Longtime Grantwood Trustee Frustrated Over Ouster

For Will Larson and Walter Rust, the April 3 Board of Trustees election was a chance to bring their ideas about a long-term street repair plan to the board. But current board chairwoman Cathy Forand says she feels the election was a frustrating repudiation of her 22 years of service to the small municipality.

“They elected two people who don’t have a clue what’s going on at all. And unfortunately the board members that are left don’t have a lot of years on the board and they are still learning their jobs,” Forand told Patch in an interview. “I hope it turns out okay, but I don’t think anyone realizes the amount of time and work and effort that I put into it. It was 24/7 for me, like a full time job.”

With 167 votes, Cathy Forand lost the to the two newcomers in one of the largest voter turnouts in recent village history. Fellow incumbent Pat Williams, who was appointed to fill a vacant Trustee position in August and has since served as Village Clerk, also lost with 164 votes. Larson and Rust received 196 and 192 votes respectively. Bill Hypes also ran for trustee and received 31 votes.

Larson said he hopes Forand would continue to assist the board and her neighbors, perhaps as, he suggested, a sort of “consigliere,” counseling village leaders like Robert Duvall’s character in The Godfather films.

But Forand said this will not be the case.

“I’m not going to be involved. I’ve done everything I can do. I’ve been involved a long time and worked very hard at it…the people spoke and they wanted what they got now. We’ll just see what happens,” Forand said.

“I’ve given 22 years of my life to this village. Maybe now I can get my life back,” she added, crying.

Larson said he hoped Forand would reconsider, but was confident the board would be able to function.

Forand joined the board in October of 1989. She served as the board treasurer for 20 years before becoming chairwoman in 2010. An Affton High School graduate, on she listed her occupation as “housewife and mother,” but over the years she has devoted much of her time as a volunteer at local schools, churches and charitable organizations. She has one adult daughter, Katy Forand, a real estate agent who often assists in maintaining the village’s online presence. Both Forand women blog on Affton-Shrewsbury Patch (, ). Cathy Forand’s husband Joseph is a doctor who has served as the village’s budget director. They have lived in the village for 28 years.

Larson works as a financial advisor at Wells Fargo and said he was asked by neighbors to run a couple years ago. He and his wife have lived in the village five years and have a nine month old son Collin. Larson said his home in Grantwood will be the last house he’ll ever buy.

“When you move into Grantwood Village, you kind of realize that you are here for the duration,” he said, adding that he thinks the municipality of one of St. Louis’ best kept secrets.

Rust has lived in the village for 25 years and first ran for trustee two decades ago. He lost that election, and he said he has since volunteered several times to fill board positions that have opened up, also attending board meetings throughout the years.

“After 20 years of trying to get on, it’s exciting to finally make it,” Rust said.

Rust and Walter met at a board meeting and decided to campaign for election together. One central issue on their minds has been ensuring that the village will be able to afford new streets as its roads come to the end of their predicted lifespan.

“I saw St. George disincorporate because they couldn’t afford their streets,” Larson said. “Our streets are in bad straights. We’ve got to start saving up the money for some major street repair.”

During the campaign, however, Forand argued that the village was well prepared for such eventualities.

“We are the most financially sound we have ever been,” she wrote in her questionnaire on Patch, calling the criticisms about the road situation misunderstandings and mistruths. “We do have a long term streets program, which includes an improved spec based on St. Louis County specs with input from three professional engineers (all done at NO cost to the Village). In 2011, we completed the single largest road repair project and have a plan in place through the 2014 fiscal year.”

The new members of the Grantwood Village Board of Trustees will be sworn in on Tuesday.