Politics & Government
Alderman Candidate Profile: George Rich
The retired Boeing engineer and current alderman incumbent tells of his potential plans for Lake Saint Louis.
George Rich ran for alderman in 2009 due to his family's inspiration. "My grandchildren challenged me to quit complaining and do something to make things better," he explained in an email correspondence with Patch. "So I ran for alderman."
He won the election and is running again this year for Ward III against newcomer Charles Koviak.
Rich is a retired Boeing engineer who moved to Lake Saint Louis in 1997. He was president of the Hazelwood School District PTA as well as director of his Lake Saint Louis neighborhood's home owners association. Rich also served on the city Parks Board and was a member of the Veteran's Memorial Park committee.
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He described the campaign for his ward as ". . . very civil and focused on helping the city." Rich said he learned a lot in his first two years in office. "I found it surprisingly hard to make any changes," he said, citing budget estimates, tight deadlines for budget approvals and the need to study required state law accounts as reasons for the large learning curve.
Now, Rich said, "I have another complete budget cycle under my belt and I want to again try to make a difference."
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When asked what he feels are important issues facing Lake Saint Louis today, Rich said, "We have half a dozen storm water problems that the city has known about for some time. But we don't have the money to fix these, leaving homes, yards and streets flooded during heavy rains."
Rich wants to repair city streets and eliminate the stigma against Lake Saint Louis that it is "business unfriendly" and unsuccessful in attracting new businesses. Rich also said, "We must continue to work on our reputation to hold on to businesses in this severe recession. Given all our needs, we must constantly fight to keep real estate taxes low and avoid hurting our fixed income citizens."
If elected, Rich plans on reviewing and approving the next year's budget first and foremost. Besides bringing new business to the city and repairing roads, he would also like to extend Page Ave to I-64.