Humpty-Dumpty



As the City of Wentzville mourns the passing of its new City Administrator, Mr. T. Michael McDowell, our government is once again trying to fill vacancies in its staff. Mr. Mcdowell had filled the job of City Administrator since May after a series of interems held that position for almost two years. My first hand experience with Mr. McDowell was that he was highly skilled at the job and an excellent addition to Wentzville's staff. Things seemed to be on track for our city for the first time since the middle of Mayor Lambi's final term.

Wentzville has been bailing the boat trying desperately to fill holes in the staff for the past three years. In that time, every single director position with the exception of two has been replaced for one reason or another. In just the past month, the City of Wentzville had finally accomplished procuring a full compliment of Directors. Things were looking up until the passing of Mr. McDowell.

Now, during the search for a new City Administrator, yesterday they received the resignation of it's Economic Development Manager, Mr. Larry Tucker. I could speculate for months on why Wentzville cannot keep high level staff employees but it all comes back to poor leadership, and that lays smack in the lap of our last two mayors. Lambi with his ethics problems and now Mayor Nickolas Guccione with his total lack of leadership qualities.

Guccione will suffer with the loss of McDowell because now he has no one to tell him what to do, or how to do it. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall. This little nursery rhyme speaks volumes about Wentzville's personnel problems and the fact that King Guccione will never be able to put Wentzville back together again.

I'll be back later with more from Wentzville.

Will Our New Mayor Be Decisive?



A subject which has been hotly contested for the past six months has been Ranken Technical College. Among other things, the resolution for the City offer of $120,000 a year for three years for Ranken to bring a satellite school to Wentzville was discussed and approved unanimously by the Board of Aldermen.

It must first be known that I agree with this resolution and believe that Ranken will greatly enhance the economic engine of Wentzville. I also agree with the part of the resolution that addresses bringing in partners to assist in its financing. If things go as planned, the City would have a first-rate technical school and the partners would pay the $120,000 every year, leaving the City not having to spend a dime. What is needed for all of this to work to the benefit of Wentsville is; our Ecomomic Development Director, Larry Tucker working with the St. Charles County EDC and the strong support of our Mayor to round-up (so to speak) enough sponsors to carry the freight.

Everything was going along fine with this plan until the allegations that Mayor Lambi was influence peddling and lastly, the switch of Alderman Guccione to say he no longer supported the resolution. Other than the remarkably poor timing of these events which could have killed the whole deal, I believe it could have survived. The problem that comes to play now is that in one week, that Alderman who flipped on his decision will become the Mayor of Wentzville and it casts a longer shadow upon the success of the plan.

At the Board of Aldermen meeting of April 11th, during the report of Alderman Guccione, he asked for two other Aldermen, Larry Tucker, and Greg Presteman of the St. Charles County EDC to attend a meeting on Wednesday morning with Ranken with him. Why? I don't know, but it happened this morning and I'm sure it will be a topic of discussion next Wednesday at the next Board meeting.

I talked with insiders last week about the reason for the meeting and was surprised by their lack of an answer. One of them offered: It's one of two things; either he wants to put an end to it all together; or he's changed his mind again, and given his record on flipping on subjects, that is probably the answer. When I spoke with a citizen who was pretty close to Guccione, he said: "How will he ever gain credibility changing his mind all of the time."

Only time will tell how this will turn out but I have to agree, Guccione needs to be more decisive and stick with his decisions. For the last five years as Alderman, he has not had a good record for being decisive, now that he's Mayor, he will be seen countywide and consistency is key to the success of our city.

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.

"The Illegal Practice of Using One's Influence..."

The Wentzvillian has been gathering information on our mayor's activities regarding the pressure put on Wentzville citizens to participate in the GAP1 project. Little did I realize the magnitude of this problem. The  latest report came from a contact at the state level who informed me of something that frankly surprised the hell out of me. Here is the news that should enrage every citizen of Wentzville:

It is a known fact that our Economic Development Manager, Larry Tucker, in conjunction with several aldermen have been working very hard with Ranken Technical College to locate a satellite school in Wentzville. This would be a great boost to the economic development of our city, bringing jobs and revenues to our local businesses. Reviewing the information received, it appears that Ranken coming to Wentzville is not a first priority with Mayor Lambi.

Tucker, Lambi and a few Aldermen hopped into Wentzville's VAN1 (a city owned vehicle) to meet with Ranken representatives in St. Louis. While on the way, Lambi instructed the driver to swing by his office to pick up his business associate, Mr. Ed Watkins. He told everyone in the van that he and Watkins wanted to have a meeting with Ranken before the City business meeting. This is wrong on so many levels it's difficult to comprehend.

Why the Aldermen didn't balk at Lambi's suggestion is beyond me. A city van being used to transport a non-city person to a meeting dedicated for city business to do private business with the mayor leading the charge could be construed litigious at best. I am led to understand that Lambi and Watkins met first with Ranken to drum up support for GAP1. The Wentzvillian is not a lawyer but I've seen and heard of elected officials being indited for less than the stunt Lambi pulled. It amazes me that he is so stupid as to put his personal gain ahead of (and instead of) city business and invite an outsider to join the city in his venture. If this isn't influence peddling or abuse of authority, I'd like to know what it's called. Something needs to be done.

Wikipedia defines: "Influence peddling; the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence."

To add something else that I find extremely interesting, my state level source said that the matter has gone Federal. I'm not sure what that means yet but my mind is racing with negative possibilities for Mayor Paul Lambi.