EDITOR’S NOTE
DURING THE TIME THAT COUNCILMAN BOB HOEPFNER WAS WRITING A COLUMN FOR THIS PAPER WE RECEIVED INFORMATION THAT HE HAD COMPRISED HIS INTEGRITY. OUR INVESTIGATION ULTIMATELY LEAD TO OUR PAPER REMOVING MR. HOEPFNER'S COLUMN. COUNCILMAN HOEPFNER THEN SPEARHEADED A DRIVE TO STOP THE CITY FROM ADVERTISING IN THIS PAPER. WE WANT TO MAKE IT VERY CLEAR, NO MATTER WHO THE CANDIDATE IS AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY WORK OR PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WE WILL REPORT ANY WRONG DOINGS THAT WE UNCOVER. AT THIS TIME WE THINK IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE REPEAT THE STORY THAT WAS PRINTED ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2005.
REPRINTED FROM OUR EDITION OF SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2005.
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has learned that plumbing permits for Michael Sellenschuetter, a developer who has a controversial bill pending before the City Council, were issued to Master Plumber, Charles “Bob” Hoepfner, Councilman for Ward 10 and the City Council vice president. Hoepfner is also a retired Master Plumber.
City Council President Rory Riddler has abstained from any votes or discussion by the Council on Sellenschuetter’s development. Riddler filed a Conflict of Interest/Vote Abstention Form with the City Clerk on September 6, 2005. On his form he stated, “I am doing some work thru my firm for a subsidiary of this firm on a project outside of City limits - and did not want an appearance of conflict even though I am not working on this item.”
Hoepfner has not filed a Conflict of Interest form.
Sellenschuetter, through several of his companies, S & S Builders, MM Devel- opers, Inc. and C.S.M. & Associates, is developing Whispering Oaks Villas and now it’s second phase Oak Ridge Condominiums off of Arena Parkway in St. Charles County.
St. Charles City Council Bill 8680, sponsored and introduced by Hoepfner, calls for a cooperation agreement between the City and MM Developers, Inc. owned by Michael Sellenschuetter. The cooperation agreement would allow Sellenschuetter to hook up the Condos in Oak Ridge Condos to the City’s sewer and water system, even though they are not located within the City limits. Whispering Oaks Villas, his phase one development, was given permission to hook up to City sewers and water in the past while Hoepfner was serving as Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee.
A conflict has been raging before the City Council for the past several months regarding Sellenschuetter’s request to connect his development to the City sewer and water systems. Leading the cheerleading squad for Sellenschuetter has been Hoepfner. Hoepfner, also known as “Battling Bob”, claims to be the advocate for the resident taxpayers of the City, but most of his efforts over the past several months have been the lobbying of Sellenschuetter’s application for City water and sewers for his St. Charles County project.
Fighting the attachment of County residents to City water and sewers is City Councilman Mark Brown, Ward 3. Brown claims that even though Sellenschuetter agrees to annex his properties into the City at a later date, the County building codes are not as restrictive as the City's. Brown also claims the buildings in Sellenschuetter's development are built within 10 feet of the top of a creek bank and the requirement is 50 feet. Brown believes it will be a costly problem to solve for St. Charles taxpayers in the future. Councilman Riddler has estimated it would take more than $90 million to fix all the creek bank stabilization and storm water problems in the City.
Records on file at City Hall disclose that a City of St. Charles Plumber Occupation License Application was issued on June 14, 2004 to Marshall & Long Plumbing Company with an address of 5802 S. Kingshighway in St. Louis. It shows James Marshall - Melody Marshall as the owners and Charles R. Hoepfner as the Master Plumber License Holder. The license period was from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.
The record also reflects that plumbing inspection permits issued by the City for Master Permit #76703, Charles R. (Bob) Hoepfner’s license number,were issued for Lots 17, 18, 33 and 34 in the Whispering Oaks Subdivision where the contractor is S & S Builders of 343 N. Main Street in St. Charles and the Company owner is Michael Sellenschuetter.
The permits on file at City Hall, Permit #020050518 for 188 Woodland Place Ct., Permit #020050518 for 192 Woodland Place Ct., Permit #020050552 for 219 Woodland Place Ct. and Permit #020050553 for 215 Woodland Place Ct. were all issued in March of 2005 and all list the plumbing company as Marshall & Long Plumbing with an address of 425 Nantucket in St. Charles and a phone number of 314-457-9214. Hoepfner is the resident and property owner at 425 Nantucket. All the homes are in Sellenschuetter’s Whispering Oaks development.
The phone number given for Marshall & Long Plumbing has been disconnected and we were unable to locate a current address or phone number for them.
During an August Council meeting an agreement between Sellenscheutter and the City was introduced by Councilman Hoepfner on the Consent Agenda rather than as a bill. During a Council meeting, a heated discussion was held regarding Sellenschuetter’s developments and the failure of the City Clerk to list the correct name of the development on the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda listed Oak Tree and the name is actually Oak Ridge. That evening the agreement was passed by a 9-0 vote in favor. Several Council members said they believed they were voting for a Oak Tree development and believed it was in Councilman Hoepfner’s ward because he was the sponsor as listed on the Consent Agenda Council President Riddler declared the vote invalid and said the matter should have been introduced as a bill and not placed on the Consent Agenda.
At the next meeting Hoepfner introduced the agreement as a Bill. During a reading of the Bill, Councilman Hoepfner was chairing the meeting, Sellenschuetter and his attorney, Keith Hazelwood, were discussing the bill with Council Members. It was obvious that Hoepfner was trying everything in his power to get the Bill passed that evening. Several members of the Council remarked that he should just step down from the chair and turn the meeting over to Sellenschuetter and his attorney. Finally City Attorney Mike Valenti told the Council that Sellenschuetter had refused to sign the development agreement with the City and he would recommend it not be passed that evening.
During the meeting Brown told Hoepfner, “I don’t sell plumbing permits...And I may ask for an executive session to have a Council investigation regarding your actions.”
Just days after that meeting Hoepfner requested a tape of the meeting for Sellenschuetter. Shortly after that the Council was given documents threatening a lawsuit if the Council did not vote in favor of the development agreement.
At that time Brown told the FCN, “I will not succumb to these strong arm tactics and I believe that legislation against this type of threats apply. I fully intend to defend the City as well as the residents of Ward 3 against this multi-family apartment complex that will be built to lesser standards than their homes, just so this developer can make more money.”
The next day, Recall Mark Brown signs went up all over Sellenschuetter’s developments and telephone calls were being made to the residents of his ward suggesting he be recalled from office.
At the Council meeting Tuesday evening Hoepfner introduced a substitute bill. He chaired the meeting and also made the motion to approve the substitute which received a vote of 5 for and 3 against. Brown, Koester and Greer voted against the substitute. Kneemiller, Muench, Weller, Reese and Hoepfner voted in favor. Riddler abstained and Gieseke was out of town on business. Over the objections from Brown that the City Charter required a majority of the elected members of the Council to pass, Hoepfner, chairing the meeting, declared that the substitute bill had passed. Brown called for a legal opinion from the attorneys. City Attorney Mike Valenti agreed with Hoepfner and Council Attorney Eric Tolen told the Council the bill failed.
We have been told the Mayor is planning on calling a special Council Meeting for Tuesday evening so that Sellenschuetter's Bill can be considered for final passage. The First capitol News is aware that Sellenschuetter’s name appears as a contributor to the Mayor’s fund raising events. Sellenschuetter is also a contributor and works with the Citizens Empowerment Committee. That Committee is headed by Linda Meyer, wife of a St. Charles Police Officer who is a past president of the Police Association. The Citizens Empowerment Committee is supported by the Mayor and is also funded by TR Hughes another local millionaire developer and supporter of the Mayor The Citizens Empowerment Committee is funding workers soliciting signatures to recall Councilman Mark Brown and Councilwoman Dottie Greer.
We attempted to contact Councilman Hoepfner for his comments and were finally able to reach him just before press time.
When questioned about the plumbing permits in his name for the Sellenschuetter development he said, “The hall called me and said they had a new plumber that had some work at some schools in St. Charles but he was not a Master Plumber. They asked if he could work off of my license. I said sure. Later when I was talking to the plumber he talked about some other jobs he had picked up in the area and he mentioned working at some condos. I asked where the condos were and he told me at Whispering Oaks (a Sellenschuetter development). I told him he could not do that so he stopped. I received no money.”
When asked if this procedure was illegal (the use of his permit) he responded, “Yes, but it is done all them time.”
When asked why he did not abstain from voting on Sellenschuetter’s project Hoepfner replied, “I talked to a lawyer and three judges and they all told me there was no conflict and I had no problem.” He did not mention the names of those he talked to.
Hoepfner admitted he was the Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee when approval was given for Sellenschuetter’s Whispering Oak Villas to be hooked up to City sewer and water.
Hoepfner told the First Capitol News during our interview he had decided to abstain from any further votes involving Sellenschuetter.
Brown said, “Sellenschuetter and his attorney, Keith Hazelwood, offered to give $125,000 toward the sewer project that has troubled my home and subdivision since it was developed, in return for my vote for this project.” Brown said, “I was told if I would go along with this project Sellenschuetter’s Company had a lot of printing that needed to be done.” Brown owns a printing company. Brown said I am not interested in anything they have to offer. That development will cost the taxpayers of St. Charles literally millions of dollars.
Councilman Brown stated, “I never believed Hoepfner would sell the residents of St. Charles out. Hoepfner knows if this project is approved the taxpayers will be spending millions of dollars in creek bed stabilization. Something has happened to him lately and he has forgotten that he represents the people and he is only interested in seeking plumbing.” Brown said, “Sellenschuetter is throwing money around town like it grows on trees. There are several politicians throughout the country who are in jail for the same type of activity.” Brown is considering taking this information to the Attorney General’s office or possibly the FBI.
Brown said, “Even though DNR has cited this project for several violations, several council members continue to push for it’s approval for the St. charles taxpayers to take on the financial burden of this project. Brown asked the FCN, “Can you figure out why? Now you know why they are trying to recall me.
THIS STORY RE-PRINTED FROM OUR SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2005 EDITION
