September 2024: Joint meeting, council vacancy, thanks to election workers

 We’re back, baby!


City council and the St. Louis school board had their first joint meeting last month after a four year layoff that began during the Covid pandemic.


School board members Don Kelley, Kelly Bebow, Billy Bosquez, Carrie Salladay and Superintendent Jennifer McKittrick met with city council plus City Manager Kurt Tiles, Public Services Director Keith Risdon, Finance Director Bobbie Marr, Clerk Jamie Long and DDA Director Phil Hansen on Aug. 20.


The meetings are more than just a show of solidarity in the community. They allow council members and school board members to discuss issues that affect the city and the schools. We look forward to continuing the tradition next year.


Upton moving away


Council Member Liz Upton announced Aug. 20 that she and husband Adam have listed their house and will move to Kentucky when it sells. Upton was elected to city council in 2021. Her term expires in December 2026, so we will have to appoint someone to complete the term. If you would like to be considered for the appointment, contact Clerk Jamie Long at 989-261-1435. Council members are paid $700 per year and $35 per meeting.


Thanks to election workers


I’d like to thank St. Louis election workers Don Burch, Robin Hart, Tina Redes, Terry Root, Sue Whitford, Juanita “Janie” Hunt and city employees Peyton Kuhn, Ashley Bullard and Jamie Long for making the Aug. 6 state primary election a success.


These people perform a near thankless, but essential, job and deserve a shout-out for their efforts.


If you’re interested in becoming an election worker, contact Long by calling 989-261-1435. Election workers get $19/hour and work 14-15 hours on election days. The next time they will be needed is for the Nov. 5 election.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uncle Ralph made the ultimate sacrifice

Image
By Ralph Echtinaw Editor and Publisher I was named for my mother’s oldest brother, Ralph C. Weting, the son of Hazel and Howard Weting of Hazel Park, Michigan.   Born in 1922 Uncle Ralph was drafted by the Army in 1942. He became a top turret gunner on a Martin B-26 Marauder bomber with the 585th Squadron of the 394th Bomb Group. The 394th began flying missions over German-occupied France in March 1944. Uncle Ralph’s pilot, Lt. Donald E. Ihle, named his plane the Sassy Lassy. His crew was co-pilot Buford Bowen, bombardier Leonard Collen, radioman Walter C. Schaefer, tail gunner Eugene B. Klinzing and Uncle Ralph. “As long as I’m flying with (Ihle) you never need worry about me,” Uncle Ralph wrote in a letter dated April 24, 1944. Through 47 combat missions the Sassy Lassy crew was “scared as hell” a number of times, according to Collen (whom I personally interviewed by phone in 1997), but never in dire straits. Wartime censorship forbade Uncle Ralph from d
Read more

Ralph Echtinaw: An Introduction

Image
  I’d like to introduce myself as a candidate for mayor of St. Louis. I’m 64 years old (in August anyway) and have been a St. Louis resident since 2011. I earn my living with a one-man window cleaning business called I Feel Your Pane and am editor and publisher of an online newspaper called the St. Louis Sentinel . Window cleaning takes less than 10 hours a week, on average, so I should have plenty of time left over to dedicate to the city. My newspaper work in St. Louis (since 2017) has left me fairly knowledgeable about city government, so I can hit the ground running, if elected. In my opinion, city government is already close to being a well-oiled machine, and major reform is unnecessary. As a newspaperman whose bylines go back to 1987 I’ve covered many township boards, school boards, county commissions and city councils. And St. Louis government is among the least controversial and best run that I’ve seen. I’d like to see the city continue to replace old sewer and water lines and
Read more

Angry, lecturing shew trolls for men on eHarmony

Ten years ago I was  a paying member of eHarmony and matched with a 51-year-old Colorado woman who wrote the angriest profile I have ever seen. (Spelling and grammar errors are hers.) Here's how she answered the what are you passionate about question in her profile:   “I'm screening for sincerity. You are not sincere if you're out to random meet. If you ask me to meet you, you will be blocked. I am not here to 'find dates/meets'. My selection process is here on Eharmony, not on a meet or date. I don't meet. And I want nothing to do with the people who are. Also I do not tolerate being insulted so if you don't like my decesion as a single woman, I suggest you deal with it. Quick reminder for men that have been in a bad relationship who try to argue when they want something done there way. Don't try that on me. So if you don't like my HIGH MORALITY you have no say on it.” Here's what she entered in the most important thing I'm looking for in a
Read more