South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Sunset Hills citizen asks mayor to resign ‘for the good of our city’

To the editor:

This is an open letter to Sunset Hills Mayor Mark Furrer:

Mr. Mayor, you have seen fit to limit public criticism about your service to our city. You have gone so far as to adjourn a public meeting before allowing invited citizens to express their concerns about how you are handling city operations.

Therefore, we will use the public media to express our concerns to you and inform all citizens about ongoing errors in your administration.

Many people felt wronged by your single-purpose write-in campaign aimed to benefit a small part of our community. People in that single ward are understandably defensive of their choice of mayor. But some of those people now have learned what others knew from the beginning: The entire premise of your campaign was based on misleading, if not outright false information.

As a result of our experiences over the past months, six of seven aldermen present at a recent meeting saw reason to express a “lack of confidence” in your actions.

One early error was to ask the chief of police to resign. You do not have the authority to fire a public employee. Firing people without cause subjects the city to serious financial risk in the form of wrongful dismissal lawsuits.

To be fair to the citizens, you should have announced your civic concerns during your campaign. Surprising people after the election with suggestions about closing the Police Department caused dissension among citizens and insecurity among employees.

When mistakes are made, there must be admission and atonement for the errors. Without admission, without confession, you have created hostility, resentment and division. The only reasonable solution is to remove the point of division.

We cannot continue as a united city while witnessing demanding and derisive views of an individual seeking the advancement of his own agenda and his own vindication.

Mr. Mayor, please, sir, for the moment, forget your problems and understand our problem.

For the good of our city, please resign.

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