WOOD RIVER – Councilman Bill Dettmers has issued a statement in response to the recently scheduled special meeting of the Wood River City Council to consider changing the requirements to call for a special meeting.
As previously reported on Riverbender.com, Mayor Tom Stalcup called for a special meeting this Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 5 p.m. to consider amending the City Code section regarding meetings. The amendment would raise the number of council members needed to submit written requests for a special meeting from two to three.
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In response to these developments, Dettmers has issued the following statement:
“The reason why Mayor Stalcup called this Special Meeting can only be explained as an attempt to deny Councilmember David ‘Doc’ Ayres and my request for a Special City Council Meeting on Monday, March 10, at 7 p.m. The purpose of our requested Special City Council Meeting is to schedule a hearing for the purpose of termination of City Manager Steve Palen’s employment contract for repeated failures to perform the duties of his position.
“Over the past several months there have been egregious failures by Mr. Palen concerning alteration of a TIF agreement without City Council approval, payments to developers that were in default of their TIF agreements, failure to provide written consent for the transfer of TIF and real estate agreements to third parties, failure to provide oversight of subordinates to assure compliance and conformity with city ordinances and agreements, and more.
“At the last meeting, a businessman who decided against moving his business to Wood River spoke about his experience of practices and dealings with Mr. Palen and others from the city and individuals connected to the TIF program. His experience raises serious questions about the TIF program. There should be a serious investigation into his claims and answers given why the City Council removed TIF agreement provisions to stop wasteful spending designed to protect the taxpayers and instead promised developers our tax dollars without any restrictions. This should be a matter of great concern to all residents of the City of Wood River.”
This comes one day after Mayor Stalcup called for the special meeting to amend special meeting requirements and three days after Ayres called for the special meeting to remove Palen from his City Manager position.
The meeting concerning Palen is set for Monday, March 10, which marks two weeks since Mayor Stalcup and Councilmen Jeremy Plank and Scott Tweedy prevented a quorum at a Feb. 28 special meeting called by Dettmers and Ayres to discuss a forensic audit and independent investigation into alleged mismanagement by city officials.
The special meeting to amend special meeting requirements is set for this Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 5 p.m. Follow the discussion and vote on the proposed amendment live on Riverbender.com/video/live.
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