O'Fallon residents continue to pay cost of corruption

The widespread corruption that plagued the City of O'Fallon during the administration of former Mayor Paul Renaud (and current Council President Bill Hennessy, pictured to the right) continues to cost the taxpayers of O'Fallon. In a story which appeared in the Post-Dispatch today it was reported that:

• In a ruling handed down last week, Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider said that under a June 2004 agreement between the city and Public Water Supply District No. 2, the water district exclusively controls new sanitary sewer users. Barring a reversal on appeal, the ruling means city officials won't be able to stop sewage from several customers, including the Meadows at Lake Saint Louis, a shopping center scheduled to open its first phase in August.


• O'Fallon City Administrator Robert Lowery Jr. placed a freeze on hookups into the sewer system last fall because officials said the city's aging wastewater treatment plant on the north side of town was operating at capacity. Its discharge risked exceeding environmental standards, officials said.


• The Meadows isn't the only new customer affected by the ruling. ­Schneider ordered the city to immediately take all measures necessary to ensure that its treatment facility has adequate capacity to receive and treat all wastewater transferred to it by the water district's users, present and future.

The end result of this will be that the taxpayers will be forced to pay the costs of upgrading the system to increase the capacity. How is this related to corruption? During Renaud's tenure the city gave away tap ons to our water and sewer systems to the preferred developers and builders. One of the builders who benefited from this was Renaud's employer McBride & Sons. The bill for these illegal giveaways has now come due.

When paying their taxes the residents of O'Fallon should be sure to remember to send Renaud a thank you note and while you're at it don't forget to include a note to Hennessy and former alderman (and current council candidate) Mark Perkins who supported giving your money to the developers. This is but one example of many "favors" Renaud/Hennessy/Perkins provided to developers/builders and we will be paying for this for years to come.