Carpe Diem

The City of Weatherby Lake is a Class IV City according to state statute.  It is often referred to a "weak mayor" form of government.  Former Mayor Henderson lamented this fact, publicly and privately through his travails while he was in office.  The Board of Aldermen has the ultimate power, especially when it comes to funding/finance to control what happens in the City, with the Mayor being relegated to a tie breaking vote should the BOA deadlock.  This doesn't happen very often (although the July BOA meeting had two situations where the Mayor broke a tie-more about that tomorrow) so the BOA can be a driving force in the City. 

My observation is the trend over the past 6 years is a gradual abdication of power to the Mayor's chair.  Some might say that it has been a picture of harmony, my view it has been a default to auto-pilot, the Mayor has been allowed free reign of government, and that is not good.  No I am not advocating the acrimony of years past but the lack of active engagement by the BOA has led to where we are now.  To be sure, part of the blame resides with the current and past Mayors.  Their lack of communication with the aldermen has gotten progressively worse.  The City has had six years of virtually no outside scrutiny of City finances...no I am not alluding to any misdoings, but it is common sense to have a third party review of our financial management...no it is not enough to have a City Treasurer or City Clerk assure us that everything is ok.  Again I am not suggesting they are not doing their jobs, other than the Mayor saying they are.  Bos quickly crafted an Audit Committee (mostly FOJ-Friends of Jerry) constructed primarily to determine if the previous administration had irregularities.  Not long after the committee was formed, the last real review of finances initiated by York, found the City administration of finances to be superlative.  Faced by the fact that only the smoke of innuendo was present, the committee seldom met and was eventually dismissed at the suggestion of Bos.

It is time for this Board of Aldermen to seize the day and become actively involved in the City conduct of business.  Mayor Botbyl, while having some experience of being a mayor in a much larger city in NJ, is a rookie as a Mayor in a class IV city in Missouri.  Be prepared for meetings, know the laws that govern our class of City, take responsibility and not abdicate because it is convenient.  The performance of the Mayor, BOA, City Attorney and staff was in my opinion sloppy at best.  We deserve better governance than that.