By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
City Counselor Eric Tollen is the first African American to attain a position of authority in the City of St. Charles. No person of color has ever been a department director or held a high profile job such as Special Counsel to the City Council. “It means so much to me that the City of St. Charles is willing to look beyond the color of a person’s skin and make equal opportunity more than just the politically correct thing to say”, said Tollen in an interview with the First Capitol News.
Tollen replaced a full-time assistant City Attorney whose salary and benefits cost approximately $100,000 per year. “The City Council retained Mr. Tollen for less than half of what we were paying this individual,” explained City Councilman Mark Brown. The City was spending approximately $80,000 each year for outside legal counsel over and above the costs of the Legal Department. By comparison, St. Peters exclusively uses outside legal counsel and spends approximately $600,000 per year for legal work.
What surprised City officials is the reaction of a few individuals in the community to Tollen’s selection and what appears to be an organized effort by a small group of individuals to run Eric Tollen out of town. “There was a meeting called by a group calling itself St. Chuck Watch. I was told by several witnesses who were at that meeting, that a gentleman said ‘we have to hold up pictures of the new City Counselor at meetings and show people what he is’. I had only been on the job for a few weeks so this individual had no basis for judging me. I think some people just didn’t understand what the man was really saying. But I’ve run into racial prejudice before and when someone says they need to hold up a picture of you to show people what you are, it’s the color of your skin they’re really talking about,” stated Tollen. St. Chuck Watch has also posted attacks on Mr. Tollen on its web site.
Right afterwards, the father-in-law of a current member of the City Council, wrote a rather scathing letter against Mr. Tollen. That Councilman recently questioned a section of Mr. Tollen’s contract. “The Councilman had a right to ask the question and raise his point. I would no more judge him on the basis of what a relative may have said, than I would hope people would judge me. I am, however, very concerned with the activities of any organized group that puts out false or misleading accusations,” explained Tollen.
Some Council members also report having received anonymous letters attacking Mr. Tollen over the past several months. “We get envelopes with no return address and in them will be these attacks on Mr. Tollen unsigned. With all the anthrax scares and hate groups out there, you get to the point of not wanting to open your mail at home,” said one Councilman on background.
This past week, a self proclaimed religious editor in his publication, being inserted in the St. Charles Journal, ran an article viciously attacking Eric Tollen. Two people then sent e-mails, on the same day, to all the members of the City Council asking that Mr. Tollen be fired. “I thought it was a bit strange they would single out just the contract with Mr. Tollen and not any of the other legal contracts with private attorneys,” explained Councilman Brown. “I asked people who have been here a lot longer than me if we’ve ever had any average citizen question any of the dozens of outside legal contracts issued over the past several years and they told me no. They did tell me, however, that some other attorneys with firms that had received contracts in the past might not be happy that their revenues have decreased.”
As for Eric Tollen, he hasn’t let the incidents make him bitter. “This is a great community with many wonderful people of faith who don’t judge people superficially. I am taking the organized effort more seriously, especially what was written in the one newspaper, but I won’t condemn the vast majority of people for the actions of a few. However, The bible teaches us to live in accordance of the example set by Jesus. It bewilders me how a man who claims to follow Christ can write such ungodly statements knowing his articles are not true and not taking the time to find the truth before publishing untrue statements”.
Tollen continued, “If Ed Watkins was a considerate man he would have given me the opportunity to speak with him before he went ahead and printed all those untruths in his so called religious publication.
