Politics & Government

Frontenac Called to Court Over $40.23 Dispute

West End Park resident unwilling to pay his share of neighborhood street expenses.

The headline to this story is 100 percent correct. A lawsuit, filed by West End Park resident Terry Schilling has been filed in St. Louis County courts. The announcement was made by City Attorney Kevin O'Keefe at the last board of alderman meeting this week. The suit was placed a month ago.

For this minuscule amount of money, the city has been placed squarely between a rock and a hard place.

Some might say this is frivolous and the city ought to cave in and drop the case. Others might say this is a good place to draw the line in the sand and take a stand.

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Either way, the city stands to not come out ahead on this matter.

Schilling has ignored this bill annually. Now, he is suing. Patch's efforts to reach Schilling by phone were unsuccessful. His phone has been disconnected.

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Each year, the city invoices residents in West End Park for work done on their street by the public works department. Each bill is based on square footage of the lots in question. The city does general maintenance on streets such as pot hole repair, cutting back brush and sign repair. West End Park includes streets like Garibaldi, Cable, Capitol, Donoho, Anzinger, German Boulevard and others.

If this case goes to court, then the costs will be passed along to the remaining residents on those streets.

“When someone is braying at the moon, the last thing you want to do is shine a light upon him,” Ward 3 Alderman John Levis said. “We ought to send a letter to the rest of the neighbors, warning them that Schilling’s actions will be putting the rest of them in (financial) jeopardy.”

Does the city tie up its attorney O’Keefe’s time at several hundreds of dollars per hour to litigate a case like this?

“We don’t have the luxury of not responding to this case,” Ward 3 Alderman Tom Hizer said.

O’Keefe is not clear about Schilling’s motives.

“Let’s say he holds his principles dearly,” the city attorney said. “Some people question if he (Schilling) is carrying his fair share or getting a free pass.”

Others wonder, if Schilling is unwilling to pay his fair share, why should anyone else do so?

Levis reasoned litigating this case will cost the city several thousands of dollars over a $40.23 cent shortfall, plus interest.

“Now is the time to contest this case and then put it behind us,” Ward 1 Alderman John Wynne said.

O’Keefe doesn’t think so.

“It's just not worth the cost,” he said.

In other matters, Frontenac seems to be improving financially. November’s revenues are up 2 percent, and the city is 30 percent better on its budget than projected. The big moneymaker, Plaza Frontenac reports sales receipts for November increased 6 percent from this time last year.

The city also authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement with George Butler Associates to provide land acquisition services in conjunction with the upcoming Geyer Road bridge project.

The board of aldermen also authorized the mayor to to purchase two replacement vehicles for the police department.


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