Seven members of the Shawnee CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and the Shawnee Emergency Coordinator were there.
Monday, June 30, 2014
CERT & Flags for Freedom
On Saturday, June 28, 2014 various volunteers from across Shawnee got together to help place flags along Johnson Drive. There were boy scouts, church groups and others.
Seven members of the Shawnee CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and the Shawnee Emergency Coordinator were there.
Seven members of the Shawnee CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and the Shawnee Emergency Coordinator were there.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Upcoming Meeting - Budget and Sales Tax Increase
On 7/28/14 the city council will hold its public hearing on the new budget, starting at 7:30PM at city hall.
One of the items that will be discussed at the meeting is whether or not to put a sales tax increase on the November ballot. The council committee voted to present a 3/8 of a cent tax to the voters. This can change at the 7/28 meeting. First, the good news.......it goes to the voters to decide. The amount to be presented to the voters will be decided at the meeting.
This sales tax would be specifically directed at street maintenance, and cannot be used for anything else. Though there is a definite need for something to be done for the roads maintenance program is the 3/8 of a cent the right amount? Or, are there other options? Or a combination of options? I will voice my opinion on those questions in future posts on this blog.
What I will say now is let's look at a few situations.
Current sales tax: 8.625% with a 3/8 increase it goes to 9.0%
Sales tax at 10 Quivira: Currently 9.125% (includes a .5 CID tax) would go to 9.5%
Sales tax at Shawnee P'kwy Plaza: Currently 9.625 (includes a 1.0 TDD tax) would go to 10%
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.
One of the items that will be discussed at the meeting is whether or not to put a sales tax increase on the November ballot. The council committee voted to present a 3/8 of a cent tax to the voters. This can change at the 7/28 meeting. First, the good news.......it goes to the voters to decide. The amount to be presented to the voters will be decided at the meeting.
This sales tax would be specifically directed at street maintenance, and cannot be used for anything else. Though there is a definite need for something to be done for the roads maintenance program is the 3/8 of a cent the right amount? Or, are there other options? Or a combination of options? I will voice my opinion on those questions in future posts on this blog.
What I will say now is let's look at a few situations.
Current sales tax: 8.625% with a 3/8 increase it goes to 9.0%
Sales tax at 10 Quivira: Currently 9.125% (includes a .5 CID tax) would go to 9.5%
Sales tax at Shawnee P'kwy Plaza: Currently 9.625 (includes a 1.0 TDD tax) would go to 10%
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.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Vaught Can't or Won't Back Up Statement
With a pending vote on a sales tax increase coming up for road repairs, Jeff Vaught made a statement at last week's council meeting that 40% of the city's sales tax revenue comes from non-Shawnee residents.
On 6/18/14 I sent him an email and asked him to provide certain back up information for that statement. One would think that since he had made that statement he would have the back up info readily available.
So why hasn't he replied to my email? I'd say it was for one of two reasons:
1. He can't provide it
2. He won't provide it (doesn't feel that he has to respond to citizen inquiries)
The original blog post is at http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2014/06/can-jeff-vaught-back-up-his-statement.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.
DTJVSD
On 6/18/14 I sent him an email and asked him to provide certain back up information for that statement. One would think that since he had made that statement he would have the back up info readily available.
So why hasn't he replied to my email? I'd say it was for one of two reasons:
1. He can't provide it
2. He won't provide it (doesn't feel that he has to respond to citizen inquiries)
The original blog post is at http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2014/06/can-jeff-vaught-back-up-his-statement.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.
DTJVSD
Friday, June 20, 2014
Math for the Below Post
$65,000 x 1.25 = $81,250 (approximate total compensation, salary & benefits)
Part II of How To Get a 35% Salary Increase
Reference my post below (6/14/14) about the salary for the new Communications Manager (Public Information). Here is some additional information, which now begs the questions of did the city manager exceed the authority or the intent of the council? Read and decide for yourself. The point being that an amount equal to approximately 25% of salary has been the guideline for the value of benefits. Fortunately, we have had full minutes restored for meetings, otherwise this info would not be readily available. Some individuals (like Jeff Vaught) were against full minute restoration. I wonder why?
From the 5/21/2013 committee meeting:
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Right. Right. That’s a net number of -- as actually more of a records clerk and then a little bit of additional funding for the creation of the position. Good question.
COUNCILMEMBER SAWYER: But that includes all benefits, the retirement, the whole nine yards?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: It does. And these are round numbers, so --
(then some other stuff)
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: Well, which is probably ironic right now, because I -- when we talk about the salaries and how it goes like that, it gets so easy to get it kind of convoluted. So, can we go back to the two positions that you’re looking at in here, both the emergency manager position and the public information position?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Uh-huh.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: You know, we kind of hear a lot of talk about them and so we’re talking about whether or not they include benefits. You’re telling us they do. So, can you give me a ballpark of what the actual salary that we would pay somebody for that is? Are you saying, I mean, is it about 25 percent less? Is that what your estimate is?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Yeah. That would be my estimate. And again, I don’t know yet what kind of skills we’re going to need or what kind of person we’re going to get. You know, it might be that we have a classification position called regular part-time that 30 hours a week might be adequate if we found the right person that that’s the schedule that matched for them. So, I’ve tried to just plug a certain amount of money in there and hopefully you all -- there’s some flexibility and latitude within that, but.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: Right. I think it’s going -- it’s so easy I think when we see that number out there, you know, we get a lot of grief when we don’t include benefits, because then we say it’s not enough.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Right. Right.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: But when you do include them, somebody goes --
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: No. It absolutely is intended to include benefits.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: -- $70,000 is a lot of money. So, we’re really talking about a $45,000 probably position plus benefits that go in, potentially in there.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Give or take, right.
From the 5/21/2013 committee meeting:
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Yes. And just to clarify on the
Emergency Management position, because Terry is here and the position -- if we
were to approve that position, we would actually just replacing the Records
Clerk position that Terry would be vacating. So, that’s why that’s a lower
number.
COUNCILMEMBER PFLUMM: Well, I was wondering, well, how do
we get a public information person for 70 and an emergency management position
for 45.CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Right. Right. That’s a net number of -- as actually more of a records clerk and then a little bit of additional funding for the creation of the position. Good question.
COUNCILMEMBER SAWYER: But that includes all benefits, the retirement, the whole nine yards?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: It does. And these are round numbers, so --
(then some other stuff)
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: Well, which is probably ironic right now, because I -- when we talk about the salaries and how it goes like that, it gets so easy to get it kind of convoluted. So, can we go back to the two positions that you’re looking at in here, both the emergency manager position and the public information position?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Uh-huh.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: You know, we kind of hear a lot of talk about them and so we’re talking about whether or not they include benefits. You’re telling us they do. So, can you give me a ballpark of what the actual salary that we would pay somebody for that is? Are you saying, I mean, is it about 25 percent less? Is that what your estimate is?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Yeah. That would be my estimate. And again, I don’t know yet what kind of skills we’re going to need or what kind of person we’re going to get. You know, it might be that we have a classification position called regular part-time that 30 hours a week might be adequate if we found the right person that that’s the schedule that matched for them. So, I’ve tried to just plug a certain amount of money in there and hopefully you all -- there’s some flexibility and latitude within that, but.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: Right. I think it’s going -- it’s so easy I think when we see that number out there, you know, we get a lot of grief when we don’t include benefits, because then we say it’s not enough.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Right. Right.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: But when you do include them, somebody goes --
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: No. It absolutely is intended to include benefits.
COUNCILMEMBER KUHN: -- $70,000 is a lot of money. So, we’re really talking about a $45,000 probably position plus benefits that go in, potentially in there.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Give or take, right.
From the 3/24/2014 City Council meeting:
COUNCILMEMBER MEYER: Yeah. Thank you. I don’t want to
belabor the meeting certainly as it’s already ten o’clock. But I wondered -- I
know Carol and I have had a number of conversations about kind of where the PIO
position is, communications manager. I wondered if maybe we could get a high
level kind of evolution of what it is just for everyone’s information, because
we’ve had so many chats back and forth about it.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Yeah. And I included that in my
updates e-mail. So, just a repeat of that pretty much?
COUNCILMEMBER MEYER: Yeah. That would be good.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: As you all know we advertised and
went through a selection process. We did not find a good fit. There were plenty
of good candidates, good people, but not quite the right fit for us. So, we
have re-advertised. We did re-brand the position as a communications manager
thinking that might appeal more and describe more of what we were looking for. We
did advertise the salary a little differently. Same salary range, but we pumped
it up just to start it at 61, I think, which is within the same salary range.
Again, hoping we get a different -- a few different people looking at it and
then maybe get some good candidates that are a good fit for us. So, we are
actually meeting tomorrow to review, and according to our Human Resources
Manager Liz Crawford, we’ve got -- she thinks there’s several good folks and so
we’ll move forward. I hope that we will find someone good for that. I think
it’s an absolutely critical position for the City and I’m not willing to
compromise on the quality of the person that we’re going to hire, because
there’s good people out there and we need a good person. So, I’m hoping we’ll move
forward soon.
MAYOR MEYERS: Mr. Sawyer.
COUNCILMEMBER SAWYER: I have a question. So, we’ve opened
it up to 61 with benefits, we’re going to be over the 70 mark, right?
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Possibly. Again, I am open to,
depending on what kind of candidate we get, we may get someone who wants a
30-hour work week. And if so, it would be a prorated amount. Again, as I said
during the budget process, at that point we hadn’t even identified exactly what
skill sets we’re looking for. And now we are more certain of those. So, it
could go up, could go down. Just depends on what kind of person we get.
COUNCILMEMBER SAWYER: But with benefits we’re -- all
right. Sixty, whatever the salary is, we need to add 25 percent on it.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: About. If we hired someone at the
61.
COUNCILMEMBER SAWYER: All right. All right. Just so I
know.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Uh-huh.
COUNCILMEMBER SAWYER: So, that, you know, we need to try
to come in under, you know, at budget at least on something.
CITY MANAGER GONZALES: Well currently, and that number
was budgeted for an annual and actually we have money budgeted in ‘13 for that
position so, that we’ve never spent, and now we’re going to be April, end of
April probably before we get someone on board. So, there is budget authority to
cover that amount or even more. But that’s the target range that we’re looking
at. And hopefully we’ll find the right person, good person with that pay range.
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Can Jeff Vaught Back Up His Statement?
At last night's council committee meeting Jeff Vaught made a statement that 40% of Shawnee's sales tax revenue came from folks who don't live in Shawnee.
The point he was trying to make is that by adding a new sales tax for street maintenance, folks from outside, who use our streets, would be paying part of the repair costs. That idea by itself has merit. I just question the 40% figure. Sometimes, elected officials repeat an item often enough so folks start believing the information.
So, what do we do? We asked Jeff Vaught to provide documentation to back up his statement. Will he provide it? Can he provide it? Does it exist? We'll see. Below is the email I sent to him.
Wed 6/18/2014 5:49 PM
At last night’s council committee meeting you again stated that 40% of the sales tax money received in Shawnee was from individuals who lived outside the city. It would be nice to make folks who live outside the city contribute to street maintenance.
Since Kansas statute prohibits the city from being furnished the sales tax revenue by retailer, it seems strange that a determination can or has been made as to how much of that revenue was from individuals who shop in Shawnee but don’t live here.
2. The methodology used to determine that information.
DTJVSD
The point he was trying to make is that by adding a new sales tax for street maintenance, folks from outside, who use our streets, would be paying part of the repair costs. That idea by itself has merit. I just question the 40% figure. Sometimes, elected officials repeat an item often enough so folks start believing the information.
So, what do we do? We asked Jeff Vaught to provide documentation to back up his statement. Will he provide it? Can he provide it? Does it exist? We'll see. Below is the email I sent to him.
Wed 6/18/2014 5:49 PM
At last night’s council committee meeting you again stated that 40% of the sales tax money received in Shawnee was from individuals who lived outside the city. It would be nice to make folks who live outside the city contribute to street maintenance.
Since Kansas statute prohibits the city from being furnished the sales tax revenue by retailer, it seems strange that a determination can or has been made as to how much of that revenue was from individuals who shop in Shawnee but don’t live here.
As an elected official it is imperative that you be able to
substantiate these kinds of statements. Not just repeat them and having
folks think they are accurate.
Therefore, kindly furnish me with the following items:
1. Verifiable source document that contains that
information.2. The methodology used to determine that information.
Thank you
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.
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.
DTJVSD
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
A Piece of History
We'll make this short. A couple of weeks ago I approached the council about an old map of Johnson County that Glenn Pilcher has in his home. He has offered this map to various museums in the area, but each one of them wants to file it away as opposed to putting it on display. What a shame.
I have a suggestion as to where it can be placed, right here in Shawnee. On the wall next to the Planning Department at city hall. With the historical mural painted in the lobby it would make perfect sense.
Anyway, more information about this can be found in this article in the Dispatch
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2014/jun/09/historic-johnson-county-map-searching-home/
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.
I have a suggestion as to where it can be placed, right here in Shawnee. On the wall next to the Planning Department at city hall. With the historical mural painted in the lobby it would make perfect sense.
Anyway, more information about this can be found in this article in the Dispatch
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2014/jun/09/historic-johnson-county-map-searching-home/
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.
Monday, June 16, 2014
A Note About the Possible Sales Tax Increase
There was one thing about the original discussions on this item that really bothered me. That was Jeff (The Arrogant One) Vaught's insistence that his fellow council members all get on board in a unified position.
What bothered me is this was not the first time that he had said they must all be on board. He has said that in reference to other things. A former council member from Ward III was also notorious for making the same suggestion.
Why does this bother me? This kumbayah approach is bad. City councils, and all legislative bodies, to be effective, must have disagreements and differing opinions.
We have council members who think that disagreements on the council make the council and the city look bad. And that the council and the city only look good if everybody agrees on all subjects.
I'm reminded of a quote by Gen. George Patton: "If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."
Be at tomorrow evening's committee meeting, 7:00PM
What bothered me is this was not the first time that he had said they must all be on board. He has said that in reference to other things. A former council member from Ward III was also notorious for making the same suggestion.
Why does this bother me? This kumbayah approach is bad. City councils, and all legislative bodies, to be effective, must have disagreements and differing opinions.
We have council members who think that disagreements on the council make the council and the city look bad. And that the council and the city only look good if everybody agrees on all subjects.
I'm reminded of a quote by Gen. George Patton: "If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."
Be at tomorrow evening's committee meeting, 7:00PM
Saturday, June 14, 2014
How To Get a 35% Salary Increase
Like the subject title? It's easy. Leave your job in Jackson County, Missouri and come work for the City of Shawnee.
The city's new Communications Manager (Public Information), Dan Ferguson, will be making $65,000 with us. His salary at Jackson County was $47,964. Not a bad jump, eh?
Last year when the city manager asked for the position (PIO) there was much discussion by the council as to a.) was the position really necessary and b.) compensation..
Well, the position got approved and was advertised. The first job posting was on 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
When the position was not or could not be filled it was reposted 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.
Apparently the city could not find a qualified individual at the original stated salary range? So it was advertised again, at a higher salary range. Heck, a 20% bump would have put the individual in the first salary range, and under $60,000.
Is this person going to truly and honestly disseminate information to the public or will we get city sanctioned deception & misinformation. We know that the city manager thinks that local bloggers pass along bad info.
Will we get a bunch of "two man race" statements. Reporter and PIO get in a two man race. Reporter wins. When asked, reporter says he won. When asked PIO says he came in second and reporter came in next to last.
Anyway, click on the embedded image below and look at the salaries for various PIO individuals at the Kansas State government level. Note that the Director of Communications for the Governor was paid less than $42K last year. I wish Mr. Ferguson well. He himself can't be faulted for getting the most out of the deal. Oh, before anybody has a tizzy fit, the salaries of ALL individuals paid with tax dollars have to be made available to the public.
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.
The city's new Communications Manager (Public Information), Dan Ferguson, will be making $65,000 with us. His salary at Jackson County was $47,964. Not a bad jump, eh?
Last year when the city manager asked for the position (PIO) there was much discussion by the council as to a.) was the position really necessary and b.) compensation..
Well, the position got approved and was advertised. The first job posting was on 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
When the position was not or could not be filled it was reposted 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.
Apparently the city could not find a qualified individual at the original stated salary range? So it was advertised again, at a higher salary range. Heck, a 20% bump would have put the individual in the first salary range, and under $60,000.
Is this person going to truly and honestly disseminate information to the public or will we get city sanctioned deception & misinformation. We know that the city manager thinks that local bloggers pass along bad info.
Will we get a bunch of "two man race" statements. Reporter and PIO get in a two man race. Reporter wins. When asked, reporter says he won. When asked PIO says he came in second and reporter came in next to last.
Anyway, click on the embedded image below and look at the salaries for various PIO individuals at the Kansas State government level. Note that the Director of Communications for the Governor was paid less than $42K last year. I wish Mr. Ferguson well. He himself can't be faulted for getting the most out of the deal. Oh, before anybody has a tizzy fit, the salaries of ALL individuals paid with tax dollars have to be made available to the public.
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.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
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.
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.
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