RAYTOWN'S LEADING NEWS SOURCE

FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR OBITUARY PAGE

Steve Mock died Wednesday, July 6, 2016, at St. Lukes Hospital Plaza. Visitation will be from 5PM to 7PM, Monday, July 11, and the funeral at 10:30AM, Tuesday, July 12. Both will be held at First Baptist Church of Raytown, 10500 E. 350 Highway, Raytown, Mo. Steve was born Dec. 2, 1955, in Kansas City, Mo. He was a lifelong resident of Raytown and a graduate of Raytown High School, class of 1974. - READ MORE

To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT

 

BY GREG WALTERS

From Greg’s Notebook

Short notes on news affecting Raytown

FREDDIE’S SHUTTING 
DOWN RESTAURANT PROJECT

The Freddie’s Real Estate Restaurant Group released a statement last week announcing they are shutting down construction of the project for a Freddie’s Restaurant at 350 Highway and Raytown Road.

We have obtained copy of the statement which was distributed to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen last week from a Freddie’s Real Estate spokesman.

“Good to hear from you!

Our real estate group and Block’s real estate group could not close the deal on the property.

We are looking at another property in the area. I will let you know when we have questions on this new property."

Mayor McDonough told the Raytown Report the city is working with Freddie’s Real Estate Restaurant Group to resolve problems with the development.

TIME’S EDITOR BLAMES BAD 
KARMA FOR RAYTOWN’S PROBLEMS!!!

Last week’s Raytown Times opinion page “Randy’s Reflections” closed with some comments that were just . . . tell you what, read them yourself and be the judge. Mr. Battagler wrote:

“Personally, I think it is our former city administrator’s religious beliefs having sway at city hall. You see, Mahesh is a native of India where there is a strong belief in Karma, which is akin to our Golden Rule. They believe that if you do bad things to a good person that it will come back against you. They did truly bad things to Mahesh, so now we will all pay the price for the ignorance of some of our aldermen.

All I can do is ask God to forgive those who did wrong and bless our city.”

Randy, you certainly have shown that you can talk the talk. Don’t you think it is time you walked the walk.

Time to stand up tall and tell everyone what . . . “bad things” . . . “they” . . . did to Mahesh.

Was it the time the former Mayor and City Council gave Sharma a $30,000 pay increase when the all the rest of the city employees had their pay frozen? Or was it the time they allowed him to renege on his promise to move to Raytown? Not once, but three times.

Have a little faith, Mr. Battagler. There are some dedicated men and women running our city now. Look for better days ahead.

SPEAKING OF BETTER DAYS AHEAD 
AT LEFT: Sandy Hartwell and Mary Jane VanBuskirk along with close to 100 participants at Let Our Light Shine Fundraiser. 

My wife and I attended the Let Our Light Shine Fundraiser Friday night. The sponsor, Raytown Main Street Association, hosted the event with a goal of raising money to purchase LED Christmas lights for Downtown Raytown. We did some checking and found the event raised over $6,000. It was the Main Street Association’s first major fundraiser and from all indications, a success.

Not bad for a town cursed with “bad Karma”.

SPEAKING OF DOWNTOWN RAYTOWN 
Perhaps Mr. Battagler has confused past Boards with the current Board of Aldermen. It was the previous Board of Aldermen, under the leadership of former Mayor David Bower, who sat on the grant funding for six years to rebuild Downtown Raytown.

It is the current Board of Aldermen who took the initiative to get it the job done.But don't take my word for it. Take A drive and check out the new Downtown Raytown. It is nearing the end of construction and is pretty impressive.

BY PAUL LIVIUS

The Paul Livius Report

Raytown Board of Aldermen Meeting – July 5, 2016

After the Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor McDonough asked for a moment of silence for Steve Mock.

Mayor McDonough said Raytown High School Speech and Debate coach Mark Harris recently received his seventh Diamond Award from the National Speech and Debate Association.  The NSDA awards Diamond recognition each year and has only recognized 17 seven Diamond winners since 1925.  To achieve this award, the recipient must actively coach for 35 years or more and have students accumulate over 100,000 competition points.  Mr. Harris’s students have earned over 243,000 points and during Mr. Harris’s 35 years of coaching, over 100 students have participated in 34 national tournaments, 11 students have been named Competitive All-Americans and 18 students have earned Academic All-American honors.  In 2002, Mr. Harris’s students won the National Congress Championship and his student Sean Steward won National Champion in the Congress House.  Historically Mr. Harris ranks 9th overall among speech and debate coaches based on his years of experience and accumulated points.  Mr. Harris received his award at the National Speech and Debate Tournament during the Donus D. Roberts Diamond Assembly in Salt Lake City, Utah in June of this year.  The Mayor applauds the accomplishments of Mark Harris and urges every resident to take time to commend and thank him for his hard work and dedication.

Jeanette Gentry ask the Board to not vote for the Three Diamond Project.  She said we don’t need $500 apartments.  We need $1,100 and $1,200 apartments.  We have Cerner coming in soon.  We need people with enough incomes who can bring a new vitality to our community.

Barbara Lakeler said she drives on 55^th Street every day in order to get to work.  She is opposed to the Three Diamond project.  She doesn’t think 55^th Street is equipped to handle the increased traffic.  She quoted the code ordinance “No residential care facility may be located with 1,200 feet of another residential care facility from property line to property line.”  Temple Heights is 1/10 of a mile so it won’t qualify due to the zoning requirements.

The Board tabled a resolution until July 19 supporting an application submitted to the Missouri Housing and Development Corporation by 3 Diamond Development for a proposed development of Diamond Senior Apartments near the intersection of 55th Street and Blue Ridge Cutoff.  The proposal is for a 60 unit senior community.  This will be 10 single story six-plex buildings, with a community center, gazebo, nature area, and walking trail.  There will be two bedroom units, approximately 800 sq. ft. each.  Ray Haydaripoor said he was not prepared to give any recommendations until he has received the development plans and site plants.

Alderman Steve Meyers said he wants to table the item until the Board can research the zoning issues and review the development plants.  Alderman Eric Teeman asked if this only supports the application for tax credits.  He wanted to know if the item will come back to the Board.  Mr. Haydaripoor said it will come back to the Board after the site plans have been received.  Alderman Meyers said this will allow 3 Diamond to seek financing on their application and the Board is not committed to approving the project.  Alderman Jim Aziere asked if 3 Diamond had purchased the land.  Mr. Haydaripoor said there is an option on the property.  Alderman Van Buskirk said he thinks this would look good and be an improvement to the area.  He was in favor of moving forward with the project.  Alderman Karen Black said the Board needs to look into the zoning ordinances.  She asked if the staff had looked into it.  Mr. Haydaripoor said if there is a code that prohibits 3 Diamond from going forward with the project, they can apply for a code variance from the Planning and Zoning Board, not from the Board of Aldermen.  Alderman Black said she was in favor of tabling the project.  Joe Willerth said the applicant doesn’t anticipate site plans being available until early next year.  The deadline to apply for tax credits is in September.  If the Board chooses to table this item, it must have a date certain before September, or they will kill the project.

Mayor McDonough pointed out the approval only goes into the packet the applicant uses for funding.  It has nothing to do with the actual construction of the project.  Alderman Josh Greene said if something in the application changes, this comes back to the Board.  If there is a code issue, it comes back to the Board.  But, if nothing changes and all code issues are resolved, the Board won’t see this again.  He has the same reservations as Alderman Black and Meyers.  The Board already knows there are traffic issues.  He agrees this should be tabled.  Alderman Van Buskirk said he wants them to be able to go forward with the funding.  He believes this will help them, but the lack of the Board’s support won’t hurt them.

The Board passed a resolution approving the purchase of a 7400 series International dump truck from Summit Truck Group in an amount not to exceed $77,607.  The current dump truck owned by the city is 18 years old.  Maintenance costs have become excessive due to the age of the vehicle.  Maintenance expenses to date have been $108,260.00.  The Public Works Department staff obtained quotes from the KCMO cooperative purchasing agreement with American Equipment Company.

Purchase price of the vehicle would be $77,607.  The bed, hydraulics, and salt spreader are an additional $55,997.00.  Total cost $133,064.00.  The budget includes funds for this purchase in the amount of $150,000.00.  This vehicle is not eligible for a fleet leasing program, due to its size.  While it may be eligible for a lease/purchase method of acquisition, the amount of the purchase is less than the amounts for a lease/purchase.  Approval is requested for purchase of an International Harvester Dump Truck from Summit Truck Group using the Mid-America Public Purchasing Contract (MACPP).  The truck would not be disposed of, but would be re-purposed as a tank truck for the pre-treatment of streets during snow and ice removal.  Cost for the re-purpose is estimated at $10,000.00 to $15,000.00.

The Board passed a resolution approving the purchase of a dump truck body and equipment from American Equipment Company in an amount not to exceed $55,997.00.  These tie in with the previous resolution.

The Board passed a resolution appointing Mark Loughry as the Interim City Administrator, effective July 5, 2016, and setting forth the duties, roles, and responsibilities of the interim city administrator.

The Board heard the first reading of an ordinance establishing a procedure to disclose potential conflicts of interest and substantial interests for certain municipal officials in the city of Raytown.  In 1991, the Missouri General Assembly adopted an ethics and personal financial disclosure law, which applied to all municipalities with an annual operating budget in excess of $1 million.

Under the law, municipalities were allowed to adopt their own simplified personal financial disclosure requirements by ordinance (commonly known as “short form” reporting).  The financial disclosure reporting requirements apply to each elected official, the City Administrator (as the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Purchasing Officer), the Director of Finance (as the Chief Financial Officer), the City Clerk, the full-time General Counsel, the Park Board, and the Parks and Recreation Director.  Each political subdivision desiring to use the “short form” is required to readopt the ordinance authorizing “short form” reporting every two years.  However, in order to avoid the significant consequences of the failure to readopt the ordinance the recommended best practice is to adopt the ordinance annually.  The ordinance must be adopted by September 15 and a copy must be provided to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT