UCityCitizen.org
UCityCitizen.org • Paulette Carr, Ward 2 Councilmember, City of University City
University City, Missouri 63130 •
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For Videos of City Council meetings visit:
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20151122
Of Ambulance Response Times and Police Station Plans
❖ Our Council Dysfunction
- argumentum ad hominem:
"If you can’t directly criticize the argument, attack the character or motive of the person making the argument.”
Ever since the September 24, 2015 City Council meeting, where the Mayor informed the public that she had sought and received a legal opinion on the conduct of City Council meetings, she has read a passage that sets forth the rules of the meeting, especially regarding behavior and speech of citizens. She specifically states,
“It is Council's intent to conduct these meetings in a manner that is, at all times, respectful to members of City staff,
the community, and fellow City Council members. Personal attacks on City Council members and staff will be ruled
out of order.”
In spite of this warning, my colleague Councilmember Kraft leveled a vicious and personal attack against my credibility and me at the October 26th Council meeting. Once again, the unacceptable behavior of Councilmember Kraft goes unchecked by the Mayor...
❖ EMS Response Times
...With the complete CAD information on the first 37 Gateway Ambulance calls and the method (with terms and definitions) used to analyze the UCFD Ambulance calls over 2014, I have prepared a new analysis of those calls ...
❖ Police Station Plans CONTINUE READING
20151025
What a Tangled Web We Weave…
The Concept Plan for a Police Station Presented at the Last City Council Meeting.
Once again, Mayor Shelley Welsch has called me out in her newsletter. Mayor Welsch both misrepresented what I said, and what the Trivers concept plan for the Police Station I brought to Council at the last meeting really means. ...
In short, here are the important issues: Mr. Trivers produced a concept plan with the permission of the City Manager and after being given a tour of the Police Station. The estimated cost of that concept plan is significantly lower than the costs projected by Chiodini Architects for the renovation of our current Police Station. Knowledge about the existence of this concept plan was suppressed by the Administration though they have mentioned and used the earlier plan by Archimages. Why?
CONTINUE READING
20150726
Good News!
University City is Already a Gigabit City!
So Why Did the City Spend $90,000 for Broadband Consultants?
At the July 13th City Council meeting, the Government Affairs Manager for Charter Communications in St. Louis told the Council that University City is already a gigabit city for business customers and has been for 10 years! Yet the City recently paid a total of $90,000 to consultants for both the design and engineering for the fiber network to be installed with the Trolley in the Loop and for a feasibility study to bring high-speed Internet to Olive Boulevard businesses - even though fiber is already in place. CONTINUE READING
20150607
FY2016 Budget on Agenda - Cuts to Public Safety and Recreation
The Council will be voting to approve the FY2016 budget at the next City Council meeting tomorrow evening. In February, the City Manager presented a budget that did not contain adequate funding for our street and sidewalk work. This budget appeared to be based upon the assumption that the bond issues would pass and most street and sidewalk work could be removed from the budget for a period of years. In April the voters overwhelmingly rejected the streets and parks bond issues, and the City Manager was asked to amend his draft budget with adequate funding for street and sidewalk work, maintaining the current levels of funding for Public Safety. Instead, the City Manager made amendments to the budget that reduced current levels of funding for Public Safety, included cuts to recreation programs, and failed to provide for any additional street or sidewalk work. Now it appears Mr. Walker is proposing committing $7 million for a future police station we have yet to discuss as a Council to ensure that there are no Reserve funds available to fix our streets.
One of the more troubling cuts is to personnel in the Fire Department. The proposed budget eliminates four of the currently vacant paramedic/firefighter positions (instead of three originally proposed in February), and two vacant Captain positions - again, paramedic/firefighters. CONTINUE READING
20150602
Why Did Staff Fail to Mention the WU Project? Were Zoning Changes Designed
to Benefit WU?
I am concerned about the recent zoning changes that were rushed through the Plan Commission and Council and directly affect development and parking in Ward 2 and the entire city. The first set of zoning changes lowered parking requirements for the developer, and second set of zoning changes relaxed requirements for lot size, setbacks and building size regulations. I have questions and concerns about how the City Administration handles such important and far-reaching matters.
20150619
Budget Study Session: Response
At the May 18, 2015 University City Council Study Session, the Council was presented with City Manager Lehman Walker’s proposed budget with cuts to services including the natatorium, and Centennial Commons Recreation Center and the elimination of the Summer Camp Program. The following is my response to the City Manager’s proposals. The video of my statement can be viewed here.
20150517
Budget Study Session
Monday, May 18, 2015 @ 5:30 PM
Council Chambers, 5th Floor City Hall
One of the most striking features of the packet is that the City Manager, rather than cuts to discretionary spending, is proposing, “ cuts to programs and services that our community needs and deserves":
• Eliminating the Summer Camp Program for our children;
• Closing Centennial Commons for seven additional days;
• Eliminating all public swim hours at the natatorium, and reducing the hours at the Heman Park Pool.
Plus: Urgent Street Work
2015/01-06
A Tale of Deception
How the City Manager Spent Nearly $60K On One Project Without the Knowledge and Approval of the Council
The City Charter of University City mandates that the City Manager present any proposed expenditures in excess of $25,000 to the City Council for approval. It is a mechanism to ensure good financial oversight and accountability to the citizens and taxpayers of University City. Yet during the summer of 2013 City Manager Lehman Walker, along with Mayor Shelley Welsch, used in excess of $25,000 of tax dollars without Council approval to fund a special interest project and went to great lengths to conceal the expenditure. The project was a “rush” installation of new electrical service for Heman Park so Fair U City organizers would not have to rent generators to provide electrical service for vendors. CONTINUE READING
014/12-16
For Residents and Ameren - A Win-Win
There is a very unique electrical substation in University City at the intersection of Mulberry Lane and Groby Road. This substation is disguised as a home in the residential neighborhood adjacent to and including Kaufman Park and not far from Brittany Woods Middle School. What is so very unique is that most of us do not recognize this “facade” as being different from the surrounding homes. Unlike other area substations, it is camouflaged and very residential in appearance. In the mid-1950’s, the combined efforts of the homeowners in the surrounding community and the University City government persuaded Union Electric to erect this home-like facade around the substation, and it would not have been built without the hard push from the broad base of the community. CONTINUE READING
2014/12-07
Why did the City Manager refuse to Support the Town Hall Meeting on Flood Mitigation?
Last Thursday evening we held a very informative and well attended Town Hall meeting on Flood Mitigation. There were presentations from residents Eric Stein on dry floodproofing, and Gloria Nickerson on sewer problems and how to handle them from a resident’s experience. Eric Karch of the River Des Peres Watershed Coalition and Helen Fuller of U city in Bloom made a presentation on Rain Gardens, while Steve Roberts of MSD discussed disconnection of the gutters from the sewers system, and some of the issues, which residents in the floodplain are concerned. Richard Wilson, Director of Public Works and Parks was present to answer questions on dry floodproofing and a program which we have called the Neighborhood Improvement District (NID), but I made the presentation on how to pay for the dry floodproofing by establishing a NID. The idea was Mr. Wilson’s and he should have been the one to make the presentation, but the City Manager told me "City staff will not be doing any presentations or participating in any panel discussion since this is not a city sponsored meeting.” CONTINUE READING
2014/11-23
We are not alone…
Information Asymmetry and
a Proposed $30M Bond Issue
Last year University City resident, David Stokes wrote an article that describes how other Council/City Manger governments in our area have become controlled by the City Manager and a few members of Council, deliberately excluding some elected members of Council. Mr. Stokes addressed the issue of who has access to information and who does not and states:
"…in areas of potential disagreement between a city manager and other city officials, the elected officials are certainly at an information disadvantage. This can become especially true for elected officials who may be in the political minority on their legislative body. A city manager working closely with a political majority can readily shut out other officials from the debate." CONTINUE READING
2014/12-03
TOWN HALL MEETING:
FLOOD MITIGATION
When: Thurs., Dec. 4, 2014 @ 7:00 PM
Where: Heman Park Community Center
- 975 Pennsylvania Ave.
2014/11-11
Letter from University City Police Chief Adams
RE: Pending Grand Jury Decision CONTINUE READING
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2014/11-09
Censorship is alive and well in University City:
the loss of Transparency and Accountability
Two days after I published my newsletter on "Sanitizing" the Minutes of City Council Meetings City Manager Lehman Walker announced to his Department Heads that Boards and Commissions would no longer be posting audio recordings of meetings. Further guidance to the Department Heads from the City Clerk suggests that the City Administration wants minutes to contain less detail. While other cities are streaming their meetings and providing easy access to video and audio records, our city is moving to eliminate the audio and to strip detail from the minutes making it difficult to impossible for a citizen to know what happened in a meeting which he/she did not attend. Regarding this retreat from transparency and accountability there is a resounding silence from members of Council who claimed during the election they are responsible for the most transparent government in our history. CONTINUE READING
2014/10-26
Mayor Falsely Accuses Two Councilmembers of Organizing the Effort to Recall Councilmember Kraft
I am disappointed and saddened to report that the civil discourse on your City Council has reached a new low. In an email sent to some residents in Ward 1 on Oct. 23, 2014, Mayor Shelley Welsch accused Councilmembers Terry Crow and me of organizing the effort to recall Councilmember Kraft:
"This recall effort is being organized by two sitting members of Council, Terry Crow in Ward 1 and Paulette Carr in Ward 2.”
The mayor’s allegations are unsubstantiated and completely false. CONTINUE READING
2014/10-12
"Sanitizing" the Minutes of City Counil Meetings
For decades, in fact over the entire history of our home-rule, charter government, the minutes of this Council have been complete and accurate descriptions of what was said and what the outcome of the discussion was. A contentious change in Council rules took place last June, and with it a change in how the minutes of our City Council meetings are recorded: the minutes are now to be only be a record of what was done at a meeting, not what was said. At best, this may provide an incomplete record of what happened, and at worst, may be a “sanitizing" of the minutes to avoid making a record of anything “unflattering” to those in power. This is at the discretion of the City Clerk, who is a know partisan supporter of the majority of Council and City Manager (read emails from Evanston). The change in the way we now record our minutes is an effort to control the message and remove transparency and accountability from University City government.
CONTINUE READING
2014/10-05
Can this really be University City?
Last Sunday, Councilmember Rod Jennings went on the record on Facebook publicly calling this Councilmember a "nasty councilwoman", "white privilege princess" and “terrorist”, and he asked his "People and friends" whether it would be right to crush his opponent (in the April 2014 Council race) and me like cockroaches: CONTINUE READING
2014/09-21
What Could Councilmembers Be Thinking?
University City Council Votes to Approve a $45K Contract Without Seeing It
At the September 8, 2014 University City Council Meeting, Council was asked to vote on a $45,000 contract that was not included in the Agenda Packet. When I brought this to the attention of the Council, only Councilmember Crow commented that he too was concerned about voting on something sight unseen.
...
Despite City Manager Lehman Walker not giving Councilmembers an opportunity to reveiw the contract before voting on it, Mayor Welsch and Councilmembers Jennings, Kraft and Sharpe asked no questions, made no comments and promply voted to approve the contract they had not seen. Why?
2014/09-16
U. City Considering Outsourcing EMS
Will we be getting a Discount Emergency Medical Service?
Mayor Shelley Welsh and City Manager Lehman Walker have been promoting the possible privatizing of emergency medical service in University City, a service that is currently performed by our Fire Department. The Request for Proposals (RFP) was sent out without any input from the City Council. Council input seems warranted since the RFQ would allow for a response time that would more than double. Also, fewer qualified EMS personnel would be required. The rationale given by City Manager, Lehman Walker is to reduce costs… but at what cost? It appears from reading the Request for Proposal (RFP), the cost will be a reduction in service to the residents of University City. CONTINUE READING
2014/07-10
Caught “Backpeddling": UCity City Manager Lehman Walker "Denies Making a Denial"
"University City Manager Lehman Walker denied he accused News 4 of making up how much money the city would save if its EMS services were outsourced”
TEXT ARTICLE
The verdict is in:
Government in the Backroom for University City
“An Uninformed Constituent is a Politician’s Best Friend”
There will be a vote to adopt the Parkview Gardens Neighborhood Sustainability Plan as a supplement to the Comprehensive Plan Update of 2005.
Permanent Closure of Trinity Ave.
CONTINUE READING
2014/06-28
The Majority of 5 has called another last-minute, special Study Session on a holiday week to vote to approve the Resolution they first brought to the June 16th Special Meeting at which over 250 people attended. This meeting has been called for this Monday evening, June 30, 2014 at 6:00 PM in Council Chambers (City Hall).
ALERT!!!
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING CALLED
Monday, June 30, 2014 at 6:00 PM at City Hall
Why another last minute meeting to vote on Council rules change when they could have done so in the presence of hundreds of citizens?
So you will not be there when they vote to
•Silence your representatives and your voice, and
•eliminate transparentcy and accountability!
2014/06-22
Citizens Speak: “Let Every Voice Be Heard”
Last Monday, The People came to speak to the council concerning the proposed changes to Council Rules that
• Would have eliminated Citizen participation at the Beginnings of meetings,
• Silenced the voice of the minority on Council by requiring 3 Councilmembers to put an item on the agenda as opposed to 2, currently, and
• Changed the way our minutes are recorded so that the history of how a decision was made will be eliminated, and you will only have information on what decision was made.
The room was filled to overflowing as one citizen after another spoke to the proposed changes to the rules. Many held signs stating, “Let Every Voice Be Heard.” CONTINUE READING
2014/06-02
Government in the Sunshine, or Government in the Back Room?
SILENCING THE VOICE OF THE MINORITY
Prior to beginning the substantive business on the agenda, Councilmember Glickert took an extraordianry and unprecedented step by making a motion to remove six resolutions from the agenda that had been requested by Concilmembers Crow and Carr.
...
Never before has any member of Council sought to remove an item placed on the agenda by another member, nor has the majority ever suspended the rights of members to place issues on the Agenda, though last December Mr. Glickert and Mr. Sharpe attempted to change Council Rules proposing a Gag Rule to effectively muzzle some Councilmembers from raising issues of importance to constituents.
2014/06-02
IN UNIFORM OR NOT IN UNIFORM?
Rules or Retribution: Lehman Walker Suspended Firefighters For Following His Definition of a Uniform
2013/10-06
Who Makes Policy?
In my first eighteen months as a City Council member, I have spent considerable time learning how our government operates. I have found few people with a deep understanding of the rules, based in fact, and am ready to conclude that my understanding of what should be done differs from what we seem to be doing. More specifically, the Council is supposed to be responsible for making policy, while the City Manager and the Administration is responsible for carrying out that policy. In actuality, the City Council, through a superficial process approves a budget without sufficient information, and thereby establishes a multitude of policies via funding. This could be recoverable if the Council had a process of continuing oversight, but our habit is and my concern is, that knowingly or otherwise, we turn much over to the City Manager and Staff for interpretation and the setting of priorities.
CONTINUE READING
Sept. 23, 2013
Update on the Possiblity of Elevating Houses in the Flood Plain:
At the August meeting, the majority of Council approved money for a special consultant to seek out any available FEMA grants for structural elevation of some of the homes in the flood plain. As I explained earlier, there are no guarantees, but the Council thought it was worth pursuing since there is currently no federal money for buyouts. The City put out a Request for Qualifications. JSW & Consultants was hired to complete the cost-benefit analysis - and grant application process IF the project meets the grant requirements. Based on pre-qualifications, TMW, Inc. will provide the elevation certificates required.
At this time there are approxiately 25 homes, which have been selected based on the repetitive loss information provided by FEMA. A letter was recently sent to these residents in regards to surveyors doing work to determine eligibility for the flood house elevations.
2013/07-31
Flooding- some new thoughts
The flood on June 17th prompted us to re-examine how we are thinking about those residents whose homes are often flooded...
A resident who is involved in the remediation of flooded structures contacted Mr. Crow with the information about homes in Missouri and other parts of the country, which were being raised above the level of the flood waters. Other geographical areas that were hard-hit by hurricanes had come to the conclusion that buyouts and teardowns may not be the most advantageous solution to pursue because they were destroying neighborhoods, losing tax base, and decimating their school, police and fire systems. CONTINUE READING
2013/06-16
Why I voted Against Approving the Budget
Last Monday the City Council in a vote of 5:2 passed a budget with the largest deficit in the recent history of University City. I voted against approval of the budget because it is not a balanced budget - even though it was (mis) represented as being balanced. The final budget contained an extraordinary amount of last minute additions that were not discussed by the entire Council, and it was not presented in a clear manner. Not only were citizens unable to observe the process and content of the real and final budget, but also some members of Council faced the same problem. Simply put, there was a lot of activity to present the draft budget, but the real budget remained in flux until the last moment. The budget that was passed has a deficit of nearly $4M. We are spending 15% more than we are taking in, and are spending more than every deficit budget since 2000. CONTINUE READING
Mayor: Releasing Legal Documents Was an Error
The documents from the city's attorney were included in a University City Bulletin Board email newsletter.
Feb. 26, 2013 University City Patch
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Council Accuses Mayor of Releasing Confidential Documents
The legal opinions from the city's attorney were included in Sunday's University City Bulletin Board email newsletter
Feb. 12, 2013 Univeristy City Patch
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Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for FY 2012
UCITY IN THE NEWS:
Council Member Suggests City Violated Sunshine Law
Aug. 14, 2012 University City Patch
Note: Beginning in August 2012, UCityCitizen will be archiving older material. It is the intent to keep the information accessible, though much of it is dated. The older pages can be found under ARCHIVES.
When I established UCityCitizen.org in April of 2010 it was because I believed that our City government was not as trasparent as it should be. Transparency and Accountability are not merely watch words, but the foundation of a participatory democracy. With good information, citizens can make good decisions.
I support the establishment and maintenance of an Accountability Portal by University City, but until it is a reality there is still a place for this website. Currently the website is a little dated and neglected, and in need of an update. Much of the older material will be archived so that it is still accessible, but this will make way for material and discussions on current topics.
Thank you for your patience and support as the changes are made.
Upcoming Meetings:
Regular City Council Session (Agenda Packet)
Nov. 23, 2015, 6:30 PM
5th Floor (Council Chambers), City Hall
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BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETINGS
For information on dates, times and places, please go to the City website: www.ucitymo.org .
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UCityCitizen.org • Paulette Carr, Ward 2 Councilmember, City of University City
University City, Missouri 63130 •