RAYTOWN'S LEADING NEWS SOURCE
To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT |
| BY GREG WALTERS |
LOOKING TO RAYTOWN'S FUTURE
There are probably many in Raytown who anticipated a regime
change when all but one the incumbents eligible for re-election were replaced
by neophyte candidates for Alderman and Mayor.
When the votes were counted, it was out with the old, in
with new. How anyone with any sense would view the last election as an endorsement of
the status quo is hard to fathom. The voters in Raytown did not want
a return to the old. They wanted a change from the path taken by former Mayor
David Bower.
They were tired of secret meetings held behind the public’s
back in an attempt to push a Walmart Grocery Store into Downtown Raytown.
People were concerned when they were told how the city was
moving forward while the street in front of their house was turning to rubble.
When election time came, they booted out the old and
brought in the new.
It is not a surprise to see the old regime’s bureaucracy follow suit. The first to go was the city Public Information Officer, Brenda
Gustafson. Up until the time David Bower became Mayor, the position did not
exist.
Now we see City Administrator Mahesh Sharma preparing to
leave the scene.
Anyone who has been in city government for a long time will tell you that Administrators come and go. It is rare for one to stay for an extended period of time.
In the case of Mahesh Sharma the best thing to do is to wish him good luck and safe journey to
his next posting.
Which brings us to . . .
RAYTOWN’S FUTURE
“The Mayor and
Board of Aldermen have a unique opportunity before them. They have an
opportunity to right the good ship Raytown and set her on a steady course. By
this I mean, they can wipe the slate clean and start over. In many ways Sharma
has done them a favor by making a graceful exit.
Some suggestions for them to consider include:
DO NOT BE IN A HURRY: This is not the first time the city
has been in a position to replace a City Administrator. The Mayor and Board of
Adlermen should remember they are not in a race to replace the City
Administrator. Take time. Be sure.
By taking time Mayor McDonough will have to step up to the
role as a full time Mayor. It will give him and the Board an opportunity to
assess and determine their goals. It will give the Board of Aldermen an
opportunity to set policies. Ultimately, they, with the Mayor, are the ones
responsible for running the city. In the past nine years City Hall has stepped
away from a proactive Board of Aldermen. Too much authority has been
abdicated to appointed department heads. The Board and Mayor need to take
charge at City Hall. They are good people. They have it within themselves to
run the city.
IF YOU DO HIRE A CITY ADMINISTRATOR: Wait a year.
Let things settle down and then make an informed choice. There are plenty of
eager individuals who want to prove they can manage a city the size
of Raytown. This will not be the first time the City has operated without
an Administrator. A year passed after former Ctiy Administrator Curt Wenson moved on to Liberty, Missouri before Mayor Sue Frank brought a new Administrator on board.
SPEAKING OF THE SIZE OF RAYTOWN: Remember that
Raytown is a city completely surrounded by other cities. It is only 10 square
miles in size. It has a population of nearly 30,000 souls. Do not fall for the
swan song that you must compete with surrounding cities that have over four
times the population (Independence) or literally unlimited room for growth
(Blue Springs). You are not in a competition to meet their salary expectations
for a city administrator.
AVOID CRADLE TO GRAVE CONTRACTS: The contract
crafted for Mahesh Sharma was so unbalanced it was ridiculous. It gave the
Administrator unrealistic guarantees of job security.
It allowed the City Administrator to leave his position
without cause, thereby capturing a severance pay in excess $150,000.00 if (1)
voters approved a change in government affecting the position of City
Administrator (2) the State Legislature empowered the city to make changes to
the position of City Administrator, or (3) if any elected official approached
the City Administrator with the suggestions he leave the employment of the
city.
ABOVE ALL ELSE: Remember the most important
allegiance is to the voters who elected you. It is your responsibility to insist
the taxpayers needs come first. It is a delicate balancing act. Too often it
seems as if the needs of the 30,000 people in Raytown take a back seat in the
business at Raytown City Hall.”
Paul’s Rant! BY PAUL LIVIUS
THE THREE AMIGOS
One of our bloggers labeled them The Three Amigos. Former
Ward 1 Alderman Joe Creamer, Ward 2 Alderman Jim Aziere, and Raytown Times
owner, Randy Battagler are the Amigos.
They seem to share an editorial point of view that
anything coming from seven members of the Board of Aldermen is a bad idea.
Their soap box is the Raytown Times. Once a week, one or more of them can be
expected to wax rhetoric about the evil of seven members of the Board of
Aldermen.
The past three weeks readers of the Raytown Times
have been treated to an epistle by Joe Creamer. Last week Randy Battagler threw in with him.
Battagler and Creamer are upset because of recent
changes at City Hall. Most notably the exit of former Public Information
Officer Brenda Gustafson and now the announced resignation of City
Administrator Mahesh Sharma.
They blame seven of the City Council members for
forcing those two to leave Raytown.
I don’t see it that way, and judging from the
reaction of the public, neither do most people in Raytown. Gustafson left for a
job with another government agency. Sharma is climbing up the next rung of the
ladder. He is leaving his job as a City Administrator to take on a similar
position with a lot more responsibility as the Administrator of an entire
County.
Creamer’s allegations? Take them for what they are .
. . sour grapes from an incumbent candidate who ran a poor third in a three way
race for re-election. He probably feels this is an effective way to get back
into the game.
Aziere has been quiet ever since he filed for State
Representative. It has probably dawned on him that getting heavily involved in
local politics is not a path to election to the state house.
As for Mr. Battagler. Someone’s gotta’ sell those
papers!
To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT
To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT 
Comments
Anonymous 6:33... I find that funny because I dont see the new Aldermen as the problem but the Mayor not being a leader, just a soundboard for the Administrator. Maybe these new aldermen found problems with the Administration and now the free ride is over? It seems to me that there are several problems with the current Administration.
Andy Whiteman
A license is where the government takes your rights away, then sells it back to you.
hardy har har.
I like your name for these guys 7:42, the THREE AMIGOS!
Now we have to hear these amigos that want to complain about groups of aldermen meeting with Fire to get information about problems that our "professional administration" created, they even wrote a letter to the public about these meeting.
How about code enforcement...the slring rains have arrived and with them come the annual barrage of unruly and unticketed yards.
We need a real leader at city hall!
The only thing better is when we learn the director of EMS has turned in his notice.
I guess one step at a time
Could it be that the claims from the fire deportment that the city is brook be the underlining issue?
I know I sure wonder and to think if that is the case why is the mayor and alderman hiding the truth from all of us.
Now if we can cleanup the chair warmers downstairs.
Raytown can once again be a great 4th class city the voters want it to be.
Can someone please get the former EMS guy's opinion? That's what we do now, right?
A place with a future and not just a past!
Raytown needs to improve itself to get rid of the ghetto image and bring back property values!
Andy Whiteman
Finance Director
EMS Director
Parks Director
City Clerk
We will be better off with out all of them.
And that is me being polite as I am sure we all know the damage they have done.
Why have you not made Raytown smoke free?
Other communities around us are not only now smoke free, but changing the age to purchases cigarettes to 21.
These other communities are concerned about the health impact and image of their city.
One of our overly outspoken religious board members has taken the position to keep government out of businesses, but is a member of the same Church that held the city hostage in the dark ages for years, by not letting sales tax generating business into the city that sold liquor of other products the CHURCH decided was a SIN.
This same member who often in the past wanted the city to take a position of not allowing anymore section 8 or other lower income housing stating "We don't need THOSE people in Raytown". Now is that being the good CHURCH member that doesn't want to help those in need.
In the end it is these same closed minded board members that are holding Raytown back to this day. They refuse to make Raytown a safe place to raise a family, while they insult low income families.
They are against bring in sales tax generating businesses while hiding the fact from general public of the decline in city services for their support of projects like Wal-Mart.
They like too many in their Republican party of bigger and bigger government have allowed the current city administrator to create more and more positions while doing less and less for the public they serve.
All of this is why people keep moving and / or shopping Lee Summit. A family and smoke free community that is not weekly on the news trying to hide facts from it's citizens.
You have to have full-time professionals (educated, experienced) in city government to run city government. Sure, hate them, cuss them, belittle them, but at the end of the day, their accountable to the Mayor and Board for their work.
be matter of fact the world is not what it used to be. Matter of fact the world and this country is
not in the best shape either.
You know what, you do not live here anymore so why; do you want to be involved in all Raytown
affairs.
Why if you do not have anything good to say then just button up or suck it up what ever.
You may be a very smart man, after all you moved from the ghetto, but I do not care to hear
from you and their may be others that are fed up with your rhetoric.
A sure sign of your tie to city hall is being upset with a blogger that believes Raytown would be better off without any of the four remaining department head positions that have not resigned as of date.
I didn't see any name calling from them or even mention of why they are of their opinion just those four need to go.
However, like several of those Alderman who served with Bower you find it required to attack others like a bully where any well educated person would have asked why or could you provide supporting facts.
Our city will not heal until our Alderman step up and stop blaming everyone for the mess of failed pass administrations. Nor can we are any group move forward when our elected official publicly and privately attack the citizens for speaking their minds.
I too would like to know the whys that I mention and I hope 10:32 5/18 could provide some more information.
As for you 9:57 5/19, I hope you can learn how to act with respect to others opinions, which may even be fact supported if you would check, without acting as hateful as the Republican candidate for President.
America and Raytown should receive more respect than that
Art
1. Get annexed by KCMO which has its own probs, or
2. Increase taxes to cover the costs associated with improvement.
All in all, property taxes in R-Town are pretty low.
We can dump every person at city hall and the cost savings wouldn't be enough to do any of the things we claim we want. People gripe about Sharma's salary, but even if he made a million bucks, how many roads, sidewalks, sewers, etc do you think that would really improve???
This board Micro-Manages? How so? You are right it is their responsibility to hold the staff members accountable. It seems to me that wasnt the case for several years but is now. Read a paper beside the Raytown Times and get a clue. I for one am happy that there are some changes, maybe we can get some more accountability FOR A CHANGE!
Maybe Creamer shouldnt sign his name or go to the news because it makes this town look bad, bad that we previously elected someone as mentality limited as himself.