WENTZVILLE • The Board of Aldermen is looking into whether Mayor Paul Lambi mixed official duties with his role as chief executive officer of a private consulting firm.

At issue is an unsuccessful attempt last year by the firm, Winning Endeavors, to get St. Louis-based Ranken Technical College to donate to a student mentoring initiative that the firm has been promoting.

Ranken later negotiated with the city to establish a satellite campus in Wentzville with help from a city subsidy.

Lambi, whose mayoral position is part time, said he and his company did nothing improper and that Winning Endeavors never sought consulting business from Ranken. He said Winning Endeavors merely suggested that Ranken and city officials talk with one another about the satellite idea.

"There was no financial involvement" between Winning Endeavors and Ranken, he said.

Ed Watkins, president of Winning Endeavors, added that Ranken's negotiations with the city began only after Ranken turned down Winning Endeavors' mentoring initiative. Stan Shoun, Ranken's president, also said that was the case.

Alderman Nick Guccione said the Board of Aldermen has been discussing some board members' concerns about whether Lambi acted properly.

Guccione wouldn't elaborate but said he would urge the board to publicly disclose the outcome of those closed-door discussions.

A city source said the board has hired a law firm to assist.

Meanwhile, Lambi also has retained an attorney, Chet Pleban, to respond to the board's inquiry. Among the issues Pleban said he's looking into is the board's decision last month to spend tax money "on what essentially is a no-bid type of deal" to attract Ranken to the city.

Leon Tow, the board's acting president, said he doesn't think the city is required to seek bids in such a situation.

Shoun, the Ranken president, said Watkins visited his office last spring or in the early summer about participating in the mentoring program.

"They were looking for colleges and universities to pledge $5,000, if I recall," Shoun said. "We declined because we have our own initiative. It was a nonstarter."

During the conversation, Shoun said, the idea of expansion for Ranken came up and Wentzville was mentioned as a possible site. In September, Watkins said, he helped arrange a tour of Ranken by Lambi and aldermen.

Negotiations between Ranken and city officials followed, Shoun said. He said the city was represented by Larry Tucker, the city's business development manager. Those talks led to an agreement approved Jan. 25 by aldermen and expected to be endorsed by Ranken's board.

The agreement calls for the city to spend as much as $360,000 over the next three years to help Ranken develop the satellite facility, although city officials hope to get private donors to cover some of the cost.

Regarding the mentoring program, Watkins said the donations go to a company related to Winning Endeavors to train people who volunteer to serve as coaches for students. He accused some aldermen of engaging in "a political witch hunt" aimed at Lambi, who announced in December he wouldn't seek a fifth term as mayor in the April 3 election.

Guccione and Tow are among four candidates for the job. The others are former Mayor Darrel Lackey and former Alderman Bill Schuette. Lambi said his decision had nothing to do with Ranken.