This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 3, 2013 - The Ellisville City Council’s impeachment proceedings against Mayor Adam Paul will apparently be stretched out even longer – with no final decision levied until next week.
But with half the council to be replaced because of Tuesday's election results, the council -- and Paul's political opponents -- plan to act fast.
At the end of Day Three in the hearing process, councilman Matt Pirrello told reporters that a council vote on impeachment will be set for next Monday.
The three new council members will be sworn in on April 17, and Pirrello acknowledged that it was possible that the newly formed council could overturn the impeachment of Paul.
At least two of the new members – Michael Cahill and Gary Voss – are seen as allies of the mayor. Cahill defeated current board member Troy Pieper, who was believed to support impeachment.
The third new member, Cynthia Pool, has yet to state a position. She defeated Richard Srote, also believed to be a critic of Paul.
However, Pirrello objected to such characterizations of the newly elected members. "I'm excited about Tuesday's election results,'' he said. "I'm hoping that now the city can move forward." He predicted the new members will bring "a fresh perspective."
Paul's lawyer, Chet Pleban, contended later that Pirrello and his council allies had rejected Pleban's proposal "from Day 1" to delay the impeachment proceedings until the new council members were sworn in.
"Their idea has always been to rush to judgement,'' Pleban said.
Pirrello disagreed, saying the problems with Paul had engulfed the city since shortly after he took office in April 2012.
In any case, Pirrello -- a former mayor -- chose to focus primarily on the process that kicks in, should Paul be impeached next Monday.
An acting mayor will be chosen as soon as the mayor is impeached, Pirrello said, and could serve up to a year before a special election would need to be held to choose someone to fill out the remainder of Paul's three-year term, which runs until April 2015.
Pirrello contended that Paul can't run in the special election to reclaim his job.
Still, it appears to be unclear what happens if an interim mayor is chosen next Monday, and the new council acts soon after to reinstate Paul.
What is clear, say Paul and his lawyer, Chet Pleban, is that they'll go to court as soon as the current council acts next Monday.
Council hears 15 hours of testimony
The hearings on the allegations against Paul -- which center on assertions of misconduct and misuse of power -- had to be completed by midnight Wednesday because the City Charter requires that such proceedings be conducted within 30 days of the mayor’s request for a hearing on the allegations.
The council was in session for six hours on Monday, five hours on Tuesday and about four hours on Wednesday.
Because of the crowds, the Monday and Tuesday sessions were held in a gym at the Ellisville Elementary School.
Wednesday's final session, which began at 1 p.m, was moved to a nearby church.
Most of the testimony centered on allegations against Paul. The mayor and his lawyer didn't call any witnesses in his defense, and Paul chose not to testify.
Critics accuse the mayor of misusing his power in dealing with city employees, such as asking the police chief if the mayor gets a badge and a gun. Opponents also objected to Paul's actions to order police to remove two residents from a council meeting. One of them, Katie James, then filed a complaint that set the impeachment process in motion.
Paul denies most of the allegations, saying in an interview Wednesday, "They're all petty allegations to me -- petty allegations with serious consequences."
Pleban agrees and asserted that the council needs to be mindful of the financial costs of its fight with Paul. Because three lawyers have been hired by the city council for various aspects of the impeachment, Pleban said that the city will end up paying at least $600 an hour -- or $9,000 just for the three days of hearings.
Pirrello said it was unclear what the hourly legal costs would be, adding that the city did have money for such contingencies.
Pleban warned that if Paul wins in court, he also will seek to force the city of Ellisville to foot his legal bills as well.
Wal-Mart remains issue, for both sides
The mayor and his lawyer contend the real issue is that Paul opposes tax breaks for a planned Wal-Mart, and that a majority of the outgoing council backs the project and the financial assistance.
Pleban dubbed Pirello and his council allies, "the Wal-Mart Five."
When Paul ran for mayor in April 2012, said Pleban, "he was running on a platform of anti-TIF (tax-increment financing), anti-Wal-Mart'' when Paul defeated councilwoman Michelle Murray, who supported the Wal-Mart project.
Paul, said Pleban, was a council target from the beginning because "he wasn't a member of the (pro-Wal-Mart) club."
Pirrello contended that Paul and his allies had been using the Wal-Mart project as a "convenient'' scapegoat to mask the mayor's alleged misdeeds.
Still, Pirrello contended that the most serious allegation against Paul does involve the Wal-Mart project. He and other Paul critics contend that the mayor violated the law when he privately approached a relocation expert for Wal-Mart to ask questions in response to a query from one of the apartment dwellers to be displaced by the project.
Pleban replied, "They're contending that's an impeachable office? That's nonsense."
Pirrello added that, in any event, the battle over the planned Wal-Mart project and its tax incentives are pointless because the deal has been set for some time. "It's over,'' he said.
Ellisville sought the Wal-Mart project, Pirrello continued, because the city had "lost Gordmans, lost Best Buy'' to other surrounding communities who offered tax breaks. As a result, he added, Ellisville had no choice but to agree to tax incentives to land the Wal-Mart development.
If Paul and the new council members seek to revisit the Wal-Mart project and its tax breaks, Pirrello predicted that the result will be a lawsuit by the developer, Sansone.
The councilman added with emphasis, "And then the city will go bankrupt."
