The Brentwood Board of Aldermen on Monday approved Mayor Chris Thornton’s slate of appointees to the board of adjustment, though three aldermen and a resident had concerns.
Ward 4 aldermen Kathy O’Neill and Tom Kramer pointed that none of Thornton’s appointees — from any committee — are from their ward, and Ward 3 Alderman Andy Leahy was concerned that appointee Andy Hartnett is related to planing and zoning committee member, John Nuernberger.
“We have the potential (for a conflict), with his step father being on P&Z,” Leahy said. “When we originally looked at putting Andy on P&Z we found that that may be a conflict. I think you still have that conflict if you’re doing this as P&Z and board of adjustment.”
O’Neill said the fact that Ward 4 has zero appointees out of 39 total means there should be an effort to recruit people who are competent and interested. She said a Ward 4 resident had been suggested but was turned down.
“Knowing we do have one gentleman (Kramer said it was “Mr. Bierman”) who has a very good background for board of adjustment, perhaps more construction-oriented than some of the people that are proposed here, makes me concerned that we have capable persons who are being overlooked. And I can’t support appointments when we have zero appointments from Ward 4,” O’Neill said.
Kramer said he doesn’t don’t know if the candidate was even considered, as one of the few from the ward who is willing to serve.
Thornton said he did consider the Ward 4 resident — “and a great many other people for these positions. As I’ve said before: my primary concern in making appointments is that I chose what I believe to be the best people to do the job. That is my first concern.”
O’Neill and Leahy cast the only no votes for the appointees. Charles McDaniels was also appointed. Jared Balint, Keith Slusser and Rich Shaefer were appointed as alternates.
On Wednesday O’Neill sent 40 South the breakdown by ward of Thornton’s total committee appointments:
- 20 in Ward 1
- 11 in Ward 2
- 8 in Ward 3
- 0 in Ward 4
O’Neill’s added, by email: “The demographics of Ward 4 differ from the other three wards, but we do have permanent residents who might be candidates for city appointments. When more than half of the appointees represent the same area of town, there isn’t as much diversity of thinking as could be. The mayor is expanding the size of some committees, and I’d like to see the city reach out to the underrepresented areas with attempts to find qualified residents for those new committee seats.”
The Monday meeting is reported from the city’s YouTube video.
Why can’t each Ward be represented equally with appointments. Oh, I forgot the Mayor lives in Ward One and the 20 appointed need the extra cash. Whatever they are paid should be donated to Webster Rock Hill Ministries to help citizens less fortunate than the 20 people appointed. The zero appointed for Ward Four makes those citizens feel like outsiders. Oh but wait the city will take their tax money anyway.
P&Z is not volunteer work, folks on the board get paid per meeting.
Dear “Mike”, I was at the meeting (for awhile) and also read the article, which you might try to do. This Gary Bierman fellow, whoever he is, didn’t seem to be recommended by Kramer but rather by the new lady O’Neill. Said he named him. It is crazy how this city’s allotment of commissioners all seem to come from my Ward. Which I’m not complain about but they do have a point. Should be others. Also, I like O’Neill so far, seems like a better head on her shoulders than the last guy. He was aleays so rude to Maureen.
Gary Bierman is a horrendous candidate. While President of the Brentwood Forest Condominium Association Board he has vote out a President because he was accused of using Brentwood Forest Maintenance Staff to clear our his personal storage locker which was not located in Brentwood Forest and then deliver items from that locker over to his girlfriends house in Webster Groves. He was also accused of supplying bid information from a Brentwood Forest vendor to a friend of his so that friend could under cut the bid of the vendor. Not surprised this is who the dirty dealing real estate developer Kramer would recommend so his crappy real estate projects will receive an adjustment every time. His stooge O’Neil is either just as dirty or a clueless as she appears.
Yeah, it looks like the old days before Maureen Saunders got into office and attempted to clean up the system. I still think Thornton is a puppet for Kelly.
Yeah, I still wonder what Nuernberger is up to. Judging by his past comments here, he’s really determined to get things back to the way they were before the corruption stories came out.
He has-
Run his stepson for Alderman.
Run a guy who looked like a puppet for Alderman, (his stepson was part of that campaign).
He really, really wants Leahy out, just as he really, really hated Saunders.
Now has his stepson on B of A.
That’s just the stuff I know about, but when big dough is involved, I’m betting there’s more.
Smells like empire building to me.
Maybe he’s just civic-minded.
Mr Bentwood…you obviously don’t know John Nuernberger. John is a hard working advocate for Brentwood. How many P&Z meetings have you attended? John is very thorough and detailed when considering anything before him on P&Z. As for his step son, he is a tax paying adult living in Brentwood, if he chooses yo run for alderman that’s his right. Why wouldn’t John support him if he ran for alderman? If you have facts to the contrary, please let us know. As for the matter of a conflict of interest, that is a matter to be decided by the city lawyer.
Hi “Mike”,
You forgot to mention the other guy they ran at Leahy. Stepson was behind his campaign. Like I said, maybe just civic-minded. Maybe not. Sorry, but after the shenanigans we’ve seen around city hall, some of us are sensitive to even the appearance of impropriety. So, yeah, I’ve seen you here defending this guy before. He’s a bud or business acquaintance or whatever. Doesn’t matter. That’s ok, but keep history and human nature in mind, and you might understand close scrutiny of anyone who wants to handle large sums of public money. Look around, do you feel that clean government is the rule, here or anywhere else? Are you ready for the feds to start forcing low income housing on Brentwood? That’s coming. And your friend John is kind of in that business, at least around the edges. Better to keep an eye on these people than to dismiss our concerns with a “he’s a hard worker” sniffed in a “who do you think you are?” tone.
“Brentwood ditch Dodger”. I assure you this is Mike Marshall. Not sure what you meant by the quotes around my name. John is a friend of mine, because he is a good upstanding citizen donating his time for the betterment of Brentwood. Ask yourself if anything John or his stepson did was illegal? No, it wasn’t, anyone living in Brentwood, paying taxes are allowed to run for any office. While Andy has his beliefs on how things should be done, others might feel differently. Because of that, people run. Now if John and his stepson were on the same board/committee I could understand the conflict. There have been many safeguards implemented to protect the residents of Brentwood from any one person attempting to steal from the city. I would suggest if anyone has any specific, “factual” evidence of wrongdoing, they should email the city administrator and cc everyone on the board including the Mayor.
What is your evidence that the “Feds” are going to force low income housing on Brentwood?