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| BY GREG WALTERS |
In the past decade Raytown City Elections have been sleepy events. It
was not unusual for incumbents to go unchallenged or with only token opposition
in their elections. All of that changed in 2013 when voters elected three new
comers to Raytown City Hall. In two of those races, incumbents lost their seats
by lopsided margins.
Two years later, the 2015 races have many of the same makings of the
upsets witnessed in 2013.
Consider the following. In Wards 1, 2 and 3 there are three way races
in contests in which the winner will take all. In Wards 4 and 5 the incumbent
Aldermen are not seeking re-election. Open seats always make for interesting
races.
The Ward 1 and Ward 2 races are especially interesting because the
incumbents are facing two challengers each.
Ward 1 incumbent Joe Creamer is surrounded by controversy this
election. Despite the Missouri State Constitution requiring elected
representatives to live within the district they represent, Creamer has lived
outside of Ward 1 for an extended period of time.
He is being challenged by Karen Black and Greg Walters. This is Black’s
first run for public office.
Walters most recent public service was on the Raytown Charter
Commission. The Charter Commission just finished nine months of work on writing
a new form of government for Raytown. Voters will decide whether or not to accept
the Charter at the April 7th Election.
In Ward 2, incumbent Jim Aziere is challenged by Chris Rathbone and
Steve Guenther. Rathbone and Guenther were both active in the petition process
that formed the Charter Commission.
In Ward 3 incumbent Charlotte Melson has not filed for re-election.
This leaves the field open for three candidates. Two of the candidates have run
for political office before. Mark Moore ran for Alderman in 2013 and also served
on the Raytown Charter Commission. Sterling Brown was a candidate for the
Jackson County Legislature in 2012. This will be the third candidate, Ryan
Myers, first attempt at running for public office.
Ward 4 is open because the incumbent, Pat Ertz, is running for Mayor. Two
candidates, who also happen to be neighbors, are running for the seat vacated
by Ertz. The contest in Ward 4 is between long time businessman Steve Meyers
and Mary Jane VanBuskirk. Mary Jane is married to Bill VanBuskirk. Bill
VanBuskirk is currently serving on the Raytown Board of Aldermen – this is his “off”
year for election.*
In Ward 5 two newcomers have filed for the seat being vacated by
Alderman Michael Lightfoot. Voters will choose between Eric Teeman and Barry Park
in the Ward 5 race.
Leading the pack in all of the above races is the contest for Mayor. Two
viable candidates, Pat Ertz and Mike McDonough are headed for a showdown next
April for the seat being vacated by Mayor David Bower. Ertz is currently serving
on the Raytown Board of Alderman. He will face Michael McDonough, who recently
retired from the Raytown Police Department.
*Aldermen serve four year terms. Two aldermen are elected from each ward on a rotating basis with an election held every two years.
*Aldermen serve four year terms. Two aldermen are elected from each ward on a rotating basis with an election held every two years.
Emerson and Ross Withdraw
Two last minute withdrawals from the April 7th election
caught the attention City Hall watchers last week.
One was the withdrawal of Lisa Emerson. Emerson served as Secretary to
the Raytown Charter Commission and had filed for Alderman in Ward 3. In a statement
sent to the Raytown Report Emerson said she was bowing out of the race because fellow
Charter Commissioner Mark Moore had filed for the same position. Emerson wrote
she believed, “Moore would make the right decisions for the right reasons on
behalf of the people of our ward.”
Raytown Fire Commissioner Willard Ross unexpectedly withdrew from the
race on Friday. As of this writing he has not released a statement as to why.
His absence from the race means that the other candidate for the open seat on
the Raytown Fire Commission will go to Richard Tush by default.
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| BY PAUL LIVIUS |
The Paul Livius Report
Raytown Board of Aldermen Meeting – January 20, 2015
Mayor Bower said the City of Raytown is a proud supporter of the
Metropolitan Community College system.
The Metropolitan Community College-Longview Lakers Women’s Volleyball
team competed in November and won the Regional Volleyball Tournament at East
Central College in Union, Missouri to capture the 2014 National Junior College
Athletic Association Division II, Region 16 Crown and went on to the Division
II National Championship Title on November 22, 2014 at Phoenix College in
Phoenix, Arizona, one of only 16 teams nationally to Compete. He proclaimed January 21 a day for Raytown to
celebrate.
The Board passed a resolution approving the appointment of Mary Jo
Simmons to the council on aging.
The Board passed a resolution approving the appointment of Rick Thode
to the police pension board.
The Board passed a resolution approving purchase of six (6) Motorola
MW810 mobile computers in excess of $15,000.00 from Motorola Solutions
Inc. The Police Department utilizes an
IT hardware replacement schedule, which includes the mobile computers in the
police car fleet. This allows the department to better forecast expenditures
and avoid large, single time expenses of hardware replacement. Six (6) Motorola
MW810 mobile in-car computers are scheduled for replacement this year. This is
the second phase of in-car computer replacements. The Motorola MW810 computer has proven itself
to be a durable and reliable solution to the Police Department’s mobile
computing needs. Motorola provides special government pricing through the State
of Kansas Contract with Motorola. Their cooperative bid pricing makes a
responsible choice for our in-car computing needs.
The Board passed a resolution approving the purchase of a Powered
ambulance cot with mounting and associated hardware from Stryker EMS Equipment
in an amount not to exceed $15,995.00. A Ferno ambulance cot, purchased in
2006-2008, still in service in the department’s backup ambulance, has reached
the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. Two of the previous Ferno
cots were replaced in early 2014 due to frequent, costly repairs, and the anticipation
that they would not remain serviceable much longer.
The Board passed a resolution approving the repair services of
wastewater and storm water infrastructure from Wedenmann, Inc. The Public Works
Department received a complaint from a resident regarding slow flow on their
sewer. The complaint was received about the 4th of November, 2014. Upon
televising the sewer line, staff found that the sewer has several cracked and
displaced pipes between the manholes near 9309 E. 82nd Street. The repairs are
beyond the scope that can be handled by staff, and must be addressed in the
near future to prevent collapse of some of the pipe. The tentative price from
Wiedenmann, Inc. for pipe bursting of the 110 linear feet of sewer line is
$46,800.00, with the actual price to be determined by actual cost of the
repair. The price is based on using unit prices from the cooperative contract
from the City of Lee’s Summit. The unit prices are firm, but the actual
quantities may differ from the estimate. The final price is expected to be less
than the estimate.
The Board passed a resolution authorizing the City Administrator to
enter into an Agreement with Leath & Sons Inc. for the 79th Street and Elm
storm drainage improvement project within the city in an amount not to exceed
$78,930.00. The Public Works Department
received 14 sealed bids that were opened January 6, 2015. Leath & Sons Inc. is the lowest, bidder
at $78,930.00. This emergency project
came about after a car ran off the road a few months ago at 9209 E. 79th Street
and damaged the guard rail and storm sewer. This project was quickly surveyed
and designed to get it out to bid. The design was done as 2 different designs.
Option A bid the project to leave in place the existing stone arch cross road
culvert and to push a 54” diameter storm sewer pipe through it to carry the
flow of water under 79th Street. Option B bid the project to remove the
existing stone arch cross road culvert and to install a new 60” diameter storm
sewer pipe in a new trench just to the west.
The Board passed an ordinance to grant a conditional use permit subject
to operate an event space at 10028 East 63rd Street. Nathan Prather, on behalf of Siatta
Investments, is seeking approval of a conditional use permit application for
operation of an event space / banquet hall at 10028 East 63rd Street in
downtown Raytown. The proposed
conditional use would allow persons or organizations to rent the property for
special events such as weddings, bridal showers, graduation parties, birthday
parties, super bowl parties, wedding anniversaries, youth dances, dance
lessons, school fund raisers, community meetings, and other types of
gatherings.
The Board passed an ordinance adding Article XVII to Chapter 10 of the
code of ordinances for the purpose of defining smoke and tobacco stores and
limiting their occurrence in the At the request of the Board of Aldermen City
staff has developed an amendment to the City of Raytown Code of Ordinances
regulating smoke and tobacco shops within the City. The amendment proposes regulating smoke and
tobacco shops through the creation of Article XVII in Chapter 10 of the Raytown
Code of Ordinances. The amendment
defines “Smoke and tobacco shops” and “tobacco paraphernalia” and limits the
sale of tobacco paraphernalia to exclusively smoke and tobacco shops as defined
in the ordinance.
• Article XVII
proposes to define “smoke and tobacco shops” as retail stores that sell tobacco
and tobacco paraphernalia comprising 70% or more of their total sales. Article XVII would additionally define
“tobacco paraphernalia” as items used for the packaging or consumption of
tobacco or other plant products. Such
items include pipes, water pipes, bongs, and hookahs. See the attached ordinance for the full list
and the official definitions. Department
stores that have tobacco departments would be exempt from the definition of
“smoke and tobacco shops”. The amendment
further proposes to limit the number of smoke and tobacco shops in the City
limits based upon the following population limits.
• Smoke and tobacco
shops would be limited in Raytown to one store per 5,000 residents. The location of smoke and tobacco shops is
also proposed to be regulated as follows:
• Smoke and tobacco
shops would also be restricted from operating within 2,640 feet of the boundary
of the City, 2,640 feet of any other property on which another smoke and
tobacco shop is located, and 500 feet of any property legally used as a public
park, school, church, or residence.
Enforcement of the regulations would occur through the City’s annual
Business Licensing Process, which would require a business stating that they
are a smoke or tobacco shop to provide information showing that the sale of
tobacco and tobacco paraphernalia products comprise 70% or more of their total sales. If a business meets this standard then they
would be allowed to sell tobacco paraphernalia.
Any business that sells tobacco products that do not comprise 70% or
more would be allowed to sell tobacco products but would not be allowed to sell
tobacco paraphernalia.
Alderman Josh Greene made a motion to amend the bill to eliminate a
requirement that tobacco shops not be allowed within 500’ of an occupied
residence. The motion also asked for a removal of a “one store per 5,000
residents” cap in the ordinance. Greene also questioned a section of the
ordinance that prohibited tobacco shops from opening within a half mile of the
city limits. Raytown is only two miles wide. The prohibition effectively
removes all but about a one mile strip of 350 Highway, and a small square city blocks in
Downtown Raytown as a location for a business. The motion fell short of acceptance by a vote
of seven to three.
Alderman Jason Greene argued the ordinance placed a hardship on private
business owners by requiring them to report to the city on sales of
tobacco items. Greene said the reporting requirement serves no useful purpose
and is unfair because not all tobacco sellers are required to fill out the
reports (drug and grocery stores are specifically exempted from the requirement
in the ordinance).
HOW THEY VOTED: Creation of
Smoke and Tobacco Ordinance
VOTING YES: VanBuskirk, Ertz, Aziere, Melson,
Creamer, Mock
VOTING NO: Jason Greene, Lightfoot, Josh Greene,
Emerson
The bill passed by a vote of six to four.
The Board heard the first reading of an ordinance approving the
application for Chapter 353 tax abatement by the sixth amended development plan
submitted by the Raytown Municipal redevelopment corporation. This will establish a Redevelopment area
located at 10014 E. 63rd Street as described within the plan and declare the
area is blighted and in need of development and redevelopment. It authorizes certain tax abatements within
the redevelopment area described within the plan.
The property in question is Sue Frank’s State Farm Insurance Agency
located in the middle of Downtown Raytown. Frank recently completed over
$80,000 worth of renovations to the inside of her offices. The plans call for a
renovation of the outside of the rear and front of the building. The finished design
would give the building an appearance of a two story structure.
The tax abatement package would affect property taxes collected by the
City of Raytown and the Raytown School District.
The second reading of the application is scheduled for the next meeting
of the Board of Alderman on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at Raytown City Hall. The
meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.
Paul’s Rant BY PAUL LIVIUS
Some of the Raytown Board of Aldermen has a reputation for “posturing”.
By this I mean some of them have a tendency to puff up their chest and wax
rhetoric about certain subjects. As you no doubt understand, the purpose is
two-fold. One, to show the public they are on the ball and taking care of
business. The other is a little more selfish – it falls under the term of self
aggrandizement. Or, as my copy of The American College Dictionaey plainly states . . . "to make somebody or something
seem bigger or better than is actually the case, especially through exaggerated
praise."
Case in point – the recent passage of an ordinance setting rules for
smoke shops in Raytown. Smoke shops are those little stores that specialize in
selling tobacco products to the public. At last count, there are two of them
in Raytown.
Never mind that the City already has laws against selling tobacco
products to minors. Never mind that the City already has laws on the books
prohibiting the sale of drug paraphernalia*. Six of the Board of Aldermen felt
we needed another set of laws to keep our streets safe in Raytown.
The law is passed – but all it really did was create another layer of
bureaucratic red tape for small business owners to wade through.
Want proof of how ridiculous this law is? Large retail venues like drug
stores and grocery stores are exempt from the rules set down for the smoke shop
owners. Including the tedious business of reporting sales of the same product.
Will someone please tell me where the sense is in that? If selling tobacco
products is a problem at a small business, why wouldn’t it be so at large
grocery or drug store?
Perhaps those six votes on the Board of Aldermen thought they had a
winner with this ordinance. It would be more accurate to say all they have done is added to
the definition of “aggrandizement”.
*USE THIS LINK . . . Sec. 28-331. - PARAPHERNALIA / RAYTOWN CODE OF ORDINANCES
*USE THIS LINK . . . Sec. 28-331. - PARAPHERNALIA / RAYTOWN CODE OF ORDINANCES
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30 comments:
Can anybody tell us why Raytown Road from
63rd st. north toward City Hall has been ground up
but not resurfaced? It has been this way for several
months and there is quite a drop off passing over
63rd onto Raytown Road.
When a snow plow hits that drop off it will surly
damage the plow and the trucks frame.
Call Raymore and ask our City Manager I am sure that he knows why.
Pat. Why is Raytown Road not finished. Probably because they waited too long to put asphalt on the surface. Asphalt will not hold well to the surface it is placed on if the ground temperature is too cold.
It really points to a bigger problem. It is kind of like absentee owners of rental property. They don't live in the neighboorhood so they do not care. They care only about the rental check they receive each month.
Same is true for absentee leadership at city hall. When your city administrator and even one of your elected officials does not live in town you will have problems.
The are not stakeholders. They do not care. Their leadership is false because they are not part of the people they are leading.
The result manifests itself in shoddy repairs to our streets. Or worse, repairs that go unfinished.
No pride. No reason to have some.
I guess all that is true.
They can however, manage to pass a much to do
about nothing law as in, that stupid smoke shop
ruling. I never thought I’d see a politician manage
bend over far enough to toot his own horn but Ertz
managed to do just that, and on TV to boot! Makes
me wonder who called the tv people because they
like most of us probably think that ruling was just about
the dumbest thing since the WalMart tax give away.
Oh wait, there has been a lot more since then.
Hedges at 75th Street has been torn up for months also. It was repaved in the summer and I thought it was done very well. Then they came back and tore it up again and left it.
Let me tell you why this town can't get any small businesses t stay or come into Raytown. A friend of mine was wanting to build a larger better building to expand his business. He used a builder to deal with this city but as usual everything changes day by day. This city will tell you one thing one day the then another the next day. A few years ago this town passed a rule or code, that any building built or bought on 350hwy. could NOT have metal on the outside construction. That is why the old Toyota and Payless Cashways buildings were stuccoed. Absolutely no metal buildings on 350 hwy. After these business did what they were told to do and build according to codes the high school built their huge STEEL BUILDING! Nothing was said. These codes were for 350hwy only. Not inside the city. I pray we will get a new Mayor that will work with the people and not against them. A mayor that will want to help new and old small businesses instead of run them out. I could write a book on how this town has run off our small businesses and welcomed the big box stores. All without collecting any or little tax income. Then when a small business that pays their taxes trys to become a little better they are shut down before they even get to start.
Looks like the insurance company may get a tax give away with the 353 tax abatement in the plans
I was and am all for banning more smoke shops. Wake up and think about our future and that of the city.
I have never smoked and I don't want to be around people who smoke. BUT - smoking is legal in Raytown. It doesn't make any sense to put an extra burden on a small smoke shop when the big box stores can sell all the tobacco products they want. Either leave the smoke shops alone or make it illegal for all entities to sell tobacco products. While you're at it, why don't you ban smoking all together. You can't say you want to leave it up to the shop or restaurant owner to make that decision, because you just took that decision making ability away from some owners.
Shame on Mr. Ertz for grandstanding on the smoke shops. If he were serious about smoking he would ban smoking in all eating establishments like the rest of the cities in Jackson county have. Raytown is so BACKWARD in it's ways of thinking.
I don't think you guys get it yet. Ertz and Van Buskirk only want to forbid those actions that don't comply with their sense of morality. If they wanted to truly make this a place for young families, they would outlaw smoking in public places, lower the sales tax to a reasonable level, do something about the horrible streets, and stop giving the schools' tax dollars away with all the TIFS.
SMOKING SHOULD BE LEGAL IN RAYTOWN, OUR GOVERNMENT TAKES AWAY ENOUGH OF OUR FREEDOMS ALREADY. IF A STORE DOES NOT WANT SMOKING SUCH AS I-HOP IT CAN DO SO. I ALSO THINK THE SKILLET HAS NO SMOKING IN THEIR RESTAURANT .
PLEASE LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE AS A CITIZEN I AM TIRED OF BEING TOLD ALL THE THINGS THAT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO.
WE ARE NOT THE REST OF CITIES WE ARE INDEPENDENT OF THEM "THANK GOD".
Says the smoker who hasn't had his addictive fix in awhile.
I think a lot of you are missing the point
read Pauls Rant and it explains the problem VERY simply
I thought smoking was banned in restaurants in Raytown. Only bars / grilles have smoking. Thought that was put in force years ago
I wish they would go back to the days of the blue law
They were commenting on Willy's statement not on Paul's
Anonymous 1/28/15 at 5:15 --
No, smoking is still allowed in many places in Raytown, in fact Raytown is one of very few places it is allowed. I am a nonsmoker, never have, and never will be, however I think it should be left up to the owner of the establishment if they want to allow it or not.
I DO NOT SMOKE JUST HATE TO HAVE BIG GOVERNMENT ALWAYS TELLING US WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT DO.
Raytown the beautiful?
The old church lot “Green Space” is a trash dump!
The barbershop by the pool hall uses the ally for
a tire dump. Our streets are in shambles. Codes are
not kept up to par, and the most important thing
on our leaders minds, especially Ertz, is going after the
small tobacco stores. Only one thing left to do, use the
flush handle.
KMCCLA - I understand what you are saying. I don't want to be around all the cigarette smoke, so I go to Lee's Summit to eat. All I'm saying is I think Ertz and his buddies are talking out of both sides of their mouths. They want to make small business owners jump through hoops so the BOA can thump their chests and claim they are making Raytown better. All the while, they are ignoring the same actions when it is being done by big business. If they want to regulate smoking, then fine - regulate it. Just don't put the onus on one group and not another.
Before you get your pantyhose in a wad look at what this is about. It is to limit the amount of drug paraphernalia that can be sold in our city. By state law we can't totally stop the sale of drug paraphernalia, but this will allow the city to limit it. Before you get all fired up find out the facts first.
I walk the green space every morning and it's not a dump site
Sorry, I thought beer cans, broken beer bottles,
McDonalds sacks and so on were trash. I guess
Someone thinks it’s art.
Omg the last few comments are so hilarious ; these folks must have no real life; just too funny
Goes to show you some people can't find beauty in anything and are always looking for a debate and turmoil in their lives
Who was that last post by? Mary Poppins?
Find beauty in everything! Give me a break! There is beauty everywhere but there is also the opposite. To completely ignore the bad things in life is a pathway to disaster.
Mary poppins or whom ever you are ; you sure hit a nerve on that one blogger or hit the nail on the head.
Wow! Talk about negativity! That last comment definitely came from someone who views everything from the dark side. Bet he never had a kind word for anyone or thing in his life.
I think we are all in agreement with 8:18am
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