Please join me in welcoming our new City Administrator, Ms. Petree Eastman to Crestwood.
The Board of Alderman voted unanimously to approve Mayor Schlink's candidate for City Administrator, Ms. Petree Eastman. From what I understand Ms. Eastman comes to us by way of the Municipal League, and a prior stint as the Assistant City Administrator of University City, Mo.
Ms. Eastman is well qualified for the position with experience many facets of Municipal Government, and as a bonus is an attorney.
I am not sure of her start date as of this writing as the necessary ordnances and remaining paperwork will have to be adopted and completed, but please join me in welcoming her to to our community.
Tom Ford
NO. 941
Ms. Eastman is well qualified for the position with experience many facets of Municipal Government, and as a bonus is an attorney.
I am not sure of her start date as of this writing as the necessary ordnances and remaining paperwork will have to be adopted and completed, but please join me in welcoming her to to our community.
Tom Ford
NO. 941
posted by Crestwood Independent at 16:54
16 Comments:
I am so happy that Mayor Jeff finally has a city administrator to assist him with the day to day operations of Crestwood.
This will be the first Crestwood C.A. of the female persuasion, and I congratulate Ms. Eastman on being picked for this position. I know that she will love the people of Crestwood as much as we all do.
Although maybe not said very often, Crestwood residents are good people and deserve to have good leaders. We may still be struggling as a community at the present time, but we still should be proud of our city. We are all in this together and I have great pride in residing here and I hope everyone else feels the same.
It will also be nice for the mayor to have a city administrator who will be at city hall every day to keep him informed and up-to-date with any present issues or those which may arise. A new and objective view of where we are and where we can go from here. I am very happy that the Mayor will have someone to help him carry the load. It is not easy to try to run a city single-handed, even though Crestwood has an amazing staff of professional department heads. Good Luck and Welcome to Ms. Eastman. Plaudits!
I too think she is a good choice for City Administrator. Prior to the meeting, I read about her on the U City web site, and other on line sites, and all those looked good. She also did well in the BOA meeting, and answered all the questions from them very well.
I am glad to hear she was selected by the BOA.
I left the meeting when they went into private session, so I didn't hear their final decision, but I am glad they did select her.
I was suffering from brain fatigue from the earlier INTERMINABLE procedure about the new fitness club application. If this is what new businesses have to go through to be in Crestwood, we are in bad shape.
I too would like to welcome Ms. Petree Eastman to Crestwood!
John, I wasn't able to come to the meeting but it sounds like the board is still putting new businesses under the microscope as done in the past.
I can understand that as a board member and the public, we should be cautious about who comes into our city, but I have to agree with you. I wasn't there, but I have observed what seemed like past interrogations by officials of new businesses at board meetings.
I don't know the circumstances surrounding this "fitness" club but I have seen and heard some stories about the way business people have been treated.
Crestwood is not the "only place"
people can have a business opportunity. The days of being too picky are over. There are vacant buildings all over town and just as many in other cities due to the financial crisis we face.
I personally do not know the logic of the board with having a fitness place however - we don't seem to have a problem with banks.
I am not sure what the board did with Pulaski Bank but we do have our share of them. The irony being that people now seem to have less money to deposit. HA!
I do agree with you John. I cannot see why they had a problem Tuesday night with this new business and further, I am sorry for your fatique!
one of the worst offender for beating these prospective businesses over the head is Alderman Miguel. He is relentless and I feel he should back off a bit. If I were I business owner, I woudl run the other direction after one of his interrogations!
Kerra - I agree with you 100% but don't say that to Tom cause he thinks Miquel is marvelous. I have mentioned this to Tom before so watch out.
Miquel will split hairs on just about anything and it makes me crazy. I do like him but I think he missed his calling and should have been appointed the head of the FBI!
Just about the time everybody on the BOA has made up their minds about how to vote on an issue at a BOA meeting, Miquel comes up with something else.
I admire anyone on the board who does their homework and tries to take their aldermanic responsibilities seriously; however, there is such a thing as "overkill"!
Sorry Tom, we have talked about this before and I am just glad that someone else shares my view. I was thinking that I was the only one who felt Miquel can be a deal breaker for people just trying to start up a business here.
I am not saying that I don't appreciate his hard work because I do. However, statements have been made many times in past years regarding our BOA saying that Crestwood is way to "hard nose" with people trying to start a business here.
And I can see that Miquel tries the patience of fellow aldermen as well as persons who need to go through the BOA on just about any issue. He would have 50 questions for a Boy Scout Troop wanting a permit to sell cookies.
Anyhow, that's the way it seems to me so - I am just saying!
well, I believe in being careful and thourough. I do not believe in splitting hairs and rambling on until every person in the room wants to throw themselves out a window to escape. We need new businesses here, and that kind of micro-managing will cause many to think "well, I can go to ____ and not have this run around, so bye, Crestwood!". We seriously don't need that.
I am with you 100% kerra believe me! I think there are a lot of others who feel the same way.
Sandy,
Actually, the culprit this time was not the board members (although they did ask many questions) or Jerry (who did ask some questions), but the competition.
The new business is a fitness center that will be open 24 hrs. (And will be unattended during the late night hours.) The new owners (H&W), an owner from Fenton, and a rep of the center described at great length, and detail all the measures for security: members only, video all over, very controlled access, prevention of someone following a member in, panic/help buttons, and ones you can wear around your neck, and these are all monitored and on video.
Our Police, and Fire Departments have given their OK (with a few changes that are being made).
There was a large contingent from the competition (our existing, non 24 hr Center). Although they kept saying that competition was fine, they bad mouthed all the features of the new business. While everyone has the freedom to speak, I think they overdid it with many people saying the same thing. It was obvious they didn't want the competition, but kept saying they did.
This whole thing went on way too long.
I believe that the BOA will need to have another vote on this at the next board meeting.
Sandy and kerra,
I have been to quite a few BOA meetings in the past (with Roy), and more recently with Jeff, and it is like the difference between night and day!
No shouting, arguing, yelling, and dictating how things will be. And, of course the classic: "we don't use roberts rules, we use robinson's rules"
The meetings are now organized, calm, respectful, and conducted in an orderly manner. More gets done in less time. Three cheers for Jeff!
John, thanks for your comments however, I want to make one clarification. You mentioned the differences between the two mayors, Jeff and Roy. But my comments were only regarding Jerry Miquel and his propensity for overkill on every issue known to man.
I have given my 100% support to Jeff as Mayor, and have told him so personally! Roy is gone.
You and I can agree that Jerry is a hard worker and is supportive of Crestwood. But I have a problem with him and that is all I am saying.
I think Jerry Miquel is a good man and a good alderman but he can be just as consciencious without going overboard. Businesses trying to come into Crestwood should not have to be interrogated or afraid to come before this board! Period!
And as far as Roy goes, I think that issue has been already beaten to death especially on this blog. There should be no reason to ever bring his name up again.
Tom has made a meriad of strong remarks on the issue of Roy on this blog and 100% of all of them were shared by many others.
However, Roy is no longer a bone of contention. I understand how it is to detest a person so much that when making comments, one cannot help themself but to choose very inflamatory and negative words as in the case of Roy. That was the rule rather than the exception here. But that was then and this is now as everyone tells me about my city issues.
So hopefully onward and upward we go from here. Now let's allow sleeping dogs to rest cause I don't see the need to continue about Roy. I like this blog without speaking of him much better.
Frankly, I am tired of all the past remarks spread around this blog about Roy, over and over and over again. It was enough to make a person go on a bender. We all got the message and now we have a new mayor. Go Jeff!
Sandy,
In my post of 10:52 PM, September 29, 2011, I was complimenting Jeff on how much better organized, and well run the BOA meetings are run since he took over.
I mentioned Roy twice, and Jeff twice in three paragraphs. I described some differences, and said the meetings are better now.
Your post sounds like a blast at me, but in nine paragraphs, you mentioned Roy in seven, in comparison to my two. You can't change history...it is a fact, but we can learn from it, and try not to make the same mistakes again.
John, I am sorry if I misunderstood you. I would never blast you - I like you very much!
When your first comment came up explaining the issue that was discussed regarding the fitness club, I very much appreciated your input. However, Kerra and I had been specifically speaking of Jerry Miquel in previous comments, and how we perceive him on the boa.
So when I saw your name addressing your one comment to both Kerra and I,I thought you were going to be commenting on Jerry Miquel.
John, I did not mean to be disrespectful to you at all in any way. I hope I can explain myself.
When Roy was running for mayor this final time, you could not have read this blog during those months preceding last April without seeing the negative rantings over and over again regarding him - bad & negative through and through. And I had no problem with it except it just never stopped and went on forever.
Every day in every way it was Roy this and that. It got really ugly and stinky at times and I just got tired of it.
So, to me, when you changed the subject and started comparing Roy and Jeff, it was pointless to state it on this blog when everybody already knew how most people felt. And because past thoughts and words used on this blog were so rude and nasty (deserved or not), I hope I never have to hear them again.
To me, it wasn't necessary to be that hateful whether you like him or dislike him. Even if it is another person that bloggers were speaking of, or whether the words are deserved or not, I don't think it is right to be nasty. The blog got real nasty and hostile.
So, all I wanted to do, was let you know, that I hope and trust we don't have to go through anymore comments about past mayors.
However, if everybody feels it is OK to make rude and hateful comments about any of our board members or mayors, I can come up with some dandy comments similar to those past remarks about Roy on this very blog - people who betrayed me many years ago that are not to my liking.
I just want things to be simple. Good conversation is fun.
John, I would never deliberately or otherwise blast you in any way. I like you very much and I am sorry if that is what I sounded like. You are a very nice man and I appreciate everything you do for Crestwood. Please forgive me!
Sandy,
Thank you! Of course I do! And I like to read your posts too.
I was comparing the really bad, to the really good. I do agree that the antics of the previous administration are best left in the dusty past. I will try to do just that.
John, Sandy, kerra,
The item that impressed me the most about MS. Eastman, is she has a law degree! Finally we have a member of the City's staff who can balance our current City Attorney's findings.
Tim,
You are right about the law degree...that is a good thing. And, I thought she did very well with the aldermens questioning too.
Tim and John, this is what we have needed all along, a C/A that can (and will) explain to Mr. Golterman the real meaning of the law in question.
No more "I will get back to you on that" while drawing down an outrageous salary, now he will have to know the answer, or.......
Tom Ford
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