Primary Election August 4, 2020

Well, it's that time again.  Primary election time, August 4, 2020.

Some have already voted in person for early voting.  Some have already sent in their mail ballot.

If you haven't voted, well, here are my choices for certain positions.

Rather than bore you with long dissertations on each one I'll just list them.  Hopefully you will agree with my choices.

State Senate, District 10:

Mike Thompson

US Congress, District 3:

Adrienne Vallejo Foster

US Senate:

Kris Kobach

Fond Farewell and Best Wishes to Sal Scarpa

It is with mixed emotions that I learned of Deputy Fire Chief Sal Scarpa's pending relocation to Columbus, Georgia to be their Fire Chief.

Why Mixed emotions?  Shawnee will be losing a highly qualified, dedicated member of the fire fighting community.  On the other hand it appears to be a very positive career move for Sal and we can only wish him the best.

Let's talk for a second about where he is going.  Columbus, Georgia is a unique city/county configuration.  The city has a population of approximately 195,000 and the metro area is approximately 303,000.  That means that Sal's new department is responsible for the well being of a population that is 5x that of Shawnee.  Add to that his responsibilities will also include all EMS in that area and emergency management his plate will be full.  We are fully confident that he is well suited to the tasks ahead.

We will miss him and his proven abilities, but we wish him well in his new position.

My translation abilities are limited, and I hope I did this correctly:  

Grazie mille per quello che hai fatto per Shawnee. Che tu abbia successo nel tuo nuovo lavoro.

Lenexa City Manager Gets 3% Raise

Unlike our city manager who got 25%, Lenexa recently gave their city manager a 3% raise.

She has only been in the position for about one year, but has been with the city for 23 years.  Hmmm, believe our neophyte city manager was still in middle school at the time.  And she has other government experience too.

Want more info?  Click here for story at the Shawnee Mission Post

Oh, in case you forgot, the four council reps who voted to give Sunderman the 25% raise were:

Matt Zimmerman  Ward 1

Lisa Larson-Bunnell  Ward III

Lindsey Constance Ward IV (and she wants to have a say in your purse strings as a state senator)

Jill Chalfie Ward IV

And since the vote was a 4-4 tie, Mayor Distler voted to break the tie and went along with the outrageous increase.

Saturday, July 4th 2020, Happy Birthday USA

Tomorrow we will celebrate the birthday of our great nation.  Next week I will have some comments about those that are attempting to destroy our country from within.  But, right now, I just want to say Happy Birthday USA with links to two of my favorite songs.