•Letter to Council_New City Manager 7/13/10

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July 13, 2010

TO: Mayor Shelley Welsch & Members of the City Council

FR: Tom Sullivan

RE: New City Manager

This is to express my disappointment about the dishonest and underhanded way in which the new city manager was selected. Citizens were continually being told an extensive search would be conducted, that a search firm was being hired and Mayor Welsch said on more than one occasion that she was interested in citizen input. Of course, the Mayor was not being truthful -- and not for the first time. Citizens were completely shut out of the process. Apparently, it doesn't bother any of you that the people of University City were blatantly deceived.

As I have said more than once, a new mayor and a new council have not made city government more open. You have never passed up an opportunity to shut out the public, all the while claiming to be open.

When running for the job, Mayor Welsh's literature said this:

"I promise you that as mayor I will . . . solicit your input in the process. I intend to fight for you and for an administration that is focused on truth, transparency and inclusion." Of course, it's all crap -- not a single word is believable.

Then there is the U. City Participate bunch, which has gone on endlessly about the need for open government, the need for transparency, the need for accountability, blah, blah, blah . . . Now it has three of its members on the council -- all of whom supported the mayor in the last election. So despite the inmates now in charge of running the asylum, the situation has gotten worse.

This is from the U. City Participate site:

"U City Participate.org is a non-partisan University City, Missouri group working together to increase citizen participation in City government." It's all crap, too.

Councilman Steve Kraft ran the site and has now earned the title of "Second Biggest Hypocrite" in City Hall with Council Members Ricci and Glickert taking the third and fourth spots, respectively.

None of this has anything to do with the new city manager himself. Since I don't know him, I don't have an opinion on him. But that's the point of an open process -- you get to form an opinion and then let it be known. I think it is insulting to Lehman Walker to hire him in such a deceitful manner. It's as if you feel he is such a poor choice he would be unable to withstand any kind of scrutiny.

Of course, the Missouri Sunshine Law may have been violated in the selection process but that's nothing new for the Outlaw City Government. The attachments to the June 28 meeting agenda show that as late as June 25 Council Member Ricci was e-mailing around the country checking references on the proposed search firms. That tells certain things.

The June 28 meeting was another city council meeting masqueraded as a "study session" -- meaning fewer citizens knew about it and citizens were prevented from speaking. By the way, there is no provision in state law or council rules for any "study session" and the rules mandate a public comment section at open meetings. There is also no provision in law for any "executive session" though you continue to list them that way.

You can look forward to a new "Top 10" brochure -- "Top 10 Reasons Not to Trust Your Dishonest Mayor and City Council." There may also be a companion website -- similar to the ruthparkdestruction.org site. The citizens of University City are going to know what an awful bunch they have in City Hall.

When I was growing up in University City, the mayor and city officials were people you could trust. That is hardly the case now. ***

Copy: Interested U. Citians

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• UCityCitizen.org • Paulette Carr, Ward 2 Councilmember, City of University City • University City, Missouri 63130 •