It's not about man named Brady.
But a man named Schneider. And a man named Dills. And a former Public Works Director.
The PW director was what we might call "highly qualified". He had a PhD in Engineering. He had great ideas. He wanted Overland to be a success.
Id been wondering what happened to the Public Works Director as I hadnt seen him around in a while. Here's the scoop I got from a friend of Les Dills.
Les had a buddy that wanted to buy the old IGA (on Lackland near Simms).
Les asked the PW Director to inspect the building and detail everything that was wrong with the purpose that the buddy could go to the seller and demand a discount. Or, basically, the PW department was Les and his buddy's personal inspection and bullying service.
Les and the PW Director get into a discussion about this situation one day. The discussion comes to a stand still. They were not going to come to an agreement. So, realizing the standstill and in an effort to get on with his work, the PW Director asked Les to leave his office.
Les was not going to stand for not getting an immdiate real estate deal for his buddy. He went crying to Schneider.
Now, Schneider had his own issues with the PW Director. See, the PW Director wasn't much for incompetence in his department. And incompetence he had in the friend of Schneider, Sherry Middlecamp.
Now to keep you up with this, Sherry is the friend of Mike's he had hired by the Police Department. The Police Deparment was too serious of an area to put up with her ineptitude. So, instead of firing Sherry they fire someone in Public Works and give her that job. The Public Works Director wanted a professional department. So, in a professional manner he tried to deal with Sherry. To the point he attempted to write her up several times. Each time, Schneider stopped the process. His friend needed a job, so much so that he was willing to risk Overland's future on making sure she had one.
All of this comes together and Schneider attempts to fire the Public Works Director. Those of you paying attention in the Pruzner era, remember that isn't really a power of the Mayor. He must consent with the City Council.
Eventually, Schneider strong arms his way with the council and has the highly qualified Public Works Director fired.
So, where does that leave Overland?
Many businesses who were considering coming to Overland immediately withdrew their plans. (This includes Dunking Donuts--a store that caused quite a stir when they opened in Kirkwood today. That could've been us. We could've been a contender.)
Any resident, business owner, and potentional resident/business owner now has to deal with the ineffective and incompetent Sherry Middlecamp to deal with Public Works. Another reason Overland is going nowhere fast.
Overland once again has an anti-new-business reputation with real estate agents, developers, and future business owners.
Nice work Schneider and Dills!
