Willard MO mayor speaks out after vote of "no confidence"

Jamie Schoolcraft has served the position for almost four years.

December 30, 2010|Jay Scherder | jscherder@ky3.com

WILLARD, Mo -- The mayor of Willard is speaking out after the Board of Alderman gave him a vote of no confidence on December 28. Jamie Schoolcraft says he is being used as a scapegoat after the state auditor found problems with the way finances were being handled.

It's been a roller coaster for the past year, but regardless of the vote Schoolcraft says he's moving forward and finishing the job he started. In April 2011, Mayor Jamie Schoolcraft's term will come to an end. "It's been the blame game and do personal attacks as opposed to address what we need to be addressing from the audit," Schoolcraft said.

Whether or not his term will end on a high note is yet to be seen. "The no confidence vote does nothing. It does nothing except create more hostility in the board," he said. On December 28, the Willard Board of Alderman called a meeting. "We had an emergency meeting not to review the audit, but to point fingers," Schoolcraft said.

They handed down a 4 to 1 "no confidence" vote on Mayor Schoolcraft. "They've been coming straight after me for the last year, so it's nothing new." Alderman Bryan Vincent says Schoolcraft hasn't been doing his job and even stated that he didn't have time for the position anymore in a letter to the editor in the local paper.

"He missed a fundraiser and he missed a bank grand opening. So i'm concerned he doesn't have the time as he stated in the letter to the editor," Vincent said. Schoolcraft sees it differently, saying instead of focusing on what needs to get done the board has been more concerned about getting rid of him.

"I mean, there's quite a few things in the audit we should be addressing," Schoolcraft said, "anything from our accounting procedures to the way we do budgets." Schoolcraft also points out that the board itself is far from stable. "They're on their fourth board president this year already, which normally you only have one per term."

Regardless of the vote and the troubles with the board, Schoolcraft says now is not the time to point fingers but to get things done. "My goals for the next three months are to work on our responses to the audits and get things ready for the spring." He doesn't want to let politics get in the way of progress.

"It's just non stop personal attacks as opposed to working on what we are elected to do, which is make the city a better place."

One of the issues of the audit was the $3 million swimming pool and the lack of funding for operating costs. Schoolcraft wanted to point out that he never had a vote on that funding and he still believes it was a good addition to the community.

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