To Tax or Not To Tax

At the upcoming City Council Committee meeting (Tue 6/17/14 at 7:00PM) one of the items to be discussed will be whether or not to put a sales tax increase on the November ballot.  And, if that is done, what amount to place on the ballot, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 and one suggestion has even been made to make it 1/2%.  The purpose of this tax increase is to fund street repairs (which are needed).  This meeting is open to the public.


There is more information about this at :
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2014/jun/08/deadline-approaching-shawnee-decide-ballot-questio/


What really, really upsets me though is this.  Last year certain senior city officials were "dancing in the street" that there was no tax increase for 2014.  This situation with the streets has to have been known for years.  Now we are being asked to look at substantial sales tax increases, because, among other things, as we go forward, costs will increase as each year goes by.  Well, why wasn't a tax increase brought up 2, 3, 4 years ago?  When construction prices would have been lower, maybe we could have gotten by with 1/16%.  And, if we had started 2-4 years ago the future cost increases of construction would have been less.  Personally, I feel that certain senior officials of the city have been negligent in not pursuing this earlier, at lower amounts. 


I hope they enjoyed their previous "dancing in the street".  You can see more background on this by going to :
http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2013/09/shawnee-open-wide-and-say-ahhhhhhhhhhh.html


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.

John Rubin Fights for What is Right

Shawnee's own State Rep John Rubin recently initiated and saw passed two new laws which were signed by the governor.


One of these was to enable insurance for autistic children so that they could eventually be mainstreamed and become active members of the community.  The other one was to make available affidavits that are used to obtain search warrants.


Complete information on these items is available at http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2014/may/21/rep-rubin-looks-back-productive-legislative-sessio/


If you read the above you'll see why we are fortunate to have John Rubin represent us in Topeka.

Jim Neighbor is Unfair And Heavy Handed

At Tuesday's (5/20/14) council committee meeting Councilmember Jim Neighbor again displayed his incompetence in fairly conducting a meeting.


As council president he is also chairman of the committee.  Basically, what happened is that he allowed Jeff (the arrogant one) Vaught to make comments concerning other members of the council, but when Council Member Mike Kemmling went to defend himself and set the record straight Neighbor gaveled him down.  The comments are too lengthy and involved for me to post here, but one can listen to the video on the city's web site (provided they haven't been edited).


This is not the first time that Neighbor has done this.  In reality if anybody needed to be gaveled down it was Vaught. What is the problem?  Is Neighbor scared of Vaught?  Does he have a Napoleonic Complex?  Is someone pulling his strings? 


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.

Ward IV Gets into CERT Training

On Saturday, May 3, 2014 three individuals from Ward IV took the first of three classes for CERT (Community Emergency Response Training).  Who are these folks?  Well, one is yours truly, and the other two are the Ward IV councilmembers, Mickey Sandifer and Michelle Distler.  As a side note, the three of us are also graduates of the Shawnee Citizen's Police Academy (Distler 2011, Sandifer 2013 and me, 2012).  CERT volunteers are trained to assist the professional responders in major emergency situations (tornadoes, floods, major fires, search and rescue, etc).

Part III of Potential Revitalization of Westbrooke Village Shopping Center

Well, this past Monday night the council voted to move forward with a plan to revitalize Westbrooke Village Shopping Center.


Something definitely needs to be done.  A big box retailer is good if and that is a big if, it can draw from outside of Shawnee.  If all it does is cannibalize existing businesses, then it does not do the city any good.


Anyway, I'm not going to go into total detail here tonight.  The Shawnee Dispatch pretty much covered the high points here:  http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2014/apr/29/plan-bring-big-box-retailer-westbrooke-village-mov/


Pay close attention to Councilmember Sawyer's comments.  There is a certain validity to them


I'll have more later on.
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.

Part II of Potential Revitalization of Westbrooke Village Shopping Center

On Monday, 4/28/14 the city council will consider a plan for the revitalization of the Westbrooke Village Shopping Center at 75th St & Quivira.


The council committee had voted to forward this item to the council with no recommendation.


The center needs to be revitalized.  No doubt about that.  Is the plan that is proposed though the right one?  There appear to be, IMHO both positives and negatives to that plan, both of which I intend to address at the council meeting Monday night.


Read the info contained in the agenda with documentation at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/Meetings/AGENDAS.NSF/vwNews/AB7FAF45254F5FE886257CC40073F11B/$FILE/City_Council_2014_4_28_Agenda_with_Supporting_Documentation.pdf


If you feel that you would like to comment on this item, show up Monday night and let your opinions be heard.


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.

City Council Leadership Positions

At last Monday's city council meeting (4/14/14), two positions were voted on and approved:


Jim Neighbor as council president (a big mistake in my book)


Stephanie Meyer as vice chairman of the council committee


These terms are for one year.

Making A Tragedy Even Worse

Very seldom do I use this blog to discuss anything not related to Shawnee, KS.


Today is one of those days.  The recent killings at the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom were a dastardly event, perpetrated by a hate filled sociopath.  Many folks, much more eloquent than I can ever hope to be have already expressed sympathy to the families involved.  Let me just add my wishes and prayers, that the three victims be allowed to rest in peace.


How can the tragedy be even worse?  It appears that members of Topeka's infamous Westboro Baptist Church have plans to picket the funerals tomorrow of Dr. William Corporon and his 14 year old grandson Reat Underwood.  We have for too long put up with the hate filled picketing of this group.  Ironically, when their founder Fred Phelps passed a few weeks ago the family asked to be able to grieve privately.  True hypocrites.


It is my understanding that many teenagers, some who were classmates of the young Mr. Underwood, are planning on gathering at the funeral to shield the family from the despicable display of the WBC.


Regardless of your religious beliefs, I ask that all of you say some sort of prayer, that the young people shielding those families tomorrow are successful in their endeavor and that the families may be allowed peaceful bereavement.

Tonight's City Council Leadership Elections

Tonight the city council will elect a new council president and a vice-chairman of the council committee.


Jeff  "the Arrogant One" Vaught would probably love to be elected council president so he can use that in his campaign when he runs at the end of this year for mayor.  Walking around, beating his chest and announcing "I am currently council president".


I sincerely hope the council does not bestow this honor on him for the following two reasons:


1.  FACT:  When the council was considering restoring full minutes (which they did do) he vehemently opposed that.  If he had been successful, full and complete written documentation of council meetings would not have been restored, depriving the citizenry of true open government.
2.  FACT:  When Policy Statement 7 was last being reviewed, and changed, Vaught was strongly in favor of limiting citizen comments at meetings.  Fortunately others didn't see it that way.


Ironically, in the last election he referred to himself as a patriot.  What a joke.


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.

Leader or Tyrant

At last Tuesday's (4/8/14) council committee meeting, council president Jim Neighbor gaveled down a citizen (Ernie Straub III) and another council member (Neal Sawyer).  I personally felt his actions were reprehensible, so I sent him an email.  Naturally, he did not respond to the email. Could it be because his ghostwriter was unavailable.  We do know who usually writes his emails for him.


Anyway, here is what I sent:


Jim,


You really surprised me last night when you gaveled down Ernie Straub III when he came up to speak.  You said he was not to get into personalities with Jeff Vaught. 


Well guess what?  He wasn’t engaging in personalities.  If you listened to what he said he was refuting a statement that Vaught made.  Vaught had indicated that he had spoken with folks in the affected area and knew what they wanted.  Mr. Straub wanted to point out that the comment did not seem credible as Vaught never knocked on his door.  The development that Mr Straub lives in has very few residents.  Which ones did Vaught talk to?  That is NOT engaging in personalities.  That is presenting a counter argument.  Are council members going to be permitted to make statements and not have them challenged because that would be “engaging in personalities”?  Are council members going to be permitted to use the dais as a shield to protect them from being held accountable for their statements?  Are statements made by councilmembers supposed to be taken as gospel truth? 


I find your actions last night to be the height of rudeness towards a member of the community.  And then you top that off by gaveling down council member Sawyer because he was trying to make an analogy about other types of spending.


IMHO, you owe both gentlemen an apology.  And a public one at that.


Ray


You can listen to the audio portion of the meeting to hear what transpired, but to simplify things I have had the portion that pertained to Mr. Vaught's comments already transcribed since the minutes will not be available for a few weeks.  Mr. Straub was just trying to clari\fy that he never saw Vaught in his neighborhood, never knocked on his door, and there are not that many homes in Bell Meade since they are large acreage lots:

You know, I've campaigned in Belle Meade twice, I've campaigned in those areas, uh, you know I've heard a lot of support in Bell Meade to, to get a cut through street, uh, one in particular is right where that street is going to cut through there. Um, $800,000 house looking at a field of weeds and, and, and, uh, scrub grass, um, uh, watching cars drive around the barriers and cut through there. You know, it's, it's a quality neighborhood, um, the lots in Belle Meade, I know that, I believe they changed hands here in the last couple years, uh, you know, that could be, uh, some of those lots could have been a challenge as people look at that and go well I gotta drive all the way back to up to Clare and come all the way around to get out of here. You know, maybe they would have built out faster, and, and, those aren't cheap houses so we might have had another, you know, 3, 4 million dollars worth of, of, of assessment on our tax rolls right now so when we're talking about um, you know, 90 thousand or, uh, to me those aren't huge numbers. You know one of the interesting things is we are all being real protective of excise, you know, we voted to abate the excise tax. We don't have it right now. And it's, and it's been a great tool, and because of that we have eco-commerce park with an 80 acre development, 180,000 foot building, uh, being completed right now. So, you know, I've always said from the beginning that I'm adamantly opposed to excise tax so whatever the numbers here are, I mean if I could just waive the whole thing of the excise tax due I would because I've never believed in an excise tax, I just, it's, it's, to me, it's, it's, not a tax that I like so, um, we gotta do this and if for no other reason for public safety. We have residents living there that, I mean literally, ffff, for the fire department if they come up, you know, you, you gotta, come all the way up, come all the way back up to Clare which is, when you get past 55th street there, on Clare, it becomes very narrow, um, it becomes somewhat of a dangerous road for a fast traveling fire truck and you have some blind inters, or some blind driveways, uh, you have a very skinny road, you have some very deep ditches and you know, you know,  I don't, I don't think it's um, regardless of how we got to this point, for the quality of house on Belle Meade, I don't think it's fair just to dig in and say, well, no, um, we're just going to wait until this magic moment when somebody can step up and spend this money. People have been looking at this for years, um, finally somebody's come forward who says hey I can make this happen I just need a little bit of help and, you know, whether we like it or not, I think it's something we just have to do.

So, I'm in support of it and I know the people I've talked to in the area are in support of 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.

Is It Menard's?

Last night at the council committee meeting a master development plan for the Westbrooke Shopping Center was discussed.  The development company was mentioned, but not the prospective retailer.


Is there any truth to this article from the Kansas City Business Journal?  http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2014/04/09/menards-shawnee-redevelopment-westbrooke-village.html


Now it gets interesting.

Need Info Regarding Arson Fire

On Sunday, March 30, 2014 at approximately 6:30 in the morning an arson fire occurred at the Carlyle Apartments.


If anybody has any info regarding this, please contact the Shawnee Fire Marshal, Corey Sands at (913) 742-6102


Thank you

Potential Revitalization of Westbrooke Village Shopping Center

There is a very strong possibility that the Westbrooke  Village Shopping Center at 75th & Quivira will be revitalized.
At the council committee meeting scheduled for 7:00PM on Tuesday April 8, 2014: 
Economic Development Director Andrew Nave will present information regarding a
proposed Master Developer Agreement with MDDS Development LLC for Westbrooke
Village Shopping Center at 75th and Quivira. A memo and agreement are included.
For more info on the above, please go to:  http://www.cityofshawnee.org/Meetings/AGENDAS.NSF/vwNews/022E8BD11F62F00286257CAF006C035A/$FILE/Council_Committee_2014_4_8_Agenda_with_Supporting_Documentation.pdf
This can be a major boost to Shawnee's economy.  The Westbrooke Village Shopping Center has been about 90% vacant for many years.  Yet it is the second largest center in Shawnee and one of the largest in JoCo.
Shawnee has three major east/west arteries that connect with both I-35 and I-435: Johnson Drive, Shawnee Mission Parkway and 75th Street.  The information contained in the above link appears to call for a major big box retailer to take over the northern section of the shopping center.  With access to the two interstates, a major retailer could pull from cities other than Shawnee.  The 75th St corridor at Quivira sees somewhere between 30-40,000 vehicles a day.
The potential for ancillary businesses to sprout up next to a major big box retailer can only be viewed as positive.
This could be a step in the right direction for Shawnee.
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.

Monticello Road South - Revisited

At the 3/24/14 city council meeting the Monticello Road - South project was placed on a list for the Mid America Regional Council for projects getting federal funding. Being placed on the list of submitted projects does not guarantee that it will be approved. If it is approved though it is listed for the 2018 year with federal funds of $10,960,000 with the city's match to be $2,740,00.

Let's do a quick recap about what has happened in the past. The city spent over $3 million and virtually got nothing for their money. They got some land, with homes that had to be demolished, some temporary easements for construction and a few other things. Some street lights were removed to make way for the proposed widened street. Telephone poles were moved. When residents of the area questioned whether or not an 8" high pressure natural gas pipeline would have to be relocated, many of them were met with derision and condescending comments. For those who might need something physical to understand an 8" pipeline, take a 25" belt and see how many people it would fit. Those folks could fit inside an 8" pipeline.

Anyway, the light bulb finally went off and the city negotiated the cost of relocating the pipeline. After about 1 to 1-1/2 years of negotiations it came to pass that the cost of the relocation would be $1.85 million and the city's share would be 70%, or $1.3 million. This information is available in the minutes of the 7/13/2009 council meeting minutes. That is only 4 months shy of five years ago.

Yours truly, got up last Monday and asked some general questions: like what would the cost be now? or two years from now? or five years from now? Naturally, there were no estimates given. I did make a slight error when I spoke to the council. I said my memory seemed to recall that the city's cost was going to be $1.5 million.

Now, what happend in the past? Because of the time it took the city to negotiate the cost of relocating the pipeline, the city lost its ability to come up with its share of matching funds, and lost the CARS money that would have been used for the project.

I feel the city needs to make a determination as to when they are going to begin negotiating a new cost for the relocation of the pipeline. Especially in view of how long it took last time. Additionally, the citizens of Shawnee (all of Shawnee, not just the residents in that area) need to know how much extra the city will have to pay, over and above construction costs, for the relocation of the pipeline.


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.

When Is A Change, Not A Change?

When the city manager says so....................................


At Monday's (3/24/14) city council meeting Councilmember Stephanie Meyer asked for an update on the PIO/Communication Manager position.


The city manager indicated that the position had been advertised a second time because they received apps from the first one, but not quite what they were looking for.  She indicated the 2d posting of the position had a name change, a higher starting salary, but no change in the salary range.  Huh?  No change in the salary range? 


Well, here again is the info from the two different postings:
From 11/1/2013

JOB POSTING 2013

DEPARTMENT: Administration
JOB TITLE: Public Information Officer
STARTING SALARY: Starting Salary:  $56,388 - $64,800 (DOQ)
Application Deadline: First review of resumes beginning November 15, 2013, open until filled


That posting was eventually replaced with this on 2/19/2014:

Job Posting

Position:  Communications Manager
Department:  Administration
Hiring Salary:  $60,000 - $69,000 (DOQ)
Position Open Until Filled
First review of application materials beginning March 21, 2014.


I don't know, but it sure looks like the salary range was changed.  What happens if someone is hired at the top end?  What will be the total cost of this position when you add in benefits?  Is the position really needed? 


Will the person who is ultimately hired really be straight with the citizens or will they practice city sanctioned dissemination of misinformation?





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.

Final Results - Heroes Pull

With the event scheduled for tomorrow it looks like the Shawnee City Hall Crusaders are the number one donation getter of all the teams entered:  http://heroespull.ksso.org/


Michelle Distler is number one in donations received of all the members of the team:  http://heroespull.ksso.org/2014/schcrusaders/


Michelle Distler     $2600
Stephanie Meyer        765
Maureen Rogers         615
Neal Sawyer               445
Dan Pflumm                 50
Jeff Meyers                   20
Matthew Schmitz          -0-


A big thank you to all who contributed.

PIO or Communications Mgr & How Much?

Last year, with many on the council voicing trepidation about it, a new position, Public Information Officer was created.  The stated compensation was to be about $70K and the indications were that that would include salary and benefits.


Now, fast forward from that point to 11/1/2013.  That is when the city sent out a notice announcing the Public Information Office opening:

JOB POSTING 2013

DEPARTMENT: Administration
JOB TITLE: Public Information Officer
STARTING SALARY: Starting Salary:  $56,388 - $64,800 (DOQ)
Application Deadline: First review of resumes beginning November 15, 2013, open until filled


That posting was eventually replaced with this on 2/19/2014:

Job Posting

Position:  Communications Manager
Department:  Administration
Hiring Salary:  $60,000 - $69,000 (DOQ)
Position Open Until Filled
First review of application materials beginning March 21, 2014.


It would now appear that the compensation, including salary and benefits, can very easily exceed the original amount presented to the council.  Yet, I cannot find anything that indicates the council was notified about the potential increase, nor that it approved or supported same.
During the original conversations Councilmember Neal Sawyer even made comments about how he had in the past heard items quoted at one level and then came in higher.  (side note:  that would have been very true for the costs involved if we did have a spring mail ballot for the proposed sales tax increases)


I think the council needs to look into this.


It will be interesting to see what happens when the position gets filled.  Will the individual "speak the truth" or will they provide senior city official sanctioned misinformation.  See, local bloggers and media have been accused of providing misinformation to the public.  Anybody want to see the misinformation provided by senior city officials?  Some of which has already been documented here.


The person filling this position, whatever you want to call it, is being paid with our tax dollars.
He or she BETTER provide accurate information and answers to questions.  If not, their toes will get toasty from having their feet held to the fire.


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.

Two Days Left

There are two days left (today and tomorrow, Friday) to make any donations to the 2014 Heroes Pull.  A great event, with the proceeds going to Kansas Special Olympics.  Come out on Sunday to watch these folks pull a fire truck and an armored vehicle after the St Patrick's Day parade behind Splash Cove, in the parking lot. 
More specifically:  Sunday March 16th, 2014 at 2:30 pm


All donations are tax deductible, and you may list yourself as anonymous if you wish.
Of all the teams entered, it appears that the Shawnee City Hall Crusaders are on the way to collecting the most donations for this worthy cause, again: http://heroespull.ksso.org/


It also appears that Michelle Distler is leading her team in donations collected, again:  http://heroespull.ksso.org/2014/schcrusaders/


Let's help Michelle to again lead the way, click here to donate in her name:  http://heroespull.ksso.org/2014/schcrusaders/mdistler/






There is also a Heroes in Training Pull added to the event this year, where children will be able to pull smaller vehicles. 

Next Year's Mayoral Election April 2015

Word on the street is that two currently serving city council members are gearing up to make a run for mayor at the next city election.


These would be Mickey Sandifer from Ward IV and Jeff Vaught from Ward III.


Sandifer's council seat is also up for election, whereas Vaught's seat is not.  What that means is that Sandifer has to choose between running for mayor or running for reelection.  Vaught, on the other hand can run for mayor, and even if he loses still keeps his council seat for two more years.


Probably, IMHO, one of the worst things that could ever happen to Shawnee would be for Jeff "The Arrogant One" Vaught to become mayor.  This is a man who has actually insulted 25% of Shawnee's citizens.  You ask how?  At the March 26, 2012 meeting he claimed that even though renters have property taxes included in their rent unless they have "one of these" as he held up what appeared to be a property tax receipt, that they did NOT have a stake in Shawnee.  Unfortunately, this is one of those council meetings that did not have full printed minutes, but, it is on the audio recording.  As long as that doesn't get tampered with.  Vaught has a habit of insulting citizens, fellow council members and others, and then pontificating on how folks have to get along and be more civil.


Is he in this because he wants to serve the city and its residents, or is he in this for his own personal benefit?


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.

Did You Change Your Batteries?

This past weekend we changed our clocks because of daylight savings time.


Did you remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms?  If you haven't, please do so.


A simple thing such as a battery could be the difference between life and death for you, a member of your family or a friend.


For more info please go to http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/FireCMS.nsf/vwContent/SmokeDetectors?OpenDocument