A short chronology of City Hall Since 2004
The Saint Charles City Council elections of April 2004 resulted in a new make-up of council. There was some anger due to the mayor actively trying to oust Bob Hoepfner and due to letters going out against certain candidates signed by Tom Hughes. The new majority worked together for a short time but allegiances change, sands shift, and that’s part of politics. I would even argue it’s an important part of politics that helps keep any one side from becoming too entrenched.
One contentious issue that was inherited by the new council was the vacancy of the police chief’s position. This one issue would do more to splinter the new council than any other issue.
In an attempt to end the stalemate, the question was placed on the ballot whether the council should be able to override the mayor’s decision on department head appointments with a supermajority of eight votes because the charter was silent on the question of what would happen if no agreement could be met. A couple of deep pockets in town created a campaign to fight the proposed change and framed things as a power grab by the new council. Remember, the problem being faced by council had never happened before and the change called for eight votes to override the mayor! This so-called power grab would have required 80% council approval – a difficult task even when the council is on the same page!
Early on, I didn’t even know what the “sides” were. As far as I could tell, Larry Muench had always seemed quite a friend of Rory’s. Jerry Reese, I didn’t know. I knew that Mr. Kneemiller was a strong backer of the mayor’s, and Mike Weller I had also just met. To continue, I didn’t know Mark Brown and I had only met Dottie Greer once before the election. Even prior to the election each councilman was pigeonholed into his or her side by a clandestine group of movers and shakers. Their actions were a self-fulfilling prophecy because those of us who were targeted as not worthy of their support definitely felt a common bond!
A slow-talkin’ Southerner with a brief history in our City was called to try and save the day and become the city administrator for the next couple of years. He would receive one hell of a pay package and lifetime benefits for his trouble. We were told that he would be fair and that he would also be allowed to choose the chief of his choice with a pledge from the mayor to allow him his pick without interference if we would just approve him. Williams was approved and after a few interviews with several candidates he chose Bob Lowery to fill the chief’s position. I thought a great Missouri compromise had just been struck and that a new spirit of cooperation was prevailing, but it was not to be. The mayor chose to renege on her part and refused to approve William’s pick.
I still never felt that there were solid sides as was claimed by the papers that anointed us the “Magnificent Seven.”
One thing I knew was that some senior council members had some definite goals and wishes for the newly elected council and Bob Hoepfner was front and center with his laundry list of wishes if our “team” was to stay together. Ever wary of Mr. Hoepfner, I wasn’t thrilled to make him the council vice-president but there was a spirit of positive change that was present in the early days and I had no history with which to judge most Council members. My caution came from the fact that I considered Bob to be somewhat of a curmudgeon. I was, however, hopeful that our loose knit group of council would stand up to waste at City Hall, work to take money from studies and put into infrastructure, clean up some of the eye-sores in town, and had our group been 5, 9, or 10 strong, I would have welcomed them into this role. Our role as council is to be a check and balance of the administrative branch and a little friction, in my opinion, is a good thing. One thing for sure, I had no intention of fighting the Police department – this too was a Battle brought to us by Battling Bob himself. I soon learned that Bob was less interested in battle and more interested in bounty!
Throughout all of our battles, however, politics was pretty much per usual with special interests commanding large sums of money to promote their political viewpoint.
This all changed on November 1st when Mike Weller became the mouthpiece on the council for the recall of Dottie Greer.
If you haven’t been following things since April 2004 this may seem odd to you – why would a councilman actively involve himself with a fellow councilman’s recall? Why would a councilman join force with outsiders who have spent thousands to recall a citizen who is upstanding and is doing the best she can for her city? Talk about abuse of power! Isn’t it rich that this recall is coming from the same people who accused council of abuse of power for proposing a charter change that would have ended stalemates at City Hall with eight votes?
The problems that existed between council members were routine, but the level to which Mike Weller stoops in actively attempting to recall a fellow council member shows where his allegiance is – too bad Dottie doesn’t have deeper pockets, maybe she could buy back some council support!
