The County Tire Contract Controversy ..... Part I: County Commission Meeting and Road Department Meeting - 7/1/2010

Published by Dick Schaefer, Contributing Writer and Part-time Investigative Reporter

The Gasconade County Commission met at the Owensville City Hall on Thursday, 7/1/2010.  All of the principals took their seats at the front of the room:  Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost, Northern District Associate Commissioner Matt Penning, Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore and County Clerk Lesa Lietzow. 

The local press was represented by "Telescopic Camera Lens" Dave Marner from the Gasconade County Republican, "Online News Site Pioneer" Jeff Noedel from CNL ("Cheap News LIVE"), Anna Wiegenstein from Hermann NEWS, Don Kruse from The Hermann Advertiser-Courier, and yours truly from Hermann Hearsay. 

Other notable illuminaries in attendance were Charlie Brown, unpaid but often hassled volunteer video camera operator; Raymond "Mike" Jacquin, citizen activist, watchdog and pitbull extraordinaire; Kyle Lairmore, highly decorated and broadly acclaimed son of Jerry Lairmore, the 2010 Missouri Conservation Department Employee of the Year, the 2009 Owensville Man of The Year, 2009 NRA Award Recipient and, using one of Kyle's favorite words, "dickhead" who filed a bogus (that means false, Kyle) complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission against Commissioner Penning last year;  Ron and Lynn Meyer, residents of Owensville and courthouse cleaning volunteers who along with others were once much maligned by County Collector Shawn Schlottach; Marty Keeling, mother-in-law of Ron Meyer and another maligned courthourse cleaning volunteer;  Mrs. Chuck Lewis, representing Central Tire Company of Owensville; Matt Jost, nephew of Ron Jost and son of Don Jost who owns Jost Tire Company; Morris Landwehr, faher-in-law of Jerry Lairmore; and John Penning, father of Matt Penning, a popular Hermann City Alderman and a guy who has"changed more tires than Ron Jost".  (I might add that John was changing tires before Ron Jost was knee high to a grasshopper, and John often had to change tires under adverse working conditions with Glen "Pierre LaPew" Sidener looking on and offering helpful unsolicited advice!)

Back to the subject of the county meeting though!  I guess y'all wanna hear about what happened!

First of all, I observed that the meeting atmosphere was very tense.  Nobody was smilin' .... well nobody but Commissioner Lairmore who wore a devilish smile upon his mustached face. Ya see, the commissioners had met with the County Road Department employees at the Drake Maintenance Shed prior to the public meeting in Owensville.  Now it seems that Commissioner Lairmore and Jost had worked out a deal with the Road Department employees (Wayne Kottwitz, Roger Dahl and Debbie Thomas) regarding the county tire contract well ahead of time.  Ya might say they kinda ambushed Commissioner Penning ..... but that's nothin' real new.  They've done it before!  Seems that when there's gonna be an orchestrated ambush, Lairmore and Jost tip off Noedel from "Cheap News LIVE" as well as Dave Marner from the GCR.  On this particular occasion, Noedel rushed to the Drake Road Department meeting like a panting and salivating dog, but it was probably too early in the mornin' for ol' Dave to roll out of bed and attend the meeting 'cause he didn't make it!

Now as a side matter, we here at Hermann Hearsay aren't real sure that the Road Department Meeting is an open and public meeting ...... but it does seem to be "open" to Mr. Noedel.  We will be researching this matter.  The questions we have are these:

1. If the Road Department Meeting has in the past been open to the public, then has the Couny Clerk always posted proper NOTICE of the meeting as required under Missouri's Sunshine Laws?
2. Where has the County Clerk posted NOTICE of this meeting?  Has it been widely publicized on bulletin boards throughout the county and in the county's two newspapers of record?
3. If the Road Department Meeting has NOT been a meeting which has been open to the public, who invited Mr. Noedel to attend the 7/1 meeting?  And why was he alone invited when reporters from The Hermann Advertiser-Courier and Hermann NEWS were not.

So ya see, Commissioner Lairmore and Jost surprised the unsuspecting Commissioner Penning by discussing their new "solution" to the tire contract issues ol' Matt has been raising for two years and most recently in the 6/17 and 6/24 County Commission Meetings.  Penning objected to their "solution", but as is most often the case, he was out-voted by Lairmore and Jost. 

The "solution" which was devised by Lairmore, Jost and most likely forced upon the Road Department employees was this:

1. No competitive bid process for the county tires and tire services this year.  (I don't know if this is in direct violation of Missouri statutes, but you can be sure I'm gonna find out.)
2. Tire and tire services business to be "split" between the tire vendors (Jost Tire Company and Central Tire Company) on some undefined basis as yet to be determined by Wayne Kottwitz, Road Department Superintendent (no doubt under the close direction of Lairmore and Jost!)  Wanna guess which tire vendor will now get the largest portion of the county's tire and tire service business?!
3. Tire pricing to the county will be the "state bid" pricing (or better should a vendor wish to cut the county a better deal).  Now, the only problem with this is that the tire specs which are not on the "state bid" pricing list will be charged out at whatever the county's tire vendor wants to charge.  Jerry Lairmore explained that we can "trust" our tire vendors to treat the county right on the pricing of those tire specs.  Oh, OK Jerry!  If you say so!
4. But rather than allow the county's "trusted" tire vendors to determine which used tire casings are reusable and which are not and then provide credits back to the county accordingly, something which Chuck Lewis of Central Tire Company has been doing this past contract year at the direction of Commissioner Penning, Jerry Lairmore, never at a loss to suggest a convoluted, srewball idea in opposition to Commissioner Penning, stated that he really believes it would be best to have the used tire casings which are removed from the county trucks and graders returned back to the Drake Maintenance Shed where Jerry has promised to devise a whole new used tire casing tracking system and then make arrangements to bid out the tire casings on a periodic frequency yet to be determined.  Er uh, Jerry, I got a question ..... Who's gonna be hauling all those tires back to the Drake Maintenance Shed?  Don't guess you've figured out the cost of labor, fuel and lost opportunity to have our Road Department boys and girls haul tires to Drake from Owensville or wherever on county roads the used tires are pulled off county trucks and graders by our tire vendors?  And I was wonderin' if that will create a new position within the Gasconade County Road and Bridge Department?  "Used Tire Casing Hauler, Handler and Inventory Control Manager"?   Ha ha ha!  You're an idiot, Commissioner Lairmore!  And if I'm wrong and you ain't an idiot, maybe you are just wanting to set up a system where you and Ronnie can direct more tire business to Ronnie's brother Don over at Jost Tire Company?   Hmmmm?
5. Oh, and we won't be bidding out the other miscellaneous things like labor rates for changing tires and doing other assorted things, batteries, parts, etc.  No, Jerry says we can just "trust" the tire vendors to treat the county right on all of these charges.

Now, none of the specifics of this new "Jerry Lairmore County Tire Purchasing Program" have been written up over at "Cheap News LIVE".  Have you ever wondered why "Cheap News LIVE" never challenges any of the screwball, preposterous stuff that Lairmore and Jost do?  I mean ol' Jeffy Pooh is supposed to have a top-notch news organization over there!  Just ask him or Hank Vonk!  Ha ha ha!  (Sure hope you boys at CNL are readin' this!)

And no mention at "Cheap News LIVE" about the specific and highly rational objections which both Commissioner Penning and citizen watchdog "Mike" Jacquin raised!  No mention that non-state bid tire specs should be bid out since they aren't on the state list.  No mention that labor represents a significant portion of the county's tire and tire services cost and therefore the labor rates should be competitively bid.  No mention that Chuck Lewis of Central Tire Comapny has been providing tire casing credits to the county for the past year and that Jost Tire Company on the otherhand has NEVER given the county a tire casing credit.  No, NEVER!

"Cheap News LIVE" didn't report to their readers that it was a glaring "conflict of interest" for Presiding Commissioner Jost to second Jerry Lairmore's motion to adopt the new "Jerry Lairmore County Tire Purchasing Program" vs. competitively bidding the contract as the county has done for years and years.  "Cheap News LIVE" didn't report that it was a glaring "conflict of interest" for Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost to vote affirmatively on a motion which will have the resultant effect of directing more tire and tire services business to Jost Tire Company which is owned by Don Jost who is Ron Jost's brother.  My understanding is that Ron Jost is still employed by Jost Tire Company on a part-time basis, but I suppose I could be wrong.  Maybe Mr. Noedel is not aware of these things.  But how could that possibly be?  Mr. Noedel afterall proclaims himself to be a great journalist and his company a great news organization!  Maybe Mr. Noedel doesn't understand what constitutes a "conflict of interest".  Or .......... maybe Mr. Noedel is somehow being influenced to "look the other way"!  Surely not?  That wouldn't meet the high standards of journalistic ethical behavior now would it?

Be sure to stay tuned for Part II: Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost's Conflict of Interest and Unethical Actions.  In this article, I will explain in no uncertain terms exactly which Missouri statute(s) Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost violated in this week's County Commissioner Meeting.  And I will also explain that what Jost and Lairmore are doing with respect to the county's tire contract is unethical and not in the best interests of the county taxpayers.  This will be stuff you will never see reported over at "Cheap News LIVE".

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