By Tony Brockmeyer
“The Mayor and I sat down and I asked her if she would stand in the way if her choice for City Administrator brought Lowery’s name forwardfor chief. She said “let me think about that.” Twenty minutes before the meeting she agreed that if we appointed Williams and he brought Lowery’s name forward she would not stand in the way. She said that in front of three of us. We are paying Williams $148,000 a year to run the day-to-day operations of the City and yet the Mayor wants to pick the Chief. Her political ties to the Police Union are more evident now than ever. She is allowing a few bad apples in the Police Department tell her whom to pick for Chief so they can continue to run the PD and basically run the City. This Mayor has sworn an oath and is not living up to that oath.”
Ward 8 City Councilman John Gieseke made those comments after Tuesdays City Council meeting where City Administrator Alan Williams told the council he was not bringing Major Robert G. Lowery’s name forward because the Mayor would not approve him.
“We are paying this man over $148,000 a year to run this city on the Mayor’s recommendation and she refuses to go along with his decisions, “said Gieseke. “We may as well stop the process now and let the Police Union leaders come to us and decide who their boss will be, all this so she can protect a political ally that appears to have some unyielding power over her and the office of the Mayor. Endorsements should not buy decisions or appointments. They allow for better access but not total control,” said Gieseke.
“I am so sorry for Major Lowery. He would have never reapplied and never gone through the process, up to taking a psychological exam, if he hadn’t been told he would have a contract and that the Mayor would say yes. We all took the Mayor at her word and we have all learned from this mistake.”
The Mayor has a close relationship with Tommy Mayer, a St. Charles Police Sergeant and state president of the Fraternal Order of Police. She has traveled the state speaking for the FOP and attending their meetings. So much so that she received an award from them in 2002. Mayer has a $104 million dollar lawsuit against the City Administrator, City Council Members and the City of St. Charles but has not named the Mayor in the suit.
The closed-door executive session of the City Council Meeting Tuesday night erupted into a heated discussion. City Administrator Alan Williams had earlier made promises to City Council members that he would bring forward the name of Major Robert Lowery, Jr., Assistant Police of Chief of Florissant and Commander of the Greater St. Louis Major case Squad, to be his choice for Chief of Police of St. Charles.
Councilwoman Dottie Greer told the First Capitol News, “She (Mayor York) lied again. That’s all I can say. I am sick of her lying. I am disgusted with her and her ways. She told us unequivocally if Mr. Williams wanted to appoint Major Lowery as Chief of Police she would approve it if we appointed Mr. Williams as City Administrator. She lied again.”
Council President Rory Riddler told the First Capitol News, “I think it was a terrible disservice to Major Lowery who has been a pillar of the law enforcement community with an outstanding career to have put him through this a second time. The only reason Major Lowery consented to put his application in again for Chief is because the Mayor had made a direct promise to myself and several other Council members. That promise was if Allan Williams were hired as City Administrator and went through another selection process for Chief and if Alan Williams recommended Major Lowery as the best person for the job, she, the mayor, would go along with his appointment.
That promise was not ambiguous I considered it made in earnest and in plain English. It was not only made to myself but two other council members and once again to all three of us at the same time. I believe that my version of the event will coincide exactly with how my fellow council members remember what was said.
The city administrator made it clear to me and the entire council that he was going to bring major Lowery’s name forward and in fact at last weeks council meeting in executive session discussed contract terms. He subsequently indicated to me that he could not get the mayor to go along with the appointment of Lowery and therefore was not bringing Lowery’s name forward. I don’t blame Major Lowery for withdrawing his name from consideration under the circumstances. His position had obviously been made into that of a political football by an administration that would not keep its word. The City Administrator had, prior to Tuesday’s meeting introduced another candidate for police chief to a few select members of the Council and the Mayor. Not all Council members on Tuesday evening had been given the courtesy, of receiving this individual’s resume or being given the same access to the applicant that some were. Therefore as Council President I felt it best to make sure all Council members get a copy of the resume and were given the opportunity to interview as a group before any further discussion took place that evening. The administration seemed anxious to rush through the name of this other individual and I felt it important the Council be allowed to do its own due diligence and fairly consider the individual on his merits.
I also informed the Council the contract with acting chief Larry White was coming to a close the first week of March. Mr. White is being paid $9000 per month in a contract entered into by City Administrator Alan Williams. Because the total contract amount was less than $20,000 the Administrator had the authority to sign the contract without Council approval. A second contract with former St. Louis County Police Chief Ron Battelle had also been entered into by the Administrator for $5,000 per month to be paid to Ron Battelle and $2,500 per month to be paid to Backstoppers, the agency Mr. Battelle took leave from to serve as a consultant to the Administrator. His contract was not to exceed $19,500.
The Council and myself are extremely concerned and that our community is still without a full time police chief that we have had to extend large sums in consultant fees during this interim period. We would hope the City Administrator could quickly bring us applicants for chief to consider without any obvious political ties.”
Councilman Mark Brown said, “I think it is a shame the mayor is trying to hoodwink the public and infiltrate our police department with St. Louis City Politics. I think it is bold that she would recommend her son’s boss to be the police chief. This would only make our police department 100 percent political. I think her actions are out of line and she owes the public an apology.
Obviously I am disappointed Lowery isn’t going to be taking the position especially after our new City Administrator new also agreed he was the best for the job. It is a shame the Mayor said if the City Administrator said he was the best choice she would accept him and then she refuses.
It appears the Mayor is trying to trade favors to see her son advanced in the city police department.”
Tuesday would have been the third time Williams had told the Council he would be announcing his appointment of Major Lowery. Council members had been told prior to two previous meetings the appointment would be made. Williams postponed it on each previous occasion.
Williams had started contract negotiations with Major Lowery a couple of weeks ago. “Dr. Williams called me and told me he was appointing me Police Chief of St. Charles,” Major Lowery told the First Capitol News. “We started discussing contract terms. He offered me a contract and asked me to take a psychological test. I took the test and was told I had passed. He told me he would be offering my name to the City Council and the Mayor. He later called me and told me he was going to wait until the next meeting to ask for a vote because the Mayor opposed my appointment and he needed some time to try and change her mind.”
Apparently Williams asked Councilman Kneemiller to talk to the Mayor. Evidently Councilman Kneemiller was unable to get her to change her mind.
Just before the start of the Council meeting on February 1st Major Lowery received a telephone call from Williams. “Dr. Williams told me the Mayor had just told him she had five City Council votes against my appointment,” said Major Lowery. “He asked me if it would be okay to postpone the vote on my appointment for a week so he could see how many votes I would receive from the Council members and he thought he could change the Mayor’s mind.”
As the City Council meeting progressed that evening, spectators in the audience had their curiosity peaked as they watched Williams approach the dais and take individual Council members out into the hallway one at a time. He was checking to see if the Mayor had the five votes she claimed to block the appointment of Major Lowery. Even though the Mayor had told Williams she had five votes to block the appointment he discovered she did not.
The City Council went into closed session and remained there for an extended period of time discussing the vote on Major Lowery in addition to the contract the Mayor signed with Express Scripts without Council approval as requested by ordinance. It was during that executive session the Mayor told the Council she needed a week to determine what requirements she wanted in his contract. After the meeting Williams called Major Lowery and told him that his appointment would be voted on February 8th, as the Mayor needed time to work on a contract.
After that meeting Councilman Brown asked the Mayor why she would not approve Lowery that evening. She told him, “I never get anything.” When Brown asked her what she wanted he said she replied, “I want the Community Center killed in Riddler’s Ward (Rory Riddler, Council President and Councilman Ward 1).”
Tuesday morning, February 8th, Williams contacted Major Lowery and told him the Mayor would not approve his appointment. It was at that time Major Lowery decided he had had enough and withdrew his name from further consideration.
Williams then contacted a few members of the City Council and asked that they come to City Hall and meet and consider Captain Gerald Wurm of the St. Louis Police Department for appointment as Chief of Police.
Councilmen Muench and Reese acknowledged they had met Wurm and had copies of his resume.
Other members of the Council expressed concern that Wurm is the Commander of the Second District of the St. Louis Police Department and is in command of 80 Officers including Adrian York the Mayor’s son. They also said Williams told them Wurm had heard of Officer York but was not familiar with him. They are also concerned about the recent investigative report in which it was reported the St. Louis Police were not writing police reports and not investigating some crimes.
It was reported that York has said she had considered a proposal that Lowery be hired with the understanding that she could review his performance after six months. Council members believe that would be a violation of the City Charter.
Sources within the Police Department have told the First Capitol News the Mayor has a small group of bad apples that want to be in control of the department and she is doing everything she can do to help and protect them.
Councilman Joe Koester said, “I have learned the Mayor had been allowed to go through the applications and she picked out Wurm’s application and suggested Dr. Williams hire him. It is a violation for her to be allowed to do this and I am appalled with the recent actions of Dr. Williams. I am very angry about what is going on in this city and am concerned we have hired a City Administrator who has abdicated his authority to the Mayor in direct violation of our City Charter.”
