermen and Mayor Lambi who thought they would hang their hats on saving the city by putting it in ordinance form. Then came the MSD law suit. Like the chicken-shits they were, the "Lurchettes" seeing the uproar of St. Louis citizens and fearing a similar situation here, back-burnered it instead of giving it an up-or-down vote. Wouldn't a normal person see—if St. Louis citizens are mad enough to bring a law-suit against MSD, maybe something is wrong with this whole stinking thing? 

Time went on, McCown retired, Lurch and the others faded away, and the ordinance was left hanging in limbo. Waiting, ever waiting until it could be brought back before an unsuspecting new Board of Aldermen who, not knowing it's implications, could have the final reading with only a 24-hour notice. Then in May of this year Dianna Wright revisited the Storm Water Utility Tax at a board meeting trying to drum up support for it. In an effort to inform our citizens and new aldermen I posted; "Bend Over Wentzville, Here Comes a New TAX," which outlines the history.

I would implore our aldermen to bring the Storm Water Utility Tax back and either inflict it on our homeowners and businesses or vote it down. It's been hanging over our heads for over four years now and it's time to take action. This current Board of Aldermen has shown great strength standing up against the mayor and the bureaucracy in city hall. They have made great strides toward fiscal responsibility and now they have the opportunity to make a difference by showing Wentzville once again that they really care about its citizen-homeowners and businesses.

A Half-Million or Heads Will Roll

The Wentzville Aldermanic work session on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 dealt mostly with the 2012 budget, and budget meetings are always synonymous with dozing off for me. This one was a little different because within the first five minutes, before they even got into the topics, it got interesting.

Alderman Rick Stokes, Ward 3, got the attention of Mayor Lambi to ask for a brief Executive Session. I'm unclear about the exact reason for his request but I believe it was something to do with the agenda. Lambi replied: "Alderman Stokes, we've begun the meeting and I see no reason why we should stop it now." Stokes organized his papers and placed them in his briefcase, pushed his chair back, and started closing his computer, Lambi asked; "where are you going?" "I'm leaving." I thought I heard Stokes say something like; I'm not sitting in this meeting with a revised agenda that I've never seen until this very minute. They sat glaring at one-another for a few seconds when Lambi slammed the gavel down with a loud bang (something he's gotten a lot of practice at during past months), "We're going into a brief executive session," he said as Stokes, and Dennis Walsh, Acting City Administrator followed Lambi out of chambers. A few minutes later they returned and the meeting began. In my years reporting on city government I've seen aldermen go into executive session many times but never once during the regular meeting.

If I was surprised by the mid-meeting Executive Session, the second one was a complete mystery. Jerry Hillin, Wentzville's Purchasing Administrator, interrupted the meeting by saying, "there has been a breach of security," and called for executive session. This had to be a half-hour into the meeting when Hillin, Walsh, and Stokes followed Lambi out of chambers. The term "breach of security," had me looking out the window to see if maybe Afgan Rebels were storming city hall so I was preparing myself to duck out the side door. Prior to Hillin requesting the side-bar, Alderman Stokes was having trouble with his microphone and in the midst of his frustration he uttered; "shit," and of course the microphone started working just in time to record his expletive on tape. Shit may be a breach in most instances but I can't imagine how it effects the security of a meeting other than in the context of a Depends blow out, but the city's waste treatment people were present so I would think it could have been handled without Executive Session.

Voters should be disappointed in a couple of our aldermen regarding statements they made concerning the $500,000 real estate and property tax cut proposed by Stokes and supported by Alderman Kross, Ward 1 and Alderman Guccione, Ward 3 a while back. During discussion, Alderman Vann Samples, Ward 2, stated that he is "not in favor of cutting real estate taxes," implying that once you reduce a tax it's impossible to get it increased without a vote of the people, unfortunately Alderman Chris Gard, also Ward 2, agreed with him. It amazes me, after the city announced an increase of $38 million in sales tax revenues which go directly into the general fund, how a paltry half million in real estate and property tax is not a no-brainer. Samples and Gard believe that it should be found elsewhere in the budget, in other words; cut services, not taxes.

Toward the end of that discussion, Stokes told the city staff in no uncertain terms that he wants to see a half-million dollars cut out of the budget even if it means cutting heads. It has been said for quite a few years that there are too many employees in the city. He went on to say that "no one wants to see anyone lose their job, but I want that half-million, what ever it takes." I don't know how that statement will be perceived among employees or citizens but Stokes is persistent, and I don't think he's going to give up on it.

Earlier that evening I heard one of the City's Administrators say that they are trying to hire an assistant for him. I have noticed that any time someone gets a promotion (or a position is created) in the City, they get an assistant. Bob Swank, ex-Economic Development Director, left his employment with the city (in a similarly mysterious fashion as Dianna Wright), and whom accomplished very little, got an assistant. Before Andy McCown, ex-City Administrator, retired, he set up an HR department and named Amy Holloway director, she got an assistant within the first year of her position. When the smoke-and-mirror-shrouded eviction of our public works Director came about, the City turned his job into two jobs which created the need for at least one new assistant. My point is; it appears that anyone working for anyone in the City above the level of grunt, gets an assistant.

At least most of these promotions and their assistants come from within—lower level jobs were left vacant meaning they had to hire more people to fill those positions. The problem is that it appears that no one is promoted at lower pay levels than their predecessors and that adds up to higher payroll. A perfect example is Dianna Wright, she initially hired in at $117,550 that is $14,000 more than Andy McCown was making ($103,000) when he left. When Wright disappeared she was making over $121,000. Mark my words, whom ever is hired to replace Wright will earn as much or more than she did. The City's motto should be; "make room for lower level employees to make higher salaries." The mayor only makes $13,000, but then again that's way too much for what he does. And then you have the aldermen, I think our elected officials make (at last look) around $4,300 for making the hard decisions for their constituents. There was a time when Mayor Lambi wanted to do away with mayor and have a city manager—he wanted that job. Just think, if he had gotten his wish, he would have been gone last week—now we have to wait until April.

"Irreconcilable Differences"

The rumors about the possible departure (under unfavorable terms) of Wentzville's City Administrator, Dianna Wright, have come true. I've held off on this until now to gather as many facts as I could, so here goes: The rumors of her demise started in 2009 and was (unfortunately) spread citywide by then ex-Alderman John Luby when he walked into a meeting in town and interrupted the proceedings by expressing publicly his disappointment in hearing the rumor that she was to be fired. Prior to that I had heard it but didn't give it undo credibility, of course, I may be giving undo credibility to an ex-Alderman's knowledge, but since I had heard it from two other active Aldermen about that time I believed it—yet I remained questioningly silent (for me anyway).

Over the months, I watched the deportment of the board during regular meetings and the issue of Dianna Wright's fate began quacking like a duck—loudly. Last week August 24th at the regular public Board of Aldermen meeting, I realized it was true and that the end was near for Dianna Wright. How near I wasn't sure but I thought in a couple weeks she would more than likely be displaced. Boy was I wrong! That night they went into executive session after the meeting and I knew the subject would be regarding her termination.

Thursday afternoon, at about 1:30 PM, I was notified that Dianna had been given her walking papers a mere half-hour earlier at 1:00 PM that day. I'm going to have to tell my sources to be just a shade more prompt with news of this magnitude or ask for their resignations. There was no notice given by either the City or Dianna—just poof! That leads me to believe that it was not her choice and that a better option was not had for her. As time progressed, I thought it strange that none of the local publication's reporters knew anything about it and on Friday, A special meeting of the Board was scheduled for Monday August 29th—a full five days after her disappearance from city hall.

The only thing on the August 29th agenda was "Executive Session." It was to be regarding the press release that has now been sent to the various publications that serve the Wentzville area and surely what to do for a new City Administrator. The press release reads in part: "The Wentzville Board of Aldermen held a special meeting on Monday, August 29 to discuss continuity of day-to-day city management and the search for a new city administrator as a result of the sudden departure last Thursday of Dianna Wright as city administrator. City officials cite 'irreconcilable differences' as the reason for Wrights departure..." Until a replacement for Wright is found, Wentzville's Director of Finance and Assistant Administrator, Dennis Walsh, will serve as the interim city administrator." Dennis has served as interim administrator for several departing city administrator's, I don't know why they don't just give him the job and start looking for a new finance director. Seems to me that he could get a modest raise and hire a new finance director at a lower salary than he is currently making, but that's probably too logical for the city to understand.

The details of Dianna's severance provision will be public information probably at the next general board meeting. The press release is usual lawyer jargon and can be interpreted however someone wants to read it. The term "irreconcilable differences" could mean anything; either the board fired her or she got so unhappy with the situation that she walked out. Either way it's not going to be a promotional bell-ringer at her next position. For my money, she got fired. This press release is the same as other city staff terminations in recent years, just the name has been changed.

Personally, I liked Dianna, she was attentive, cooperative (with citizens), and as smart-as-a-whip. It's unfortunate that she and the city didn't blend, but in the end, both must go on. It's a shame that she had to sell her home in Harrisonville and that she'll be moving on from Wentzville to her next assignment where she'll be buying another home. With her credentials, it's not like looking for a job at Wal-Mart. I wish her success where ever she goes. I guess they can scratch one more off of our population signs now to read: 29,069.

Behind the Scenes a Laugh a Minute

I find it extremely interesting to watch the body language between the mayor, city administrator and his staff when they are confronted and have no answer for questions by the aldermen. The veiled horror on their faces as they mentally scramble like a nest of mice discovered in one's home. God, I love watching while the city administrator fumbles with excuses why her staff hasn't provided information that was ordered weeks earlier by the board. And I love seeing the mayor getting his hackles up trying to repel the onslaught of questions.

Now for a little background: The rumor that the city administrator may get fired has been buzzing around town for the better part of a year. It is felt by most of the aldermen, that she has too much power and is intentionally keeping information from our elected aldermen in an attempt to push through legislation beneficial to the staff. Even perhaps, stalling requests for information which in turn gives her the time and opportunity to recompose the information or bill to the satisfaction of the aldermen. Shortly after being hired, Dianna Wright City Administrator made it known to the Mayor that he was not to attend her Tuesday morning staff meetings, being a good little boy he has complied. Well, I think they are on to her and the mayor who gives no guidance or direction at all. What a bum! The fun in City Hall has started.

An interesting issue came up in "open forum." A gentleman came forward with a newspaper in his hand and scolded the aldermen for their treatment of the city administrator. She is the best city administrator this city has ever had, he exclaimed. After he finished and during a break, a couple of the aldermen approached the man and tried to expel his dissatisfaction with them. This morning in a conversation with one of the aldermen, I asked, "Do you know who that was?" The alderman said they believed he was a plant by one of our ex-aldermen. I said, "no it wasn't." I was then asked who it was and said; "It was Mayor Lambi's brother-in-law." The alderman laughed so loud I thought the phone was going to be dropped. The mayor will try any form of deception to protect his bulging staff. If he were a real leader, he wouldn't have to do embarrassing stunts like that. What a Puss!

It has been reported to me that last night's regular City Board Meeting was standing room only. The reason was that an organization known as LINC was there asking for $18,000 from the city so they could exist for three more months. The reason they came was because Mayor (give the city away) Lambi invited them to lobby and shame the alderman into donating money to a 501c corporation. What I'm trying to wrap my mind around is why, knowing that they needed to pay salaries and utilities, they didn't plan for that by only helping the neediest of people. Perhaps it's a matter of poor planning by a poor board of directors. Lambi also invited several of the church pastors to the meeting to further shame the aldermen into doing something that they knew the city could not do. After several aldermen danced around the doing the right thing and doing the legal thing, Mayor lambi offered to give them a "contract for services," My immediate answer to that is; what is a daycare center going to give the city for its 18 large. Well anyway, Patch.com posted a blog by lead pastor, Mark Ford of the River Oaks Church imploring the aldermen to be a benefactor. Lambi is not going to let this rest, he's going to try his best to show the aldermen as heartless, Godless, and the most vile of vermin in the city (at taxpayer expense).

In closing, I would like to congratulate our Aldermen. I haven't seen a better or more intelligent board since I moved here almost 15 years ago, Thanks! I will write another blog regarding this issue. Stay tuned, I'll get to it ASAP.