Bend Over Wentzville, Here Comes Another NEW TAX!

C'mon Wentzville city government, you have got to to be kidding...you are really going to inflict this unpopular storm water utility fee (tax)? Admit it, it's just another tax on the property owners that they will have no say in how much it is raised in the future. I dug out a couple of interesting articles on the proposed "Storm Water Fee" (TAX) printed in 2008 by Echo Magazine. I am posting them here and have taken the opportunity to highlight in bold, some of the more important Items. The first asserts the damage to home and business owner's bank accounts if this vulgar display of excess power is adopted:

"Storm Water Run-off Fee

A handful of citizens were in attendance at a recent monthly meeting hosted by Ward 3 Aldermen Nick Guccione and John Luby at the Guccione home. Others attending this informal get-together were President of the Board of Alderman Bill Schuette of Ward 2, and City Administrator Dianna Wright.
The main topic of discussion stemmed around the controversial Storm Water Utility Fee, which was tabled until the outcome of a class-action lawsuit against the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District is determined. According to public record, the fee would be used for storm water maintenance. One citizen said, “Storm water maintenance is the same as street maintenance; it’s the cost of doing business in Wentzville and should be paid for by tax revenues, not a fee.” It was brought up that the City is minimizing the implementation of the fee because it’s only $1.10 per household, and small businesses were being burdened with the brunt of the fee; all small businesses would pay considerably more. Alderman President Schuette stated, “I’ve talked with the small businesses and they don’t mind the fee because they will just pass the cost onto their customers.” Schuette says the home owners of Wentzville will pay only $1.10 (or more) per month, but the cost of everything they buy in Wentzville will go up because businesses will be passing their share of the fee onto them—the home owners will pay for it all, and apparently that’s OK with Schuette. I’m sure Wentzville homeowners can see the flaw in his duplicitous logic.
The question was asked, “If this bill is passed, are citizens guaranteed that the $1.10 fee will not be $3.30 next month or $5.50 or more next year?” None of the Aldermen or the City Administrator could guarantee that. Such is the nature of fees; once they are implemented, if the City can show need, they can raise them at any time. As they say, once you let the camel poke its nose in the tent, it is not long before the whole camel’s in the tent. The Aldermen who support this bill are giving a blank check signed by Wentzville residents to our city government. If stormwater funds were taken from tax revenues, the cost to residents and businesses would remain constant until it is put to a vote of the people.
Alderman Luby was asked if he supports the fee, and he said “Yes.” Those Aldermen who voted to table instead of giving an up or down vote were Bill Schuette and Peggy Meyer of ward 2, and Nick Guccione and John Luby of ward 3.
At a meeting of the Wentzville Downtown Business Association, flanked by Ward 3 Aldermen Luby and Guccione, Schuette defended tabling indefinitely the Storm Water fee legislation by stating, “If we voted this down, we would be wasting the $97,000 we spent on a viability study in 2006.” He believes it’s better to inflict this unpopular fee on Wentzville residents and businesses than to admit the mistake of wasting taxpayer’s dollars by entertaining this unusual legislation in the first place. It is the opinion of this writer that Alderman Schuette is standing on a political gallows while supporting this fee. It remains to be seen which Aldermen will be standing beside him and which will be among the spectators. Call your Aldermen and tell them what you think about them giving our bucks to the city; tell them to take the money out of the city’s general fund, and not to impose a fee. Demand that your Aldermen representatives bring the storm water utility fee back on the table and give an up or down vote now. Alderman Schuette doesn’t want to give citizens a vote by taking the funds from tax revenues; the least he can do is take a stand, bring the issue back on the table, and vote for or against the welfare of his constituents and all Wentzville residents."

This next article expresses the cowardly, indifferent, cavalier arrogance of our city government to impose this TAX on our already over-burdened property owners:

"Storm Water Run-off Fee Tabled

Just before final passage, the Wentzville Board of Aldermen tabled the storm water run-off fee indefinitely. Alderman Bill Schuette, Ward 2 announced that the MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District of St. Louis) has been cited in a class-action lawsuit over the implementation of a storm water run-off fee, and rather than taking a chance on a similar lawsuit here, they decided to table the bill until the situation is resolved. The bill can be put back on the agenda for final passage at any time with a 24-hour notice.
If and when the fee is adopted, residents and businesses in Wentzville will have to dig a little deeper each month to pay for the rain. The budget would grow $300,000 because of this new and rare fee—Wentzville would be the only city in St. Charles County to inflict it on its residents and businesses. At the August 6, 2008 work session, Public Works Director Bill Bensing said, “I know of at least three other cities in St, Charles County who are closely watching the outcome of our actions.” Alderman Nick Guccione of Ward 3 remarked, “We’ll be leading the way.”
Many Wentzville residents are losing their jobs, many are facing foreclosures, and many more cannot afford to drive to work because of the high price of gasoline. We pay one of the highest sales taxes in the nation, we had a 30% to 40% increase in property assessment and are consequently paying more real estate taxes, and many of us are on fixed incomes. Small businesses are suffering with strict and costly codes at the hand of an insensitive city that imposes more and more fees and restrictions. The big businesses in town will get a 20% to 50% discount on their storm water run-off fees, leaving the citizens and small businesses to carry the brunt of the city’s windfall.
As an interesting side-note, the very evening the Aldermen had the first reading for the new fee, they voted to purchase another new 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe for $30,000. The City of Wentzville has money to keep hiring personnel, buying vehicles, and paying for the gasoline. When the storm water run-off fee is brought back, the vote results will be printed in Echo Magazine, listing the Aldermen who supported it—hopefully; this will be used as a guide for Wentzville voters to use at the next Aldermanic election. By the way, watch for the city to put on the April 2009 ballot the one-half-cent sales tax increase for storm water and parks (for the third time). Wentzville cannot afford elected officials who continually support more taxes or impose more and higher fees.
Stop the hiring, quit the spending, and
CUT THE BUDGET!"

I sincerely hope that all of you following this blog, get up on all fours and storm city hall. Pass this along to your friends, neighbors, and fellow business owners, let them know that we are sick and tired of their "money grubbing agenda." The city government needs to know; that just because the state says it's OK to implement this "fee,' it doesn't make it mandatory, necessary, or acceptable to property owners. There remains only one final vote to stick it to us, call your Aldermen!

"Stop the hiring, quit the spending, and CUT THE BUDGET!" NOW!

Looking Forward to 2012

After the recent Wentzville election, I'm encouraged by the results.

Beginning with Ward 1: Cheryl Kross was elected by a resounding 884 votes over her opponent Ola Martin who gathered 221, and two write-ins. Alderwoman Kross has earned her re-election due to a close interaction with her constituents and honest questioning of the political and bureaucratic health of Wentzville.

Ward 2: In a race of four canditates, Chris Gard is our new alderman replacing retiring Peggy Meyer; 764 votes. With a growing public distrust of City doings, Alderman Gard is a welcome addition. In second place, William (Bill) "Lurch" J. Schuette came in second with 607 votes. This is his second loss in as many years, I certainly hope he now realizes that he is a complete loser and is not wanted back in city hall. But somehow, I don't think he's that smart so look forward to seeing him "Lurch"ing around next year when the mayoral election takes place. The other two candidates were Donna Sherwood; 500 votes and Patrick Vining; 50 votes; seven write-ins.

Ward 3: Nick Guccione was unopposed.

The general outlook for the city is is very good. However, with five conservative aldermen on the board, Nick Guccione could have a very long couple of years.

Looking forward; The mayoral race in 2012 could be fun. Three horses are known already; Mayor Paul Lambi, Ward 1 Alderman Leon Tow, and Ward 3 Alderman Nick Guccione. "Lurch" might jump in, you can tell an idiot, but you can't tell him much, but I digress.

Anyway, Beginning with Lambi, Paul Lambi is a kind, sensitive, and caring man of unquestionably good morals however, he's served two terms longer than necessary. As a matter of fact, his greatest accomplishment in his political career was to beat Vickie Bodeker in his first two elections. That alone made it worth the votes he got. Now down to his record: Mayor Lambi is in love with being Mayor. He loves the notoriety, officiating ribbon cuttings, rubbing elbows with powerful men and women at the County, State and Federal levels, and of course, being the wheel at parties and celebrations. It would be hard to find a single good thing that happened in Wentzville that he wouldn't take credit for. Unfortunately, he's been caught in lots and lots of lies, Doesn't give a rats-ass about his constituents, and has turned his back on friends who helped put him there. But the most damning thing he's accomplished is; he has never stood up to any of his staff and he consistently allowed the bureaucracy to run the city while he's out playing golf. Mayor Lambi has put his stamp on many bad legislations without a single veto in five years of sitting over City government. It is a shame that he won't step down before the masses send him a loud and clear message to go home, get a real job, and let Wentzville survive without him. Six years of Paul Lambi as mayor has been frustrating to everyone, it's time for him to go.

Regarding Tow and Guccione; Head to head it is going to be interesting. Tow has lived in Wentzville some 40 years, most of it, serving the city as alderman of ward 1. He too is a good man but has never campaigned much, on the other hand, his opponent Nick Guccione is a tireless campaigner. Leon may be backed by "The Machine'" but if he doesn't get out there pressing the flesh, he could find himself running third.

Enough for now, but I'll be back!

More Master Plan woes!

I was talking with a friend this weekend, Mr. Tom Durst, owner of Wentzville's Dairy Queen. He has conserns about the Church Street improvements scheduled to begin in 2011. According to the master plan, there will be a six foot sidewalk on the west side of Church Street and a nine foot sidewalk on Dairy Queen's side. The result is the city commandeering about another six feet of his property. In addition to the nine foot extension of the sidewalk there will be a bike rack and a bench. This all sounds very cosmopolitan except that Tom stated that the sidewalk would come right up to his sign standard.

The obvious question is why is the City planning on building the nine foot sidewalk on the east side where there are homes and businesses and not on the west side where there is mostly parking lots for most of the street. Well, this is just a guess but, the path of leat resistance may be why. Since the west side of Church Street is mostly parking lots, at first glance it would be the best choice to expand the sidewalk. But after looking at it, the path of least resistance may be considerably more expensive. It would mean removing the fences from St. Patrick's and MFA properties and rebuilding them which in the long run may be more expensive than taking the property from Mr. Durst and a whole block of homes and businesses where there are no fences.

I've found that most of the decisions made by the city is based on money. If you find the money, you find the reason. The problem which Mr. Durst and a host of others on the east side of the street could be facing is that the engineering may be complete and in that case, it would cost the City even more money changing the engineering and paying for a new fence or two. It's a catch 22. It amazes me how little thought goes into these major projects and how little consideration is given to residents and busineses of Wentzville.

I hope the folks on the east side of the street go before the Board of Alderman and lodge their complaints, it'll be a lot easier to fix now before the City starts breaking ground.

Beware of the Master Plan

The City is going through an extensive remodeling of the streets in the downtown area. Adding a center lane, better lighting, wider sidewalks, the whole nine yards. Old Highway 61 was to be the first with the work there almost completed. Church Street is next on the schedule with a completion date in 2012. Many more streets will be in line in accordance with the new downtown master plan.

This past Wednesday, at the Wentzville Board of Aldermen meeting the audience of citizens suffered through an agonizing two hours of political blathering even before they got to the Bills and Resolutions. The only oasis from the tedium was during public forum; A Wentzville businessman Mr. Rodney Sherman of Budget Towing explained to the Aldermen that the improvements to Old Highway 61 has presented his company with a problem. He explained that the curb cut leading to his building does not match up with his driveway. The Board discussed this situation amongst themselves and Alderman Leon Tow asked City Attorney Paul Rost, what the legal ramifications of this obvious oversight is to the City? Rost responded that the subject cannot be spoken about in a public meeting and suggested to call an executive session. Mr. Sherman was then told by Mayor Lambi that they would go into executive session just after the public portion of the meeting and that he would call him when they reconvened. It was at this point that I decided to leave. I wasn't about to sit around for another two hours while they scratched their collective asses. On my way out the door, Mr. Sherman pulled me aside and asked me what I thought was going on. I simply told him that it looked to me like he was about to get screwed.

I received a phone call from Mr. Sherman the following day and all he said was; "You were right!" I strongly urge residents or business owners to look carefully if you are in the path of the master plan. Be sure that what the City tells you and what the master plan says are the same.

They're off and running!

I really enjoy election time, whether it's National or Local, I follow them all. Most people find politics boring but once you get involved and experience the fight, you're easily hooked. I have no desire to run for office, although I have considered it a time or two and have had folks encourage me too, still I'd rather be on this side of the pen. It takes a special kind of person to want to come under the scrutiny of citizens and the press.

After sitting in council meetings for a number of years, you start to pick up on little nuances that are quite interesting in an otherwise droll situation. With an election not more than five months away, the horses are lining up at the gate. Prospective candidates start showing up at meetings some familiar, some not but the council chambers is a ringside seat for all who attend.

One seat in each ward will be up for re-election; Ward 1 Alderman Cheryl Kross will be seeking her second term and in this writers opinion, she has earned it. It is unknown who will be opposing her at this time. Ward 2 Alderman Peggy Meyer told me that she has not made up her mind yet and is contemplating possible retirement. I saw Lurch, (former ward 2 Alderman Bill Schuette) hanging around chambers recently perhaps looking for his old job back. Anyone having influence with Peggy Meyer needs to beg her to run for office again if for no other reason than to keep Schuette off the City payroll. In Ward 3, Nickolas Guccione will be vying to keep his seat and as with ward 1, it is uncertain who will be running against him. I did see former ward 3 Alderman John Luby at a meeting recently but I don't believe he will go against his good friend Guccione.

By this time next month we'll know for sure who will be seeking election but until then, I'll keep my eyes open.

It's Good To Be Back!

Thirteen months have passed since I fell off the scene in Wentzville. I wish I could say that I spent the time on a tropical island but alas, no such luck. I'll not bore you with the real facts of my absence, but I assure you I wasn't in Jail. I have however, kept up with what has been going on in my beloved Wentzville and I'm happy to report a good many positive developments have occured.

April 2010 brought about the election of Wentzville's first majority conseravative Board of Aldermen in decades and Paul Lambi was re-elected to his fourth term as Mayor winning 38.42 percent of the vote. Hardly a landslide, especially when his closest opponent was the infamous reprobate Bill Schuette. I was disapointed that Alderman Patrick Moody elected not to run again in Ward 1 but very pleased that Leon Tow came out of retirement to fill the vacancy garnering 98.33 percent of the vote. Ward 2 elected Vann Samples with 59.31 percent of the vote and Ward 3 saw John Luby defeated by Rick Stokes who carried 52.4 percent. I have returned to my old place at the Board of Aldermen meetings, I can't wait to see our junior Aldermen at work.

I am back now, unable to return to my regular job so I'll be spending lots more time here. I hope my posts help you in making your decisions in the upcoming election in April 2011.

Conform

Prior to modern big business franchising branches of their stores all over the world, small towns and even big cities had individual identities. Go to any town today and you'll see the same stores selling the same goods that you found in your own hometown. You can eat the exact same food from the same menu as those fast food places back home, or buy the same goods from the same stores that you usually shop. Unless there is some geological differences or landmarks, or the city has a particular theme, the charm of the area has been standardized by familiar sights.

Old Highway 66 was a perfect example of diverse and creative businesses. With its unusual variety of tourist traps, it called to travellers to stop and enjoy the gift shops, eateries, and strange museums that lined its entire length. When I was a kid and my family would visit relatives I loved seeing all of the interesting places, and reading the Burma-Shave signs. People remember the unusual or unique and identify a town with its landmarks. When travelling old Highway 40 through Wentzville, I remember the Southern Air restaurant, the train tracks over the highway, and the A&W root beer drive-in (now Pete's Drive-In). Today, I smile every time I turn the corner at the Southern Air, go under the tracks, and see Pete's Drive-in. It takes me back to simpler times when the summers were longer and every day brought new adventures.

Wentzville used to have a little ice cream shop known as Smiley's, I still hear people talking fondly about it. As with many small family-owned businesses, Smiley's was faced with stiff competition from modern business. Fritz's, Woogies, and of course Dairy Queen, which all combined took their toll on a small town ice cream shop. Smiley's finally sold out and became International Dogs & Cream. The new owner tried for several years to keep the small-town feeling but like Smiley's, they were overcome by modern marketing.

International Dogs & Cream was sold to Brian Koessel and became Goody's Ice Cream. Brian understands marketing and at his ribbon cutting, what he presented was a splash of color that has not been seen since the NBC peacock. The front of the shop is pink with multicolored pastel bubbles. On the patio are six tables with brightly colored umbrellas made of what looks like Hawaiian hula skirts. Goody's is an eye-catcher, and even though it's set back and tucked between two strip shops, Goody's will not be ignored. What Goody's lacks in location, location, location, it makes up for with unique ice cream desserts, food menu, small-town service, and color, color, color!

In the two years since opening, Goody's business has steadily grown and a neighboring franchised sandwich shop has felt the pinch of competition. Free enterprise works, but with success comes another whole set of problems. Unfortunately the City received a complaint about Goody's exterior appearance and signage, which started the code enforcement people to stir. Brian received a letter from Public Works that his signage is in violation of City ordinance and was given X number of days to come into compliance. There is no consideration that the signage has been there for years; it's a simple matter of ordinance. There is an appeal process and Brian has secured the services of a local attorney to plead his case.

In my not so humble opinion, in this case, it is unfortunate that the City's actions are driven by one competitor's complaint, but if Brian's frustration with the system can be tempered until the process has been brought to completion, perhaps Wentzville may be able to keep one of its newest landmarks. Brian has already been heard saying that he's considering closing up and moving to a town where they appreciate a small family-operated business running a unique shop in its community. Fifty years from now I wonder how many grown men and women will drive by where Goody's used to be, think about their childhood, and smile to pleasant memories of simpler times, longer summers, and every day bringing new adventures.