Will The Mayor Permit Public Input?

The city has now published the info as to the procedures for filling the soon to be vacated council set of Dawn Kuhn.  See http://www.cityofshawnee.org

As a result of what has happened/not happened at previous meetings related to the appointment of council persons I have written Mayor Jeff Meyers and asked a very simple direct question.  Am curious as to what his response will be.

Here is the letter:


Jeff,

 The following info is from the city’s web site concerning the above subject:

• On October 28, 2013, each applicant will be asked to give a 3 minute statement explaining why they are interested in serving as the Ward III Council Member. Following their statement, applicants will be asked to respond to questions from Governing Body members.
• The order of statements will be determined by random draw.
• Immediately following all the statements, the Governing Body will have any discussion they deem appropriate. The Governing Body may vote on the appointment at this time, or may delay taking action.
• If an appointment is approved, the individual selected will be sworn into office at that time.

At the meeting which appointed Mr. Neighbor to the council, public input was allowed.
At the meeting which appointed Mr. Willoughby to the council, public input was not allowed.
Will public input be allowed at the meeting on October 28^th?

 Ray

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Something I Won't Miss When Dawn Kuhn Goes Bye-bye

Many articles about body language say that when a woman constantly flips her hair it means “look at me, I’m great”.  Well, that’s one thing I’m not going to miss when Dawn Kuhn goes bye-bye.

 

 

The city has posted the application process for picking her replacement, so now I'll definitely have to visit the Oracle of Shawnee at Gum Springs Park to see what the Oracle says about Kuhn's replacement.

 

 

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Awards, A New Hotel (finally) and Kuhn Resigns

Well, let's see what happened last night.  There were many things that came up, but let's hit some of the highlights.

First, congrats to Battalion Chief Ryan Pyle who received recognition for successfully completing FEMA's US Fire Administration's National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer program (EFO) and has also been designated as a Chief Fire Officer (CFO through the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

Some of you might remember from a previous posting here that while I was on vacation a tossed cigarette started a fire on my balcony.  The crew that responded,was under Chief Pyle's supervision and they were able to contain the fire to the balcony with no structural or interior damage. 

Another item that came up last night was the issuance of industrial revenue bonds for the proposed Holiday Inn Express at Midland Drive and I-435.  This project has been in limbo for about 6 years and it's nice to know that it is finally getting closer to happening.

Then, Councilmember Dan Pflumm did a shout out for my 66th birthday, which was yesterday.  Thanks Dan.

To top it off, I got one of the best birthday presents ever.  Councilmember Dawn "Motormouth" Kuhn announced her resignation last night, effective at the end of the October 14th council meeting.  That should reduce substantially the length of many council and council committee meetings.  She claims that it is because she is passionate about things.  I say it is because she is self absorbed and likes to hear herself talk.  Even though the process for submitting applications hasn't been posted yet, I might just have to go to the Oracle of Shawnee at Gum Springs Park to see if the oracle has any thoughts about who might wind up getting appointed to replace Kuhn.



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Jim Neigbor Incapable of a Direct Reply

Please see and read my blog post of 8/12/13 (almost two weeks) at http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2013/08/public-meeting-policy-review-city.html which is titled Public Meeting Policy Review-City Stonewalls Reply.

This is NOT the first time that Councilmember Neighbor has refused a direct response to a direct question.  And, it probably will not be his last.  It seems that if certain members of the governing body do not want to answer a question they just ignore it. 

They don't like being questioned at council meetings, and then they either dance around or ignore answering questions directly.  In this case, who is pulling Neighbor's strings?

Come next year this might get real interesting.  City Manager Gonzales has gotten approval to spend $70K for a public information officer.  Now will we be paying $70K of taxpayer money to get the run around from that individual?

Neighbor is not the only one who has refused direct answers to direct questions..............the list grows.

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New Museum May Close

Back in February the Shawnee Dispatch ran an article about the new Medicine’s Hall of Fame & Museum located in western Shawnee in the former Harley Davidson dealership.

The article is quite interesting and can be read here http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/feb/26/new-medical-museum-opens/

It has now come to my attention that the museum may close because of its inability to obtain a tax exemption.  I'm not familiar with this subject, but I thought that museums did get special consideration with regards to taxes.

Anybody want to jump on this and check it out?  You could check with Dr. Bruce Hodges and/or his wife Cathy at the museum, 6801 Hedge Lane Terrace, telephone 913-888-0777.  BTW, that's  near the southwest corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Kansas Highway 7.

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Shawnee Gets Recognition From DoD

Last night the city was presented with its certificate for being one of the 30 finalists for the Freedom Award as part of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program

There were 2,899 nominations for this very prestigious award.

As a vet, I really would like to congratulate the city for this recognition.

For more background please go here  http://www.nationalguard.mil/news/archives/2013/05/052213-support.aspx


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Public Meeting Policy Review-City Stonewalls Reply

First, let me apologize up front for the length of this post.  It is lengthy because I want to quote some items completely:

For some background, one might want to read this article in the Shawnee Dispatch http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/aug/10/kendall-what-shawnees-public-meeting-policy-review/
On Wed, 8/7/13 I emailed Councilmember Neighbor since he is the current council president and as such serves as chairman of the council committee:

From: Ray Erlichman
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 5:30 PM
To: Jim Neighbor
Subject: Public comments at Committee meetings

 

Jim,

 The below is taken from the brochure that is handed out to the public concerning meetings.

 Please reply as to why do you not ask for public comments?  I believe some folks might have had comments last night.

 Going forward it would be nice if you complied with the info in this brochure.

 Ray

 City Council Committees

Much of the actual work of the Governing

Body is done in the Council Committee.
The Council Committee Meetings are
held on the first Tuesday following the first
Monday of the month and begin at 7:00 p.m.
Additional meetings can be called by the

Council Committee.

The Council President serves as chair of the

Council Committee. The Vice Chair of the
Council Committee and Council President are
elected on by the Governing Body annually at
the first City Council Meeting in April.
Agendas for these meetings are generally
available at City Hall from the City Manager’s
office at (913) 742-6014 or on the City website
at www.cityofshawnee.org by 8:00 a.m. on the
Friday preceding the meetings.
Committee meetings are generally less
formal than council meetings and discussion
is generally more comprehensive. The
chairperson of the committee will invite
comments on an agenda item from speakers in
the audience. The committees do not take final
action on a topic they discuss; however, they
forward their recommendations to a regular
City Council meeting for formal action by the
entire Governing Body. The Committee does
not entertain comments from the public on
items that are not on the meeting agenda.

 

I then followed that up with an item of additional information:

 

 

Jim

 Just in case you feel that the info in the brochure is not sufficient, the following is extracted from PS-7

 Order of Business, Point of Order, Obtaining the Floor, Public Comment

 D.        No interested person in attendance shall speak more than twice to any question, nor more than five (5) minutes each time, except where such other limitations may be imposed by action of the Governing Body, or the Council Committee, prior to hearing such questions.

 

Ray

 

This is the reply I received:

 

 

Ray, thanks for your comments. As I mentioned in my opening comments Tuesday night, the PS-7 will be discussed at a future committee meeting.

 

I expect that staff will have a revised draft ready by the October or November Committee meeting.  This will be the opportunity for more committee discussion, and public input before the final version is forwarded to  the Council for approval.

 

Jim Neighbor

 Well, I remember when  Mayor Jeff Meyers once said if I didn't get an answer I liked I'd ask the question again.  Well, it's not an answer I don't like, it's the stonewalling and the non-answers that bother me.  The bovine scatological attempt at not responding to a direct question. 

 My reply yesterday:

Jim,

I noticed that you have failed to reply to my original email, not the “part II” below

I still would like to know why public input was not asked for last Tuesday night, as indicated in the brochure handed out by the city with regards to meetings.  I will again quote from that brochure

“The chairperson of the committee will invite

comments on an agenda item from speakers in the audience.”

Saying that it will be discussed at a future meeting is insufficient.  There were no limitations imposed by the committee.  It seems that your actions were arbitrary and capricious.

 

Again, I asked a specific question, and expect a specific reply, not a dance around.  It was an agenda item and comments were NOT asked for.  Did you ever give any thought to the idea that maybe, just maybe, citizen input might have been helpful towards the staff preparing a draft? And that could actually result in reduced staff time in that preparation?  Or maybe you feel that citizens don’t have the ability to suggest workable solutions to various situations.

Thank you

Ray




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Another Rodrock Development Comes Into Question

Last year there were questions concerning park space at a Rodrock Development in Crimson Ridge.

Now there is a question concerning a swimming pool at the Greens of Chapel Creek.

For more information please read this letter in the Shawnee Dispatch http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/aug/07/letter-shawnee-officials-should-keep-eye-greens-ch/

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Shawnee Government - Open or Closed

On next Tues, 8/6/13 at city hall, the council committee will have their regularly scheduled meeting at 7:00PM.

One of the items on the agenda is:

DISCUSS PS-7, CONDUCT AT A PUBLIC MEETING.

PS-7 covers various items.  Among them how the council president is selected, vise-chairman of the committee, AND how input from the public is handled at council meetings.  I'm curious if certain members of the council are going to try and restrict citizen input.  At a council meeting a few weeks ago Jeff Vaught tried to stop a member of the public from coming back to the podium to address some of Vaught's comments.  Since the mayor didn't interject I had to be rude and mention from the audience that the individual was entitled to a second comment period under PS-7.  Ironically, in the next item on the agenda the mayor reiterated that folks are permitted up to two times of no more than 5 minutes on any one subject.  Guess Vaught thinks he runs the council meetings.  Just like he erroneously thought when he was council president that other members of the council had to go through him to request the city manager put items on the agenda.

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, the council considers making to this policy statement.

The city inquired of other local governments what their policies and procedures are for meetings and the results of those inquiries are available at

http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwContent/PS7Research?OpenDocument
 
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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.




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WARNING!!!!!! Read at Your Own Risk

WARNING!!!!!  Please be advised that according to the city manager of Shawnee, KS, local blogs may contain bad or misinformation.  That is part of the justification she is using to create a new public information officer position which could cost up to $70K per year.

Therefore, when you read anything on this blog, remember, the information here may be bad or created to misinform.  It is suggested that people take the information here and do their own research to verify or disprove any of the statements contained herein.

We realize that we are not like the mayor, the city manager, or certain members of the city council. These folks never provide bad or misinformation to the public.  The information provided by them is always accurate, spot on and never misleading.  Hmmmm, I wonder if this last paragraph would be considered bad or misinformation?  :-)    :-)

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Keep 'Em in the Dark...............

Keep who in the dark?  Well, the people of Shawnee, that's who. 

Now, why do I say this?  Easy.....at last week's committee meeting the agenda packets again (as usual) did not include all the info. 

See, what happens is the city posts an agenda packet on line, and then the same thing is available at city hall before the meeting.  But, not all of the info is in there.  The full spectrum of information which is going to be discussed with the documents is left off.  In this case, it was more items concerning the proposed budget.  Very similar situation as to the one I posted about on 5/26 below entitled "Open Government???  Yeah Right!!!!" (scroll down to read it if you'd like).

Now, sometimes the info is included in the minutes packet, after the fact, and that can be weeks after the meeting.

I'm waiting to hear councilmember Jeff Vaught start pontificating about how the city received an award for open government.  If one reads the basis for that, it concerns mostly a web site with links to certain items.............but it does not include a review of the completeness of those items or their depth.  Part of this was covered in my post of 9/14/2012 "Shedding Light on Sunshine Review" http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2012/09/shedding-light-on-sunshine-review.html  The city got its high rating just when the topic of going back to full meeting minutes came up for a vote. It's also interesting, that as a result of a KORA request, we found out that there was a flurry of emails back and forth for a few days preceding that award, (and the vote on the minutes) with the city pushing to see what it had to do to upgrade its rating.  Coincidental, huh?

OK, this is probably going to be one of the posts that the city manager will probably label as bad or misleading information.

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Kuhn Critical of Other Councilmembers for Asking Questions About Budget

On June 4, 2013 at a council committee meeting (regarding the budget) in Shawnee KS there was an item on the budget that two council members asked for clarification. It involved spending at least $5,000 for dental work on a new police dog that cost $15,000. One councilmember (Michelle Distler) was curious if that money could be recouped from the dealer. Most special bred dogs come with some form of medical guarantee. The other councilmember, (Dr. Mike Kemmling), a dentist, was curious as to exactly what type of work was done. Two simple questions, yet Dawn Kuhn thought her fellow council members shouldn't be asking these questions.  The two councilmembers who asked the questions did so in a very polite, respectful manner.

 

 

 

 

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Shawnee Citizen Police Academy 2013

The Shawnee Police Department will be holding their next Citizen Police Academy from Sep 5 to Nov 14.  Sessions will be on Thursday evenings except for two Saturdays.

This is a wonderful opportunity for citizens to find out more about what our PD does.  Individuals have to be over 18 and preference is given to individuals who either live or work within Shawnee as the class size is limited to 20.

More information is available at http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/web/PoliceCMS.nsf/vwNews/806A1371FA17F194862578F00053AF40?OpenDocument

and
http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/web/PoliceCMS.nsf/c0019294e957d2c28525754a004b58b4/1f63b144015267ea862578cb00715d24?OpenDocument

An on line application is available at
http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/web/PoliceCMS.nsf/c0019294e957d2c28525754a004b58b4/aca253c9a50da3a6862578d200517b6a?OpenDocument

I personally attended the academy in 2012 and was impressed with the way the classes were conducted.  We were also given information as to what an individual has to do to become a police officer in Shawnee.  Very informative. 



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New Forum Set Up

We have set up a new forum at http://www.shawneeray.proboards.com/

We tried this about 4 years ago but some of the posts were downright nasty. That is not the concept. Vulgarity will not be accepted.

Anybody can read this forum. But to post a comment an individual needs to register. Folks may choose a screen name rather than using their own name. Also, if they do not want to use their identifiable email addresses then I would suggest getting a Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo type of email address. You will need that to obtain access code info.

Perseverance Pays Off For Shawnee PD, And the Community

On Tuesday night I just had to address the city council and get it on the record what a tremendous job the PD has done in the Gerry Grovenburg murder case.

Tenacity and perseverance pays off.  One individual is now incarcerated pending trial and the info is out there on his accomplice.

Most people are under false impressions of how police departments solve crimes.  We see on TV that a detective gets some evidence with his/her morning coffee and then by his/her lunch has the lab, DNA, ballistics, medical examiner's, toxicology reports etc. all finalized.

It doesn't work that way.  Those reports take time It takes hard work, and an ability to connect the dots.  Leads must be continuously followed up and double checked.  When the PD presents the info to the DA for prosecution they have to be able to back up their conclusions.

Some cases are harder to solve than others.  This was one of them. But, the men and women of our PD never gave up.  We have a great department.

The next time you see one of our local cops, give 'em a thumbs up.  Let 'em know you appreciate them.

For more info on what happened go to http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2013/may/29/two-men-charged-connection-2010-shawnee-murder/

Memorial Day - 2013

Memorial Day 2013

The Star Spangled Banner without a rock diva, Super Bowl XXXIX

And yes, I'm proud to be an American, and I won't apologize for it,

Open Government??? Yeah, right!!!!

Ya gotta love it.

How did we find out that the proposed Public Information position would cost approximately $70K?

Was that info listed on line in the agenda packet before the committee meeting?  Noper.

Was it available in the packet that was given out at the meeting to the public?  Noper.

The info became known because Mr. Sawyer asked about that cost as that is how it was listed in the documents he received.

So, is it a big show to have these budget meetings open to the public with INCOMPLETE info?

Ahhh yes, now these comments of mine today are probably going to be considered bad information which is supposedly one of the justifications for creating this position.

Shawnee Strongly Supports Our Guard & Reserve

The City of Shawnee is one of 30 finalists for the 2013 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

Since 2,899 employers were nominated this is quite a feat to be in the final selection group of 30.

Fifteen of the 30 will be selected for the award, which will take place this summer.

As a veteran, I am very happy to hear this about Shawnee.

More information is available at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwNews/666AF67122A8660786257B730063BEF4?OpenDocument

Ooops, Did I Make A Mistake?

Regarding the possibility of the city establishing a public information officer position I posted an item on 5/1/13.  (You can scroll down to read the whole post)

Part of that post contained the statement:

The city staff has a city manager, a deputy city manager (recently promoted from assistant city manager) and an assistant to the city manager.  Heck, which one of them has been putting the publicity stuff up on the city's web site?  And what about the emails that go out to the listserv addresses?  And the facebook and twitter stuff already?  And can't one of them handle verbal and or written communications with the local media?

Well, what was the mistake?  The city no longer has an assistant to the city manager.  That person is now an Assistant City Manager.  Promotion time.  This came out last night when part of the budget was being reviewed.

Also last night, Councilmember Sawyer questioned the projected remuneration for that position.  Apparently the document he was looking at showed $70,000.  The city manager said that it could be less depending on the person who was hired.  Mr. Sawyer wanted to know if that $70K was salary or if it included salary plus approximately an additional 25% in benefits.  If that figure sticks, then the position would pay approximately $55K in salary and approximately $15K in benefits.

So, now we know that a City Manager, a Deputy City Manager and an Assistant City Manager are not equipped to answer questions from the media/public and/or issue press releases concerning the city.  If they were equipped and capable, then the city manager would not be asking for the additional position.

Letters, They Get Letters (and don't respond)

A copy of a letter I sent to the governing body on 4/9/13

Please pay attention to the part where I ask for verification of Dawn Kuhn's statement.  To date, I have not received any such verification.  Nobody has produced any verification that I had been given that answer for "six years".  Well, that leads me to believe that:
a.  Kuhn is so arrogant that she feels she doesn't need to respond
b.  No such documentation exists which means Kuhn was telling a fairy tale (lying)

Also, she said that 3 lawyers told her it could be a HIPPA violation.  Geeee, I spoke to lawyers also, and they say only med professionals who release info without authorization are guilty of HIPPA violations.  Only problem is that Kuhn's comments are on the record.

What else has she not been forthcoming about?  Gee, she has never explained why she gets her city pay check as "White" and her city expense checks as "Kuhn".  Strange.

I even wonder if her current address is valid.  After her divorce she relocated to another address in Ward 3.  Or did she?  Is it possible that she is pulling a Phill Kline?  Is that address just a "mail drop" (which unfortunately would still be legal) but that she is domiciled elsewhere?  Outside of Ward 3?

Governing Body

As you may recall approximately two weeks ago I addressed council and inquired to have Mr Willoughby provide the law that said sharing rooms was illegal.

At that point Ms Kuhn immediately started one of her excessively verbose commentaries with regards to HIPPA, potential lawsuits, etc.  What I found intriguing was that Ms Kuhn stated that was the same answer that had been provided to me every year for six years when I brought up the subject

Can Ms Kuhn or anyone produce documentation (city minutes or audio) that what she says is accurate? That I had been given that answer in the past?  The usual response has been a  perfunctory “thank you for coming up”.  I sincerely question the veracity of her statement.  It is interesting to note that Mr Willoughby admitted he should not have used the term illegal.

That now brings up another item.  Ms Kuhn’s attempt to have me cut off after her speech.  Because I appeared to be asking a question?

 First, when a member of the public comes up to speak they are going to either make a statement or ask a question.  Granted, the answer may not be readily available, and may take some time to gather, but a question from the public is normal.  Second, when a member of the council engages in a long winded commentary doesn’t a member of the community have the right to respond?  Or are we attempting to cut off the public?

A few weeks ago during a meeting one individual got up and after five minutes Ms Kuhn mentioned to the mayor the time limit.  Ironically the next speaker (Mr. Chipman) spoke for over 20 minutes and at no time did Ms Kuhn attempt to advise the mayor of the time limit.  Selective permissions?

Does Shawnee really want to have its openness challenged?  And that can be done very easily.  Ms Kuhn was concerned about lawsuits regarding HIPPA.  What about actions regarding the 1^st Amendment to the US Constitution and Section 3 of the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution?

The mayor has publicly stated that some people ask too many questions.  Maybe the problem is that not enough citizens ask more questions

Rob Roberts to Leave the Shawnee Dispatch

Rob Roberts will be leaving the Shawnee Dispatch to take a position with the Kansas City Business Journal.  We would like to wish Rob the best as he joins the staff of one of the more prestigious niche periodicals in the metro area.

Rob's tenure with the Dispatch was a welcome change from that of some of his predecessors.  As a skilled, long term journalist he realized that he had a responsibility to tell it like it is. As such, he reported the good, the bad and the ugly, which did not necessarily endear him to certain folks at city hall.  There are some who feel that a local paper should only be a cheerleader for the city.  That is wrong.  Maybe that is one of the reasons why the city now wants a PIO, because they could not have control over the local media, like they had in the past.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Rob's replacement handles things.  Will he be realistic and objective, reporting all aspects of what happens?  Or will he, like some others become a puppet for city hall?

Another thing that time will tell.

Google This

Last night, at a hastily called special City Council meeting the city approved an agreement to get the ball rolling on bringing Google Fiber to Shawnee.

Super high speed internet (and TV) will be very good for Shawnee's residents and eventually businesses.  Another benefit will be that the city offices will be connected through the fiber network and WiFi at no charge.  Sounds like a savings of taxpayer money to me.  Believe the agreement is for a ten year period.

My only question is why did the mayor have to call a special meeting (less than 8 hours before the meeting time)?  Why couldn't this have been handled at the next regular council meeting?  That would also have allowed folks to read and absorb the info, and if needed, to be able to ask questions.

No time frame is available yet.

Fireworks or Spinworks

The more I think about the city manager wanting to hire a full time public information officer, the more I wonder why.

Shawnee is a city of approximately 62,000 folks.  The city staff has a city manager, a deputy city manager (recently promoted from assistant city manager) and an assistant to the city manager.  Heck, which one of them has been putting the publicity stuff up on the city's web site?  And what about the emails that go out to the listserv addresses?  And the facebook and twitter stuff already?  And can't one of them handle verbal and or written communications with the local media?

Now, if the city has that kind of money, and who knows what the position is going to pay (plus benefits), I'd like to see us get our July 4th fireworks in Shawnee Mission Park back.

So, if you agree with me, email the council and the mayor by sending an email to governingbody@cityofshawnee.org   When you send an email there it goes to all 8 council members and the mayor.  Let them know that you'd rather have fireworks instead of spinworks.

Also, if you know of anybody else who might also like that idea, please pass this on to them.