By Tony Brockmeyer
At the St. Charles City Council meeting Tuesday evening Mayor York requested that the City Council members reconsider their vote against hiring an outside attorney to represent her in hearings before the Council on May 5th. The Council had already rejected an earlier request.
At a recent executive session of the City Council the Mayor requested they approve an expenditure for an outside attorney to represent her at hearings that are going to be held regarding the alleged illegal signing of a contract with Express Scripts which could result in a loss of $200,000 to the taxpayers. The contract, which had not expired, was signed by the Mayor without City Council approval as required by ordinance. The contract had not been approved by the legal department and no copies of it could be found anywhere in City Hall. The alleged illegal signing of the contract by the Mayor was discovered during the process being conducted by the Council in an attempt to provide insurance to City employees at a savings over previous carriers. Even though the Mayor admitted signing the contract without Council approval a hearing must still be held. The City Charter gives the Council authorization to hold the hearing, subpoena witnesses and remove the Mayor from office if she is found guilty.
On a vote of 6 to 4 the Council denied the request of the Mayor. Councilmen Muench, Kneemiller, Weller and Reese voted to provide the attorney at taxpayer expense, Council members Riddler, Gieseke, Koester, Hoepfner, Brown and Greer voted no.
For the Council to be able to reconsider their action a member who voted on the prevailing side must make a motion to reconsider. That would be a member who had voted no on the earlier request. None of the members who voted no were willing to move for reconsideration.
Councilman Kneemiller, who had made the original motion at the earlier meeting to provide the attorney, said he would move to reconsider had he been on the prevailing side. Because of Council rules he could not.
Kneemiller asked the Mayor how much money she wanted. She said she would estimate it would be a couple of hours at the prevailing rate. Kneemiller estimated it would be less than $1,000.
Council President Rory Riddler said, “I do not think this matter has reached the level where legal counsel was necessary.”
The hearings begin on May 5th at 6pm in the City Council chambers. They are open to the public and according to Council President Riddler, will be televised. The hearings are expected to take more than one evening.
