Exposing Corruption, Injustices and the Truth.
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| O'Fallon Watchdog |
Exposing Corruption, Injustices and the Truth.
Old Koch v. New Koch
Part Two of a Two Part Series
By The O'Fallon Watchdog
In Part 1 we discussed how both the City and County have ignored the law to give away public land ("Old" Koch Road)
for the benefit of a developer. Of course, ignoring the law is standard operating procedure when it comes to the
builders and developers but the giveaways don't stop with the road. As was first reported in the Watchdog, the City is
now trying to pay the developer $800,000.00 of our tax dollars for a road that is already built. This payment is
not only unnecessary and wasteful but it is also illegal as we will discuss below.
As background, the $800,000.00 payment the city is proposing is for "New" Koch which is a road built in a new
subdivision known as Hyland Green. This development was approved when Paul Renaud was the Mayor and one of the
main builders in the neighborhood is McBride & Sons, Renaud's employer. The original approval of the development
contained a list of conditions including that the developer (Foresite) would build "New" Koch road at its cost. This type of
requirement is typical in that it should not be the responsibility of the taxpayers to pay for a road that is only necessary
because of the new development. In fact, O'Fallon has an ordinance (which is routinely ignored) requiring developers to
make upgrades to roads fronting their new development. Despite the requirement for Foresite to pay for the road the
City attempted to pass this cost on through a financing mechanism known as a TDD. At some point the TDD fell
through and Foresite decided it was unfair to make them follow the law and build "New" Koch, therefore, Foresite
requested a direct payment of $800,000.00 for the road.
Despite having no obligation to pay Foresite one dime, in March of 2005 (Renaud's final days as Mayor) a contract was
drafted by the City Attorney ( Mark Piontek) to pay Foresite the money. This is where things get interesting because
there is no record of anyone authorizing this contract to be drafted nor is there a discussion in the meeting minutes. Bill
Hennessy who voted to pay this money at the February 22, 2007 Council meeting is the only member of the Council
who was around in 2005. Mr. Hennessy is quoted as saying he did this because the city needs to "keep our end of the
bargain." These words speak volumes about how business was conducted in the City under Renaud and Hennessy.
Mr. Hennessy failed to tell the citizens (1) who made this bargain, (2)why we made this bargain or that (3) the original
"bargain" was that Foresite would pay for the road. Again, there is no record of it being discussed much less voted on
so we can only assume this was one of the back room deals which were so prevalent during Renaud's tenure. The
problem is such deals or illegal.
In any event, the deal died when a new board and Mayor were elected who had campaigned on a promise to stop these
illegal deals. So what happened? After the 2006 election a new builder friendly board was in place. In addition, Mayor
Donna Morrow forgot her campaign promises and became a supporter of the giveaway. Finally, our builder friendly City
Administrator hired Carl Maus to work for the City. Maus and Steve Groeper (Foresite) have worked together in the
past and Maus actually lobbied members of the board for the payment of the $800,00.00 in 2005. So on February 22,
2007 Foresite came back before the "builder friendly" Council with Carl Maus now working on the inside. Interestingly, in
an article that was printed in that day's Post-Dispatch, Mayor Morrow pointed out there was no agreement or ordinance
to pay for the already built road and she noted the City had lost its opportunity to apply for funding for the road.
The City leaders had just gotten done telling the residents we don't have enough money to handle the infrastructure
problems caused by growth nor could we hire additional police officers as recommended by a study. Morrow is quoted in
the article as having said "I don't know where we're going to get all the money for all these road projects." However, in a
classic Morrow flip flop, she voted that night to pay the money. Now here's the problem. The law requires the contract to
be in writing and authorized by our elected officials. Since there is no written contract the City is wasting our money in
drawing up a contract to pay the $800,000.00 after the road has been built. Remember that Foresite was required to
build this road at its cost and any back room deal Mr. Hennessy is aware of to pay for the road cannot change that.
This is important because the consideration (what the City gets for it's $800,000.00) a City receives in a contract must
come after the making of the contract. Thus, the City cannot legally pay $800,000.00 for an already built road. Of
course, if our elected officials were representing us they wouldn't need a law to tell them not to use taxpayer money to
profit their friends and campaign contributors. Which brings us to our last point. Bill "Back Room" Hennessy voted to
give the $800,000.00 to his friends at Foresite. Wouldn't it be interesting if "Back Room" Hennessy's campaign
contributors were the very people who are going to benefit from this illegal payment? Stay tuned for a report on "Back
Room" Bill's campaign finance reports.
Part Two of a Two Part Series
By The O'Fallon Watchdog
In Part 1 we discussed how both the City and County have ignored the law to give away public land ("Old" Koch Road)
for the benefit of a developer. Of course, ignoring the law is standard operating procedure when it comes to the
builders and developers but the giveaways don't stop with the road. As was first reported in the Watchdog, the City is
now trying to pay the developer $800,000.00 of our tax dollars for a road that is already built. This payment is
not only unnecessary and wasteful but it is also illegal as we will discuss below.
As background, the $800,000.00 payment the city is proposing is for "New" Koch which is a road built in a new
subdivision known as Hyland Green. This development was approved when Paul Renaud was the Mayor and one of the
main builders in the neighborhood is McBride & Sons, Renaud's employer. The original approval of the development
contained a list of conditions including that the developer (Foresite) would build "New" Koch road at its cost. This type of
requirement is typical in that it should not be the responsibility of the taxpayers to pay for a road that is only necessary
because of the new development. In fact, O'Fallon has an ordinance (which is routinely ignored) requiring developers to
make upgrades to roads fronting their new development. Despite the requirement for Foresite to pay for the road the
City attempted to pass this cost on through a financing mechanism known as a TDD. At some point the TDD fell
through and Foresite decided it was unfair to make them follow the law and build "New" Koch, therefore, Foresite
requested a direct payment of $800,000.00 for the road.
Despite having no obligation to pay Foresite one dime, in March of 2005 (Renaud's final days as Mayor) a contract was
drafted by the City Attorney ( Mark Piontek) to pay Foresite the money. This is where things get interesting because
there is no record of anyone authorizing this contract to be drafted nor is there a discussion in the meeting minutes. Bill
Hennessy who voted to pay this money at the February 22, 2007 Council meeting is the only member of the Council
who was around in 2005. Mr. Hennessy is quoted as saying he did this because the city needs to "keep our end of the
bargain." These words speak volumes about how business was conducted in the City under Renaud and Hennessy.
Mr. Hennessy failed to tell the citizens (1) who made this bargain, (2)why we made this bargain or that (3) the original
"bargain" was that Foresite would pay for the road. Again, there is no record of it being discussed much less voted on
so we can only assume this was one of the back room deals which were so prevalent during Renaud's tenure. The
problem is such deals or illegal.
In any event, the deal died when a new board and Mayor were elected who had campaigned on a promise to stop these
illegal deals. So what happened? After the 2006 election a new builder friendly board was in place. In addition, Mayor
Donna Morrow forgot her campaign promises and became a supporter of the giveaway. Finally, our builder friendly City
Administrator hired Carl Maus to work for the City. Maus and Steve Groeper (Foresite) have worked together in the
past and Maus actually lobbied members of the board for the payment of the $800,00.00 in 2005. So on February 22,
2007 Foresite came back before the "builder friendly" Council with Carl Maus now working on the inside. Interestingly, in
an article that was printed in that day's Post-Dispatch, Mayor Morrow pointed out there was no agreement or ordinance
to pay for the already built road and she noted the City had lost its opportunity to apply for funding for the road.
The City leaders had just gotten done telling the residents we don't have enough money to handle the infrastructure
problems caused by growth nor could we hire additional police officers as recommended by a study. Morrow is quoted in
the article as having said "I don't know where we're going to get all the money for all these road projects." However, in a
classic Morrow flip flop, she voted that night to pay the money. Now here's the problem. The law requires the contract to
be in writing and authorized by our elected officials. Since there is no written contract the City is wasting our money in
drawing up a contract to pay the $800,000.00 after the road has been built. Remember that Foresite was required to
build this road at its cost and any back room deal Mr. Hennessy is aware of to pay for the road cannot change that.
This is important because the consideration (what the City gets for it's $800,000.00) a City receives in a contract must
come after the making of the contract. Thus, the City cannot legally pay $800,000.00 for an already built road. Of
course, if our elected officials were representing us they wouldn't need a law to tell them not to use taxpayer money to
profit their friends and campaign contributors. Which brings us to our last point. Bill "Back Room" Hennessy voted to
give the $800,000.00 to his friends at Foresite. Wouldn't it be interesting if "Back Room" Hennessy's campaign
contributors were the very people who are going to benefit from this illegal payment? Stay tuned for a report on "Back
Room" Bill's campaign finance reports.