Hennessy prepared to take top job in O’Fallon

It’s déjà vu in the city of O’Fallon.

It’s been said before, and it’s being said again, only this time, O’Fallon Mayor-elect Bill Hennessy is shouting a definitive ‘YES,’ whether the City Council and staff want it or not.

“There will be a new era of harmony in O’Fallon city politics,” Hennessy said.

Hennessy, 51, who won a three-way race for mayor in the April 8 election, said just days after the election that he’s already talked with all eight council members and is giving them information as he gets it.

“Pretty soon they may be tired of hearing from me about all this information,” Hennessy said. “I’m saying, ‘tough.’ I’m talking to each and every one of them whether they like it or not.”

Hennessy, who will be officially sworn in at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 22, says he’s also met with all of the city’s managing directors, and it has been going well.

“It’s called communication,” Hennessy said. “As long as they know what’s going on, they can make their decisions. I think 100 percent the main problem for the past two terms of leadership was lack of communication. That was a frustration for me as a councilman. You hear rumors, and residents hear rumors and stuff even before the council does. This way, if they hear a rumor, I can tell them this is the fact, and this is what’s going on.”

Hennessy says he realizes he takes office at a particularly busy period in O’Fallon’s development. His first day on the job will mean selecting boards and commission liaisons, and fulfilling plenty of other requirements voted upon by residents. But, he stresses, it will all be done above board.

“It will be on the agenda what councilman is going on what board or commission,” Hennessy said. “I can’t say how the council stacks as for support, but I know all eight of them, and everybody has their own mind and thought process. And I do plan on sitting down with each one of them to ask them to give me their thoughts and views for the next two years and what they want accomplished. Then, we can work to get those things accomplished. Instead of them working one on one, maybe we can work together to get everybody’s goals and objectives met.”

In recent years, there has been plenty of drama in the city of O’Fallon. City Administrator Bob Lowery Jr. was chastised by exiting Mayor Donna Morrow in June 2008 for going behind her back during the decision-making process in an attempt to annex the Busch Wildlife area.

Ironically, Morrow’s mantra was “open and honest government.”

“I have not had any private words with Mr. Lowery because I have learned that working in a possibly hostile environment, you have to make sure you have your T’s crossed and I’s dotted,” Morrow told MRN at the time. “I have been betrayed and I don’t know how I’m going to deal with that.”

Morrow said last year that Lowery violated the rules of protocol, courtesy and structure of the government in actions with the annexation attempt. The Busch Wildlife annexation issue cost taxpayers in funding with legal fees, staff wages and mailings, and when it was over, it was a fiasco that left the majority of  the City Council scratching their heads, asking how did we get here, she said.

“I think this new direction is a case of the pendulum. When I came in the city was in the hands of the residents. We had stopped concessions, evaluated annexations, etc. Then the pendulum swung the other way, where the council said we have to develop, plan for the future, not get hemmed in,” Morrow said last year. “Now after the elections in April (2008), I feel we have a middle-of-the-road, experienced council who have been in and gotten their feet wet. I’ve been in office two years, now the pendulum is in good method, and we can begin honest discussion as long as the council has full awareness of issues. They need to start looking at each issue as a battle, and we need to be focused on each issue and deal with it. We need to start questioning what has been done in the past, and has it been done correctly. I think the council realizes we need to fully evaluate things.”

There was a period, however, when Morrow took the backseat on issues, allowing Lowery to take the lead. Morrow has, for a long period prior to Hennessy’s election as mayor, been conspicuously silent.

“I had a council that was being controlled by others, and I was very disappointed that the councilmen wouldn’t have open and honest discussions with me,” Morrow said last June. “Some of the information, I did find out, but unfortunately, since I had new members in, they weren’t necessarily getting the story of how things had evolved.”

Hennessy said, in looking back, that he doesn’t think being mayor means being in a position of control. He said being mayor is more about guidance.

“My view on the mayor’s position is to provide leadership for the council and to help them get accomplished,” Hennessy said. “In turn, it’s also about them helping me get accomplishments. Being mayor is not one of control.”

Will Lowery go, and who fills the top cop spot?

When it comes to the future of City Administrator Bob Lowery Jr., Hennessy doesn’t hold back about his desire to see Lowery replaced.

“I made a campaign promise to go out for a nationwide search for a city administrator and plan to bring that to the council,” Hennessy said. “They’ll make the decision to support it or not support it. I have made that comment at the League of Women Voters election forum, and people know that was my idea and I won’t back off that idea (of replacing Lowery.)

“I don’t know whether he would be reduced to another position, and I could not say one way or another. That would be based on decisions as a group,” Hennessy said.

Lowery was placed on administrative leave from mid-January to early March. His departure and his return were not disclosed under the wraps of confidentiality of personnel issues. O’Fallon Public Relations spokesman Tom Drabelle said there was no formal statement regarding Lowery’s employment situation. 

After Lowery’s return, he said he believed he had been exonerated and asked that results of an investigation related to his work performance be released. The City Council refused to release it, saying it would implicate and cause problems for those employees who contributed to the report.

There was also speculation about the resignation of former Police Chief Jerry Schulte. After 34 years in the O’Fallon Police Department, Schulte submitted his retirement notice via email on Dec. 12, 2008, two days after being offered an early retirement package by Mayor Morrow and Lowery. A closed session meeting of the City Council was held to discuss “personnel issues,” but several city councilmen said they had no knowledge prior to the meeting of any actions against Schulte and had no knowledge that city staff had plans to offer Schulte the retirement package.

Hennessy said he will initiate a nationwide search to fill the position vacated by Schulte.

Overall, Hennessy said he’ll take office with a jack-rabbit start, tending to the business of the city—all in the name of residents.

Charter passes

Hennessy said at the top of his list of duties would be to deal with the self-governing City Charter issues approved in the April 8 election; the sewer lateral issue that was passed; and redistricting as mandated by the new City Charter. City wards must be restructured to allow five wards rather than four, and an election will take place to add two additional council members in April 2010, Hennessy said.

“I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me and I look forward to it,” Hennessy said. “I have every confidence in the world that I can work with each one of the councilmen, and I look forward to it. Yes, we will have our disagreements, but we will agree to disagree. I don’t see everybody agreeing with what I want done, but there will be no grudges held.” 

He said he looks forward to working with the council, a group of eight that includes one newcomer, Bob Howell, and returning Councilman John Haman, who served on the council but was defeated in April 2008.

“I attribute my election as mayor to the support I received, and because between myself and my supporters, we knocked on 22,000 doors since mid-January listening to the residents,” Hennessy said. “The residents say they want communication. They want to know what’s going on, they want the council to know what’s going on and they want what looked like in-fighting among the council to stop. I’ve served for 10 years in O’Fallon city government, and never got sick of it. As I’ve told a lot of people, when I stop enjoying it, that’s when I’ll stop. I love what I do and love what I do for the city of O’Fallon, and you can’t have that with out the support of the residents of O’Fallon.”

Hennessy replaces one-term Mayor Donna Morrow, who opted not to run for re-election.