Dawn Kuhn/Cheryl Scott.........Another Debacle???

Is the City of Shawnee looking at another Cheryl Scott debacle?

According to the City of Shawnee web site Ward III Councilmember Dawn Kuhn has listed an address as 5304 Millbrook St as her residence.  Before anyone complains about privacy violations, the residence address of ALL elected officials has to be public information to verify their eligibility for their office.

That address appeared as a change from 5329 Gleason after her divorce.  That makes sense.  But, does she really live there, or is that simply a "mail drop" or "convenience" address?  (Remember when Phill Kline was appointed JoCo DA?  He was living in Topeka as Attorney General, and then when he became JoCo DA he wound up with an apartment in JoCo.  Except his wife/kids still lived in Topeka and he was constantly driving back and forth).

Anyway, back to Kuhn.  Unfortunately, Kansas law, as written, does make it easy for someone to establish residency at one address, even though they actually reside elsewhere.  When someone does that though, are they being fair to their constituents?  Anyway, does Kuhn actually live on Millbrook?

Now, let's move forward a couple of months.  It is my understanding that she has announced her engagement and is getting remarried in January.  Her fiancé owns a home in Ward IV.  Once the nuptials are over is she going to resign her Ward III seat, or, is she going to claim that she still "lives" on Millbrook?

Time will tell.  I might have to consult with the Oracle at Shawnee at Gum Springs Park for a more definitive answer.

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First Responders Summer Games Kansas Special Olympics

Come out and cheer for the Shawnee First Responders as they participate in the Summer Games for the Special Olympics.

The event is being held:


Saturday, August 3rd 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Olathe District Athletic Center
20925 W. 159th St., Olathe, KS 66062

Another Visit to the Oracle at Shawnee

On 7/19 I posted about my trip to the Oracle at Shawnee.  At that time I asked the Oracle for information about who might be getting the job of PIO in Shawnee. 

Remember, the ancient Greeks had their Oracle at Delphi, located in the Temple of Apollo. We have our Oracle at Shawnee located in Gum Springs Park.  It is from the slides of the play area that we get our visions into the future.

I recently paid another visit to the Oracle and made another inquiry.

The Oracle was asked:  "Oh great and wise Oracle do you see anything more about who will become the Public Information Officer in Shawnee?

The Oracle responded:  "The answer is in the wind, and one must look to the sky for the Sigma Pi"

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Will Shawnee Follow Olathe?

Reference is made to the post below about whether the mayor of Shawnee is planting the seed for a tax increase.

Recently, the City of Olathe made an announcement of what might be happening in their city, because of street repairs/upgrades being back burnered for so long.

I will quote Olathe's comments here, but should someone want to verify that these are the city's comments, and NOT a blogger's opinion, please go here:  http://www.olatheks.org/news/2013/07/10/council-consider-addressing-street-maintenance-funding-shortfall

Posted: July 10, 2013, 01:28:11 PM

Olathe City Manager Michael Wilkes discussed the current Olathe street funding challenge with the City Council on Tuesday and outlined why it should be addressed sooner rather than later.  Wilkes said, “The bottom line is if we don’t begin funding our street maintenance at a significantly greater level, in 10 years or less our taxpayers will be paying at least 10 to 15 times what is needed today for streets.”  “It is our responsibility to make sure we don’t create that major burden for ourselves and future tax payers if we can avoid it,” he said.

According to City staff, an additional $9.26 million per year (average) is needed to adequately fund street maintenance over the next 10 years.  Without which, the cost of repairing streets will increase exponentially and dramatically.  The City currently maintains over 1,200 lane miles valued at over $1 billion.

Wilkes indicated that the City has been investing as much general (operational) fund cash as it responsibly can in street maintenance despite making significant cuts to other operations over the past several years.  However, he cautioned that diverting enough money to cover the street maintenance shortfall would have unacceptable consequences.  Wilkes said, “Today, we are spending nearly 70% of our general fund money on transportation and public safety because that’s where our tax payers have told us they want it invested.”  He continued, “Much of the remainder of the budget goes to programs (IT, Human Resource, Finance, etc.) that serve in critical support roles, yet those are the areas that have seen the vast majority of cuts. The fact is, we simply cannot divert the revenue needed without seeing services impacted in the areas our residents say are most important.”

Wilkes said staff has been evaluating this issue for several years, and ultimately came to the conclusion that asking voters to consider a sun-setting 10-year, 3/8^th cent sales tax was the most responsible approach.   “The Council has the ability to increase the mil rate, but that rate increase only applies to our property owners, not to all the people using our streets including the many thousands who live outside Olathe,” Wilkes said.  In addition, Wilkes said he believes this is consistent with City Council direction.  “A sales tax would require voter approval, and I know the Council believes this decision would rise to the level where Olathe tax payers should have a direct voice.” 

According to Wilkes, the funding shortfall would be adequately addressed by a combination of the sales tax and the City’s continued commitment to increase general fund cash contributions to the program.  He said, “This issue will not be solved by just passing the sales tax but also by increasing City operational fund commitments and continued belt tightening.”

If approved, Olathe would join the majority of other Kansas City area larger cities that have implemented a sales tax to fully or partially fund street maintenance.  The City Council is expected to decide whether or not to bring a sales tax question to voters by August 6.

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Is The Mayor Planting Seed for Tax Increases?

The following was sent out in an email to those who have signed up for the city's email notification system and is also posted on the city's web site at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwNews/2D13837D6D4B627586257BB1007D5448?OpenDocument

At the July 22, 2013, City Council meeting, the Governing Body approved the City’s 2014 Budget with no planned property tax rate increase.

Mayor Jeff Meyers commented, “I am pleased that the 2014 Budget addresses many of the priorities identified by the 2012 Citizen Satisfaction Survey including street and sidewalk repairs, emergency management, and communicating with our residents. While we are making some progress, we must continue to explore ways to adequately fund street maintenance and programs that are most important to our Shawnee citizens. Current funding sources will not be enough for the future.”

Is the mayor laying the groundwork for future tax increases?  Is too much of the funding received from Deffenbaugh being set aside for economic development and not enough for infrastructure?  Is the city too free with TIF, CID and other "incentives" to the future detriment of the community?

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Will People Show Up?

Well, tonight, 7/22/13 is when the city council will hold a public hearing on the city's budget and then vote on it. 

The meeting starts at 7:30PM.

I wonder how many folks read the posted agenda items on the city's web site and how many will show up?

The Oracle at Shawnee

The ancient Greeks had their Oracle at Delphi, located in the Temple of Apollo.

We have our Oracle at Shawnee located in Gum Springs Park.  It is from the slides of the play area that we get our visions into the future.

Last night I inquired of the Oracle, "Oh Oracle, with all your wisdom, will the city get a new position added to city staff, that of Public Information Officer?"

And the Oracle responded, "It is an action that will happen.  The Circle of the Octagon has five points that will do the bidding of the tiny one.  The tiny one wields a sword that turns its masters into mere  vassals and makes the vassal the master."

At that I then asked the Oracle, "Oh Oracle, I beseech thee, and who shall be given this new lofty position?"

To this the Oracle then responded, "I see in the mist a man walking towards a chair so inscribed PIO.  A nice man, and one who is familiar.  One who has occupied another chair in the House of Shawnee, but had left it for another Kingdom.  One who has returned to the House of Shawnee, but to occupy a smaller chair, awaiting the loftier one."

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Ghost Writers in Shawnee KS

One of the city manager's arguments to create a public information officer position in the city was to have one person write letters and speeches for the mayor.  Right now she and other members of her office do that.  Gee, the mayor is an educator, coach and mayor.  He can't handle his own?

       Speeches/Letters – every day the mayor gets a letter from some person, sometimes a very interesting letter. We want to respond back. Right now we divvy those out – Avy? does some, I do some, Vickie does some, Candy does some, and it would really be nice to have someone who could manage all those and make sure people get responded-to/communicated-with.

o   Yesterday, the Bayer event, I spent 2 hours of my day drafting the Mayor’s comments for that. He was in a meeting on the Nieman rood corridor, Vickie’s in a human resources meeting. It was fine. It’s what I did. It takes my time to do that too.

o   So, again, it would be really nice to have someone who had the skill set, who had great writing skills, who had the message and story of Shawnee to take on those responsibilities.

Stay tuned for "Shawnee Ray's Crystal Ball"  Going on the premise that the city manager will get the PIO position approved, I'm gonna take a shot at guessing who will get the job.

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Isn't She Lovely...............NOT

Any long term reader of this blog, or attendee at Shawnee City Council Meetings knows about council member Dawn Kuhn's penchant for long winded diatribes.

If something can be said in 2 minutes, she'll take five. If it can be said in five, she'll take fifteen. Ironically, she is the first to complain about other people wasting council time. A review of full minutes and/or audio files would show exactly what percentage of "talk time" she takes. On top of that, she has on many occasions complained about the lack of civility on the council. Yet, IMHO she can be one of the most uncivil of the members. She tries to do it with molasses, sometimes, but can't hide it. Other times she is just uncivil straight up.





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Jeff Vaught is Against Open Government

At the 6/18/13 council committee the item came up regarding the possibility of council members getting tablets and whether or not they should be city owned or should the council members get an allowance to provide their own.

Jeff Vaught apparently would rather have an allowance. Listen to him as he explains why he would rather have an allowance. And this coming from a man who in his campaign literature said he was a "patriot". Vaught's statement clearly indicates he is against open government. See and hear it for yourself.

If you are going to conduct city business on a tablet/iPad be prepared for the info being made available to the public.  Or, what does Jeff Vaught want to hide? 
"I would just say, I would like to, um, and if we do something I would rather have an allowance than the city would provide us and that’s because you know when we say ipad I’d rather say tablet because I would rather have an android device than an ipad but, and then also because it’s something that I would rather own myself and not be subject to the requests that, you know, give it up because someone else wants to see what’s on it because it’s a city owned device. Unfortunate(ly) I think there’s certain people that would make it their hobby to request that letter every two months to see what’s on their devices so, I think I would rather have an allowance."

 

 

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Be Careful With Cigarette Butts

Saturday morning I flew back to KCI after spending a week with my kids and grandkids on the UP of Michigan.  Beautiful country.  Highs in the 70's and lows at night 40's - 50's. 

Anyway, as I'm deplaning I turn my cell phone back on, and just as I approach bag claim the voice mail tone comes on. I look at the screen and it's from the apartment complex I live at.  Hmmmm, well I listen to the VM.  Apparently at around 2:15AM someone tossed a lit cigarette on my balcony.  Whether it came from a careless smoker on another balcony or one walking by flipping it in the air, it started a fire on the balcony.  Fortunately somebody saw the flames, called the FD and they responded rather quickly.  So quickly, that the only damage was to the balcony.  No structural or interior damage occurred.  And, more importantly no people were hurt.

A big thank you to the crew from station 71.  You folks are good

Carelessly disposing of cigarette butts can be disastrous whether it's a single family or multi family structure.  A wooden deck on a single family unit can go up in flames just as easily.

Folks, if you're going to smoke outside on a deck, patio, balcony or whatever, have a coffee can filled with either water or sand, and use it.




WARNING!!!!!!  The City Manager of Shawnee has determined that local bloggers post items that may contain bad or misinformation.  Please read these posts with care and determine for yourself whether the information is valid.
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