Mayor Distler Eats Shoe Leather

 Oh yeah, our mayor really put her foot in her mouth this time.   Check out page 2 of the Spring 2023 City Line magazine.  Then take a look at page 7.

Note that our self indulgent mayor made this item pretty much about herself.  Here is what happened.  The city put out a contract to get new branding.  Basically, to get rid of the naked tree and the tag line "Good starts here."

The mayor appointed a panel to review what the contractor submitted.  Naturally she was the top dog on the panel.  She appointed six long term residents/lifetime residents to the panel, who also happened to be city employees.  Hmmmm, could their evaluations be influenced by intimidation of the top dog?  Two of the panel members were associated with the chamber management.  And then there was one "real" person.

Well, our arrogant self serving mayor was so confident that the council would rubberstamp the "panel's" recommendation that she had the info published in the City Line and was going to make it the basis of her State of the City presentation.  Surprise, surprise, madam mayor, the council was not exactly pleased with your choice.  The item was tabled and has not been approved.

When will a retraction be posted on the city's web site that the article is wrong?  Or will our sneaky mayor try to leave it up on line with no explanation?

There is alot wrong with the design and I plan on addressing the issues when it comes up before the council again.  Come to the meeting when it happens.

Upcoming Mayoral Election Here In Shawnee

 It's that time again.  We will have an election for mayor this year in Shawnee, November 7, 2023.

In a recent article in the Shawnee Mission Post it was noted that former councilmember Mickey Sandifer has filed to run for mayor.  We will definitely have some comments about his candidacy going forward as we get closer to the election.

It was also noted in the article that our current mayor, Michelle Distler has not decided whether or not she wants to run for a third term.  In the comment section after the article I posted the following:

"If Distler runs again will she use the JoCo Sheriff's booking photo on her literature from when she was arrested and charged with felony perjury? We also need to mention that she did successfully complete a diversion program so that the county would not prosecute. BTW, she herself has still not publicly apologized for her actions, both to the city and to the person whose name she falsely used."

Just in case she doesn't have a copy of that photo from her booking I have posted it here.  It's public record, but this will save her the time to look it up.

Shawnee PD & FD To See Substantial Pay Increases

 Every couple of years reviews are done for the city's compensation plans.

Prior to the most recent review the city council indicated a strong desire that our FD & PD see substantial increases both in starting pay and in the pay for position advancement.

This has been done and should have two positive effects.  Effect number one would be in attracting highly qualified individuals, especially for the PD.  There have been many individuals applying in recent years but the numbers of folks found to be unqualified were high.  Also, going forward one thing we don't need to see is qualified individuals leave Shawnee for other cities that pay more.

Shawnee prides itself in having highly qualified individuals in both our PD & FD.  The appropriate pay adjustments should help to both attract and keep more of those types of individuals.

Smart move on the part of the city.  Now this is money well spent.