Extending the Life of the Landfill in Shawnee Part 2

Just a reminder.



The city council will take up the matter of wheter or not to extend the life of Shawnee's landfill.

Originally scheduled to close in 2026, the extension would take it to 2043.

If extended, will this:

1. Inhibit commercial growth, or
2. Accelerate commercial growth

If you have an opinion, Monday night, 2/28/11 at 7:30PM is your chance to voice it.

The Five That Are Going................to DC

On Feb 6, 2011 (scroll down) I posted:

"And they're Off..........To Wash. DC"

Now we can tell you who the five people are that are going to Washington DC for the NLC conference 3/12-3/16:

Mayor Jeff Meyers (just went to Denver 3 mos ago)
Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Neighbor (just went to Denver 3 mos ago)
Ward 3 Councilmember Jeff Vaught (just went to Denver 3 mos ago)
Ward 4 Councilmember Mickey Sandifer (just went to Denver 3 mos ago)
City Manager Carol Gonzales (just went to Denver 3 mos ago)

In my previous post I guessed correctly about Mickey (Mr Trip Taker) Sandifer. Don't think this man has ever heard about a trip that he didn't want to go on.

Now, here we go again.......these meetings can provide useful information. But do we need to send 5 people when money is tight? My opinion: the city manager and the mayor should be sufficient. Just look at the previous post of 2/6 and see which cities aren't even sending anybody.

Also, since we are sending 5 and 4 of them are men are they going to take me up on the suggestion of doubling up in their rooms? Those rooms are going to be $242/night plus taxes. That will probably come up to the $280/$290 range per night. Heck, what is the room for? Sleeping, changing clothes and showering. So, why not douible up?

Prediction: Mickey Sandifer spends the most number of nights in DC (based on his actions on previous trips).

Extending the Life of the Landfill in Shawnee

On Monday, 2/28 the city council will consider extending the life of the landfill here in Shawnee so that it would close in 2043 instead of 2027.

The planning commission has voted to recommend approval for this action. More info is available here:
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2011/feb/08/planning-commission-gives-nod-16-year-landfill-ext/

It's nice to know that we are number one in something. The largest landfill in the midwest.
More info on that is here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-largest-dumps-2011-2?slop=1#johnson-county-landfill-in-shawnee-ks-is-the-largest-in-the-midwest-us-at-over-1000-acres-1

Should the landfill be kept open another 16 years? Some say yes, some say no. If you live in Shawnee you might want to consider showing up Monday night and voicing your opinion.

City Updates Web Site

Congratulations................the city's web site now shows tomorrow's meeting as 6:00PM and at the Justice Center.

Sure happy I emailed them about it............ :-) :-)

Naturally, nobody acknowledged the email...............but they did make the change.

Location Change

Eventhough the Agenda info on the city's web site doesn't mention it, I just found out that the meeting Tie 2/22/11 will be held at the Justice Center

Why wasn't that info shown on the published notice?


Special City Council
AGENDA
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

And, it was not mentioned in the email that goes out to all who have signed up for email notifications of city activities. And, the original email says 7:00PM but the city's web site now says 6:00PM.

Special Council Meeting 2/22/11

A special meeting of the city council has been called for Tuesday, 2/22/11 at 6:00PM

Here is the agenda for this special meeting:


1. PRESENTATION AND GOVERNING BODY DISCUSSION: ROLE AS A POLICY MAKER.
Presented/Facilitated by John Nalbandian Ph.D.
This presentation and facilitated workshop will provide the Governing Body the opportunity to
discuss concepts and ideas regarding their role as a policy making body. PAGES 1 - 2
COMMENTS: ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. 2010 ACCOMPLISHMENTS/LOOKING TO 2011 AND BEYOND.
Facilitated by City Manager Gonzales with presentations by Management Team Members.
COMMENTS: ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
ADJOURNMENT

Valentine's Day at City Council

Tomorrow, 2/14/11 one of the items on the city council agenda is:

6. CONSIDER REVISIONS TO PS-7, CONDUCT OF PUBLIC MEETINGS.
DISCUSSION: At the January 18, 2011, meeting the Public Works and Safety Committee
recommended 3-1 that the Governing Body approve contracting with a third party company to
capture and record the City's public meeting audio recordings and to use software features to
create summary minutes with linked audio. At the October 19, 2010, meeting the Committee
recommended 3-1 that the Governing Body revise language in PS-7, Conduct of Public Meetings
related to summary minutes, speakers signing in at public meetings, responding to Business From
the Floor, and advanced approval of material shown on the display screen. A memo from staff
and a draft policy statement are included for review. PAGES 19 - 40

The background info is on pages 19-40 of the packet which can be read at:

http://www.cityofshawnee.org/Meetings/AGENDAS.NSF/vwNews/1EE2609988C4E11A86257833007E7DEA/$FILE/8DXTRG.pdf

Citizen input at council meetings, the methodology for keeping and reporting what transpires at these meeting should be items of interest to most folks. Hopefully folks will be there.

And they're Off..........To Wash. DC

Yepper...........the annual Washington DC conference for the National League of Cities is coming up, and it will be March 12-16, 2011. That's coming just 3 1/2 months after the NLC conference in Denver.

Most folks will be staying at the designated convnetion hotel for $242 (plus taxes)/night. I doubt that there will be any doubling up of rooms to save money. Again I will say that these conferences can be beneficial. It is just how many folks do we have to send, because in addition to the hotel costs there are other costs. Among these are: registration for the meeting itself per attendee, registration for various seminars, transportation, per diem and probably other costs too. In the past some folks have stayed the entire time and others only part of the time. It will be interesting to see how many stay the the full schedule (arriving 3/11 the night before it starts and returning 3/17, the day after it ends) as that would be 6 nights of hotels and the corresponding per diem reimbursements.

Shawnee likes to compare itself to other local cities whenever a "study" is done. So, let's see where Shawnee stands relative to other cities in the area that were contacted. The list reflects the number of individuals each city is sending:

Shawnee............................................5
Olathe................................................5
Prairie Village...................................5 (see note 1 below)
Mission..............................................4 (see note 2 below)
Roeland Park....................................1
Lenexa...............................................0
Merriam............................................0
Overland Park..................................0
Leawood............................................0
Topeka...............................................0
UG WyCo & KCK..............................0

I didn't ask (not yet anyway) who is attending for Shawnee, but based on previous trips I'd bet that one of them is Mickey "Mr Trip Taker" Sandifer.


(note 1) Prairie Village indicated that their number might be reduced
(note 2) Mission indicated that one attendee will not be staying at the hotel, but with a friend

Candidate Finance Reports

Ever wonder where local candidates get the money to run their campaigns?

In the past, if you wanted to find out you could go to the JoCo election office and read the finance reports that each candidate is required to file. You could even get copies of those reports.

Now, thanks to the JoCo Election office again showing initiative, you can now read these reports from the comfort of your home. Just click here
http://www.jocoelection.org/CampaignReports/CampaignReportsDisc.html

These reports are for county and municipal elections within JoCo. Statewide and federal election reports are filed elsewhere.

Mile High Madness Part II

Previously I wrote and indicated what our council members spent while in Denver. Now, it's time to break down some of those expenses.

Let's look at hotel costs. This is one area that definitely needs to be looked at much closer. As previously pointed out, the rooms are primarily for sleeping, showering and changing clothes. Most of the folks' time is taken up eating, attending seminars and socializing with individuals from other cities.

Our people stayed at the Hyatt Regency. That is the hotel directly across from the Denver Convention Center. The discounted group rate was $240/night. Now if we take the mayor and city manager out of the equation we had 4 council members who between them had 16 nights at the hotel. At $240/night (including taxes) that becomes $3,840.

Now, the folks who went from Lenexa got a group rate of $137/night (including taxes) at the Crowne Plaza. Granted that was a block or so away. Golly, they had to walk a little. If our council reps had stayed there, they could have saved $1,648. And how much could those four have saved if they doubled up? Allowing for a $30 surcharge for 2 in a room they would have paid approximately $1,336 or a savings of approximately $2,500.

How much would have been saved if the mayor and the city manager had also stayed at the lower priced hotel? Naturally in separate rooms, I’m still estimating another $500 could have been saved.

The Crowne Plaza is not exactly a notel motel………it would have served the primary functionality.

The next question is how much more could have been saved if we didn't have a six person delegation? Reduced per diem charges, reduced transportation charges, reduced registration charges for the conference and reduced charges for the number of people attending the various paid seminars. That could have been in the thousands.

This becomes important for another reason. In less than two months, the National League of Cities "biggie" is going to be in Washington, DC. And, considering the time line, arrangements are probably being made right now. Will we be sending another oversized delegation? Will they be staying in the most expensive of all the convention hotels, in individual rooms?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Representation at these conferences is good. We just don't need to send an army. And, they can walk a little and stay at a better priced hotel.

Letter to Council 1/20/11

Below is a copy of an email I sent earlier today to all members of the City Council, the Mayor and the City Manager. If any of them decide to respond I'll be happy to post the response(s) here, without editing it(them).




This email is being sent to the City Council, Mayor and City Manager

Just prior to the end of the recent PW & Safety Committee meeting, Messrs. Sandifer & Vaught thought to mention the importance of the NLC conference with regards to info about audio capture of meetings.

Immediately following their comments, the committee Chair, Ms Kuhn, advised that there would be no comments about any items that were not on the agenda. What I wanted to say at that time would have been relevant, but decided not to push it.

The record needs to be set straight. Or, shall I say a reminder.

At the 11/8/10 City Council meeting these same items (method of preserving and communicating meeting minutes) came up after previously being reviewed by the PW&S committee.

Various items were then presented at that council meeting, to include the use of audio similar to the way Fairway was doing it. And, yes, it was me that brought that up. At that time, because of that and other info, Mr Neighbor moved that the item be tabled until staff had reviewed the additional info. This can be confirmed with the item in the Shawnee Dispatch from 11/10/2010 at:

http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2010/nov/10/council-delays-vote-cutting-minutes/

I bring this up, because the use of audio was brought up well in advance of the NLC conference. Naturally, I wouldn't expect either Messr. Sandifer or Vaught to mention that. Especially considering who brought it up. I will concede that the info from the NLC conference did show other methods of audio capture which could be better than the one currently employed by Fairway. The question is: If the item had not been tabled because of citizen input would the city even have looked at the audio concepts at the NLC conference? And if yes, to what extent?

Ray Erlichman

Don't Forget Tuesday 1/18/11 Meeting

Don't forget the Public Works and Safety Committee meeting at city hall Tuesday 1/18/11 at 7PM.

Changes in how the minutes of city council and council committee meetings are kept will be voted on. Transparency must be kept.

Be there.

For info on exactly what is going to be on the agenda see the post with the link below.

Important Meeting - Council Transparency 1/18/11 Tuesday

There will be a meeting of the Public Works and Safety Committee on Tuesday 1/18/11 at 7:00PM.

Agenda and packet information is available at
http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/vwContent/Agendas?OpenDocument

Item 2 on the agenda would appear to be very important with regards to council transparency. This is where they will be discussing the format that the minutes of meetings will be taking. Minutes are the primary memorialization of what goes on at these meetings. Disclosure to the public is keeping within our framework of democracy. One item also includes the possibility of online audio availability.

Another part of item 2 (eventhough it doesn't show on the agenda, it is in the packet for that item) are rules for public participation in meetings. You would think that one short sentence about that could have been included in the agenda. Guess there wasn't enough room to mention that.

It is important to maintain maximum tranparency about what goes on in these meetings. It is also important to preserve citizen rights.

It would be nice to see a good public turnout for this meeting.

I Hated To Do It................But...............

............because of Vaught's letter to the editor of the Shawnee Dispatch of 12/22, I just had to respond there. http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2011/jan/12/letters-word-play/

His original letter is at http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2010/dec/22/letter-witness-or-see-wording-question-affects-res/

Back in 1974 at the Academy Awards a streaker ran across the stage. David Niven, a very gifted British actor, handled the situation with much aplomb and said “The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping ... and showing his shortcomings.”

So, why did Vaught want to show off his vocabulary shortcomings to the world?

Mile High Madness

In previous posts it was mentioned that 6 individuals were going to represent Shawnee at the recent National League of Cities conferenec in Denver.

First, let's see how Shawnee compared to some other communities in the area with regards to number of individuals sent. In the past, listening to various presentations, there seems to be a trend to compare our city with some of the others. So why not this one? OK, so, how many folks represented each city?

Olathe...........................8
Lenexa..........................7
Shawnee.......................6
Mission.........................3
Merriam.......................3
Prairie Village..............3
Overland Park..............1
Roeland Park................1
Leawood........................0
Topeka..........................0
UG WyCo&KCK.............0

Now, what did this cost the citizens of Shawnee?

Jim Neighbor, Ward 1................................$2,711.60 5 nights
Mickey Sandifer, Ward 4..........................$2,677.60 5 nights
Jeff Vaught, Ward 3..................................$1,544.52 3 nights
Jeff Meyers, Mayor....................................$1,459.52 3 nights
Carol Gonzales, City Mgr.........................$1,254.57 3 nights
Neal Sawyer, Ward 2...............................$1,044.52 3 nights
=======
Total......................................................$10,692.33

I've always felt that conferences of this kind can be useful. The big question is, in these tough times how many folks do we need to send? I said it before the conference and I'll say it again, my opinion is that two would have been enough, 3 for this one since Mr Sawyer's registration was covered by a previous conference that he couldn't attend.

Note that 2 reps (33% of the city's delegation) accounted for over 50% of the expenses. This is not the first conference where Mickey Sandifer's expenses were near the top of the group's.

Another interesting note is the cost of the hotel rooms. At $240/night why couldn't the four council reps have done what private comapnies have gone to? Doubling up. Neighbor and Sandifer were there for 5 nights, they could have doubled up. Sawyer and Vaught were there for 3 nights. They could have doubled up. Even if there was a surcharge over the $240 for a second person, in most hotels that would not be anywhere near the cost of a separate room. Also, at a conference like this what is the need for separate rooms? One gets up, showers, has breakfast, goes to meetings, has lunch, goes to meetings, has dinner, socializes, then hits the sack. Unless the rooms are being used for mini-conferences/lectures what's the need?

My original comments, months ago suggested that just the mayor, city manager and Councilmember Sawyer should go. Look at the numbers above............the city could have saved approximately $7,000.

In March there will be another National League of Cities conference in Washington DC. It will be interesting to see how many of our city officials go to that one, and what the cost factor will be.

Vaught Answers But...May Need an English Lesson

I'm happy to see that Jeff Vaught finally answered my question, with a letter to the editor of the Shawnee Dispatch. The letter is shown below. Eventhough he didn't respond to me directly I thought in all fairness his response should appear here also.

But, before you read it, keep in mind that Mr Vaught may need an English lesson. Read what he says about the words "witness" and "seen" then read one of the definitions for "witness" from Webster's on line.

From Webster's:
to have personal or direct cognizance of : see for oneself

Now, here's Vaught's letter to the editor. Now, even after seeing that, he still wasn't concerned about safety? Oh well:

To the editor,

Shawnee resident Ray Erlichman recently asked me at a city council meeting “have you ever ‘SEEN’ a gas explosion.” My answer was simply “yes.”

A few days later Mr. Erlichman sent me an e-mail with the following line: “…I asked you if you had ever ‘WITNESSED’ a gas ‘PIPELINE’ explosion.” He then went on to ask me when and where that was in an attempt to imply that I was lying, and is now trying really hard to make an issue of it.

Adding a word and switching a word totally changes the question. There is a vast difference between the word ‘witness’ and ‘seen.’

I think Mr. Erlichman needs to review the recording. I would be more than happy to send it to him.

And by the way, I have witnessed a gas explosion, the Gates City Glass Company explosion, July 2, 1990, at 126 W. 5th St. in Kansas City, Mo. I was in my loft across a parking lot less than 300 feet away. I have not witnessed a gas pipeline explosion though, but I have seen one or two.

Jeff Vaught

Member, Shawnee City Council – Ward III

Link is

http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2010/dec/22/letter-witness-or-see-wording-question-affects-res/

Vaught Avoiding Verification

Well it looks like councilmember Jeff Vaught has not responded with verification of which gas line explosion he has witnessed.

At the November 22d council meeting when he and I got into it over dollars versus safety he was asked if he had ever witnessed a gas line explosion and he responded that he had.

In my blog post of 12/5 I asked for verification of that. Thinking maybe he didn't read that blog post, I sent him a personal email on 12/15 asking for that info and also posted a copy of that email to this blog. Still no response.

When a member of the council makes a statement about an event they need to be able to back it up.

So, why hasn't Jeff Vaught responded with verification of when and where he witnessed a gas line explosion? I can think of a couple of reasons:

1. He doesn't feel he has to respond to anybody that doesn't live in Ward 3 (not a valid reason)
2. He doesn't like me (still not a valid reason)

For both of the above he needs a refresher course in Civics 101. He is responsible to the citizens, it is not the other way around. OK, let's continue:

3. He didn't read the personal email I sent him. (Possible, but not too smart on his part, and highly unlikely. Go back to 1 or 2 above)

4. Or maybe he can't answer the question because he never did witness a gas explosion and is lacking the intestinal fortitude to admit that he misspoke (polite way of saying he lied). If that is the case, the people of Shawnee have a problem. A city councilmember who can't back up his statements of supposed factual situations is basically misleading the public. Or maybe this arrogant self absorbed person thinks we should just take whatever he says at face value without question? Wrong............that ain't gonna happen..................

I heard from a Ward 3 resident that he bumped into Vaught at a coffee shop this morning and asked him the same question. According to that resident the response that he received was to the effect that Vaught was there to buy coffee not answer questions.

Request to Jeff Vaught for Info

A copy of today's email to Councilmember Jeff Vaught:


"Mr Vaught,

At the 11/22/10 council meeting when you indicated that you were not concerned about safety I asked you if you had ever witnessed a gas pipeline explosion. You responded in the affirmative.
I again asked..."You have?" and again you responded in the affirmative, as you leaned back in your chair and nodded your head also in an affirmative motion.

Anyway, there are two very simple pieces of information that I would ask you to provide.

What was the location of the explosion and when did it happen?

Thank you,

Ray Erlichman"

Southern Star Was MIA

Remember my posting aboutg the 11/22 council meeting? And how it was mentioned that some members of the council were interested in finding out if a representative from Southern Star was there to answer questions?

Well, I submitted a KORA request (Kansas Open Records Act) and the documentation I received back definitely indicated that Southern Star was notified about the item being on the agenda for that night. They could have had a rep there and for public relations value they should have.

Now, if they had had a representative there would that have really made any difference? Not really, because the city was obligated to perform as indicated in the final agreement. Posturing on the part of some of the council looks good........but that's all it could have been......posturing.

Sidebar: Jeff Vaught has not provided me with the date and location of the gas pipeline explosion that he said he witnessed. Well, maybe he didn't read my blog. Guess I'll just have to email him to try and get an answer.

False Alarms

At tonight's F&A Committee meeting the police department will be giving a presentation regarding false alarm responses.

Last week they had a community meeting on this topic.

The amount of money being expended and the loss of manpower because of false alarms is very disturbing.

The PD has some suggestions on how to reduce the losses. Methinks the council needs to listen to them.