How far up Schneider's butt is Tim Jones?

Here is the ad being discussed, since I know some will not receive their Localite until later in the week.

Keep commenting.

"Special" meeting tonight

I would post the link to the agenda, but the city did not post it on the website. (Wasn't part of the Sunshine Law case against Purzner that the city was ordered to post agendas of all city council meetings on the website?)

Doesn't seem like much is planned, but that is usually when the "sneak in" stuff. So, be there or be watching it on cable on Thursday.

Owensby Consistently Proves That He is an Idiot

A little bored last night and, once again, turned on the ever entertaining Overland City Council Meeting on Channel 18. I must say that Owensby is consistent. Consistent on harassing the police chief, showing his idiocy as well as showing his ass.

First on showing his idiocy. When the bill regarding the investment policy is brought up, Owesby chimes in that he will vote against this because he feels that investing in the stock market is too risky.
He is told that investing in the stock market is not allowed in this investment policy.
Owensby provides "stats" on stock market performance.
He is told that the city will invest in things like US T-Notes and T-Bills.
Owensby talks about his Scudder Mutual Fund that lost money this year and says he doesn't want the city risking their money.
Umm...again, no mutual funds.
T-Bills and T-Notes are about the safest investment there is out there. The only risk is that you have tied yourself to an interest rate when interest rates might rise. Then again, you lock in an interest rates when they might lower. However, never in the 225+ years of the US Government have they not paid back the principle on their debt.
Nevermind that all of this was addressed in the workshop meetings, too.

Next on harassing the police chief. He once again asks about an ongoing investigation, the chief AGAIN answers that it is an ongoing investigation on which he is not going to comment in an open meeting. Owenby presses on but then, out of nowhere, jumps to Jennings having cameras. If one wasn't suffering from whiplash from the suddent change of topics, one would wonder what was Owensby's point. The chief explains that he has seen the article, however he has not been budgetted any monies for such cameras and that cameras have never been discussed by the council (as far as purchasing).
Owensby then says there is money in the Capital Improvement accounts. The chief asks (at the same time I am thinking it) if he is being given a blank check to spend money. Owensby then accuses the chief of being fiscally irresponsible.

It all comes down to Owensby showing his ass. He will claim this is "fighting for the people", but when you make statements that show your complete and utter ignorance you only leave the people wondering why they voted for such a schmuck.

I really can't decide if Owensby has early onset dimentia (since he seems to forget every explanation provided from meeting-to-meeting) or if his just simply an asshole (for lack of a better word).

And don't scream "he is responsive to the citizens". I put that to the test this week. I phoned him on Monday to see how long it would take for him to get back with me. It's Friday afternoon and I am still waiting.

Impeach Owensby!!!!

Town Hall Meetings and Workshops

In the last post, someone commented that Schneider was wanting the following schedule for city meetings.

1st Monday Town Hall Meeting

2nd Monday Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting

3rd Monday Workshop Meeting

4th Monday Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting

What is the purpose of the Town Hall Meeting? Don't we already have time allotted to address our elected officials during the regularly scheduled city council meeting? Perhaps Schneider wishes to eliminate citizens' comments and defer them to the Town Hall Meeting.

I also thought that the purpose of Workshop Meetings was to hash out and debate the pros and cons of various bills, so that the actual city council meeting runs more smoothly. If you only "workshop" once, will everything for the next TWO meetings be brought out in ONE workshop?

This is concerning only because of events at the last meeting. Two bills seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Now if Paul and Stuckey were still on the board, these would have passed and we would later ask what they were about and received an "I don't know." Wisely, the council moved to table the bills to be discussed at a workshop. I just see more of these shenanigans if we only have one "workshop" for every other council meeting. Regardless of how good a bill may (or may not) be, this is just a waste of everyone's time.

Likewise, if citizens comments are being eliminated in favor of a Town Hall Meeting. We may be unable to comment if we do not know exactly what issues will be addressed in the following weeks.

That said, I am open to any means of truly listening to the citizens and getting their valid input. Though, with Schneider, I doubt that this is actually the case.

Please note City Council Special Meeting on Monday

Monday
August 27
A day that will live in infamy.
The city of Overland was suddenly and deliberately taken back 30 years.



Okay, enough hyperbole.

Just a reminder that there is a special council meeting on Monday. The primary objective is to set the tax rates, (yawn) which is done every August. (We couldn't do that at the 8/13 meeting?)

Also scheduled is the induction and reception for Mike Schneider (double yawn).

The only thing that might be exciting is to come and see if he has the chutzpah to nominate Les Dills to fill the open Ward 4 seat. (Personally, I am in favor of More Dills *wink*.)

A Few More Questions After Watching the 8/13 Meeting?

Watched a bit of the video on Sailor's blog and then saw more on Channel 18 last night. This left me with a few more questions:

1) Why is Owensby doing his best impression of Boomhauer from King of the Hill?

2) During the "dog ordinance," why didn't anyone bring up practical things like mail, UPS, FedEx deliveries that cannot happen if a dog is loose in the front yard?

3) If Herman didn't know anything about the pension bills in advance, who did?

4) Who did bring these bill for consideration?

5) For that matter, who is allowed to bring bills for consideration? Is it just limited to elected and appointed officials? City employees, too? Or, could every day SuzyCitizen like me bring a bill?

6) Jim Schmidt had a valid point during citizens comments about e-mail addys. This is 2007 and the fact that we are so behind the curve on something like this is outrageous. The thing is that if someone had an e-mail addy like Ward2a@overlandmo.org, this could carry on to future office holders (and thus be easier for the citizens). Why isn't this being done?

7) And to tie two of my quesitons together, why can't we have copies of the bills/proposed ordinances posted online at the same time as the agenda? That isn't rocket science. They obviously have a PDF distiller, so the move to this shouldn't be too hard. We can easily track bills in Jeff City and should have the same opportunity on the local level.

Jonesing for Pension Changes

What up with Ward 4 Council Member Jones?
At Monday's meeting, it was recommended that they table both pension bills so that they could be further discussed and reviewed in a workshop meeting. Ward 4 Council Member Tim Jones was the only member to vote against moving this matter to a workshop.

Even if one was 100% behind these bills, why wouldn't they want further review and study of a financial matter--one that might have long term consequences?

Why does Jones want to rush these bills through the city council?

Perhaps he is tired of all the posts about Keller showing her lack of experience and thought he could top her with this move?

Police Chief Salaries

File this under another Suburban Journal "Too Little Too Late". Remember about this time last year when Queen Ann was claiming that she did a study and found that our police chief was being paid way too much and submitted a budget to reduce his salary?

Today, along comes the Journal with a story comparing Chief salaries. It looks like Ann was wrong (surprise, surprise) and his in right in the middle of other North County municipalities. And when you compare for population, it seems we might be under paying him. For example, St. John with a population of 1/3 of Overland's, pays their chief about 10K more.

Really, the only question is why didn't the Journal do an article like this when it was an issue in Overland?

Election results and What is Wrong with Dills?

According to the St. Louis Election board, the election results have been certified. If you wanted to skip the meeting before, you will definitely want to attend to see Herr Schnieder sworn in.

In a related thing, ORT Contrarian e-mailed some interesting information. However, instead of repeating it here, it is posted on his blog.

I would assume if Schneider is sworn in, he will be appointing Dills. I guess when Schneider said that Dills was "his kind of man", he really meant in the tax sense of the word.

Meeting on Monday

There will be a city council meeting on Monday. The agenda is posted online here.

Now, if we could work on having them post copies of all the bills/proposed ordinances, we could really be an informed electorate.

Dance puppet dance...

It reminded me of the episode of the Simpsons where Bart saw a lever that he knew when he pulled it would dump him back into trouble and danger and yet he still pulled it, while commenting that he couldn't help himself. Overland voters went to the polls and pulled the lever to contine the downward slide into the gutter that Overland has been on for years. More cronyism, more backroom deals and more of the status quo. But at least now you can see exactly who really runs overland. Simply follow the money and find out who is going to be telling the band what to play as their hired mayor dances. What tunes will the Dody's, the Paul's and the Munsch's call for? Will the Ortmann family call for a funeral dirge? Cogg should change it's name to Citizens of Overland for Graft and Greed. But I can't just blame them. Afterall they just endorsed and presented the candiate. The citizens of Overland were the ones that left their houses and went to the polls.

Makes me really glad I live in south city now.

Election

When looking at the results of the election, the one thing that jumps out is that no one candidate received a majority. Or, more people did NOT vote for the winner than did. It would be hard for any elected official to rule when it seems those odds are stacked against him.

However, I think things will calm down a bit for Overland. This is despite many Keller supporters yesterday saying "you can just recall him." But, I don't think there will be a cause for a recall. I think this because I believe Mike will do nothing for the city. Nothing positive or negative. It will be more of the status quo, where Overland goes downhill just ever-so-slightly that it is not discernible at any given moment (but definitely can be seen when looking through years at a time).

Yes, things will be more calm. The meetings will run more smoothly and this is what the majority of the people do want (myself included). However, I don't think that the desire for calm overrides the desire to make sure some of the "ways of the past" are stopped. At this point, too many people are paying attention. Most, if not all, of the shenanigans should stop.

The council should immediately begin work on the search for a city administrator. They should resist any attempt to weaken this position. Only those who desire power for themselves and their cronies would want to weaken the CA's duties. This might be our first "fight" after the election. We must tell our council members that we will not tolerate any weakening of this position.

Our city council, where the real decisions are made, will be the key to changing this city. We must work with them to make sure that progress is being made, that Overland moves forward.

We Can Elect a Leader or a Follower

The day is here and Overland voters are faced with a choice. However, the choice should be very clear.


Mary Beth Conlon has proven herself a leader. She has chaired election initiatives, taken the lead on the city administrator creation and search, as well as holding leadership positions in local organizations.


MT Schneider, while a joiner, is not a leader. He has admitted in his "snacks and facts" (or was that "snacks and fax"?) that he would seek the advise of Bob Dody and Phil Paul. That is not a leader, but a follower. Or, perhaps, a puppet.


Keller lacks experience and original ideas. The one thing she has brought to the city council table was right out of the ORTian playbook. That's not leadership, but giving us what we voted out of office in April.


Overland is at a crossroads. We must elect a person who can bring about the promise of Overland. We have the chance to elect a true leader who has a plan as well as the education and experience to enact her plan. The choice is yours, but a vote for Mary Beth Conlon is a vote for leadership, progress, and

What if they held a parade and nobody came?!

If you haven't read in the comments here or on Sailor's blog here, MT Schneider is having a parade today that will wind through about 40 streets of our fair city. A few things have yet to be mentioned about this:

With a lack of notice, will the traffic disruption caused by such a parade actually lose votes for MT Schneider?
It seems to be that any parade (throughout the metro area) is given plenty of notice so that folks can plan their day appropriately and not be stuck in such traffic.

What if they held a parade and nobody came?
Temps are forecasted to be around 99 degrees at parade time. Do they think folks will be outdoors? Perhaps the only people who will see this parade are Conlon's campaign workers who will be out delivering flyers. Which leads to...

Do noise ordinances get waived for parades?
Since everyone will be inside, escaping the heat, either noone will see this parade or the contigent will be going through our neighborhoods with horns blaring. I see this as more votes lost, especially if it is right in the middle of the Cards' game.

On an orange air quality day, does it make sense for all this senseless driving?
On days where levels are forecasted to be Orange or Red, above 100 AQI, the American Lung Association and the St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership issue an Air Quality Alert. This could include health advisories for citizens or susceptible individuals to limit certain activities and potential restrictions on industrial activities. During air quality alerts, we ask both businesses and people in St. Louis to modify their behaviors so we can reduce our emissions that lead to ozone air pollution.
Which leads me to...

Have you ever seen so many Buicks in one parade?
Perhaps they are a corporate sponsor. ;)


With nothing to gain by this, one wonder's why Schneider would even think about doing such an action. Oh wait, I know why. I can smell it in the air. That smell in the air----that's not teen spirit, but the desperation of Schneider, Dody, Munsch, et al.
Considering that this fiasco is starting at Ortmann's, can we consider this the funeral procession of MT Schneider's campaign?

MT Schneider: I support business, just not local business

According to MT Schneider's latest campaign finance filing, he bought his yard signs from Jennings Printing. However, an investigations of their website reflects that Jennings Printing doesn't do that kind of printing.

A further investigation of the union bug on the signs is, however, very telling. The signs have a bug that states "Signs & Allied Trades No. 1 Local 802". This is for a Gill Signs in Kansas!.

I'm not saying you have to get your signs from Marky Mark, but why wouldn't you buy your signs from one of the many shops in our metro area? (You know, those people who are more likely to spend their paychecks in Overland, not Overland Park)

Can you really run on a "bring business to town" platform when you take your own campaign business out of state?

And why the ruse through Jennings Printing? Did Jull call in a favor to get these at a reduced price for Schneider?

And is such a reduced price worth the political damage of not being able to "think local, shop local"?

Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe

MT Schneider is funnelling his lawyer fees through his campaign committee. In the June 30 report, he shows two payments dated 6/8 and 6/22 totalling $2405.50. On the 8-day-before report, he shows a payment of $5262.66 on 7/26. The total comes to $7668.05.

Are his campaign donors aware that they are not contributing to the campaign but paying for his legal woes?

Is it even legal to run these fees through his campaign committee?

Let's go to the Missouri Ethics Commission for their opinion.Here's some legal opinions from their webiste:

95.01.101 -- 1 CAMPAIGN FUNDS CANNOT BE USED FOR PERSONAL USE. IT MUST BE SHOWN THAT PAYMENTS FOR LEGAL REPRESENTATION WERE USED IN THE HOLDING OF A POLITICAL OFFICE.

Or this may be shown as related. Although this isn't a recall petition, it was a petition to have someone removed from ballot (as opposed to a recall having them removed from office).
97.11.107 -- 5 DEFENSE COSTS IN RECALL PETITION NOT "ORDINARY AND NECESSARY EXPENSE" AND, THEREFORE, NOT PERMITTED USE OF CONTRIBUTION.

Who Will Schneider F**k Over If He Wins

Seeing this picture post on OverlandChat had me thinking. Especially when you combine that with the fact that the ORT-Felon-ian Fetsch is pulling around the "I'm not an old white man, I'm yellow" sign for Herr Schneider.

MT Schneider is chumming up to both the ORTians and the Dody-ites (for lack of better words to call these factions). We know he can't keep both sides happy since there desires are diametrically opposed. We all assume that he is making promises (that won't be kept) to the ORTians just to get elected.

But, what if it is the old guard that he is going to screw over? Do the Schneider supporters on either side have confidence that he is truly "their man"?

It seems to me that if you are voting for MT Schneider because you like something he said, chances are he said the exact opposite to another group or person.

If you vote MT Schneider, which MT Schneider are you going to get?

COGG--You have a Credibility Problem!

As some have posted, COGG has a definite credibility problem. The posters have made their case: 1) "We don't endorse candidates, but please vote for MBC or Schneider" 2) Claim a neutral stance, but COGG's treasurer is Schneider's campaign deputy treasurer This would lead even the most innocent bystander to think that this organization isn't about "good government", but instead about getting their man in office and keeping the status quo. It is a shame, because I think there are members of COGG that want true change. That want to move forward. There are also some "no longer members" that have quit the organization over their disappointment with the lack of progressive values of this organization. There are some in COGG leadership that see this and have shown concerned. This timeline was handed out at the last meeting. That says to me that there are internal concerns about their own credibility. In addition, everyone in attendance was given this survey.

Perhaps COGG should first define "Good Government". Should good government include that for every idea floated before the electorate, there should be a valid plan that can be implemented to make the idea a reality? Should good government include being above ethical questioning? Perhaps a non-cronyism pledge? That very definition of "good government" can help them find their new direction.

(And a set of by-laws and more open proceedings wouldn't hurt them either.)

Schnieder: "KISSell off Overland!"

More interesting stuff on Schneider's report. One of his contributions is listed as DK Solutions. Actually, this should hav been listed as DK Governmental Solutions, a lobbying firmed fully-owned by Don Kissell, a former state representative.
For Lobbyists, the Misssouri Ethics Commission has loads of information, which can be found here.
His clientelle list is very interesting. He represents several St Charles County cities, promoting state legislation on their behalf. Do we really need to hire a lobbyist to promote pro-Overland legislation in Jeff City?
Another interesting client is American Traffic Solutions . Hmmm....could we be courted for red light cameras if (God forbid) Herr Schneider is elected?
Only time will tell, but it is an interesting donation that apparently seems to be out of nowhere.