The Den of Bell-Tails

Once again, it's time to visit the City of Wentzville playhouse; the meeting of February 22nd. For the political addicts out there, there were lots and lots of delectable goodies that night. Alderman Nick Guccione served the hors d'oeuvres but Mayor Lambi brought in the main course and dessert. Lambi was steppin' high like a rooster in deep mud until none of the Aldermen (except Guccione) bit on his "distract and deceive" trap.

It was during the "Mayor's Report" after Lambi gave Alderman Chris Gard a sound drubbing when he attacked staff member; Jerry Hillin, Purchasing Manager. He third-degreed Hillin on the process of the "implied contracts" and the $15,000 check, in my opinion, he was totally out of line with his interrogation. At one time during the meeting Gard said (in no uncertain terms) to the Mayor" You are overstepping your authority." There was uneasiness in the audience as he grilled Hillin.

After several minutes of Lambi's inquisition Hillin stated (with all due respect); "On the advice of my personal attorney and that of our City Attorney, I have filed an official complaint against you and refuse to answer any of your questions," According to Hillin, this was all due to Lambi busting into a finance meeting that morning and verbally beating on him there too. In my opinion, Lambi has gone over the edge and it appears that here lately his oil does not reach his dipstick, he is acting desperate. Could it be that he is in deeper trouble than originally thought?

After thinking this through, there are some other very strange things going on in City hall. I know that the initial employee complaint was in regard to a conflict of interest investigation and involved Rankin Technical college. As I reported in my post of December 16, 2011, "Illegal practice of using ones Influence...," in the city van going to Rankin the day of the alleged conflict there were several aldermen, Mayor Lambi, Economic Development Director Larry Tucker, and Ed Watkins of Winning Endeavors. Many of the questions of which Lambi demanded that night could have been very easily answered by Larry Tucker. Why wasn't he present? Could it be that Tucker was the employee who filed the conflict of interests complaint (that started it all) and on the advise of his attorney did not attend? If it's true, this scenario could answer a whole bunch of my questions about connecting the dots.

There have been aldermen meetings in years gone by where I've seen aldermen pick up their things and walk out due to the irrational demand of a mayor. At one point in Lambi's rant when he couldn't get any of the aldermen (except Guccione) to answer his questions, he tried to  threaten the board by saying; "I am the CEO of Wentzville and Chief Law Enforcement Officer. I demand you answer my questions."  Old Scratch was not a happy camper and made a fool of himself with his specious direction. Wouldn't it have been fun if Gard and all the other rational thinking aldermen got up and walked out, leaving Lambi and Nick Guccione sitting there trying to figure out what to do. If Lambi continues his tirades in future meetings, and I have no doubt that he will, I can see this happening.

There's a lot more to discuss about the meeting of February 22nd but there's no room for anymore today. A whole mess of stuff to think about and sooner or later all the facts will be known. I know that Paul Lambi is a good man and I've had a difficult time bringing myself to believe that he has done all that has been brought forward.  I have not closed my mind to the fact that there may be more behind the story than I've heard. I'm pretty much a hillbilly but I was raised on a floored pen and if there is anything else going on in this matter I will do my best to get to the bottom of it.

Regardless of the reasons, the things going on today in our city hall are not a good thing for our community, as much as I enjoy a good fight, I'd like to see it stop. Sometimes when I go to city meetings it's like walking into a den of bell-tails.

Meltdown in City Hall

The Board of Aldermen's special meeting of November 29th was a bust, hardly worth attending—that's probably why I didn't. The agenda items were only two: "City Administrator Recruitment," and "Police Chief Recruitment." Those lasted about 15 minutes and then they went into executive session for almost two hours. Sometimes watching legislation is like watching speed bumps, it's no wonder why more citizens don't attend city meetings, it takes a certain kind of screwball. But this doesn't mean there isn't entertainment in city hall because on any given day it is filled with mini dramas.

If you had been a fly on the mayor's office wall Wednesday afternoon you would have seen our mayor at his absolute worst. Code of conduct for elected officials doesn't seem to mean much for our omnipresent all mighty potentate; Mayor Lambi, as he went crazy. I think the pressures of trying to act like a mayor by someone who can't grasp the concept is catching up with our man Lambi.

Here's the way it went down: A citizen and old friend of Lambi's went to city hall to talk with Acting City Administrator, Dennis Walsh about a water bill problem. At the front desk he found that Walsh is no longer officed in city hall so he asked if he could have a few moments with the Mayor. Sitting in Lambi's office, he explained why he was there and the conversation evolved into a discussion of the recent employee benefits talks. He asked why Lambi supported the "no increase" in co pays for employees. Irritated, and in his best smart-ass condescending way, Lambi said: "You are always putting down city employees." His friend rocked by Lambi's statement retorted, "I take offense to your attitude! How can you justify passing these costs onto the taxpayers!"

Walsh and the purchasing manager, Jerry Hillin, arrived at city hall for a meeting with Lambi just as the gloves were being taken off in Lambi's office. Shouting and expletives (that even I wouldn't use) were being exchanged while the office employees and staff listened in the lobby. Finally, before it went to blows, Lambi shouted; "YOU'RE NO FRIEND OF MINE, GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!" On his way out, Lambi's ex friend said: "You'll rue the day you treated me this way!" In my opinion, that's one hell of a way to schmooze a taxpaying resident of Wentzville. I wonder if Lambi will get his vote?

You kinda have to feel sorry for Lambi he really is a nice person if you can get him out of his mayor hat. He was originally elected (2004) to dethrone Vickie Bodeker and re-elected (2006) to drive the nail in her coffin by beating her a second time to that old tune: "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead." Then after that he began thinking he was invincible.  Beginning to break promises and  lying to friends and followers became a pass time that lost him a great number of his constituency. In 2008, his third election, Leon Tow gave him a run for his money without even trying. In 2010 he won a split decision by obtaining only 38 percent of the vote but if there had been only one opponent, Lambi would not have been here today. I guess we are fortunate because if he had lost we would have had Lurch screwing things up today. Sometimes blessings come at a high price.

Turning friends into enemies has been a big part of his downfall. His reign of lunacy will lead to a legacy far beneath that which he had hoped to attain. This final meltdown in city hall could cost him any chance at a fifth term. Even some of his closest friends are now looking away and I'm beginning to believe that he finally doesn't want the job of mayor any longer, it's just too hard. With a little training I think he could become a top-notch Wal-Mart Greeter. Maybe he could use one of his $250 "volunteer" tutors to help land the job.

Shut Up and Sit Down

The board of aldermen meeting of October 28th played for just over four hours. During that time there were glimmers of excitement surrounded by long stretches of tedium but nothing earth shaking. Mayor Lambi did make an ass of himself again (what's new) and I'll discuss that later on. One subject that caught my attention was the one about the lease agreement between the city and the MEAA (Mid East Area on Aging) regarding rental of the building known as the Green Lantern Senior Center.

For those of you who may not know, the MEAA coordinates the Meals on Wheels program and provide lunches and activities for senior citizens in Wentzville. Up until just a few years ago, MEAA used the full kitchen facilities to cook all of the meals. With rising costs, the MEAA had to consolidate and ceased preparation of meals in Wentzville and are now prepared in an O'Fallon facility. It was this crisis that spawned WASSI (Wentzville Area Senior Services, Inc.) board to shore up support and maintain senior services in Wentzville.

During the ongoing investigation of the city's contracts in an effort to trim out excess spending the MEAA agreement was brought forward. Originally signed in 1979 it has been on auto renewal ever since. The terms include a $250 per month rental of the building while the city picks up the utilities.  During the review, it was noted that it cost's the city $50,000 annually to operate the building and  the MEAA pays only $3,000 per year to rent the facility. Alderman Vann Sample of ward 2 pointed out that three thousand dollars is a paltry amount to pay and alluded to increasing the rent to offset city expenditures.

One of the faults of any junior alderman is the lack of history and in this instance, I think Sample should back off before the MEAA is forced to pack it in and take a walk. Opinions vary but I believe it to be good government to subsidize our senior citizens. Sample commented later on the parks project saying he wanted the "sports fields built faster and faster." $47,000 for seniors is a really paltry amount compared to spending $20 million dollars on sports fields and an aquatic center which may have limited appeal for many seniors. This leads me to believe that Alderman Sample cares more for his children's activities than the wefare of our senior citizens in Wentzville.

Lame-Ass-Blunder of the Week

Now for the Lambi "Lame-Ass Blunder of the Week:" In past years our mayor was so easy-going and congenial but that was when the Lurchettes were making law. They let Lambi do nothing and rubber stamp anything he wanted. In today's city hall this board is trying to make him accountable and earn his title. I must add that they are failing miserable simply because Lambi doesn't seem to understand what a mayor is supposed to do and more than likely never will.

While discussing the MEAA contract, purchasing manager, Jerry Hillin was asked questions and offered information. Hillin, a very experienced, thorough and dedicated employee of the city takes direction well but when Lambi (who can't find his own ass with a radar screen) is his boss, he's in deep do-do. When Hillin asked for direction Lambi's temper once again got the best of him, he essentially told Hillin to shut up and sit your ass down. Of course he didn't say it in exactly that way but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who heard it that way. I have never seen a mayor, or alderman for that matter, ever treat an employee with such disrespect in a public meeting. I seriously don't think Lambi is drooling out of both sides of his mouth.

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.