Frederick “Rick” Sudekum

Education and legal career

I attended local parochial schools in St. Louis and graduated from De Smet Jesuit High School in 1973. I earned a Bachelor of Science in political science from the University of Missouri–Columbia in 1977, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. I received my law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1980.

From 1979 to 1980, I served as an intern to the Honorable James A. Pudlowski of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, and then as his law clerk from 1980 to 1981. I entered private practice in 1981 with Epton, Mullin, Segal and Druth. In 1993, I became a founding member and senior partner of Sudekum, Rosenberg and Cassidy, Chtd., now known as Sudekum, Cassidy & Shulruff, Chtd.

Forty-two years of reading the fine print

I spent my career as an attorney, most of it in contract and commercial disputes. I drafted and dissected agreements, tried cases in front of juries, and mediated conflicts where both sides had good arguments and real money at stake. That work teaches a specific discipline: read everything, separate what is proven from what is asserted, and be honest about the weakest part of your own position.

It also teaches you what happens when the details are wrong. Language nobody re-read, an assumption nobody tested, a deadline nobody tracked — those are the things that turn a reasonable plan into an expensive problem. Municipal decisions carry the same risk, and the public pays for it.

Family

My wife, Meg, and I have three children and two grandchildren. Our daughter Lauren and her husband, David Painter, live in Geneva, Switzerland, with our grandchildren, William and Sheridan. Our son Bobby and his wife, Demi Skipper, live in Amsterdam. Our son Johnny and his wife, Erica Gardner, live in Longmont.

Public service in Avon

I serve as a co-chair of the Avon Planning and Zoning Commission. It is unglamorous, detailed work: land-use applications, design review, code standards, and public hearings where neighbors show up because a decision affects the street they live on. I read the staff reports and the applications, ask questions in the open, and explain my vote on the record.

That role has given me a working knowledge of how Avon’s code, its review process, and its housing and development goals actually interact — not in theory, but in the specific applications that come across the dais.

I also give time to local nonprofit and community work. It is the fastest way to learn what residents, workers, and small business owners are actually dealing with, which is not always what shows up in a staff memo.

How I make decisions

I listen carefully, study the facts, and ask hard questions before I take a position — and once I take one, I explain it. I would rather change my mind in public because the evidence moved than defend a decision I can no longer justify. I am interested in practical outcomes: did this project deliver what we said it would, at the cost we said it would, for the people we said it would serve?

I am not running to fight with anyone. Council work takes a majority, and a majority takes colleagues who trust that you argued in good faith. I can disagree with someone at 6 p.m. and work with them at 9 a.m.

Why the Town Council, and why now

Avon is making decisions in the next four years that will be difficult to unwind: how much housing gets built and who it serves, how public money is committed to long-lived projects, how the town core functions, and how we handle growth in a valley with limited room. Those decisions reward preparation, patience, and candor. That is the contribution I can make.

If you want to know where I stand on something specific, ask me directly — call or text 312-925-2831.