Some peodple have asked me what it was that I said Monday night when addressing those three budget items.
So here goes. Oh, for the record, I have not timed it to see how long it will take to read. :-) :-)
1. Wonderscope: This is easy. They get a $10k subsidy from the city. Their financials would indicate they don't need it. The money comes from a tourism tax, and could be used for Old Shawnee Town. duhhhhhhhhh
2. School Crossing Guards: For this commentary I will use rounded off numbers. The city does not have to pay for them, but has been doing so for many years. The budgeted amount for 2010 was approximately $130K. Because of reduced traffic volume in certain locations, that amount is being changed to $90K for 2011 as some locations no longer qualify for a guard. The school district was approached with some options (mostly volunteers and/or the AAA program) and they shot it down. It's time that the district took over this item. My suggestion was for the amount for 2011 to be cut to $45K. The guards would be paid for by the city until 12/31/10 under the 2010 budget and until 6/30/11 under my proposal. This then gives the district almost a year to formulate a plan (volunteer, paid or a combination), to taking over their just responsibility beginning the fall of 2011. After that, there would be no city funding of this item.
3. Council Travel: This is an area that needs to be looked at closer.
From 3/2009 to 3/2010 Mickey Sandifer took 3 trips at a cost in excess of $7K. At the NLC conference in DC 3/10 he stayed the longest and spent the most of any member of the city delegation (which had four people). My comment/question was could we have done just as well with only the city manager and the mayor(who were there for two days)? And couldn't councilmembers Sandifer & Kuhn have stayed home?. These two cost the city over $5.5K for their participation.
A recent trip to Vegas has already been covered in a previous blog post (scroll down).
There are two more NLC events coming up. One is in September in Philadelphia and the other begins Nov 30 in Denver. I asked who on the council was planning on attending. Only one council member raised their hand, for the Denver trip. If any others are planning why didn't they raise their hands? Hiding it folks? It will now be interesting to see who else goes, and tried to ignore the question.
Here's something that I didn't bring up at the meeting: Going forward, I think it would be a good idea for the city to post on its website any projected/planned travel for members of the governing body (mayor and council). The info would include who is going, where, when, projected costs (per person), reason and perceived benefits to the city. The city could create a "Governing Body Travel Calendar" page. Let the public know ahead of time (45-60days) where they are planning to go to represent the city and for what reason.
If you would like to email the mayor or any member of the city council regarding the above, their email addresses can be found at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwContent/GoverningBody?OpenDocument
And, if you want, include me as a cc recipient: shawneeray@gmail.com
