I Am Not ELVIS!

I'd like to address a question that was asked by a reader who commented on my last blog. I believe it is an important issue that could negativly effect Wentzville should Nick Guccione be elected Mayor: Guccione seems to be a slider, he very seldom says anything in the city meetings. I watch them on the Internet and started noticing it several months ago. He hardly contributes anything, why do you suppose that is?. After observing Alderman Nick Guccione at almost every meeting during his four years on the Board of Aldermen, I have noted his actions and will offer my opinion in an effort to answer the reader's question but it will take a short history lesson first.

The sequence of events may be a little out of order but that's not important, the results are what count in this history. Aldermen; Nick Guccione, Bill Schuette, and John Luby were recruited by Vickie Boedeker during her last bid for a fifth term as Mayor of Wentzville. They were told then that all the matchbook covers are true; "You too can become an Alderman, no experience, knowledge of government, or concern for Wentzville is necessary" unfortunately they bought it. Peggy Meyer (good friends with Boedeker) was currently on the Board and in the group conspiracy. All of them were advised to take Boedeker's lead and vote with her choices. En masse, they had many secret meetings before and after the election forging their agenda driven direction for the City, allegedly in violation of "Sunshine Laws." Then the unthinkable happened; Boedeker lost her election vs. Lambi but her group of Flying Monkeys all won and took their seat on the Board. Having no leader telling them how to vote, loudmouth Lurch Schuette took the lead and his fledgling aldermen became the Lurchettes (translation: sock puppets). Guccione and the others took orders and all created a voting block which frustrated Mayor Paul Lambi as well as strangling the economic welfare of Wentzville. Their grip on Wentzville cost our city millions of dollars in unnecessary spending and pointless ordinances which set the stage for our current bloated bureaucracy and budget problems.

Over the next three years, John Luby lost to Rick Stokes; Lurch Schuette lost to Chris Gard: Leon Tow retired and Cheryl Kross came in; Peggy Meyer retired and in walked Vann Sample. Guccione unopposed, was re-elected and has been whining like a puppy in the rain for the past year because "no one on the Board of Aldermen will listen to me." He has had no one to tell him how to vote and it's made him miserable trying to keep up with this new energetic, fast-paced  hard-working board. In his Mayor campaign he is desperately trying to recreate a board using the Boedeker Model but he has a campaign manager (Bananas Sherwood) who doesn't have near the charm, expertise, or insights of her idol; Vickie Boedecker. The only thing she has in common with Boedeker is an over active penchant toward treachery and she will do nothing but bring shame to Guccione along the way.

In my opinion, Nick Guccione like most people, is hard-working (two jobs) with a nice home and swimming pool and two or three vehicles. He has a nice family; wife, children, and grandchildren. Between working two jobs, taking care of his family and home, going to meetings for the city, reading ordinances and city business (sometimes 1,500 pages) every week, answering phone calls from constituency, and drumming up support for his election hopes, it doesn't leave much time for living. Frankly, I don't think he ever read any city business for the last few years except those things that pertained to his special interests. He followed the lead of others who supported each other and relied on their knowledge of subjects, but those days are gone now and he doesn't do homework. I think it's reflected in his Board behavior and lack of participation unless it's something he wants.

It is also my opinion that Alderman Nick Guccione has no business being in office and it disturbs me that he represents my ward 3. Nick should drop out of the Mayor race that he cannot win, serve out his last year with integrity, start surrounding himself with people who care about him, and distance himself from people like Bill Lurch Schuette and Donna Bananas Sherwood who will drag his legacy through the mud just like they did with theirs, and then flip on him. I believe he would be a lot happier with his life if he were to get out of a political arena for which he has no time or passion. I'm sorry that I've lost a friend over politics but I love Wentzville too much to let it go down hill. There comes a time in every man's life when he finally admits to himself that no matter how much he tries, he'll never be Elvis.

The Ticket Is Set For April 3rd

This is going to be a hard-fought election. I can see difficult times for legitimate candidates fighting off the "anonymous" personal attacks, unfounded ethics violations, disguised campaign media photo-ops, slander, and smack coming from Boedeker's Flying Monkeys, Schuette's Lurchettes, Sherwood's Bananas, and Guccione's Stooges. Of these, none have a platform and they will strive to downgrade and discredit anyone who opposes one of "their own" rather than work toward the betterment of Wentzville. Donna Sherwood and Nick Guccione are doing their best to cloud the election by recruiting candidates that they hope will confuse the voters giving them an advantage should they be elected. It is my duty, as a believer in honesty and good government in Wentzville, to do what I can to expose their conspiracy. If one does not campaign fairly and ethically on their own merit, how could you ever expect them to govern fairly or ethically? I have identified six legitimate candidates who will work for Wentzville, the balance has been lined through. Here is the ticket as it's stands today, Wednesday January 18, 2012 following the last day of filing.

MAYOR:

Bill "Lurch" Schuette

Nickolas  Guccione

LEON TOW
DARREL LACKEY

ALDERMAN, WARD ONE:

Jay Webber

FORREST GOSSETT

ALDERMAN, WARD TWO:

Donna  "Bananas" Sherwood

SONYA SHRYOCK

Jeremy Pritchett

ALDERMAN, WARD THREE:

RICK STOKES (incumbent)

Rodney E. "Rod" Stratman

Curtis Davis

Beginning with Mayor, in the order of filing:

Bill "Lurch" Schuette: One of the original Flying Monkeys, he was alderman of ward 2 for four years planted by Mayor hopeful Vickie Boedeker in her plot to control the Board of Aldermen. In his time he helped create a board of extreme left-wing wackos; the Lurchettes. He is confrontational, loud, arrogant, an intimidator, and a regular Darth Blowhard. With no platform other than chaos and special interests he brought forth nothing of importance and supported higher-taxes along the way. His absurd actions in chambers included bringing forth an ordinance to have city snowplows clean the driveways of certain people in Wentzville. His posse was supportive until it was noted that it was statutorily illegal. Lurch tried to win his Ward 2 seat back in April 2011 but the voters wanted nothing to do with him and had enough of his embarrassing antics. I crossed his name out because he is truly bad news. I can't understand why he thinks after losing in his own ward, he believes he can smoke-screen the rest of the city into giving him the top-spot.

Nickolas Guccione: Guccione is a follower and the last of the Lurchettes. Being lost and all alone on the Board for the past year has elevated his frustration level and caused him to overload into doing desperate things. His claim to fame, other than opposing the Board on almost every important issue, is pandering to special interest groups. He brought into public meetings; dog enthusiasts to support his trivial ordinance introductions, city employees to support his flip on budget issues, and he supported the unionization of Wentzville's police department which eventually failed. In addition, at every available opportunity he voted against Sam's Club coming to Wentzville, and he opposed the real estate tax-cut introduced by Alderman Rick Stokes, that passed by a majority of the Board.  Nick believes this; the more special interest groups he greases, the better his chances are of getting elected. He is following the Boedeker Model of politics which is to control elections and dominate city hall. His "good old boy" plan is no longer wanted in Wentzville, his name has been scratched. He was unopposed in 2011 and I firmly believe that when he loses this election, he will lose his re-election attempt in April of 2013, Citizen voters in Wentzville's ward 3 are not as stupid as he seems to think. I am reminded of a comment from one of my readers which is so true: "Nick will vote the way the last person calling him wants him to vote." I want to remind voters, if he is elected he will have the authority to nominate one of his Stooges to fill his vacated Ward 3 seat and it will be the one failed Ward 3 candidate listed above. Guccione made promises to both of these men; "If one of you beat Rick Stokes and get me elected, I'll appoint the other one to my vacated seat."

Leon Tow and Darrel Lackey: I know both of these men and have seen them in action, they both have great integrity and outstanding records in City Hall. This race between Tow and Lackey should be billed as "The Clash of the Titans." I believe that either of these two would make an excellent Mayor and are the only legitimate candidates in the Mayor race. I only hope that voters realize that the other two candidates are completely incompetent and elect Leon Tow or Darrel Lackey to be the next Mayor of Wentzville. Both Candidates are 40 year residents of Wentzville and both have served in elected office for over 14 years, they know well the needs and problems of our city.

WARD 1 Candidates

Jay Webber: The only thing I know for sure about Mr. Webber is that he is one of Gucciones Stooges which is no reflection on his character because I believe (along with all the other Guccione recruits) he was duped. Guccione told me of his plants in the election for the board to gain power, whether he wins or loses his bid for Mayor he wants one, two or even three stooges to vote with him. Unfortunately for Mr. Webber, he is one of them and I cannot support the unethical conspiracy of his dark side master; Nick Guccione. Mr. Webber, if you think Guccione is an intelligent and effective alderman who represents the citizens of Ward 3, you are sorely mistaken.

Forrest Gossett: I have had several conversations with Mr. Gossett and even though he openly said that he thinks "the writings of The Wentzvillian are bombastic" (which I had to look up), in the first five minutes of the conversation, I knew I was talking with an educated and highly-intelligent candidate. His agenda is honorable and will appear here at a later date. He is my choice to fill Leon Tow's vacant Ward 1 seat on the board of Aldermen.

WARD 2 Candidates

Donna "Bananas" Sherwood: This is Sherwood's third attempt at being Alderman of Ward 2. I have no clue what she is running on, and neither does she, but I do know that she is one of Guccione's Stooges (Moe). She was originally a loudmouth vocal supporter of "Boedeker for Mayor" and when that failed (twice) she supported Lurch in his alderman races.  Due to the fact that she hated Mayor Lambi so much, for beating her beloved Vickie, she flipped to campaign for Leon Tow against him. It is a fact that every single Mayor candidate she has supported has lost the election, including her own two shots at being alderman. Flipping once again, now she is hawking for Guccione against Leon Tow and serving on his election committee as campaign manager, she is determined to ride someones coat-tails right into a seat in ward 2. She wants to be "inside" so bad, she'll use any deceitful-underhanded trick she can think of including filing documented false ethics violations against opponents. Just this past weekend she violated City Ordinance 405.580 by placing her campaign signs out more than 60 days before the election, Guccione should be proud. She has illustrated her disregard for laws and regulation numerous times and it won't stop if she should be elected. I don't think she has figured out that Wentzville really doesn't want her or her dinosaur tactics in city hall. When she loses she'll be back next year and the year after that, ad infinitum. Around town she's been called many, many unflattering things that I won't put here but one thing is for sure; if the good citizens of ward 2 elect her to represent them, they deserve her. She is a definite thumbs down loser.

Sonya Shryock and Jeremy Pritchett have placed their platform here and both seem qualified to be Alderman of Ward 2. I'm sure they should prepare themselves for attacks of all sorts from Bananas Sherwood simply because she's Gucciones Moe Stooge and Guccione hates them for running from his offer "to come over" to his dark side of the force. I like both candidates and will listen with the voters to their campaigns as they go along. At least, they have talked about issues intelligently and both seem eager and enthusiastic for the job, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about their opponent.

Ward 3 Candidates

Michael Hays, recruited by Guccione, filed early in the race but withdrew his candidacy late yesterday afternoon. Rodney Stratman and Curtis Davis: These two candidates are Nick Guccione's attempt to stack the Ward 3 deck. Split the vote so thin that one of his Stooges can sneak in to beat incumbent Rick Stokes. If indeed this is what happens and Bananas Sherwood can win in Ward 2, he'll have a banana-split board and be able to break ties. A classic "good old boy" tactic that is used by candidates for mayor who cannot win on their own merit or gain support for their own special interests. Ward 3 voters need to know that these candidates running in Ward 3 never had the inclination to become an alderman until Nick Guccione recruited them. Ask yourself the question: What will any of these men do for Wentzville if they are elected? The answer is; blindly vote with Guccione every time on every issue just as he did when he was blindly following his master; Lurch Schuette. Being a resident of Ward 3, I deplore Guccione's politics and his admitted conspiracy. The Wentzvillian will do everything it can, on this blog and others, to see to it that he is put where he belongs; with Lurch—out of city hall.

There is only one legitimate candidate for Ward 3, Incumbent Rick Stokes. His record in his first term (in only the first 18 months of office) is nothing short of incredible. He gathered support from other Alderman and demanded staff  to cut Wentzville real estate taxes by $500,000. Stokes supported Alderman Cheryl Kross to bring back the "Storm Water Utility Tax," which would have cost homeowners and businesses over $300,000 a year, to throw it in the trash. He is responsible for having city staff investigate all city contracts to find and stop waste spending. In only 18 months, of his first term with his initiatives, he accomplished more than any alderman I've seen on the board over the last ten years. He is truly a representative of citizens and taxpayers, I am proud to call him my Alderman in Ward 3. Anyone in Wentzville who owns a home, business or pays taxes should realize his potential and vote him in for another two year term. He has served with honor, integrity, and always on the side of Wentzville, I am excited for the future of Wentzville with his energy and leadership in city hall.

Bill Schuette, Nick Guccione, and Bananas Sherwood's brand of political contrivances are why Americans don't trust politicians. It is hoped that my readers will agree that we are fed up with it. If you want fairness and ethics back in Wentzville, spread the word about Guccione's conspiracy and his Stooges, together we can really make Wentzville great.

For those on the dark side of the force who are concerned with The Wentzvillian's influence upon potential voters have no fear, we only received a mere 5,500 page views in the last 30 days, we're still a small-town blog. Read that statistic as you will but I'm sure that one or two of my readers vote. Our goal is to have between 7,500 to 10,000 readers by April 3, 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

The new year holds great promise for Wentzville, not only economically but politically. With General Motors adding a new assembly line and the possibility of Ranken Technical College bringing a satellite school to town, things are looking up. With the growth of Wentzville, our citizens have brought a new sense and logic to our city hall and slowly uprooting the "good ole boy" political party. I have held vigil, watching and reporting on city hall for the better part of 15 years and can say that the ball is over the crest of the hill and beginning to roll.

It all began about eight years ago with the election of Mayor Paul Lambi. I had hopes for a better life for Wentzville after Vickie Boedecker was dethroned, but the political rubble of our city was firmly implanted. Lambi worked with the support of several good aldermen to clean up city hall but the cancer was deep and it would take two more years for Boedecker to get over the fact that her second defeat was not just "voter apathy," her style of "good ole boy" politics was no longer wanted by our growing population. A huge blow to Wentzville was the retirement of three outstanding aldermen: David Hoekel, Dave Billing, and Darrel Lackey who all left the same year leaving an opening for Boedeker's flying monkeys to take over.

During attempts over the next two years to regain the throne she brought in three successful candidates to run for aldermen, John Luby, Ward 1; Nick Guccione, Ward 3; the ultimate Vickie-clone, Bill "Lurch" Schuette in Ward 2. Even though Boedeker lost the election, her flying monkeys continued the reign of terror in Wentzville. Lambi became frustrated in his second term toward restoring sanity as it entered its blackest days. "Lurch" became the "man behind the screen" who led the fledgling "Lurchettes." They met frequently in private (the Boedeker system) to determine their strategy of taking over Wentville's political system, a clear violation of election law.

In 2009, a glimmer of sunshine appeared on the political scene; Mrs. Cheryl Kross, new alderman in Ward 1 was elected, but even she, Lambi, and Alderman Tow couldn't break Boedeker's grip on the city. Then "Lurch" made the ultimate mistake and opened the door for sanity to come to the city, he decided to run for Mayor. Unfortunately for him and the Lurchettes, Guccione decided it was also his time to make a move. What happened was Lambi beat them both by a small margin sending "Lurch" back into the spectator's seat and left Guccione all alone on the board as Luby lost to Cheryl Kross. In 2011, things started to change and when Guccione's attempt to plant a candidate in Ward 1 to replace Kross failed, and Lurch's unsuccessful bid to regain his Ward 2 alderman seat, he watched as a new order came to Wentzville; Kross, Stokes, Sample, and Gard. These four aldermen have the opportunity to close the book on the 155 year "good ole boy" brand of politics in Wentzville.

It is my belief that in the election of 2012 voters can take back the city with two clear choices LEON TOW for mayor, and the re-election of RICK "Bulldog" STOKES in ward 3. There is more to the equation and I will give that on a later blog but I think I can predict a date of the overthrow of the old order (Boedeker system), April 2nd, 2013 when Nick Guccione is not re-elected alderman in Ward 3. Guccione should have paid more attention to what was going on in Ward 3 and a little less on his upward political aspirations.

Things look very good for Wentzville but we must always keep guard, people like; Lurch, Nick Guccione, Donna Sherwood, and a host of flying monkeys will always be looking for the chink in our Wentzville good-government armor.

Committee Formed for Hiring New CA

The special meeting on the evening of Tuesday, October 11th dealt with the selection process for a new CA (city administrator) and appointment of the committee. Oh, I forgot to tell you; Andy McCown will not be coming back to Wentzville. At the meeting of September 28th Mayor Lambi lost another battle trying to hire his buddy McCown for acting CA at a rate equal to $165,000 a year. Of course he would only have been here two or three months but that could add up to over $40,000, that seemed like an awful lotta dough to me. The board put the poo-poo on the idea and Lambi pouted the rest of the evening. They also put the kibosh on hiring a consultant firm to search for a CA stating; "the city has an HR Manager" and that she can handle it. I'm not going into the whole WA-WA-WA thing again but that sums up Lambi's meeting that evening.

Back to the matter at hand: The selection committee will be comprised of the Board of Aldermen, HR Manager (Amy Holloway) and the mayor. Lambi tried to get the acting CA and directors of each department on the committee but the board once again denied his bid. They discussed and set benefits on top of a base salary of $108,000 per year plus a $6,000 car allowance which was vigorously debated by Alderman Cheryl Kross.

A discussion was had regarding a requirement that candidates need to be a member of the ICMA (International City/County Management Association) and Lambi once again made a fool of himself trying to demand its necessity. He stated; "it was an elite organization and as Chief Executive Officer I will not accept any recommendation from the board without it!" When queried, Dennis Walsh stated that it comes with very expensive price-tag. ICMA dues are 0.008 x base salary—in this case it comes to around $850 per year. Aldermen Vann Sample Jumped on Lambi's remark, "I don't want to hear that you will not accept board recommendations..." It's the first time I'd heard Sample chastise the mayor for his CEO (I'm important) talk—now it's unanimous—all of the aldermen have taken shots at him at one time or another in recent weeks for his idiotic blathering. Lambi likes calling himself "Chief Executive Officer," it gives him some sort of self-worth, I guess. It's apparent to everyone that if he had been doing his job as mayor, the Aldermen wouldn't have to be doing it for him. Another item Lambi slid in; was when he mentioned hiring an Assistant CA. There is no intention of doing that but he mentioned it for some reason and I found out later that he promised the job to another friend. It's tough finding friends when your going down, Lambi can't even buy one.

The procedure was finally set except for one more foot in Lambi's mouth. In his frustration over not getting his way, he compared the candidate to several successful men; "he needs the qualities of Ghandi, Bill Gates..."(among others.) Aware of Lambi's chauvinist characteristics, Alderman Cheryl Kross jumped in; "HELLO, Mayor, I'm here!" Red-faced and grinning like the Cheshire Cat he tried desperately to slight the fact that once again he had let his disregard of women shine through. He stumbled around to add some successful women to his list, Mother Theresa was his first choice, but the cat was definitely out of the bag regarding his low opinion of women in general. Alderman Kross should bring a pot to meetings and beat on it with a wooden spoon to get Lambi's attention and remind him that it's not nice to discriminate.

Rattle Those Pots and Pans

The October 5th board of alderman's work session addressed the budget, another completely enjoyable two hour lesson in drollery. Acting City Administrator Dennis Walsh presented and the entire staff was on hand to field questions.

This board is intent on cutting the budget and completely focused on trimming the fat out of the city. Addressed in The Wentzvillian of September 29th; Payback Time for a Decade of Unbridled Growth, there are some hard choices to be made—reducing taxes and employee benefits are two of the proposed remedies. Alderman Vann Samples is on record that he does not want to lower the real estate taxes and on the other hand he is fighting a reduction in employee benefits. Samples was not in city hall during boom times when the city was increasing the size of Wentzville government so he seems unaware that we have a bureaucracy based on a population of 50,000 citizens, Wentzville falls considerably short of that number today sporting 13,000 platted and 3,700 undeveloped lots. With the election only 5 months away most of the aldermen are tip-toeing around the subject of layoffs but unless staff comes up with the directed half-million dollars, downsizing could be a possibility. Politicizing issues will come more frequent in the coming months.

Speaking of "cutting the fat out of the city," Mayor Lambi was in particularly rare form again last night. During the budget presentation, Alderman Cheryl Kross asked questions of Walsh regarding the reserve funds in every budget department trying to determine if they were non restricted funds. Along about the third time she questioned one of the unallocated funds Lambi had had enough of her inquisition and in his inimitably condescending manner cut in to challenge, "what (possible) value would that be?"

Lambi has a history of treating women aldermen disrespectfully. Since Kross was elected three years ago, he has continuously attempted to intimidate and belittled her in public meetings. In previous years when Peggy Meyer and Cheryl Kross were on the same board, Lambi was particularly aggressive in his quest to make them both look like idiots. There were times that I felt terrible about the abusive verbal beatings they took from Lambi. After one particularly hard badgering he gave Kross, he was called on his attitude toward her and gave an apology to her both publicly and in private. His pseudo remorse didn't last long. These are not isolated or infrequent incidents, any current or past alderman can verify them. Lambi, plain and simply is a chauvinist, his chauvinism is manifested in his public treatment of our women Aldermen. He has shown us that he thinks women don't belong in the political arena, it appears to him they should "get back in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans." I'm surprised that a husband or close friend of one of these women hasn't invited Mayor Lambi to a meeting on the parking lot.

One highlight of the meeting came when the aldermen asked Walsh about the ongoing investigation of the benefits comparison analysis and when it might be presented for board scrutiny. As Walsh began to answer their question and realizing he didn't have all of the information (which is understandable due to his performance of two major roles,) he called on the Human Resources Director Amy Holloway. She presented a list of items that she and her department are ready to report on which made the alderman's eyes sparkle. I thought she should have taken a bow. Great job Amy! (It's a good thing you're not an alderman and come under the scornful eye of the master.)

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.

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.

2012 Campaign Kick-off at Wabash Days

It's six months until Wentzville citizens go to the polls to cast their vote for a new mayor and three aldermen. You may think this a little early to have candidates positioning themselves but I assure you the drums in at least two of the mayoral camps are beginning to be heard around town. As I stated in earlier blogs, this is going to be a complicated election but as of this writing a couple of the horses have left the gate. So here we go!

Leon Tow, President of the board of aldermen representing ward 1, and Nick Guccione, Alderman of ward 3, both running for the top spot have selected their respective committees and are starting to gear up for next April. Although I'm not usually caught unaware of what's going on in elections, I was surprised to see both candidates availing themselves of the Wentzville Community Club's Wabash Days parade to enter floats. I don't remember their order in the parade but I suppose it's of little consequence, they were however the only candidates entered. Lambi either didn't get the memo, thought he could pass them in the straight-away, or chose not to run. Option three would be best for him, unless he wants to feel, first hand, the agony of defeat.

Tow's procession included three other aldermen, one from each ward; Cheryl Kross from ward 1, and Chris Gard from ward 2 both walked along side greeting spectators and passing out candy for the children (today's equivalent of kissing babies); Rick Stokes of ward 3 drove the tractor pulling Tow, his family, and supporters. All-in-all, a very impressive array of high-profile pundants. In past elections when Lambi and the Lurchettes would be coursing for office, many of them would campaign for each other at the polls but I never saw them clustered up walking in a parade—maybe I'm wrong, I could have mistook them for circus clowns—I didn't pay much attention to them until they got elected, after all, they were only interesting when they were making fools of themselves in the board meetings.

Guccione's float was somewhat less endowed with elected officials, he did however have his family and several benefactors walking alongside. None-the-less, Guccione was announcing that he is a serious contender and is not going to run third this time. His campaigns are always aggressive, he and his committee will be heard around the city

The news about aldermen slots up for bid is about the same, it's wide open in ward 1, since Tow is putting all of his resources into running for mayor, a new candidate has yet to appear. Ward 2 is still a question as rumors that Vann Samples will not seek reelection. In ward 3, Rick Stokes' campaign hasn't disclosed itself but it's almost certain he'll be there in the home-stretch, who his opponent(s) will be is still unknown. It's going to be an interesting election and I look forward to seeing the strategies unfold.

One more indication that the campaign of 2012 has been engaged comes from Tow's camp. A mailed announcement was received by several hundred voters to attend an "Open House" tonight at the Golf Club of Wentzville Pavilion. I didn't receive an invitation because I only heard about it moments ago, I would suppose walk-ins are welcome. I would really like to hear his platform and the questions posed by the attendees but alas, I have prior obligations. The Wentzvillian readers will hear about this event at 6:00 PM this evening at the exact moment it will start, if you can get there before 7:30, you might be able to catch some of it.

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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.

Elected Officials—Above the Law?

On the evening July 20th, the city work session lasted five hours during which the Board of Aldermen discussed several important issues of interest to the tax-paying citizens of Wentzville. The most significant being a half-million dollar reduction of the 15 million dollar general fund. The general fund is used for operating expenses, most of which are salaries. To accomplish the decrescence the Aldermen's suggestion was to reduce the $0.97 per $100 assessed value of property real estate taxes.

As much as I like the reduction in the general fund, they didn't stop there. The Aldermen then went after employee benefits, after announcing that the Wentzville employee benefit package is the highest in the sample group of cities. HR Director, Amy Holloway was directed to examine the benefit package and suggest items that can be eliminated and which items can have an increased employee copay.

This brings me to the most interesting hour of the evening, the discussion about the formation of a Personnel Board consisting of three Aldermen, three citizens, and a fourth Alderman whose sole function would be to break ties. This proposal was met with fierce opposition by the Mayor and soon-to-be-retired Chief Noonan.

The current policy is that when a department director recommends the termination of an employee, the final decision rests with the City Administrator, Dianna Wright. Other than legal action, this was the final appeal for the employee. What the board wants to do is add another level to the policy. This is where Mayor Lambi went into high gear defending the authority of his administrator. "This is a bad policy, It will lead to an increased number of law-suits from disgruntled employees," Lambi said. Alderman response was to suggest that there would be no more law-suits than if the final decision was made by the City Administrator or by the Personnel Board. "It will create a lack of moral and disrupt the chain of authority," said Lambi.

After several unsuccessful rounds of trying to defend the current policy, Chief Noonan spoke. He said, "When we go through all the process of appeals in the police department and the decision is made to discharge the officer by me and then Dianna, You don't really want to keep that man on the force do you?" Alderman Kross spoke up on that, "This change would not just be for police, it's all departments. If the paperwork and all the evidence is sound and in order, what makes anyone think that the proposed Personnel Board would overthrow that decision?" The Aldermen stated that it is rare when an employee appeals higher than the department head. Other Cities in the county have an appeal board policy much like the one proposed and they don't have any problem.

Mayor Lambi went on giving us all a lesson in government; "there are three branches of the government; executive, legislative, and judicial, you should not make executive decisions at the legislative level. We have department heads, an HR department, and City Administrator in the executive branch who all serve as an appeal process. It's the same as any company in the private sector, they don't take the termination of employees to their board of directors." Alderman Stokes rebutted; "In the private sector, The HR department doesn't report to an administrator. When an employee appeals in business, HR is the final word. If we were to use the private sector policy in the city, the appeal process would go from director to HR to city administrator and back down to HR."

Then came the highlight of the night. Lambi was running out of answers and began repeating old ones, then it came—I'm not sure if it was a confession or just another blunder but he actually said it. "This proposed policy will become very political, it will come back on elected officials." He went on to present this scenario; "If a mayor or other elected official had been out late at a reception or other social function where there was drinking, while driving erratically home he could be pulled over by the police. The policeman recognizing who was driving might say "Sir, you are weaving and apparently had a few drinks, let me escort you home." If that officer ever was to go through the termination process it could be trouble for the Personnel board." I don't know but that statement sounds like the voice of experience. Did Lambi just suggest that he and other elected officials are above the law and that police are to neglect their sworn duty? How corrupt is that? This is our mayor saying that if he or any of the aldermen get pulled over, they won't be charged with DUI or whatever infraction might be appropriate.

After that was successfully rebutted by Alderman Guccione, Lambi knew there were enough board members to direct the City Administrator to draft an ordinance to amend the HR termination policy, he leaned back in his chair and starred off into space. I think Lambi (at that moment) knew this board will not back down from him anymore. For several minutes the board and staff talked with one another, the meeting was out-of-order but Lambi didn't pick up the gavel. I've never seen that before in a meeting. Finally Lambi leaned forward and interrupted the chatter with; "What's next on the agenda?"

This Board is unified, they are taking charge of the city, I've never seen that before either. Here's a link to the city meeting of July 20th, copy and paste into your browser:
http://wentzvillemo.iqm2.com/citizens/VideoMain.aspx?MeetingID=1345&AgendaID=1307&FileFormat=pdf&Format=Agenda&MediaFileFormat=wmv