No Christmas Card Again This Year

I've been thinking about the report I wrote last week regarding the mysterious $15,000 check and a few things that I recalled from years gone by. The number $15 large kept rolling around like a pinball racking up points as it made it's way down the course—It reminded of other times when $15,000 or a similar number would be spent by the city and Mayor Lambi's part in those expenditures.

The most recent was when he was ready to spend taxpayer's dollars to the tune of $18,000 for a donation to the 501c3 organization; LINC. Fortunately, the board saw the problems with a "contract for services" for this venture—had the Lurchettes been in power they'd have passed it as fast as the bean soup they had for lunch. I seem to remember several other similar expenditures in the range of $10,000 to $19,000 to other organizations or companies, and, I've formulated a hypothesis: Lambi possibly regards money in that range as pin-money and nothing to concern himself with. Perhaps it was a mind-set because he had been a fairly successful salesman in the financial services field when he was elected for his first term. I guess when you wield millions of dollars around everyday, 10 or 15 large is nothing, it isn't worth the hassle, there are bigger fish out there with fatter wallets.

One case in point came in about March of 2005, just prior to his second-term election: City staff recommended that the City buy a "folder/inserter" in the amount of $15,383 for mailing of water bills the City Administrator (CA), Andy McCown further justified it by saying that it could also be used for mailing the Vision newsletter. This whole thing was problematic from the beginning as it came with an extremely costly service contract. The staff said that this purchase would save on mailing costs because they could cut out a local business that was contracted to handle that service. After doing the math, it would have taken 600,000 mailings to break even, at that time they were mailing 7,500 water bills per month. Even figuring today's population of 29,000, that's a long time. Lambi said, "We're going to save money with the mailing of the "Vision" also, and more importantly, it would save one day in mailing out our water bills which means the city would get paid sooner." I've heard some strange logic but there's a good chance the buses don't go where he lives.

One other important fact: The Vision newsletter was printed on gloss paper and as anyone in the printing industry can tell you, small commercial folder/inserters do not like stuffing gloss paper into envelopes. The vote was split 3-3 by the Board of Aldermen and Lambi broke the tie by saying; "I'm going to go with staff on this one, I have all the confidence in the world in them and if it will help, and save the city some money at the same time, I vote to make the purchase, the staff deserves it."

I was really pissed that Lambi would not listen to someone who had over 25 years in the industry Subsequently, I wrote an article which was printed in a local publication protesting the purchase of the over-sold machine. I provided technical details and stated that it would not work for what the city wanted. That article started the downward-spiraling relationship between the Mayor and me, when it hit the streets he was madder than rabid dog slobbering all over himself. I was supporting him for the upcoming election but that didn't mean I was going to cover up his illadvised decision.

At the next Alderman meeting, Lambi was still fuming and he walked out to me in the audience and threw a four-inch three-ring binder in my lap (it was heavy, and a good thing I was wearing a cod-piece). "If you want to talk about something, talk about a $54 Million dollar budget, not some measly $17,000 machine." He made me feel lower than a snake in a wagon track in front of everyone there, the romance was over.

This is not the end of the story: The next month's meeting was interesting; The CA during his report announced: The Machine we bought to stuff envelopes does not work on the "Vision." We will be able to mail water bills, but, the "Vision" will have to continue being mailed by a private company. So much for the savings to the city. I grinned colder than a pawn-broker at the mayor, and the aldermen who knew about my concern looked at me smiling too. After the meeting, Lambi came up to me and said; "I guess you can tell me 'I told you so.'" It wasn't necessary, he knew he'd pooched the moose and the whole city knew it too, but what the hell, it was only 15 grand—a drop in the bucket.

This whole deal today is strange, I'd like to know who endorsed the check and strongly believe it was Lambi. Is it possible that he thought no one would ever question this expenditure? Lambi's displayed attitude toward amounts of money like this has made me curious, maybe he really doesn't think it's money. I wonder if he spends his own money like that? Maybe it's an "easy come, easy go" thing with him.

Since the light has been turned on by the St. Louis Post Dispatch regarding some of Lambi's other questionable dealings thanks to Alderman Guccione, maybe Guccione will drop a dime on him about this situation too. Needless to say, my friendship with Mayor Lambi has been somewhat diminished—I haven't received a Christmas card since.

Cry Havoc and Unleash the Dogs of War

The Board of Alderman's regular meeting of October 12th, 2011 held no mercy for our  omnipresent, Chief Executive Officer, and all mighty potentate; Mayor Paul Lambi. It all started during the "Alderman's Reports" when Alderman Kross wanted the city to entertain a resolution which would not allow elected officials to solicit money for private citizens or organizations from other elected officials during open session. The suggested resolution was not just a shot across the bow of Lambi's rowboat, it was a full frontal attack. Watching him squirm during the short ten minutes of this process was worth every minute of enduring the subsequent three hours of blight. In order to understand this seemingly insignificant resolution we'll have to go back in time:

I truly believe Mayor Lambi is a good and generous man but I also believe he is not an effective or even competent mayor. Never the less, he has always had a tendency to bring his benevolence into city hall with inappropriate liberal requests of the board and city. Just a few weeks ago during his "Mayor's Report" he told of a homeowner who ran over his water meter with a lawn mower and could not afford to pay the $180 it costs to replace it. Lambi offered the first $75 of his own money to help and publicly solicited the aldermen to contribute to help out. Another incident was several months ago in a public meeting. He proposed that the city enter into a "contract for services" with the 501c LINC Corporation in the amount of $18,000. Their county funding had all but dried up and Lambi thought sure that the aldermen would buy-in under public pressure. Prior to these, over the last five years he has wanted the city to pay for all sorts of give-aways to needy organizations or individuals. When The Lurchettes were in power, they were all too incompetent to know they were being used and granted many of his cornball ideas.

Lambi defended his right to say anything in board meetings because it's a constitutional right—freedom of speech—even to the extent of calling on City Attorney, Paul Rost for support of his argument. Rost explained that any citizen can come into the meeting during open forum and exercise their constitutional rights. As far as elected officials, there are policies of behavior at the Dias and the aldermen can amend or drive those policies in any direction they want. Alderman Vann Sample suddenly turned into a junk yard dog joining in on the meal: "The citizens who come to open forum are allowed to ask for support of anything they wish, but when an elected official uses their report to ask others to support some personal cause, I believe it to be inappropriate behavior." It is embarrassing to the elected officials as well as the community to be put on the spot in a public meeting with requests for support of financial or other needs. If Lambi is seeking support for something, he needs to talk with the aldermen before springing it on them unexpectedly in the middle of a video taped public meeting.  All of the aldermen except for Tow and Guccione chimed in on the sound drubbing of Lambi and his unethical tactics.

I'm certain that Lambi promises people things and then purposely puts the alderman in uncomfortable situations in an attempt to keep his promises. What it really serves to do is embarrass and further alienate them. Lambi invited the LINC Corporation chairman to lobby in an attempt to shame the alderman into donating money for their cause to the board of crickets. The latest incident (paying for the water meter) is what took the aldermen over the edge and unleash the dogs of war.

If you haven't taken the time to watch board meetings at; wentzvillemo.org, you've missed out on a great many nuances that fill in the blanks during a proposal such as that offered by Kross. From the casual audience, the introduction of this resolution would sound like any other political mumbo-jumbo, but when you're an informed citizen, not only do you know what's going on—you'll have a better government. The election of our representatives is extremely important. The men and women running for office in any community are only incompetent when their communities voters are incompetent. Lambi has illustrated the damage an uninvolved figurehead can do. Please get involved and check out the credentials and records of our candidates before you go to the polls to cast your vote! Wentzville can ill-afford another incompetent Chief Executive Officer but if we do elect one, Cry Havoc and Let Go the Dogs of War!

The Legacy of Lunacy.

As much as I follow Wentzville city politics and government, I'm not usually taken unaware at board of alderman meetings but every once in a while an issue will pop up that makes watching the process a complete joy. Lately, for about the last two months, I've been surprised more than not. The last time was when our Mayor (Lambi) asked the "Board of Crickets" for money to be donated to the 501c LINC organization. Watching him seething over the board's indifference to his pet project was a complete delight. At the meeting of August 24th, another surprise developed in the form of new business; the "David Hoekel Expressway" project.

Like his predecessor who lays claim to being solely responsible for the overpass at the Wentzville Parkway, Lambi has put his eggs in making the future David Hoekel Expressway overpass his legacy. The expressway has been in the planning stage for over a decade and will serve as an outer belt connecting Highway 61 with Highway 70. In the design, an overpass will connect the North Outer Road to the South Outer Road and eventually connect to the Page Avenue extension. The first phase of the project is the section from West Meyer Road to the South Outer Road of Highway 70. Lambi has made a fool of himself trying to drum up support for his pet projects and this one is just the latest in his long legacy of lunacy.

A three and a half hour meeting that could easily have been done in two hours had it not been for one relatively small agenda item under New Business: "Item 2, (ID #3411) David Hoekel Parkway - Grant Opportunity." Thinking that the board would look favorably on his plan and hoping to put his legacy in motion, Lambi had at least a half-dozen employees from the HNTB company (grant writers) in attendance. Unfortunately for them, they were not asked to present their grant plan so they left after discussion was had denying the request. Once again, just like the LINC proposal, he wasted HNBT employees time to come to the meeting for another of his pet projects. Sooner or later his counting chickens is going to come to roost on his political career.

For the particulars: HNBT would require $49,000 to write a grant for a "Tiger III" Federal grant that could fund $24 million to the project. The kicker: best estimate, there is a 3% chance of winning the grant. Lambi is so desperate to engage his dream that he is willing to roll the taxpayers dice for $49 large for a 3% chance at $24 million. I'm starting to get a feeling why he isn't a financial advisor anymore, but what the hell, it isn't his money. After a prolonged discussion by the Aldermen, they decided they aren't going to shoot craps and agreed not to entertain Lambi's proposal. Lambi who was not too happy disgustingly exclaimed, "Wow no investment in the future of Wentzville tonight!" and banged the gavel. In any one's belief, a $49,000 bet for a 3% chance is not what would be called an "investment."

The splinters from the gavel settled and they got into the second reading of 16 bills presented. After the readings, Lambi said: I want to revisit this grant proposal. He went on to ask; "what if we could get HNTB to write the grant on a contingency basis? About this time, I'm thinking—what company would accept a contingency contract for an estimated $49,000 on a 3% chance of getting paid. The answer was obvious to everyone except Lambi. An offer of this kind was just another waste of time. After another half-hour or so of discussion, the aldermen did accept his proposal with the "contingency" clause written in the contract. This idea is almost crazier that the first.

After the balance of bills were completed they entered the discussion section of the agenda; three different items, the second of which was : "(ID #3414) Vehicle Towing and Storage Services." This discussion was another long-winded debate when Lambi finally broke in to say; it's almost ten o'clock and he thought it a waste of valuable staff and board time so he closed the subject. Once again as I've stated on numerous occasions, if Lambi likes or wants something it's balls to the wall, regardless of time and expense.

Despite Staff crying budget woes—Aldermen cutting expenditures, and the city sporting the highest sales tax in the County, Lambi was quoted in a recent article featured on Patch.com: "The city is flush with cash," who do we believe? For my money it's probably somewhere in the middle—but that's another subject entirely. I know that the city is short $5 million in road repair and infrastructure. At any rate, I sincerely hope that Wentzville voters tune-in and turn-off Lambi's lunacy at election time.

How Do You Skin a Cheshire Cat?

I'm sorry to say; the Wentzville regular Board of Aldermen meeting of August 3rd was not all that it was cracked up to be, or at least what I had hoped for. For the most part it was droll and even sleepy at times. I was anticipating a repeat performance of the explosion of previous weeks especially regarding the "Personnel Board." Alderman Guccione has worked very aggressively toward making law and I was certain that something more will come of it. If I recollect, the staff was directed to prepare an ordinance for the "Personal Board," which could have made an exciting first reading.

Citizens are not privy to the subtle changes often made in the agenda, I mean we go to city hall and look at the agenda in the glass case outside the front door on Monday, but by show-time on Wednesday it's a whole new ballgame. I guess it's the fault of the citizen for not checking the City's website to see if there are any changes, only to find out later that changes were made too late to post. So in reality, citizen spectators are not in the loop. At any rate, there was some scrambling going on in City Hall the prior week to head off the "Personal Board" ordinance at the pass.

Mayor Lambi opposes this ordinance to the extent of having his staff contact the city's special attorney Ivan Schoeder to defend Lambi's position against it. He doesn't want to allow the Aldermen to be the final appeal for Wentzville employees who feel they cannot defend themselves, or get a fair shake in the current appeal process. He feels that it would undermine his authority. On a side note, I don't know what the special attorney charged or how many staff hours were used to prepare an ordinance, that wasn't used, and defend this but it seems odd that when Lambi has a crusade, he has no regard to staff hours or other financial obligations in order to aid his cause. An excellent example of his waste of "valuable staff time" was the 501c organization LINC, to which he wanted the city to donate money. The aldermen reminded him that the city cannot donate money to a 501c. A week later he offered a "contract for services," drafted by staff, and proposed it to the board of crickets (see Meeting With a Bang posted August 1, 2011). But if aldermen request things, oh my! What a fuss he makes about using staff hours to give reports or request information. His immediate response is always, "do you want to waste valuable staff hours?"

Anyway, I assume there was an ordinance drafted but instead of a first reading, the "Personnel Board" was placed under Discussion items on the agenda. Which means the agenda changed somewhere in mid stream. The special attorney gave a talk on the reasons why the city could not set up a "formalized Personnel Board." Mayor Lambi sat there grinning like the Cheshire Cat the whole time. The aldermen asked questions and the special attorney responded to them. The attorney's focus was that; the city has a process in place for appeals and it is legal, but to appoint a hearing board as proposed is not; he has several state statutes and Federal laws to support him. Lambi concluded by rubbing his win in the aldermen's faces was by asking if the board wants to go forward with the ordinance, the "nays" outnumbered the "yeahs," five to one.

It disappointed me to see our mayor being so smug in his hollow victory; "hollow" is the operative word, this matter is not closed. One question asked by Alderman Gard set up what will follow. He asked the special attorney if the process in place can by changed by the board of aldermen? The answer was affirmative; I look for them to wipe the grin off of Lamb's face in the very near future. There's more than one way to skin a cat!

Meeting With a Bang!

If you are a concerned citizen, the July 27, 2011 Wentzville board of aldermen meeting proved to be a most splendid occasion indeed. The Aldermen have taken control of overspending and the bulging bureaucracy in city hall, which is exactly what the citizens who elected them sent them there to do. This meeting started with a bang and heralded a long night for the unhappy mayor Paul Lambi.

After the usual Call To Order, Open Forum, Consent Agenda, blah, blah, blah, they got to Unfinished Business: LINC Services. In a last-ditch attempt to get the city to fund the 501c organization, Mayor Lambi introduced a "contract for services" to lure them into entertaining his pet project. He asked for discussion—the sounds of crickets could be heard from a block away. The city of Wentzville seemed to stop in time; no traffic or trains could be heard, only deafening silence. As the aldermen starred blankly into their computer screens, an uneasiness could be felt from the dais. After what seemed like minutes, suddenly the mayor spoke; "seeing no discussion, I'll close this item." BANG went the gavel. That shot was so hard, I swear I could see splinters flying—the staff woke up, the aldermen jumped, and the mayor got the message; the LINC subject was "finished business." This point in question is unfortunate; after all, LINC is a deserving organization. Mayor Lambi must have gone out on a limb and promised something to LINC Services that he had no place or right to promise. If he wants support for anything from this board in the future, he will need to query the aldermen ahead of time to see whether he has their support before embarrassing himself and the city. Ramming things through or intimidating a bunch of junior and first-term aldermen won't work anymore.

After the dust and wood chips settled, the subject turned to new business. The most interesting of it was the "Prospect Road (east) Booster Pumping Station Contract Award." Without going into great detail, our aldermen questioned and listened to testimony of the staff and vendors, and nodded through the flaccid justifications of the mayor. Following a lengthy discussion they rejected the staff recommendation and awarded the contract to an equally qualified lower bidder. The bottom line is a savings of almost $100,000 in taxpayers' dollars. To anyone watching the proceedings, it would be easy to surmise that the staff has favorite vendors whom they recommend regardless of the cost to the city.

Mayor Lambi has to have heard it loud and clear; these young aldermen are not afraid of him anymore. I have a hunch that the rest of his term is going to be tough. If he decides to run again in 2012, and he should happen to win, it's going to be the most miserable four years he's ever spent in office. If he's smarter than he's acted in his last two terms, he won't run for re-election.

I can't wait for the next meeting; it promises to be a dandy, It's going to be hard not to laugh out loud, or for the younger generation LOL. Inside, I'm sure I'll be ROFLMAO!

Behind the Scenes a Laugh a Minute

I find it extremely interesting to watch the body language between the mayor, city administrator and his staff when they are confronted and have no answer for questions by the aldermen. The veiled horror on their faces as they mentally scramble like a nest of mice discovered in one's home. God, I love watching while the city administrator fumbles with excuses why her staff hasn't provided information that was ordered weeks earlier by the board. And I love seeing the mayor getting his hackles up trying to repel the onslaught of questions.

Now for a little background: The rumor that the city administrator may get fired has been buzzing around town for the better part of a year. It is felt by most of the aldermen, that she has too much power and is intentionally keeping information from our elected aldermen in an attempt to push through legislation beneficial to the staff. Even perhaps, stalling requests for information which in turn gives her the time and opportunity to recompose the information or bill to the satisfaction of the aldermen. Shortly after being hired, Dianna Wright City Administrator made it known to the Mayor that he was not to attend her Tuesday morning staff meetings, being a good little boy he has complied. Well, I think they are on to her and the mayor who gives no guidance or direction at all. What a bum! The fun in City Hall has started.

An interesting issue came up in "open forum." A gentleman came forward with a newspaper in his hand and scolded the aldermen for their treatment of the city administrator. She is the best city administrator this city has ever had, he exclaimed. After he finished and during a break, a couple of the aldermen approached the man and tried to expel his dissatisfaction with them. This morning in a conversation with one of the aldermen, I asked, "Do you know who that was?" The alderman said they believed he was a plant by one of our ex-aldermen. I said, "no it wasn't." I was then asked who it was and said; "It was Mayor Lambi's brother-in-law." The alderman laughed so loud I thought the phone was going to be dropped. The mayor will try any form of deception to protect his bulging staff. If he were a real leader, he wouldn't have to do embarrassing stunts like that. What a Puss!

It has been reported to me that last night's regular City Board Meeting was standing room only. The reason was that an organization known as LINC was there asking for $18,000 from the city so they could exist for three more months. The reason they came was because Mayor (give the city away) Lambi invited them to lobby and shame the alderman into donating money to a 501c corporation. What I'm trying to wrap my mind around is why, knowing that they needed to pay salaries and utilities, they didn't plan for that by only helping the neediest of people. Perhaps it's a matter of poor planning by a poor board of directors. Lambi also invited several of the church pastors to the meeting to further shame the aldermen into doing something that they knew the city could not do. After several aldermen danced around the doing the right thing and doing the legal thing, Mayor lambi offered to give them a "contract for services," My immediate answer to that is; what is a daycare center going to give the city for its 18 large. Well anyway, Patch.com posted a blog by lead pastor, Mark Ford of the River Oaks Church imploring the aldermen to be a benefactor. Lambi is not going to let this rest, he's going to try his best to show the aldermen as heartless, Godless, and the most vile of vermin in the city (at taxpayer expense).

In closing, I would like to congratulate our Aldermen. I haven't seen a better or more intelligent board since I moved here almost 15 years ago, Thanks! I will write another blog regarding this issue. Stay tuned, I'll get to it ASAP.