Send in the Clowns

I never thought I'd see another meeting like February 8th but this one may even be more entertaining. Last nights meeting of February 22nd promised to be another evening of dog owners stuffing the room to hear the discussion of the pit bull ordinance, then out of the blue—it blew! I'm going to have to view the video several times to make sure I have all the facts in the proper order but it all started with the "Mayor's Report" when Mayor Lambi announced that his report would be a little longer than usual. I also have to report on Alderman Nick Guccione and his sincere attempt to assimilate, Nick when you  already have your foot in your mouth up to your ankle and you want people to respect you, stop trying to shove it in up to your knee.

Lambi went on the attack regarding the investigation of the $15,000 check given to City Attorney, Paul Rost. His target was Alderman Chris Gard of Ward 2 and opened up with both barrels. Lambi is angry about the allegations being made in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the St. Charles County Journal, and The Wentzvillian, quoting from each. He asked (barked)  questions of Gard from what appeared to be a script. I suspect he was trying to get the aldermen to commit to some kind of "witch hunt" and may have been coached by his defense attorney, Chet Pleban. Gard responded by saying "under advice of Wentzville's city attorney, I refuse to answer." At the February 8th meeting Rost instructed the board that they should not respond to newspapers and blogs. The only alderman to respond to Lambi's questions and fold like a cheap suit was Guccione, but that's axiomatic. He was told not to respond to newspapers or blogs at least three times (that I know of) last week what part of that didn't he understand? (scratching head)

I will go into more detail about Lambi's behavior last night on a later blog but for now, I want to concentrate on Guccione's performance during the meeting. Twice last night he campaigned from the Dias saying: "I made a mistake voting for the Rankin contract, I'm sorry," Guccione flips again, what's new? First he votes against Sam's Club coming to town and now flips on Rankin. The Suburban Journal of February 13 reported: "(Ed) Watkins (Winning Endeavors) confirmed that Pleban was examining whether Wentzville should have requested bids before approving its $360,000 agreement with Ranken. Watkins said at least two aldermen and the city's economic development director were aware that another school, Linn State Technical College, expressed interested in opening a satellite campus in Wentzville two months before the Ranken agreement was finalized."

Lambi tried unsuccessfully to get the aldermen to admit that they knew about Linn State Technical College wanting to open a satellite school here. None of the aldermen said a word except Guccione; "I didn't know," agreeing with Lambi he made a motion to have the aldermen reveal who knew. Silence again, as the board of crickets starred expressionless into their computer screens, the motion died for lack of a second. Three times that night Guccione made a motion for various topics and they failed for lack of a second. When the subject of not posting public meetings in private homes was voted on, Guccione was the only "no" vote. Four times over the course of the meeting Guccione opposed the entire board, can the board always be wrong? This is exactly what I posted about him on my February 20th blog;"Why" Guccione is incapable of working with the other aldermen, there is no way he could be a successful Mayor.

As a footnote: Donna Sherwooid is up to her usual underhanded crap by filing another "ethics violation," this time on her opponent, Jeremy Pritchett. Bill Schuette finally made an appearance (after an eleven month absence) to speak in the "Open Forum" and to have a city-paid campaign photo-op saying; "We should not be spending tax-dollars on Rankin." It amazes me how Guccione fell right back in lock-step with Schuette, old habits are hard to break. Schuette slithered back into the night shortly after his photo-op and Sherwood rolled out two hours before the meeting ended. This was a regular circus night for reporters and viewers alike, make sure to go to: http://www.wentzvillemo.org/ to see all three rings. Look for more to come, I'll be baaack!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I don't know how many Wentzville voters watch the city meeting videos but I do know that it should be a prerequisite for any voter (before entering the voting booth)  to make an intelligent selection for a candidate who will represent them and our city. We have two mayor candidates "strutting their stuff" almost every week, voters can get more information about these candidates there than during any campaign speech or piece of literature they could ever see. It is in Board of Aldermen meetings where candidates shine or fizzle while they are carrying out the business of the city. A voter can pick up everything he or she needs to make an educated decision about who is the better candidate for the huge job of being mayor of Wentzville. In the meeting videos there is no biased or false interpretation of the facts and the only thing better than the video is actually being there. Last nights meeting was a perfect example of things I've been reporting on mayor candidate, Nick Guccione for the past few months.

There were tense moments last night, I say "last night" because it didn't finish until 11:00 pm, a full three hours after my jammy time. The place was packed for—you guessed it—the pit bull ordinance, not the budget or other important legislation but dogs, and Nick Guccione was in his element; pandering to a special interest group. I watched Guccione closely during the four and a half hour meeting and I suspect he's been reading The Wentzvillian. He had his hand up (like the smart little girl in the front row in grade school, waiving her hand frantically—"call on me, call on me!") to make a motion to approve or second any motion made. I think he really believes he was actually contributing and being useful with his "hand-up" participation. Of course he never once entered into any of the many major important discussions that all of the other Aldermen aggressively debated. The answer to that is simple: It's easy to make a motion to approve or second a motion but it takes knowledge of the ordinance or subject matter through study, to actively discuss it with intelligence. Guccione simply does not read the material, he is unprepared.

It's not fair to say Guccione didn't speak at the meeting, he did—twice. The first time was to take a stand on the "Automotive Coalition" where he said "I want to make it clear that I supported this when it was first brought up and I'm in support of it now." What I don't understand about his statement is; if he is still in support it, why did he flip and vote against it? I am three for three calling his flips but seriously, I think he has a screw loose. The second time was when the "Pit Bull" ordinance was being discussed, he perked up like a kid at a carnival. He was difficult to understand the two or three sentences he uttered because he talks so fast and his voice tone is so breathy, it made it difficult to catch what he was saying, even with a microphone. Someone who commented here on another blog hit it right when he said; "he sounds like a cheap version of the godfather with marbles in his mouth..." I think his blathering was something about fines and punishment, I'm not sure, maybe the city clerk caught some of it but we'll have to wait for the minutes to be released next Friday. That was Guccione's entire input, four and a half hours of meeting where every alderman participated on almost every discussion except Mayor candidate Guccione who contributed four or five sentences the entire time.

Guccione took a major shagging when the Board moved to change the ethics policy to disallow campaigning in city facilities during working hours. This proposed change was to keep candidates like Guccione and Donna Bannas Sherwood from visiting employees to drum up support while they are working like they did at the police station a few weeks ago. Bananas Sherwood took a shot from the Board when they suggested revising the city code so she and others would not abuse or ignore the law. Ya know, now that I think about it, I'm not sure Guccione or Sherwood even realized that the aldermen were talking about them. I'm telling you, these two candidates; Nick Guccione and Donna Bananas Sherwood are a serious problem if you think they should be representing anyone, in any capacity, at any time, in this city.

I know that watching four and a half hours of a city meeting could be considered cruel and unusual punishment but if you are concerned that The Wentzvillian is exaggerating about Nick Guccione's lack of leadership qualities, I urge you to watch the January 25, 2012 Wentzville "Board of Aldermen Regular Meeting:" http://www.wentzvillemo.org/. The video will stand the test of truth and try as you may, it cannot be disputed or denied that Nick Guccione is not mayor caliber and for my money he doesn't even represent the voters of Ward 3 as an Alderman. It's time for Guccione and Sherwood to take a hike! It is truly a tragedy for Ward 3 and Wentzville that he was unopposed in last year's election.

The Sword of Damocles

Once again, the Board of Alderman's work session was dominated by the pit bull ordinance. There were 30 or 40 dog-lovers in attendance in support of changing the breed-specific law. It was over an hour before the mayor closed that portion of the meeting to move onto "Staff Updates" and the "Worksession Topic List." I was disappointed to wait until 10:00 pm (after the "Executive Session") to find that my prediction of a press-release was dashed. I now believe that a press-release will probably be issued by the city on Friday to announce the new police chief. I missed it by three days, oh well—some times the magic works—sometimes it doesn't.

I do have good news! The "Storm Water Run-off Fee" ordinance that has been hanging over taxpayers heads like the Sword of Damocles since Lurch (Bill Schuette) hung it there will be brought back for the third, and final reading. Alderman of Ward 1, Cheryl Kross has been working on getting this ordinance put to bed, brought it up again last night. The previous time she wanted to bring it back for a vote (October 2011), Mayor Lambi stalled it for more discussion.

This bill was driven by Lambi and the Lurchettes beginning in 2006 in an effort to make homeowners "pay for the rain." Introduced by then, city administrator Andy McCown, it was picked up by Lurch who decided to put a feather in his cap by saving the city and sticking it to homeowners. If MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District) in St. Louis hadn't been cited in a class action law suit for passing a similar ordinance, he would have thrust a tax sword into Wentzville residents that could not be withdrawn. Voters need to remember that Bill Schuette (Lurch) was the one who fought so hard to impose this unusual tax on our citizens. If he actually files, and his name appears on the April ballot for mayor (or any other office), scratch through his name—it will save you a lot of heartaches later should he be elected.

Without further protest from the Mayor and supported by Aldermen Rick Stokes and Nick Guccione, Kross managed to get it put on the agenda for the first meeting in December (14th). I have been waiting for the third reading for five years and now it looks like it may really happen. It is believed this terrible legislation will be voted down and I'll be watching very closely how the aldermen vote on this issue. This could be a campaign-buster if anyone sides for it. During the discussion, city attorney Paul Rost interjected; "If you are bringing this back to vote it down, ok—if you are entertaining the idea of voting yes, we need to talk." It sounds to me like there are still problems with this absurd tax.

Our elected city officials are very important to the future of resident's finances, electing the wrong people to our government can cost you dearly. Please check the records of candidates to assess for yourselves whether or not they have your best interests at heart. There are several candidates today who say they are going to file who have a record of costing taxpayers more and offering less. Be careful who you pick!

Thank A Veteran Today

There's a lot going on in Wentzville and before the end of the year I suspect there will be some very interesting twists. The rumor mill is once again drumming out messages that another member of staff may be saying farewell and the city will be announcing Wentzville's new police chief possibly as early as next week. The list of possible mayor candidates has tripled and doesn't even include the incumbent Paul Lambi.

Although the first day of filing isn't for another week, Monday was the day prospectives could pick up candidate packets. According to my source, six "could be" candidates picked up the needed forms and information for filing in the mayor's race. The following list (in alphabetic order) is of those who are known to have requested the paperwork:

Nick Guccione

Darrel Lackey

Bill "Lurch" Schuette

Leon Tow

Unknown
The Wentzvillian

This list is by no means an accurate accounting of candidates, that number will be known by the last day of filing January 17, 2012. The one grave disappointment is to see Lurch crawl out from under his rock after a year long absence. It was commented to me that he hasn't served on committees or volunteered any time to organizations to better the city since he first appeared on the scene as an aldermanic plant by Vickie Boedeker six years ago. To see his name pop up as a possible mayor candidate again, is a testament to unthinking people who would support such a disgrace as having him on the ballot, it's a total waste of ink.

The Pit Bull ordinance will be discussed at this evening's "Work Session," and after a couple of house cleaning items, the board will go into "Executive Session." It's the third executive session meeting in a row,  there 's something big cooking in city hall and there could be a press release after this one. The Wentzvillian will keep you informed.

Today we remember those brave men and women who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor on that December morning in 1941, 70 years ago. Our armed services have defended our way of life against tyranny of any sort—that we may carry on our right to live free. The graveyards in Wentzville contains soldiers and sailors from every war since, and including, the American Revolution, please take some time to thank a veteran today.