It looks like the upcoming Arnold mayoral race will be a contentious one, at least between two of the three candidates – incumbent Ron Counts and challenger Phil Amato, a current Ward 3 city councilman.
William Denman also has filed to run for mayor
Candidate filings for the April 4 election closed on Jan. 17, the same day Counts filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Missouri Ethics Commission, claiming Amato offered to refrain from running for mayor if Counts agreed to four conditions.
According to Counts’ complaint, the conditions were: promote a particular Public Works employee to replace director Ed Blattner, who reportedly is considering retiring in the not-too-distant future; promote a current Parks and Recreation Department employee to replace director Susie Boone, who has announced she will retire later this year; fire or force Police Chief Bob Shockey to retire; and grant an “unspecified benefit” for Amato to be determined later.
Counts alleges in the complaint that Amato violated two Missouri laws, one that prohibits elected officials from offering to “promote or advocate for a political appointment in exchange for anything of value to any political subdivision,” and the other that prohibits elected officials from performing “any service for such political subdivision or any agency of the political subdivision for any consideration other than the compensation provided for the performance of his or her official duties.”
Amato said Jan. 19 that he did make the offer, although he challenged the wording on one of the four conditions.
He said he asked to be given a specific date when Shockey would retire, rather than asking for him to be fired or forced to retire.
As far as the “unspecified benefit” Amato asked for, he said he didn’t know what he wanted yet, but that it could be some sort of recognition or maybe just an apology from Counts, whom he claims broke a promise to him not to run for a third term as mayor.
Counts said that when he ran for his current four-year term, which ends in April, he did tell Amato then that he didn’t plan to run again. However, Counts said he changed his mind and about two years ago, told Amato he planned to run again.
“I think that’s more than fair,” Counts said.
Amato, however, said that change of heart was the same as a lie, and as a result, Counts owes him something and that’s what his fourth, unnamed condition was about.
“What’s a lie worth?” he asked. “Maybe a dinner; I don’t know.”
Counts said he believes Amato’s proposition was “borderline extortion.”
“That is wrong, and I will not abide by someone with those type of scruples,” he said. “The truth is, when he said he wanted something for himself, it’s about Phil; it’s not about the city.”
Amato, on the other hand, said the offer he made could have benefited the city because a heated race could divide the community.
Amato also said he doesn’t believe there was anything unethical about the offer he made because all the actions he asked for were ones he would take if elected mayor.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “If I get elected, I want people promoted from within.”
The two employees Amato has asked to be promoted weren’t aware of his offer, city officials said.
Counts and Amato are not on speaking terms, so Amato presented his offer to Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison before the Jan. 12 City Council work session and then to city attorney Bob Sweeney after that same work session, according to all those parties.
After the work session, Counts and several council members went to the Denny’s restaurant in Arnold, and Richison showed up there, too, and told all of them about Amato’s offer and conditions.
Shortly after that, Sweeney met up with them at Denny’s and told the same story, Counts, Richison and Sweeney said.
Amato said he was surprised to learn that Counts and others are claiming his proposal was some sort of extortion.
He said that if there was an ethical problem with his offer, then Sweeney, “who’s paid to protect him,” should have told him before the proposal was shared with Counts and the others.
“I asked Sweeney if I was doing something unreasonable, and he said, ‘no,’” Amato said.
Sweeney said he did tell Amato the offer was a bad idea.
“I warned him it was not a good idea, but he was hearing none of it,” Sweeney said.
He also said that by the time Amato finished talking to him after the work session, Richison already had passed on the story to Counts.
“This is all just very political,” Sweeney added. “Phil is angry at Bob Shockey and the mayor.”
Flood “smoking gun”
Amato said he uncovered a “smoking gun” some time ago and after learning about Counts’ complaints against him decided to reveal it.
The smoking gun, he said, is that the city ordered Ameren last winter to turn off electricity along Starling Airport Road, which was hit hard by historic flooding.
City officials say that decision was made by consensus after consulting with Ameren, the Rock Community Fire Protection District and others in charge of the Emergency Management group that dealt with the floodi ng.
Counts, for one, called Amato’s accusation “a fabrication.”
“It’s just not true,” he said. “We had meetings every morning (during the flooding), and when all that took place, Ameren was there, and everyone said it (the electricity) should be turned off because of safety concerns.”
Amato disputes that, though, and said that during discussions about street lights he had with Ameren representatives, they told them that the city made the decision to turn off the electricity.
During and after the flooding, several residents complained about the electricity being turned off.
Many of them had sewage back up into their basements and said they couldn’t fight the sewage backups because they couldn’t use pumps in their homes after the electricity was turned off.
In addition, residents complained that no one pumped out manholes in the area, like city employees had done in the past, which contributed to the sewage backups.
Amato also criticized the city for not following an emergency management plan, developed after the 1993 flood, that called for the manholes to be pumped out.
City officials, however, said they had no control over pumping out the manholes last winter because the city no longer owned the sewer system that serves Arnold residents.
Arnold sold the sewer system to Missouri American Water in 2015.
Amato said city officials are lying about who made the decision to turn off the electricity and are conspiring to cover that up.
Counts said that’s not true.
“All this garbage is nothing more than a way for him (Amato) to push himself forward as a candidate,” Counts said.
Shockey, who attended those emergency management meetings during the flooding, agreed.
“He can think what he wants to think, but he doesn’t have the facts and he wasn’t in the meetings. There was no conspiracy. There were at least a dozen of us sitting in the room with Ameren, and we all were talking about the danger of electricity and water mixing and that it needed to be cut off because of safety hazards.”
Amato said he struggled with whether to reveal “the conspiracy” because he thinks it will tear apart the city.
Sweeney said Amato made his offer even worse when he said he had a smoking gun he’d reveal if his conditions weren’t met.
“I think it was a troubling thing to say – if my conditions are met, I won’t run and the smoking gun won’t be revealed,” Sweeney said.
Amato claims persecution
Amato said that the reason Counts filed the ethics complaint was to try to “destroy” him so that if Amato came forward with information about the alleged conspiracy, then no one would believe him.
“They have to destroy me and make me look like I’m on the defensive, and have done something wrong so no one will believe me If I bring this out, and it breaks my heart,” Amato said.
Amato said, ultimately, he’s happy that Counts filed the complaints with the Attorney General’s Office and Ethics Commission because it tells him that Counts thinks Amato can win the mayoral race.
He also said he is the better candidate because he will work full time as mayor, whereas Counts, Amato claims, “is calling it in.”
Amato said Counts has canceled council meetings and work sessions and only spends “four hours a month” on his mayoral duties.
“I figure he’s making about $500 an hour,” Amato sad.
The city’s current salary for the mayor is $2,251.51 a month.
Counts said he works far more than what Amato claims.
“He (Amato) has no idea how many hours I put in at City Hall, how many meetings I go to, how many people I talk to. He wants to be a full-time mayor and sit over there (at City Hall) full time. And, if that’s what people want, we need to redo the city (management system). We have professional people running the (day-to-day operations of the) city, and my obligation is to help negotiate the best possible deal for our constituents, to make sure people don’t get shortchanged.”
Amato takes aim at
Sweeney, Shockey
Amato said that neither Counts nor Richison is running the city, but instead it’s run by Sweeney and Shockey.
Counts said that claim is ridiculous and that while he is fulfilling his mayoral obligations, he does rely on advice from Sweeney and Shockey, as well as Richison and other city officials and employees, when he’s making decisions.
“I’m not a dictator. I try to listen to our people, but they don’t run the city.”
Sweeney also disputed Amato’s claim that he and Shockey are running the city.
“Everyone consults me at one time or another about things, and if I provide legal advice and they take it, and if that’s what running the city is, then I guess I’m guilty,” he said.
Shockey said he was shocked to hear about Amato’s proposal and Counts’ subsequent complaint, when he returned to the office Jan. 18 after heart surgery.
However, Shockey, who said he has no plans to retire anytime soon, said he wasn’t surprised to learn Amato was trying to get rid of him.
Shockey said that he and Amato had long been friends, but then Amato changed his tune and has had a vendetta against him for a while.
Amato said he wants to see Shockey replaced because he’s too “political” and spends too much money.
Shockey said the Arnold Police Department’s operating budget, excluding personnel and the purchase of vehicles, has remained steady.
In 2012, those costs were $458,500, and in 2016, $454,531, Shockey said.
He said personnel costs were $4,293,492 in 2014; $4,160,393 in 2015; and $4,449,818 in 2016.
Shockey said the city has bought police vehicles over the past two years, though, spending $209,305 on six new ones in 2015 and $261,351 on six more in 2016.
Shockey also said that Amato’s claim that he’s running the city is “ludicrous,” adding that he doesn’t want to run the city, especially after spending a year or so as both the police chief and the interim city administrator after former City Administrator Matt Unrein resigned.
“He (Amato) is delusional,” Shockey said. “I tried that (running the city’s day-to-day operations) for a year and a half, and I hated every minute of it and have no desire to run a city. I’m a police chief and that’s what I do best and that’s what I’m sticking to.”
Counts said he’s happy with the work both Sweeny and Shockey have done over the years.
He also said he’s proud of the work he has done as mayor, claiming that under his tenure, the city has refinanced and paid off bond debt and is in the best financial shape in its history.
He also said that there have been several important industrial developments, like the expansion of the Anheuser-Busch InBev canning plant on Arnold Tenbrook Road.
Amato, however, said he was the one who helped nail down many of those deals.
Amato also said that Counts needs to do more to plan for the city’s future and bring in even more development.
“I’m not perfect, but if I get elected as mayor of this city, I promise they’ll get the best from me.”
Potential penalties
If Amato were found in violation of statutes 105.452 or 105.458, the class B misdemeanors could be punishable by up to six months in jail.
If the Ethics Commission reviews the complaint and rules that a violation has occurred, it could either notify the respondent to cease and desist the violations; assess civil penalties; assess fees; issue a letter of concern or reprimand; notify the appropriate disciplinary authority; or take no action, according to the agency’s website.