Monday At Creve Coeur City Council: The Last Meeting Before The Election

Monday night's City Council meeting was one of the shortest in recent memory, but it was not short on drama in what was the last meeting before next Tuesday's municipal election.

And it started with the opening invocation.

Ward 1 Councilman David Kreuter, leading the meeting on an interim basis due to the absence of Mayor Harold Dielmann and Council President Tara Nealey, gave the opening prayer, calling for a spirit of working together despite divisions of opinion.

Kreuter is one of several city council members who signed a letter of endorsement on behalf of Barry Glantz's campaign for Creve Coeur Mayor. in part claims that Glantz's opponent, Laura Bryant, is polarizing and not a consensus builder

Kreuter's invocation was followed by public comment, which included remarks from former Ward 3 Councilman Robert Haddenhorst. Haddenhorst was critical of . Councilwomen Charlotte D'Alfonso and Jeanne Rhoades voiced displeasure with the idea of the city holding what they felt was essentially a private party which would be paid for in part by donations from the city's business community. Haddenhorst Monday called that petty.

"Harold Dielmann was working on behalf of this city long before you moved into it and I dare say Ms. D'Alfonso before you took a breath of life on this earth," Haddenhorst said, directing his comments Rhoades and D'Alfonso.

That was followed soonafter by longtime city council observer David Caldwell, who bemoaned Haddenhorst's comments as well as what he thought was a politically-tinged invocation.

"We can't have an honest disagreement here without namecalling, calling somebody petty and so-forth, that is what's uncalled for in this room." 

"I'm not a religious person, but I pray that it will come to an end, that it will come to an end on April 3," he added.

Kreuter apologized for offending anyone with the invocation, which Councilman A.J. Wang said he provided for Kreuter, while Kreuter also suggested that people's feelings were too thin.

In all, the meeting itself lasted 35 minutes.

We'll have more on what else was discussed, including decisions impacting the city's golf course, and concerns over a possible Delmar Gardens project, later on Patch