Recap Roulette!

The first ward has a new Alderman. Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's appointee, Mr. Joseph Sweeney, was unanimously approved by the Alderidiots at last evening's meeting -- but not before the 7th ward's Ald. Frank assWsol tried to defer the vote for another two weeks, under the ruse of wanting a "second reading" of the matter to give residents more public time to be aware of the appointment and "because tonight is the only evening Mr. Sweeney is publicly answering questions."

We're not sure what has crawled up Ald. assWsol's backside, besides the 6th ward's Unfriendly Ghost, Ald. Tom Carey, but assWsol is proving himself to be the biggest, double talking asshole on the council these days.

The 2nd ward's Lord of the Manor, Rich DiPietro spoke against deferring the vote and noted that "residents have been informed since June 1."

Three members of the audience spoke in support of moooving forward with the approval vote last night -- including Ald. assWsol's 7th ward political benefactor and friend, former Ald. Larry Friel. Friel noted that during the previous process of appointing an Alderman to fill an unexpired term, each ward had two Aldermen, but now with only 1 Alderman per ward the 1st has been without any dedicated aldermanic representation since the mayoral election.

The Council voted 2 (Wsol and Carey) to 4 (Bach, DiPietro, Allegretti and Ryan) not to defer the matter.

After questioning on various public policy issues from the Alderidiots, the final vote to approve Mr. Joseph Sweeney as the new 1st ward Alderman was unanimous. Alderman Sweeney was given the oath of office by City Cluck Betty Henneman and took his seat at the Council horseshoe.


City attorney Buzz Hill explained some parliamentary requirements for the Council's vote regarding Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's veto of the over-budget contributions to community groups. It seems it was necessary for the Council to first vote to reconsider the issue before voting to override the Mayor's veto. So, in a vote of 6 (Bach, Allegretti, Ryan, Carey, Wsol and Sweeney) to 1 (DiPietro), the Council voted to reconsider the matter.

The Council then moved to the issue of the veto. Ald. Frank AssWsol motioned to vote to override Schmidtzkrieg's veto. Again, three members of the audience rose to speak and urge the Alderidiots not to be fiscally irresponsible and override the Mayor's veto, but the effort fell on deaf ears.

During the Council discussion, Ald. AssWsol cited "proof" from the United Way as to the "return on investment" each contribution should earn -- according to Ald. AssWsol's United Way source, each $1 "investment" returns approximately $6 - $8 to the community.

The PRU Crew laughed heartily when hearing about this -- apparently Ald. AssWsol isn't aware of quite how the United Way makes its money or how it measures "return on investment." Truly, we had tears in our eyes!

We're unwilling to do the necessary research and accumulation of cyber sources for the sole purpose of discounting AssWsol's "proof", but we invite readers to go Googling for more in-depth discussions -- here are some key words: franchise, copyrights, licensing. Enjoy!

Mayor Schmitzkrieg explained that he feels the Council is being fiscally irresponsible by choosing to add to the City's budget deficit in an amount over the original 2009/2010 approved budget. Schmidtzkrieg also noted that for all the Alderidiot's talk of concern for social services, when given the choice of adopting an alternative plan that would ensure contributions for those in need but limit contributions for those groups that do not deal with those in need, the Council chose to ignore the alternative and instead spend money the City does not have.

In a final vote of 5 (Bach, Allegretti, Ryan, Carey and Wsol) to 2 (Sweeney and DiPietro) the Council voted to override Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's veto of the over-budget taxpayer contributions to community groups.


The final low light of last night's Council meeting was the vote to approve a contract for the replacement of the chiller unit for the City Hall air conditioner. Mayor Schmidtzkrieg asked Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim again what his thoughts are about the impending collapse of the unit, and again Zingsheim detailed the guesses being made about the system's ability to survive as needed throughout the summer months. The Mayor then asked City Manager Jim Hock for assurances that federal grant money would be forthcoming and if the purchase of a new a/c unit would qualify for reimbursement from such a grant. The Mayor also tasked Mr. Hock with finding a commensurate cut within the current budget should the grant money fail to appear as promised.

In a final vote to approve the contract, the Alderidiots voted 6 (DiPietro, Allegretti, Ryan, Carey, Wsol and Sweeney) to 1 (Bach). Our sources tell us this may not be a done deal and that the Mayor is again considering a veto for this unbudgeted expenditure.


The last item of business on the Council agenda was whether or not to pass an ordinance requiring commercial property owner's to clear sidewalks of snow. Such an ordinance would carry with it a fine of up to $50 per day that a commercial property owner remains in violation of the ordinance. Ald. AssWsol, not getting his way on his first effort to defer a vote, again offered a motion to defer the vote. The Council then voted unanimously to defer the issue.

There now, feel better AssWsol? You got one!

And there you have it people -- our recap roulette of last night's Council meeting! We thank you for your patience today!