I dont know, maybe it is just me, but I am getting quite tired of being an island of truth in a sea of liars. That is what it is here in good old Arnold, Mo. Mr. Freese and Mr. Amato have literally accosted friends of mine at the polls and told them how horrible I am and when they responded with the fact that I am smart(thanks guys :) ) they were then told I am crazy. You know what? Im beginning to think they are right! Now I have neighbors who have told me Randy Hoselton and Jason Fulbright have been going door to door telling people how horrible I am. Fine, if you have to work that hard to make me sound bad, then you must be pretty desperate. I really must be crazy to put up with the constant attacks on my character and my family. I just thought maybe somehow people would appreciate someone who took to heart the serious job of watching out for the peoples hard earned tax dollars and trying to make sure they were spent wisely instead of playing and posturing for politics. Someone who took a lot of time to do their homework on any given project coming before the council and shared the fruits of their labor with the rest of the council. Some threw it directly in the trash, but then there were others who started reading what I shared. Pretty soon, those members started asking me questions about things we were considering. I never told anyone how to vote and never asked anyone to vote a certain way, I always shared all the information, pro and con and let them make up their own minds. You see, I learned in a very short period of time, that staff didnt always give us all the information. The information we were given usually presented whatever it was in a bad light, if they wanted it to fail or in a good light if they wanted it to pass. A lot of times, usually when we were forced to make an on the spot decision, we would find the information we were given didnt quite tell us the whole story and had we had all the information, it would not have been passed. The bad information was only shared weeks after a decision was made. I made myself accessible to the people. My phone number, email address, Facebook account readily shared and put on every piece of literature I passed out. If someone called, I answer or returned the call promptly. If they had a complaint, I would go visit them to see exactly what the problem was, document it and send it to the appropriate department. I would also follow up to make sure the problem was addressed in a timely manner. Evidently, that is not acceptable to city staff and is considered micro-managing by other council members, the mayor and the city attorney. When I found out that people making complaints were ratted out to those violating codes or were required to sign a complaint in order for any action to be taken, I told them to put my name on the complaints. There is no reason to pit neighbor against neighbor, we have codes for a reason and a whole department that is supposed to be dedicated to making sure they are followed. My goals for the City of Arnold are simple. All that we do in City Hall or council chambers, should be available without any hassle to the people. All information should be readily available, people should not have to jump through hoops to obtain it. If there are code violations, we should see what we can do to help those citizens make the changes necessary. We should work for the people, not against them. We should be in the business of great customer service, with the citizens, business owners and potential business owners being helped equally, not special treatment for some and no service for others. No more giving millions of dollars away to friends, family members, business partners or campaign contributors. It is time to take care of the people who live and work here everyday.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 22:47:08 +0000
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