CITY ISSUES
by R. L. Greer
Will Chamberlain stated “Nobody roots for Goliath.” Well it’s being said about town that he has gone underground and now spreading his questionable remarks to only a select group. Be prepared folks for another round of battles for the February 2007 and April, 2007 elections. Have you read the Republican Party newsletter? It reminds one of the Citizen that once was advertised in the St Charles Suburban Journal. But do remember the Republican publisher also signed on the recall Committee of Ward 7 were all the suspicious forgeries and miss representation procedures are being investigated. Also it was a Republican elected official, last name of Dempsey, who added an amendment to a bill, which overrode the City Council decision regarding water/sewer hookups for T.R.Hughes’ St Andrews project that placed the City residents in jeopardy. The Republican delegation also voted and passed legislation regarding TIF’s which only affected City of St Charles. Another Republican representative obtained approval regarding the Casino funds that affected only City of St Charles. Let me give clarification here I am not a Democrat or a Republican, rather I believe an elected official should make decisions that are favorably in the best interest of the taxpayers. There are sound and logical representatives from both the Republican Party and Democratic Party.
The one major topic of discussion at the Council Work Session two Tuesday’s ago was the proposed Charter changes to be placed on the ballot in November. The Committee when formed consisted of Rory Riddler, Bob Kneemiller and Joe Koester but the meetings were scheduled too early for Joe to make them and the public was not allowed to speak at those sessions. Review of the Charter and subsequent decisions to propose to the Council of the Whole were made by Rory and Bob. You can obtain a list of those changes from the City Clerk office. They are being termed “housekeeping changes”. It makes for interesting reading. At the May 30th special meeting for discussion of those changes, the Mayor and a council member stated they felt a simple question should be placed on the ballot, do you want recall, rather than submit proposed changes in the Charter Section regarding the recall process. To do away with the method the taxpayers have for removing an elected official for wrongdoing is an example of the permissive thinking of certain members of society today and I for one do not agree with her. I had stated prior to the election of 2004 regarding the charter change and I restate it again today. Upon effectiveness of the Charter change we will have a dictatorship form of government beginning April 2007 which will consist of an elected official who has been elected by a popularity vote rather than based on his/her sound, management abilities. That person will be the Chief Executive of the City of St Charles. To be Chief Executive of the City should not require someone who owes favors to large monetary contributors, or someone who has heavy experience in municipal government. The Chief Executive should possess confirmed capable management and administration skills that have been developed outside of municipal government and be a person of high integrity. These are lacking with the current City Administrator, who has failed to have distributed to the Board of Adjustment the recently approved BOCA Codes, his failure to abide by the terms of his employment contract, follow instructions from the City Council, making sure approved stop signs are installed within two weeks, failure to relocate his home to St Charles as approved in his employment contract, being absent from the City on numerous occasions to fly home on east coast, to just mention a few.
Another proposal submitted is to place on the ballot, changing the Charter by returning back to the management of the City resting in the hands of the City Administrator not the Mayor. However, the Mayor didn’t feel it proper to place these changes on the ballot in November. If reelected there won’t be much change than already experienced these last two years. It will be interesting to see who succeeds on this proposal. After speaking to many citizens it is apparent the leading push in 2004 concerned the issue of a full time Mayor and that idea was upon what the voters made their decision. What we heard over and over was, there have been too many changes in City Administrators since the Charter originally adopted in 1981. The important influential financial supporters made no attempts to determine what were the real reasons.
The public will be able to continue to speak at Special Council Meetings after the Council corrected a conflict in its Council Rules. The various agendas that are appearing now seem to be in compliance with Council Rules, the Charter and the Missouri Sunshine Law. A thank you to the Public Works Department staff for the Elm / Duchesne intersection including the easement settlements and the construction work on the streets, sidewalks and retaining walls. A re-striping of the southbound lane on Duchesne corrected the narrow lane that once was there. Why not make the vacant property purchased by the City into a pocket park with benches under the trees for people walking to stop and rest? This idea will go by the wayside like the refurbishing of the fire station on Booneslick for administrative offices for the Fire Department rather than leasing space at the old County Administration building. The calculated costs for the leased space and relocating costs would amount to approximately the same as refurbishing cost. Wait and see the City give away the old station when the Fairgrounds Road / West Clay Extension gets underway.
