EX ALDERMAN NEWSLETTER 5



EX ALDERMAN NEWSLETTER 5

July 27, 2010

FROM: John Hoffmann

SPEED CAMERAS: I mentioned several newsletters ago that Mayor/Cigarette Lobbyist Jon Dalton has a new lobbying client, Coalition for Speed Enforcement. This group, along with his current cigarette client Imperial Tobacco, is hidden from being connected to Dalton by being listed under the name of Dalton’s Jefferson City office manager Shannon Hawk with the Ethics Commission.

The Coalition for Speed Enforcement lists the same address as Dalton’s Jefferson City office. I wrote that I was sure the group was actually a company or several companies that make and sell red light and speeding ticket camera systems. I also wrote that I was sure somewhere down-the-line there would be some involvement between this group and Town and Country. It took two months for that to happen.

The following is from Alderwoman and chair of the police commission Nancy Avioli’s newsletter:

Police Commission.  The mayor has been approached by companies wishing to establish contracts with the City for installation and management of both red light cameras and speed cameras.  He referred these queries to me as Chair of the Police Commission.  Neither project appears to have the support of the Police Department or the Commission, at least until action is taken on a state-wide basis.

Now do not try and tell me that Jon Dalton is not using his position as mayor to aid his lobbying clients. In 2005 as mayor he represented as a lobbyist in Jefferson City the city’s largest contractor, the West County EMS and Fire Protection District. While representing four cigarette manufactures as a lobbyist he refused to sign a letter to the County Council supporting a county wide smoking ban.

HELP I’M BEING ROBBED…CALL 9-1-1…part 2: In our last newsletter we pointed out that Town and Country residents followed by Chesterfield residents were funding an unfair percentage of the Central County Emergency 9-1-1 Fire and EMS dispatch center in Ellisville. While the average cost per call at the Fire/EMS dispatch center was $125 a call, T&C was paying $170 a call and the Monarch FPD, serving Chesterfield was paying $167 a call. Meanwhile, Creve Coeur and Maryland Heights Fire Districts were paying a lot less. This was caused because the dispatch funding is based on ASSESSED VALAUATION and not actual call for service use. (For full report see Ex Alderman Newsletter #4 posted on: )

Remember that Town and Country maintains its own 9-1-1 police dispatch center but is allowing the thieves at Central Country 9-1-1 to do Fire/EMS dispatching. We are currently being billed for more than $100,000 a year above what we should be paying, based on actual usage. We could be saving as much as $200,000 a year if we did the dispatching ourselves.

I recently interviewed the manager of the East Central Dispatch Center located in Richmond Heights. East Central does the dispatching for a number of city police and fire departments. City departments are much different animals than Union controlled Fire Districts! They tend to try and deliver services at reasonable prices.

East Central uses a two-year review of calls dispatched to determine the billing rates for the cities of Webster Groves, Shrewsbury, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Clayton and Olivette. Clearly this is the fairest way to do it. They use a two-year average of calls in the event there was an unusual event that would have caused a spike in calls for a single year.

THE RESPONSE: In the last newsletter I blamed both Mayor/Cigarette Lobbyist Jon Dalton who was behind the current West County EMS & Fire contract in 2005 that requires we pay for Central County 9-1-1 fire/EMS dispatching without examining the payment formula. I also blamed former mayor and current alderman David Karney. Karney approved dispatch agreements with Central County 9-1-1 before Dalton. He also chairs the current Fire/EMS Services Committee that ignored the Dispatch contract.

Karney took exception about what I wrote in the last newsletter and sent me an email that included photos. Having looked at the photos they seem to bolster my position.

Here is what I wrote about former Mayor and current alderman David Karney in the last newsletter.

Former Mayor and current Alderman David Karney also gets his share of the blame. Karney re-upped with Central County 9-1-1 during his term as mayor. As the 2010 fire committee head Karney missed this plundering of our tax revenues.

Earlier this year Karney led the committee in voting not to investigate starting our own fire department, which clearly put us at a disadvantage at the bargaining table with the Fire District.

Concerning fire dispatching service, Karney made a grossly vague and untruthful statement.

“The committee has decided it is better to stay with Central County 9-1-1- both quality wise and price wise.”

I attended the first Fire Committee meetings and the topic never came up, other than Karney telling members we had to stay with Central County 9-1-1. This is not true. I have talked to the director of Central County 9-1-1 and been told T&C could walk away from the partnership but would lose all ownership in the dispatching center located in Ellisville. This could occur if we consolidated or contracted fire service with Ladue and/or Frontenac or started our own fire department and dispatched ourselves, much like Frontenac and Ladue do now.

The agenda and minutes for the meetings I did not attend, show dispatching was never discussed. So there was never a decision made by the committee despite what Karney claims…

If you go to Karney’s shop you will see a number of fire helmets given to him as gifts by the fire district over the years. Dave is what we folks in the public safety field call a “fire fruit.” David has never responded to a burning building. He has never inspected buildings for various code violations. He has never opened a nozzle and put water on a fire, he has never dragged hose. He has never spent a day or days at the scene of a fire, digging in ashes, putting soil, carpet and wood samples into cans to be tested for accelerants. He never tried to rebuild rooms with charred furniture to determine the origin and cause of a fire. I believe that David thinks it is neat to be around cops and firemen. In my opinion Karney has shown that he is basically a Fire District and Union plant on this committee.

Here is an email I received from David shortly after the newsletter was posted online.

Hi John,

As always enjoyed reading your latest newsletter. 

Since you are now writing about me I would like to point out just a few facts which you have incorrectly about me. Perhaps you will devote a few lines in your next newsletter making the corrections.

I am attaching three pictures of the "Fire Helmets" from my office wall which pre-date my Town & Country/West County days. The two yellow ones  I was given  in 1985 from a family in Castle Shannon PA. If you look you will see that they are both have the Castle Shannon & VFD on them.  The black one was given to my dad in the early 80's from the fire chief in the City of St. Louis where we had our family business from 1889 till 1999.

I am also attaching the last picture that was taken of me holding a fire hose. Just about every year for the last 4-5  years I partake in a turn out event in Eureka. While I have never held a hose at a working fire I do have some experience with holding a fire hose.  In addition I hold a valid Emergency Vehicle drivers license from the University of Mo in Columbia. I was an ambulance driver in the Army Reserves also.   I have driven several different fire trucks, ambulances, (non of West County) and a couple of police cars. 

 Lastly, your comments that I am a Union man are very insulting to me. I have not taken a single penny from any member of any fire district in any city/state. Our family business was one of the last Union clothing shops in the City of St. Louis. We were forced to close down our shop in 1977 due to them.  I have never supported any union be it clothing or firefighters. 

Please feel free to write about me but I would appreciate you keeping your facts correct. 

 Best Regards,

David

 

RESPONSE TO THE RESPONSE: I stand corrected the helmets are not from the West County EMS & Fire Protection District. But they reinforce my smart ass comment that Mr. Karney is what we in the fire and police business referred to as “fire fruits.” Please look at the photo below David sent me of him holding a fire hose, at a PR event. Note the real firemen holding the hose for David while he plays being a fireman. I think this photo pretty well makes my “fire fruit” case. (Now I make this smart ass comment as a person who had my fire boots melt while at a fire scene, dragged hose, opened a nozzle to put water on a fire and had to receive medical treatment for injuries received at fire scenes. I was a cop and arson detective and spent 10 years of my life around fires.)

Concerning the Union reference, in the last newsletter, I never said David was pro or anti-union. I simply implied that the way he has been running this fire services committee and steering it away from issues, such as the Central County 9-1-1 Dispatch billing, the refusal to enter into talks with Frontenac for a fire service contract and in April when he made a motion they stop investigating the possibilities of starting a city fire department, that he appears to be a plant or stooge for the fire district. Who controls the board of directors of the fire district? The Firefighters Union!

That is why the average pay for firefighters and paramedics with the fire district is almost $100,000 a year.

What was interesting is that I claimed in the newsletter that David lied at the Board of Aldermen meeting work session on June 28 when he said his committee favored staying with Central County 9-1-1 based on costs and professionalism. I pointed out that his Fire Services committee never had fire dispatching on the agenda and never took a vote about fire dispatching. Mr. Karney did not complain about me calling him a liar about this.

I had to laugh when David wrote how much he enjoys reading my newsletter then lists all the things that he was mad about. Here’s the photo of David playing fireman sent to me by Mr. Karney (he appears to be having a good time):

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DEMOCRAT AL GERBER LATEST REQUEST TO SPEND DURING THE RECESSION: Here is what happens when you elect a liberal Democrat with close ties to a special interest group: This is Alderman Al Gerber’s comment at the June 14 Board of Aldermen meeting from the minutes of the meeting:

Alderman Gerber

Alderman Gerber spoke in favor of the signalization to be installed on Clayton Road, which will make it much safer particularly for the nine children living on Rutherford Lane to cross Clayton Road to attend school at Principia.

First all of Al is apparently unaware that Clayton Road and Rutherford is not a good place to put a stoplight. That is at the crest of a hill where the westbound section of road comes out of a curve. Also too many traffic lights leads to increases in people running red lights.

Next stoplights cost between $30,000 and $60,000 for installation depending on the technology used. Plus the city then has to maintain them. Hello! We are in a serious recession with our revenues drying up.

There are only six homes on Rutherford Lane. I believe that only three of the six account for the nine kids going to Principia. So Al wants to spend $30K-$60K plus annual maintenance for a stoplight that benefits three houses. How does the city look in five years if there are only one or two kids from that street going to Principia or none?

Also there are at least nine kids that go to Principia living off of Takara and Tammany, plus more Principia kids in the Chapel Hill Estates. Don’t they deserve stoplights also? Under Al’s theory we should have SIX traffic lights on Clayton from Mason Road to Topping Road.

Special Interest: Al won his seat on the Board of Aldermen by getting the Christian Science and Principia votes. He actually registered out-of-town high school seniors living in dorms at Principia so they could vote in the city election. Al is using his ties to Principia and the CS Church to suggest the city use funds specifically for Principia that are not in the best interest of the majority of the residents.

DRUG DEALER MOVING: A member from our “Gangs of Town and Country” list is apparently moving. Brian Marchant, the ex-convict who served federal time for drug dealing in the 1990s and who later took his wife’s maiden name, making it difficult for investors to check his background, is apparently moving. Mr. Marchant-Calsyn was later reportedly a salesman in the S&K Investment scheme that landed two Town and Country residents in prison for operating a Ponsi-Scheme. Next he began operating his own “Internet Investment” companies including “Health Career Agents” that drew dozens of lawsuits and complaints with the Attorney General’s Office all alleging fraud.

He advertised a “Moving Sale” on online claiming that everything must. He also advertised in the Post-Dispatch as having an Estate Sale on July 10 and 11.

There is an ongoing blog on the Riverfront Times website concerning Brian. Here is the link:



There was a remarkable letter posted on the blog around Christmas time from a person claiming to be his mother in Iowa who gave some background on what Brian has done to his family over the years, including the raid by DEA at his mother’s house. She also apologized to all the people Brian may have cheated.

Unfortunately the property owners who abut his property on Topping, Topping Way and Brookwood are stuck with a fence that is higher than that allowed by code and a gate that forces vehicles (delivery trucks) to backup onto neighbor’s property. The fence is literally on top of property lines. The Board of Alderman first turned this down, but then voted to grant it with only me continuing to vote against it. This was after the drug dealer’s lawyer, John King, sent a letter threatening to sue the neighbors until they die if they complained to the city about the fence or the gate.

Marchant-Calsyn also put up tennis court lights without a city permit and illegally cut down trees without a required city permit while the city took no action against him. North of his house on Topping Road was his office on North Forty Outer Road and Mason. There he operated several businesses for three years without a city business license with the city taking no action against him. Let’s face it by all evidence the Dalton Administration has made Town and Country a welcome place for ex-convict drug dealers.

THE STEVE FONS EMERGENCY: Here are two common definitions of the word EMERGENCY:

a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action;

An emergency is a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation…

At the June 14th “Retreat Board of Aldermen Meeting,” that was not a retreat at all, but simply a 90-minute meeting after an unusually short regular Board of Aldermen meeting, Steve Fons used the word emergency.

During that meeting the Director of Public Works Craig Wilde was talking about Clayton Road and mentioned that on the south side of Clayton Road across from the Longview Farms Park pasture, the city has a 150 foot right away/easement from the edge of the road.

This caused Alderman Steve Fons ask in all seriousness if the right-of-way could be used for “Emergency Parking.”

During the March Candidate’s Debate Fons stated that the city should have purchased a house that had been for sale across from the park, tear it down and build a parking lot. Fons cared nothing at all about the effect of a parking lot for the neighbors on Clayton Road and in the Williamsburg Estates subdivision.

Now he wants to use a city street right-away for “emergency” parking across the street from Longview Farm Park, where the city spent $1.5m to build a “Conference Center” without adding any parking. Why would you need another parking area? For a planned event at Longview that would require more parking spaces than are available thanks to poor planning and a waste of money by the Dalton administration, that’s why! Of course that would not be “a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action” would it?

HIDING NOT SERVING WHILE GETTING PAID! In 2007 over a 12-month period the current President of the Board of Aldermen, Tim Welby missed 25% of the meetings. Welby was not a “Do Bee” and certainly has been a “Don’t Bee” as he is still on probation for Ethics and Campaign Financing Law violations resulting from his time on the Board of Aldermen.

Ward-1 Alderwoman Nancy Avioli admitted that she needed to improve on her poor attendance record for Board of Aldermen meetings during her 2010 re-election bid. She followed that promise to improve with robo calls supporting her campaign the night before the election by a group claiming to be Missourians’ Against Unfair Taxes (as if her opponent was proposing unfair taxes). Missourians’ Against Unfair Taxes has a long history as a Political Action Group associated with the Tobacco Industry.

On June 14th Avioli missed the work session prior to her fourth meeting of the current term and missed the fifth meeting altogether on June 28th. Fred Meyland-Smith also missed the June 28th meeting.

Then the Board somehow decided without taking a vote to cancel the scheduled Board of Aldermen meeting the July 12. It was somehow decided that more than half of the board members would be AWOL and the meeting was simply cancelled. By cancelling the meeting, regular no-shows such Avioli, Welby and Meyland-Smith were able to miss a meeting without having it count against them. Part of the job of being an alderman is attending two meetings a month. That doesn’t sound too tough, but apparently it is for some of the members. I can understand missing a meeting a year for a vacation or family emergency, but if you can’t attend the meetings, why did you run for the job? Also why are you accepting the pay for not attending meetings?

Avioli added another miss, when she cancelled the July meeting of the police commission, which she chairs. There was no also no Parks and Trails meeting in July. That means Ward 1 Alderwomen Lynn Wright and Nancy Avioli only attended one of three meetings originally scheduled in July but received a full pay check.

In the two years I was on the Board of Aldermen I missed one meeting a year and returned a portion of my paycheck for those missed meetings, something I do not see anyone else doing.

Tim Welby brought this issue up for discussion before the July 26th meeting. It should be the same as a Quorum Call in Congress…City Hall was open on July 12. They should have held the meeting as scheduled and called the roll to determine if there was a quorum, then publish who was there and who was not.

JULY 26 BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING Well at least all the aldermen were present. Oh wait…this time the mayor was not in attendance! So Mayor Dalton missed ALL MEETINGS for the month of July, but will be receiving a full paycheck.

CANCELLING MEETINGS WITHOUT A VOTE: During the work session city attorney Steve Garrett informed all the board members there was no ordinance that allowed them to cancel a meeting. When they routinely cancel the second meeting in December, it is done by the Aldermen voting and passing a resolution to do so at a meeting, usually the first meeting in December. When the July 12 meeting was cancelled there was no vote, simply more than four aldermen mentioned they would be out of town and presto…meeting cancelled.

Most everyone thought it was okay to cancel a Board of Aldermen meeting if you do it 72 hours in advance, but again there is no ordinance in place that allows it and there was no public meeting to vote on a resolution. It sure sounds like the cancellation of the July 12 meeting was illegal. Fred Meyland-Smith thought instead of 72 hours, there should be 96 hours notice that a meeting was being cancelled.

WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY? No one suggested or brought up the fact if alderman should be paid for cancelled meetings.

Alderman Steve Fons asked if only three or four aldermen were present, why couldn’t they hold a meeting and listen to residents, but just not vote on any issues? The city attorney mentioned that holding a meeting without a quorum of elected officials would be illegal.

Fons did not like the answer and wanted to argue the point at which time David Karney mentioned, “If the city attorney says it is dangerous to hold such a meeting why take a chance?” Karney added it is wise to listen to people that are paid for their advice.

CELLPHONES AND DRIVING TO SERVE THE CITY: Phil Behnen then mentioned that recently at an Architectural Review Board meeting they did not have a quorum and called a member who was stuck in traffic. They then allowed the member to listen to the meeting on a speaker phone while he drove and then vote.

Keep in mind that every major university who has done research in the matter has recommended that laws be passed to ban cell phone use while driving. The majority of the world’s countries have outlawed cell phone use while driving along with a number of states here in the USA. The Missouri Highway Patrol and even Oprah have campaigns to ban cell phone use while driving. But here in Town and Country Phil Behnen is having someone who is driving in heavy traffic, listen to testimony and vote. I wonder if there would have been a transfer of liability back to the City if the ARB member would have run over some kid.

After Phil told his story the city attorney stated that it was illegal in Missouri for elected officials to attend meetings by teleconference or video conference.

BRACH CHIPPING…FIRST TAKEN OUT OF THE BUDGET NOW THEY WANT TO PUT IT BACK IN: The subject of branch chipping came up and both Ward 1 alderwomen, Avioli and Wright said they had heard from a number of residents who want the fall branch chipping returned in 2010. Of course Wright and Avioli both voted to eliminate branch chipping in November of 2009 when they passed the budget. I voted against the budget and wrote an alternative budget to Mayor/Cigarette Lobbyist Jon Dalton’s budget, that would have save three jobs (including two in the police department) and would have had funds left over for branch chipping or deer management. Only David Kareny and I voted for it. Only I voted against the Dalton budget which included the elimination of Branch Chipping.

SPINE FREE ZONE: Being an elected official is often a job of tough decisions that you need to stand by. With this group almost everyone apparently is spineless. They voted against Branch Chipping because there wasn’t enough revenue to fund it and now just months after making the vote, they want it back…but there is still no revenue source, other than tapping the reserve, which will have to be used again in 2011 to offer basic services. Of course they did not want to reduce their salaries or cancel the June fireworks show and use that money toward branch chipping.

Now suddenly everyone who voted against Branch Chipping, with the exception of Ward 4 Alderman Phil Behnen, wants it back. Branch chipping comes out of the General Revenue budget which the city is operating at a 7.48% deficit. The overall budget of all funds is off 14.24% for 2010 over 2009.

The time to think about branch chipping was in November of 2009 when seven of the board members voted to get rid of the program. In 2009 we spent $75,000 on the branch chipping program, which was $20,000 over budget in a year where we knew revenues were dropping like a rock.

There were four options discussed.

1. One was for residents to bring their branches and drop them off at a specified location, like a park or the city salt storage area. (Oh, yes I can see folks loading up those branches in their $75,000 SUVs for a ride to the dump!)

2. The second was for residents to negotiate with private tree services. (I think you can do that without government intervention now.)

3. Spend $75,000 the same as last year.

4. No branch chipping.

Phil Behnen said the Finance Commission voted against funding programs not in the current budget. Tim Welby, the guy who is so good with figures that he finds himself on probation for ethics and campaign finance reporting violations with the State of Missouri, then piped up that the Public Works and Storm Water Commission recently voted (5-1 according to the minutes) to restore branch chipping.

Welby, who campaigned heavily for Al Gerber and misled residents in Ward-2 about Gerber’s stand on Deer management, did add that he thought funding for deer management should come before branch chipping.

Director of Public Works Craig Wilde said any branch chipping project would have to be approved by September. Mr. Wilde would work on getting estimates during August to obtain bids. It was decided that Steve Fons and David Kareny would work on preparing a bill.

HALL STREET BLUES III: The apparent tractor trailer storage and truck terminal on the old Wal Mart store parking lot was visited again. A bill was first read to ban storage of over the road trucks in retail areas. Everyone is now against the fact that a tractor trailer operator is storing several of his rigs on the empty parking lot at Manchester Meadows. This is something we have been mentioning in our last two newsletters. Of course the appearance of tractor trailers sitting idle on the parking lot of a half empty shopping center devalues the area and hurts the few remaining retail operators. Al Gerber did not fully understand this and asked why trespassing charges are not filed. The property owner is a corporation located in Chicago, which during a recession would have to pay a legal representative to file such charges.

Meanwhile the small businesses left in the shopping center face more evidence that the location of their stores is deteriorating. This issue has no connection to Principia so I would not expect Al to be well versed in it.

CITY CLERK TO DAVID…COME IN PLEASE: During the regular meeting, which was over in 15 minutes, there were two voice votes. You would think the whole board could focus their attention on the business at hand. Not So! City Clerk Pam Burdt while reading the role for a vote called David Karney’s name…paused for David to answer …then had to call it again, a little louder, to which Karney responded, “What?” He didn’t know why his name was being called. Pam had to explain what was happening. More than one person in the room got a chuckle from this lapse. Maybe IPhones and other electronic devices should be turned off during meetings. Dalton and Nancy Avioli are regularly checking their Blackberries…it might be nice if all the elected officials could meet twice a month and concentrate on the city’s business without checking incoming calls and emails.

CARTOONS:

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