New St. Charles County Council member installed a month early

Last month voters elected David Hammond, of O’Fallon, to replace Paul Wynn as their District 4 representative on the St. Charles County Council. Hammond wasn’t supposed to start until January because Wynn still needed to complete his term. That changed when Wynn resigned, effective Monday, Dec. 3.

The County Council met that evening and Hammond was sworn in to serve the balance of Wynn’s term.

Chairperson Nancy Matheny, Dist. 3, said she didn’t know why Wynn left early. She said she asked and he responded that he was feeling pressured to resign. “I have no idea who that pressure came from or why,” she said.

Hammond said he’d had email conversations with Wynn and thought that he may have wanted to leave the council in order to have District 4 representation on votes as soon as possible.

“I think the biggest reason was to get somebody in who could vote on some of these issues,”Hammond said.

Because of his job Wynn has not attended most council meetings in person since before October 2011.  That prevented him from voting on many council matters because of rules requiring members to be physically present in meetings.

Wynn is a civilian contractor to the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Though he missed most of the County Council’s meetings during the last year he usually attended by phone.

Hammond promised in his campaign that if elected he would attend council meetings. He, like Wynn, is a Republican.

At the end of the Dec. 3 meeting, Hammond said “The biggest challenge I have right now is the work with the county budget.” The County Council votes on that at its Dec. 17 meeting but Hammond said he’s getting caught up.  “I’ve already read it from front to back,” he said.

Regarding his immediate goals for his district, he said, “The biggest thing I’m looking for is opening up communications with all my constituents. I don’t have any other pressing issues right at this point.”

Hammondsaid that District 4 residents may reach him by email at davidhammond345@yahoo.com.