"Just Because You Say It's So..."

Board of Aldermen meeting of April 10th continued: I touched on Mayor Nickolas Guccione's Mayor's Report this morning but there was more. After his now famous "High Road" comment Guccione went on to say about those who spoke out against him, "I have to bite my tongue but I just ignore it." He just ignores citizens who are unhappy about his unethical behavior and I'm glad to hear that because the sore he created will fester to the point where he will wish he hadn't ignored it.

About the Alderman reports, I'm a little unhappy that four of our six Aldermen had nothing to say about the situation with Guccione. Hays of course wouldn't bite the hand who fed him but he did address the ethics problem on his flyer. He apologized to the Board for the misspelling on it and the ballot, taking blame for it. I give him credit for doing that but that's where it ends. From the way things came down, it looks like Hays had nothing to do with his own campaign literature and Guccione handled everything. That explains a lot, especially the misspellings and lack of proofreading.

Alderman Shryock opened her report with, "Mayor, you opened the topic of the flyer during your report, so we need to have the discussion about you signing the endorsement as "Mayor." Guccione went to Def Con 4 saying, "I didn't do it." I wish I had a dime for everytime I heard him say that over the last six years. Then he kept saying that he gave the printing company his photograph and the letter but; "I never told him to put 'Mayor' on it." I've learned over the years that when Guccione opens his mouth it's probably a lie, but when he's making excuses, he's definitely lying, it never fails. Shyrock went on to say again that they needed to have this discussion and that's when her missiles got through Guccione's comfort level and he shut down, saying, "I'm not going to have this discussion with you."

Alderman Forrest Gosset cut in to say that this is not the proper place to have this discussion. If we are to have it, it needs to be during a work session or a regular meeting discussion item. Guccione looked for help from City Attorney Paul Rost who said, "It isn't on the agenda, it needs to be on it to have a discussion." Guccione was relieved thinking it was over but the Aldermen set it for a discussion item for April 24th. Mark your calendars, this will be a goody.

President of the Board of Alderman, Rick Stoles, during his report said, "If I were to campaign for someone I'd do it as Rick Stokes, not Alderman Rick Stokes. It shouldn't have been 'Mayor'" Then I heard Stokes say something I've only heard about but never actually heard it said in a meeting, the dreaded 'C' word; "I was going to call for a vote of censure but since we are going to have a discussion on the 24th, I will hold it until then."  For those of you who "ignore it," I've provided the definition:

CENSURE (cen'sher) n. 1. An expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. 2. An official rebuke, as by a legislature of one of its members.—tr.v. cen·sured, cen·sur·ing, cen·sures

Guccione was finally very uncomfortable, not only with the few criticisms during open forum but those of Shryock and Stokes. In frustration he said, "Just because you say it's so, doesn't make it so." I think I used that a few times in third grade, how about you?

Perhaps we did something good for our City, standing there in front of the Board complaining about our government, at least I hope so. The three of us put our asses on the line, let's see what comes of it, I'll see you on the 24th when Mayor Nickolas Guccione will have to answer for his unethical behavior. Are there any bets as to whether Hays chimes in? I guess we'll find out where he stands on unethical behavior in politics. I believe this will be the most interesting meeting since that last few of Mayor Lambi's term.

2 Days to the Election, and...

Every year at election time, things get crazy. This insanity has been going on in Wentzville since I can remember and it's always the product of some strong-willed narcissist trying to influence, or manipulate elections. I won't go into previous administrations other than to say; after talking with the old-timers in town, none of them have ever seen a Mayor actively support and campaign for Aldermen candidates until Nixkolas Guccione. No one has ever seen flyers sporting a candidate with a picture of a Mayor supporting him. I cannot fathom that there is not some State statute or Federal law protecting citizens from this type of election manipulation. Personally, I can't imagine any candidate wanting Guccione's support especially after seeing his track record of election ethics.

Nick Guccione has been recruiting and actively supporting candidates in the last two elections. I've checked my list and found that in the last two years he has actively supported seven candidates, four last year and three this year, which includes one Municipal Judge. Of the four last year, none were elected and most of them have a bad taste in their mouths after Guccione lied and turned his back on them, in fact one of them was his own campaign manager. I can only hope that Robert Hussey and Michael Hays are prepared for Guccione blaming them for anything they did under his inept and unethical tutelage. I haven't seen Hussey's campaign flyer yet but I do know that Guccione is already back-peddling on the ethics infractions on the Hays literature.

Michael Hays could be in for a big surprise when the Election Commission and/or other City and State agencies come down on him for his flyer. His problem could easily be something every other disgruntled candidate fell for, being lied to by Nickolas Guccione. Guccione could easily say that he had no part in the content of the flyer (never saw it) and only gave him a personal endorsement letter and say that he didn't know Hays would stick the word "Mayor" on it. Tricky Nicky would have plausible deny ability leaving Hays to take the hit, I hope he has proof of Guccione's involvement or he'll take it alone leaving Guccione to move on to the next sucker.

Guccione is never going to change his campaign tactics or manipulation of our election process unless our Aldermen and City Attorney get more involved. The only thing we, the citizens can do to protect Wentzville is to identify those unsuspecting candidates of Guccione's choice and make sure they do not win the election. Those people are Robert Hussey and Michael Hays who are running for Aldermen, and Michael Carter for Municipal Judge. In this years election, the most damaging mistake could be the election of Carter. It has taken Judge Steve Martin two years to straighten out the Judicial budget mess left by Carter.

For the reasons stated above, it is imperative that Wentzville voters choose the right people to represent us in our Government:

Ward 1

Cheryl Kross

Ward 3

Darrel Lackey

Municipal Judge

Steve Martin



Re-Elect Judge Steve Martin to Municipal Court

I voted for Judge Larry Nesslage in 2009 and because he didn't campaign as hard as he had in past elections Michael Carter flooded the town with signs, made a nuisance of himself with auto-dial phone recordings, and won the election. Once on the bench, Carter did his best to dismantle the Justice Department budget by lowering fines that were set by ordinance, releasing offenders with reduced fines, and not fining others who violated our laws.

The single most destructive thing Judge Carter did was to alienate our police force who worked fearlessly to apprehend those who would harm us, the citizens. Our Police officers lost faith in our municipal court and that situation put the citizens in harms way. Mayor Paul Lambi, Chief Robert Noonan, the Wentzville City Attorney, and our Aldermen had closed door meetings to see what could be done about either limiting Carter's power or removing him from office all together. Carter claims that his actions were in the name of justice, I claim he is arrogant, suffers from delusions of grandeur, and is once again wanting to reek havoc on Wentzville's Police Department and burden taxpayers by not making law-breakers pay their fair share.

In the 2011 election for Municipal Judge there were 3,685 votes cast for six candidates. Judge Steve Martin garnered 52.73 percent while Michael Carter snared 25.78 percent of the vote. I am proud to say I voted for Martin and seeing Carter's reign of terror end in Wentzville. Today, he has the Guccione machine supporting him and all bets are off, we need to continue our support for Judge Martin and I ask my readers to vote and tell your friends and acquaintances about Carter and Guccione's agenda of chaos in the City. I have spoken with Judge Martin and his words follow:

Dear Voters:

Last election for Municipal Judge, I asked for your confidence in me to serve as Municipal Judge and I was honored by your overwhelming support.

I promised to be fair to all, respectful to everyone, and bring professionalism back to Wentzville. I kept that promise and at the same time increased efficiency and saved the taxpayers money.

I look forward to discussing the improvements we have made to the Municipal Court since the last election, including the promises I made and have kept!

I look forward to meeting with you and I ask for your trust, and your vote on April 2nd.

Respectfully,

Stephen Martin.

Promises Made, Promises Kept

As Municipal Judge, I promised to bring professionalism back to the Municipal Court. I am proud to report that as Municipal Judge:

• Not a single ethics complaint has been filed against the court.
• The Court meets all statutory deadlines.
• The court is in compliance with all state laws.
• Residents are informed of their rights before going to trial.
• Everyone before the court is treated with respect.

 I also pledged to bring fairness to the court. Since being elected:

• A fair trial is received by everyone.
• Fair and polite treatment of all victims and all are given a chance to be heard.
• Reduced number of continuances. Justice delayed is justice denied.
• Expanded payment options for residents.
• Regularly scheduled trial nights for residents wanting a trial.

Re-Elect

STEVE MARTIN

Municipal Judge

Find us on Facebook at:

Steven Martin For Judge

(Click Here)

I find it difficult to believe that Mayor Nickolas Guccione is actively campaigning for Carter. that alone speaks volumes about the character of both individuals.  If you don't believe me about this situation, stop any Wentzville police officer and ask them what they thought about the damage Judge Carter did to the City of Wentzville and then please re-elect Judge Steve Martin to the Wentzville Municipal Court.

Parks—February 27th, 2013 Board Meeting

"(ID # 4369) Peruque Valley and Heartland Park Project" was discussed at length last Wednesday evening under "New Business". Several of the bidders were in attendance and spoke during "Open Forum," including one who was contesting the selection process.

At the onset, Mayor Nickolas Guccione recused himself at the advice of the City Attorney and left chambers until the discussion was completed.  The selection committee comprised of city staff had chosen the top three companies, of those they recommended C. Rallo Construction Co. Interesting to note here, the owner of C. Rallo Construction Co. is a member of Mayor Guccione's family. The Wentzvillian is not suggesting improprieties but in government just the appearance of the lack of ethics should be avoided at all costs. In this instance, not only does the mayor have a family relationship to the recommended supplier but the people on the selection committee work directly for him. By appearance alone it would be easy for someone to correctly or incorrectly deduce that this combination meets the criteria for a conspiracy, either intended or unintended. To make things even more sticky, Guccione has a family relationship with the owner of the cleaning service company contracted by the city.

During "Open Forum," representatives of Gundaker Commercial Construction protested the selection process. Apparently they had several blanks on the bid form filled in with "Later" and those blanks excluded them from being an approved bidder. Gundaker stated that other bidders who were approved had left blanks yet were approved. In support of their argument to be an approved bidder they added; "Gundaker was low bidder across the board."

Now for the problem: Parks construction has been pushed and pushed to "Start digging" by the Park Board, Friends of the Parks, and Mayors Lambi and Guccione to the point that cost overruns on the Splash Station are projected to far exceed its budget. The latest estimate for opening day is August 24th 2013 plus two weeks which ends up being one week after its scheduled closing for the season. This information should make it a little easier for Guccione to make his decision whether or not to open in 2013, but you never know.

Because they are going to be so far over budget on Splash Station, the Aldermen have been placed in an unsavory position—robbing Peter to pay Paul. To tell how deep to cut Splash Station amenities and/or from the budget of Heartland and Peruque parks, they need an accurate accounting from staff just how much Splash Station will cost. Questions were asked; "Why Splash Station was chosen first and why its location was chosen. Very good questions if they want to start pointing fingers (which I'm sure will come sooner or later and I'd bet those fingers are attached to the arms of Lambi and Guccione), but it won't help the situation. After a lengthy debate and deciding that the obvious result of cuts to Heartland and Peruque would change their design criteria it was decided to rebid.

The only thing left is for staff to provide the numbers asked for, evaluate the depth of the cuts to each of the parks, and send it back out for bid. I would be surprised if there are any blanks left on the forms this time around.

Would You Like Fries With That?

The Wentzvillian attended its first ever Parks Board meeting last night, Monday, February 5th because I wanted to get their take on the rock situation and I got more than expected. I urge my readers to watch the City's Parks Board meeting video to confirm the things written here. It was worth attending, some very revealing statements were made during the "Open Forum" and "Unfinished Business Item 1, (ID # 4345 Project Parks Update."

Other than myself, spectators were sparse at best. Mayor Nickolas Guccione sat in the front row and President of the Board of Alderman, Rick Stokes sat in the second. Guccione attends every committee and board meeting being held in the city because this is how he learns what's going on in the city. Rather than read minutes or packets of bills and resolutions he leads the city via the audio method. He also makes decisions on subjects by hearing which items get the most support and then he leans in that direction, this is known as the "Guccione Method of Mayoring."

Stokes got up during open forum announcing himself as "citizen Rick Stokes" and issued a rather provocative challenge regarding hitting rock and cost overruns to the Park Board. "About a year ago during the planning, design, and selection process, members of the Park Board and the Mayor openly criticized the Board of Aldermen." The Parks Board and Mayor listened intently as Stokes said; "Some of the helpful comments made were: Just trust staff; The evaluation committee made their decision, just go!; The VOTERS want parks NOW, The staff and PDS (design company) know what they are doing, get out of the way. And my personal favorite: Stop questioning staff and start digging."

Currently, cost overruns are at $240,000 with a contingency of $292,000 for the entire Splash Station which is less than five percent complete. Stokes went on to say, "49 percent of the voters said "no" to parks and they want to know how their money is being spent. I challenge the Park Board to bring forward its recommendations about where we are going to get the money to pay for these overruns to the Board of Aldermen? There are two other parks budgeted and they have large water features what happens if we hit rock there too? Do we build them at the same time or do we sequence them?

Stokes finished by saying, "The Board of Aldermen wish to be in agreement with the Parks Board, we would like to think you are a partner rather than a critic." That statement cut them to the bone because they and the Mayor have been critics, in a very public way. Guccione will need to figure out who to blame for his statements of the past.

Finally, during unfinished business one of the parks board members stuck her foot down her throat buy saying, "I'm surprised the rock situation was a surprise! We knew years ago that there was rock there when we tried to build some ball fields." I'm now questioning who is to blame for this problem and I imagine our City Attorney, Paul Rost, is going to be pulling his hair out after that public admission. Things just got a lot more complicated for him. Somewhere in the city, someone knew that they would have the problem of excessive rock and they didn't bother to bring this little fact to the Board of Aldermen.

Last night, citizen Rick Stokes handed the Mayor and his staff a super-sized meadow muffin sandwich, maybe Guccione could bring the condiments. I can't wait to see Guccione trying to wiggle out of this blunder, it just keeps getting better and better to watch city stuff unfold.