Showing Up

Tonight the Lake St. Louis Fire District Board of Directors voted on the size of the tax increase and bond issue they will present to the voters of Lake St. Louis.  It was not what I wanted.

Last night they had a work session where they asked for the Advisory Committee to attend and discuss the issues we face.  It was a “lively” discussion.  Everyone presented their positions and very little was held back.  The only thing I will apologize for is using one colorful word with a lady present.  I am sorry for that.

This has been quite an experience.  Last fall the citizens of this community filled the meeting room and voiced their opinion to the Fire District Board in no uncertain terms.  Tonight the two citizens in attendance were myself and Emily Flanigan, who was a member of the Advisory Committee.

One of the things I have learned from this is something I already knew.  There are a disturbingly small number of people involved in the process.  We may disagree, but I have to respect people who come out and actually involve themselves in the process.

Emily Flanigan is married to Chris, and they came out throughout the process and educated themselves on behalf of the citizens of this community.  They both showed a profound respect for both the fire district and the voters.  Kudos to them.

Dean Everett is ia Fire Chief in Cottleville who lives in Lake St. Louis.  He provided tremendous insight and perspective.  He was a valuable asset and a voice of reason.  Thank you, Dean.  Much appreciated.

Cory Hogan is a vice president of the Firefighters Union of Eastern Missouri.  He lives in Lake St. Louis and also provided much needed insight and I must admit did not live up to whatever stereotype I had imagined.  He was more reasonable than I expected.  Thank you, Cory.

Shelley Wilfong is the district’s administrative assistant and she attended our meetings and was nothing but a tremendous helpful resource for me.  She is calm and centered and efficient.  Thank you, Shelley.

Cindy Rieger and Steve Shull rounded out the Advisory Committee.  I did not get to know Cindy but Steve has been a friend for some time.  Steve is currently angry at me, but he is a great Patriot and he really cares for his community.  He offered a very steady and reasoned perspective on what was going on and I have tremendous respect for him.  Thanks to both Cindy and Steve.

The firefighters have obviously been involved throughout the process.  They have a vested interest in the result and they advocated passionately for their cause.  There is no need to name them but I certainly understand them advocating for their position.

The Chief is Clinton Gussner.  I found Chief Gussner to be intelligent and concerned about his fire district.  We did not always agree but he was respectful and he is a very likeable guy.  He knows his stuff and he advocated for what he needed effectively.  He did a lot of work putting together the information we needed in order to understand the issue and he was very fair in his assessments.

That leaves the elected members of the Board.  I will start with Michael Crowell, who won the election against me in April.  We don’t agree on the size of the tax increase and bond issue, but I can understand his arguments in favor of asking for more money so we make sure the district has all of the funds it needs to operate.

Rick Thurwachter is the second of three board members.  He and I did not agree on the size of the tax increase and bond issue, but he was very clear about his concerns and advocated for them clearly.  I realize that there is a balance that has to be achieved between the needs of the district and the concerns of the taxpayers.  Rick just saw a different balance point than I did.  He is also friends with my old neighbor Todd Thomas and so he can’t be all bad.

And finally there is Mike Pendergast, who is the Chairman and who advocated for a smaller tax increase and bond issue more in line with what I thought was reasonable.  Mike supported me in my race and I have come to respect him and I can tell he really cares about his community.  I am very grateful for his support and I agree with the positions he took on this issue.

I must also include David Jackson and Bob Onder and Justin Hill and too many others to name who gave of their time and resources to try to make this community better.  They also care deeply about this city and the people who live here.  I want to recognize the effort you put forth to steer our district in the right direction.  Much appreciated.

So, you are asking, what is the point of all of this?  Clearly these people represent widely divergent viewpoints and they do not agree.  The point is that they all put forth the effort.  They showed up.  They gave of their time on weeknights to go to meetings and argue with idiots like me.  No, we do not agree.  Yes, it gets contentious at times.  Yes, we get angry.  I know there are always other motivations beyond what is strictly good for the community.  But I have to give credit where credit is due.

I want to be angry at everyone and call them bad people but I cannot.  No, I am not naïve.  Nobody that was at the work session last night would think I was soft on any of the people above or that I am somehow caving to their point of view; quite the contrary.  But I could not help noticing that we were a very small group of citizens in that room.  I am not going to sugarcoat this – there are not many people in our community willing to show up and care enough to get involved, and I cannot bring myself to denigrate those who do.  Instead, I applaud them for caring.

Now that I have all of that out of the way, let me say that the decision of the Board was not what I wanted to see.  They knew that.  Everyone knew that.  My concern was for the taxpayers, and I advocated for a smaller amount.  They went in another direction.  That decision is a direct result of the April election, and so the voters chose the people who they wanted to decide this issue.  So be it.  The numbers that will be on the August ballot have been decided.

The following point is moot, but I looked at the needs of the district very carefully and I came up with an amount that would satisfy the immediate needs of the district and that I could justify to the citizens.  In the work session there was a significant back and forth negotiation where I increased the amount of the bond issue and tax increase I could support and justify.  Tonight they voted for an amount that is beyond what I said I could support.

We can discuss the numbers later.  Right now my point is not about the numbers but the process.  Right now I am frustrated that only two citizens showed up to the meeting tonight.  And I know in my heart that this is how it is.  People don’t show up.  Whether it is a church or school or fire district there are a small number of people who participate.  On Election Day there are only a small number of voters who turn out.  Political parties see the same few people who show up over and over.

Such is life, I know.  Tomorrow I will want to harshly criticize the decision but I am tempered by the fact that these are the people who show up; these are the people the voters elected.

And who am I to tell the voters what they should think or do?  This issue is now headed to the ballot, and once again a small percentage of the community will decide whether or not to accept this tax increase.  I do not know what the voters will decide.  We spent an awful lot of time in the past two days arguing about what the voters want to see; now it is up to the voters to decide if we are right or wrong.

Not the citizens, mind you; the citizens do not decide, the voters do.  Anyone involved in politics knows that voters are a small percentage of the citizens.  Just like everything else, it is a small percentage of the population that are actually involved enough to make a difference.  If you are still reading this then you are probably one of those people.

For those who care I will make myself available to explain the numbers and the needs as I understand them and then it will be up to you to decide.  If you do not live in Lake St. Louis you still have issues in your community that need your attention.  I would only ask one thing of you – please show up.