The past six years shall be forever known as “The Reign of Patti I.” It has been anything but benevolent. With a lot of faith, a little luck and a persistent vigilant press, perhaps there will never be a “Patti II.”
Never before in the history of St. Charles have we had such chaos and lack of leadership from the Mayor’s office. Never before have a very few been so richly rewarded by a manipulative ego-driven Mayor at the expense of so many.
We should all strap on our seat belts and prepare ourselves for a bumpy dangerous ride while Queen Patti is behind the wheel for the next two years.
Last Tuesday’s Council meeting lasted for more than five hours, and the Mayor appeared to be red-hot under the collar. Rather than rubber-stamping her appointments to various boards and committees, the Council opted to interview them prior to approval. I was happy to see this because the Mayor has a record of “using”her appointees to go to battle for her personal agendas. Last year she sued one of her own appointees for daring to speak the truth and “failure to fall in line.” The silly suit was quietly dropped, but it most likely intimidated her other appointees.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Mayor was again labeled “a liar” by a City Council member. As often as this Mayor is accused of lying, there must be some truth to the charge. If York really is a “better christian” than her last opponent, Dan Foust, does she get a free pass for lying and is Mr. Foust held to a higher standard? Has anybody called Foust a liar? If so, I haven’t heard about it.
The most interesting business debated at Tuesday’s meeting was that slick attempt to move all the Convention Center money from Commerce Bank to Premier Bank - a new bank operating out of a storefront. City Councilman Weller accused the majority of the Council of “refusing to change banks because Premier Bank was handling the Mayor’s legal defense fund. Until Weller’s revaluation, nobody knew much about the fund, much less which bank was handling the funds. It has since been reported that Ernie Dempsey will be hosting an affair at Pio’s within the next week to raise funds for the Mayor’s Legal Defense.
Dempsey supported Dan Foust in the last Mayoral race, then when York won, he had a luncheon with moneyed friends to “pay off her campaign debt.” Apparently Dempsey is still “working and paying” to stay in York’s good graces. Is this now a close friendship beneficial to both or just another one of those “seductive dances to the death - winner take all?”
As far as the City’s banking policy - it is determined by our charter and must be approved by the City Council. Some of the Mayor’s movers and shaker friends are involved with Premier Bank and serve on the Board. This attempt to switch City money to Premier from Commerce Bank was clearly an “insider deal” and violated our City Charter. Many months ago, the Council approved placement of the City accounts. There are specific qualifications required by any bank in order to satisfy our charter, state and federal laws. Commerce Bank, Frontenac Bank and New Frontier Bank were approved to serve the City’s banking needs.
Our municipal Judge, Dan Barklage, has apparently declared war on Councilman Bob Hoepfner. It was recently reported in the daily paper that Dan Barklage and Kevin Kast were on a golfing trip to Virginia and Kast hit a hole in one. Both Barklage and Kast are “Queen Patti” supporters. Kast is also a new member on the St. Charles Convention and Sports Facility Authority Board.
Until two months ago, the City sometimes employed the legal services of the Barklage firm. Due to Dan Barklage being the municipal judge, the City Council deemed this to be a conflict of interest and ceased using the Barklage firm for their legal needs.
St. Charles municipal court Judge Dan Barklage, has filed a lawsuit asking the Circuit Court to order the City to pay more money for paying his court staff overtime.
Barklage appears to blame Councilman Hoepfner and accused him of wanting to cut the court’s overtime budget over a continuance Hoepfner sought for one of his constituents. That does not explain why the rest of the Council denied a request for more money in April. Why can’t Mr. Barklage get the other nine council members to see things his way?
There appears to be an organized effort by a few “rich and famous” to thwart or impede every effort by the City Council to save taxpayers’ dollars. In spite of this a good deal of waste has stopped and it appears the new Council has saved the City millions of dollars. So what is really going on with the players and dealmakers to make them feel intensely threatened by this City Council?
