To the editor:

Who is really running the city of Sunset Hills?

Is it our elected officials or the hired help? I ask this because it seems that the city has taken one of its citizens, a retired business owner, to court for not having trash service. The reason is to collect the debt for the trash hauler, even though no trash service has been performed and only because the law says every homeowner must have trash service.

The city has spent more in legal fees than the debt owed to the trash hauler. This case is now in St. Louis County courts due to appeal.

All the legal fees go to City Attorney Robert E. Jones, and I’m sure he’s laughing all the way to the bank. Mr. Jones’ late father was the original author of the law, and Mr. Jones is reluctant to advise the board to rescind or amend the ordinance as it stands.

What Mr. Jones has failed to advise the board is that should any citizen cited and taken to court win in court, that citizen can sue the city for real costs, legal fees and punitive damages. This could cost the city, us the citizens, millions of dollars.

Sunset Hills’ trash ordinance is more restrictive than St. Louis County’s trash ordinance, and the city actually had the option under St. Louis County’s opt-out part of its trash ordinance to be more lenient, not more restrictive.

Also, more than 190 homeowners were sent letters in August and September 2015 and could file a class-action suit against the city should somebody win while fighting this ordinance. I would suggest that anyone reading this to call your aldermen and ask them why they are wasting your tax dollars acting as a debt collector for the trash hauler and not simply amending the ordinance?

Any homeowner who received a letter from the city about the trash ordinance please contact me, because as a group of 200 to 300 voters, we can take the city back from the hands of the hired help.

A work session of the Board of Aldermen is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, at City Hall, 3939 S. Lindbergh Blvd. Please attend it with me.