Council Isn’t Lawsuit Happy – Mayor & Her Friends Are
In a recent opinion piece penned by a somewhat biased columnist he wrote that St. Charles was a City Council that was “Lawsuit Happy”. He went on to give some cases that would support his conclusion.
I find it interesting that one case he cited was when four Council members asked for a Court ruling to determine if City Administrator, Allan Williams, had to live up to his word and honor a contract he signed. These four Council members spent their own money to litigate this case and they did this as residents. So they paid for the Court case themselves to make sure the St. Charles taxpayers were being protected.
I would like to refresh your memory as to some of the other cases that the City Council had to defend to keep your tax dollars from being given to those who sued the city:
The County Convention Authority, under the leadership of Ken Kielty, (who is running for Councilman in Ward 8) sued the City because they didn’t like whom the City Council wanted to appoint to the commission. This suit was defended in court. Kielty at that time was an ally of the Mayor.
Gene Carrol sued the city to attempt to force the City Council to place the forgery ridden recall effort against Councilman Mark Brown on the ballot. This of course cost the city money to defend. Mayor York who was heavily involved in the recall efforts rewarded Carrol for his efforts by trying to get him re-appointed to the 4th of July committee.
Police Officer Thomas Mayer sued the City of St. Charles for more than $100 million. Mayer had an ace in the hole that we didn’t know about. Our fearless leader had written a letter of support telling the Chief of Police of St. Louis that she (Mayor York) believed he (Tommy Mayer) would prevail in his case. Then during testimony under oath she told the court reporter that she had written the letter of support for T. Mayer at the request of St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa. She told the court reporter that her husband had taken the call from Mokwa. Chief of Police, Mokwa, told the court under oath that he never asked for the letter from Mayor York, nor did he make contact with her regarding Mayer’s lawsuit against the City of St. Charles. HMMMM, who would you believe? Who do you think lied under oath? So T. Mayer was rewarded with this letter of support and a somewhat biased columnist chastises the Council.
The committee responsible for the recall of Dottie Greer sued the City. The Council defended this action because of forged signatures that were collected. Sure enough there was a reward, the committee got $15,000 in a round about way from the Mayor. It was supposed to pay for a year-end report but you be the judge.
I could go on but I think you get the picture. The council isn’t lawsuit happy at all, the Mayor and her friends are. Keep in mind she sued a resident for slander after he told the truth about the police chief review process. Remember he came forward to say that Lowery wouldn’t be Chief, who told the truth on that one. Of course she dropped the case before anyone testified. The sad part is the Mayor couldn’t come close to having the integrity that this one man had. He knew the process was tainted and told the truth.
The Mayor and her husband also sued the St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau when the Yorks owned a bed and breakfast on Main Street. They did not want to pay the tourism tax.
It is not the City Council who are lawsuit happy. It is the Mayor and her friends.
