Board of Aldermen Hear LINC Funding Plea, Plan to Hire New Police Chief

During Wednesday night’s Board of Aldermen meeting, representatives from Love Incorporated (LINC) urged the board to provide the charitable organization with funding so they can remain open.

LINC is a non-profit that helps families in need who do not qualify for government subsidies. Among other services, LINC helps families find jobs, provides child care and offers classes to bring families out of their financial situation.

Kathy Thompson, Executive Director for LINC, said many of the residents that receive their assistance are single mothers.

Though the organization receives funding through a few state-wide and county-wide programs, Thompson said, the organization does not have enough money to keep providing their services to the community.

LINC relies heavily on the Indigent Fund which faced significant cuts from St. Charles County’s budget this year. Last year, LINC received $40,000 from the fund, but now the organization will only receive $3,500.

Mayor Paul Lambi said he believes keeping LINC open will help Wentzville in the long run.

“Because they do provide so many services to so many other 501(c)(3) organizations in the community, they’re an added value benefit,” Lambi said. “So, I think the money spent there saves us seven dollars or more in suffering down the road.”

Supporters of LINC said that not helping the organization would save the city money in the short term, but the city would be spending more for public services in the future. Thompson said refusing to help would be "penny wise and pound foolish."

Most of the aldermen agreed that something must be done to help LINC, but many feared other non-profits facing hard time would want assistance as well.

Ward 3 Alderman Rick Stokes said the board would find it difficult to choose which charitable organizations would receive funding and which would not.

Mayor Paul Lambi proposed that the board provide funding to LINC for three months as part of a contract, which would give the aldermen time to find a permanent solution.

Ward 1 Alderman Leon Tow said it is important that the board find out if it has the legal authority to entering into a contract with LINC.

“Before we start talking about ‘Ok, let’s do this much or that much,’ we better first need to find out whether we can actually do it,” Tow said. “We get people’s hopes up and then ‘Well, we really couldn’t do that, we were just kidding.’ That’s not good. That’s why I want legal counsel to look at it beforehand.”

The city attorney will make sure such a contract with LINC is legal before the board discusses any further action.

Many residents packed the meeting to show support for LINC, including County District 1 Representative Joe Cronin.

The Search for a New Wentzville Police Chief

The Board of Aldermen also discussed allowing the Missouri Chiefs of Police Association to help select a new police chief. Wentzville Police Chief Robert Noonan plans to retire this coming November. Noonan has been police chief for 14 years.

The association would help the city notify police departments around the state of the job opening as well as run candidates through a rigorous testing process. The association would charge the city $7,500 for their services.

Noonan said such an offer is fairly low compared to private agencies.

“Professional job placement agencies generally charge anywhere from 30 percent of the salary of the individual: ten, twenty, thirty thousand dollars for the position,” Noonan said. “This is a flat rate of $7,500, so it’s easy to deduce that you are going to save a minimum of $2,500 up to perhaps $25,000.”

Ward 2 Alderman Vann Sample was absent from the meeting due to surgery.