In elections you really have to take a leap of faith and trust that the person running is telling you the truth. I think those of you who truly believed it when the Mayor said she intends to keep all the department heads for a least a year might be feeling violated right now. Maybe violated is too soft of a term. You should be feeling betrayed, lied to might be a better description. Since being reelected, the Mayor has fired Brent Schultz a 37-year tenured employee who was the assistant city administrator. She told him there wasn’t a job available for him or his $85,000 salary. Now she has created not one but three new positions to take his place and do his job. The positions were unanimously approved by the city council Tuesday evening. She will have a transitional director, a post she appointed former City Administrator Alan Williams to at a salary of $112,000 per year, considerably less than he was being paid as City Administrator. Word around city hall is that she gave the position to Williams so that he could continue his health insurance for several months making him eligible for health insurance for life with the cost being born by the taxpayers. She was given the authority to make the police community relations specialist into a citywide public relations person and she was also given the authority to hire a governmental liaison. That liaison will represent the Mayor with the council and the public. She is apparently too busy to worry about dealing with or interacting with the council or the taxpayers.
The day after the election the Human Resource Director resigned. This past week the Public Works director tendered his resignation. Now the Mayor and the city council have offered to buy out the contract of the Chief of Police and as of press time we have been told he has accepted.
I’m sure you remember the heart felt press conference when York told us all how she wouldn’t let anyone go for at least a year. The first action she took as Mayor was to take over as Chief of Police and set up an office in the police department. She apparently was looking for cause to get rid of the Chief; she interviewed all the female staff trying to dig up any type of harassment. She failed to find anything other than a well-run police department, something we haven’t had in a long time. The Mayor needed to find a way to get rid of the Chief to fulfill her promise to the St. Charles Police Association to fire him.
Chief Swope, the City of St. Charles truly appreciated your efforts and leadership. You did something the Mayor hasn’t been able to do, provide leadership. York is handing the reigns of our public safety back to the police association; the same people who said that they were mentally stressed over comments made in this paper by former Councilman Bob Hoepfner. Makes you wonder what is being held over her head.
Got any inside information on what the Mayor is up to. Call us at 636 724-1955. We guarantee confidentiality. You do not even need to identify yourself. Just provide the information and we will check it out and report.
