RAYTOWN'S LEADING NEWS SOURCE
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One
of my neighbors had an unexpected guest for lunch the other day. The buck was
attracted to the large cache of birdseed. He has not returned since his one and
only visit.
Paul's Rant BY PAUL LIVIUS
Board to Vote on Including
City Administrator
in Chain of Command
An amendment to a city ordinance that clearly
spells out the chain of command at Raytown City Hall will be voted on Tuesday
night.
The amendment was originally brought before
the Board by Ward 3 Alderman Mark Moore. His bill established the Board of
Aldermen as the final say on all matters before the city. He later withdrew the
amendment for reconsideration at a later time.
Ward 5 Alderman Bonnaye Mims then formally
brought the bill back to life two weeks ago when she, Alderman Moore and
Alderman Eric Teeman co-sponsored the bill with a very important difference. In
the bill the Board will be voting on Tuesday night, the City Administrator is
added to the chain of command at City Hall.
Ward 2
Alderman Jason Greene tried to amend the bill at the last meeting to exclude
the Board of Alderman from the ordinance. His motion died for lack of second.Greene’s amendment seems to be an echo of a common theme often voiced in social media. That theme is that the Board of Aldermen is not really in charge at City Hall. How many reading this column have heard people say the Chief of Police is elected by the people and therefore is answerable only to the voters. Or, as Greene’s amendment at the last meeting suggested, the day to day decisions at City Hall is the purview of the City Administrator. (Greene’s motion was an attempt to remove the Board of Aldermen from the equation).
Missouri state law is very clear on the powers of the Board of Aldermen in a Fourth Class City.
Consider the following:
- Mayor Mike McDonough wants to appoint someone finish to Eric Teeman’s term of office.The Board of Aldermen must vote approval for the appointment to take place.
- Appointments to the Park Board require Board of Aldermen approval.
- None of the changes in this year’s city budget could have happened without approval by the Board of Aldermen.
- If the Park Board wishes to hold a Special Election for Sales Tax Increase next April, that decision must be approved by the Board of Aldermen before the election can be held.
- In fact all Committee and appointments at City Hall require Board approval. The Mayor may recommend and nominate. But unless the Board approves, the appointment is not made.
- Only the Board of Aldermen can approve the hiring of the City Administrator.
- Only the Board of Aldermen can fire the City Administrator.
- The same is true for every senior department head in Raytown City Hall.The Board must approve their appointment for them to take the job.
By the way, there is one thing the Board of Aldermen cannot do.
They cannot legislate away their authority.
 |
| BY GREG WALTERS |
April Election?
It could Happen . . .
The recent resignation of Ward 5 Alderman
Eric Teeman has caused somewhat of a stir at City Hall. Not a whole lot of
intrigue, but enough of uncertainty to make everyone unsure as to how the seat
may be filled.
Mayor Michael McDonough has an appointment in
mind. But is uncertain if that appointment will garner enough votes of the nine
members (Teeman’s seat remains vacant during this vote) still on the Board of
Aldermen.
Under Missouri State law, the Mayor can make
his choice, but before that person can take office, he or she must be approved
by at least six members of the Board of Aldermen.
The recent fight over the city budget created
some deep divisions between the Mayor and some members of the Board.
We checked with the Jackson County Election
Board and learned the City need not hold a special election to fill the seat.
However, if there is any municipal ballot question on the ballot next April,
the City may, if they choose, hold a special election at that time.
The Raytown Park Board has let it be known
they hope to have a special sales tax increase on the ballot in April. They
have until late December to solidify their plans for the tax increase question.
If they do place it on the ballot, the city may place their question as well.
This would allow McDonough to have his
candidate file and literally bypass approval by the Board of Aldermen because
the voters would ultimately make the choice.
It would also follow a precedent set by
McDonough when he allowed two vacancies on the Board to remain vacant until the
voters made their choice in 2017.
McDonough’s choice has not been publicly
announced, but she is known to be a political ally of the Mayor. Her name is
Melissa Beal.
This would not be the first time Beal has
filed for office in Raytown. She filed for Alderman in Ward 5 last year but
withdrew from the ballot. An official reason was never given for her
withdrawal, though it is generally believed by most political observers she was
advised to withdraw because the race was already too crowded with three
candidates.
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Comments
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
We have a lot to be thankful for in this country.
https://www.jacquielawson.com/ecard/pickup?code=7064452855526&source=jl999&utm_medium=internal_email&utm_source=pickup&utm_campaign=receivercontent
The city needs to first prove they can manage money!
Lynch, Sue Frank and her bubby (a Chief Lynch made-up rank of Major in the PD) are the worst thing that has happened to Raytown government in over 20 years.
Lynch as got to go.
Andy Whiteman
Lynch has got to go.
Lynch has got to go.
Andy Whiteman
This has nothing to do with hurt feelings. It's pragmatism. When it's busted, you fix it.
Only thing they forgot is city marshal could also be put in changer of streets and based on the oil and rock I wonder if he already is.
It also appears you have not been watching all of the meetings, which can be done online from the city's website.
They only do the official meetings, which does bring into question what happens at the other meetings, but the city has showing in the last 16 years not to be much up on following the law.
It has been brought up repeatedly that the BOA asked all departments to make cuts and one just refused. Yes, the police.
This is just one example of the BOA trying to have a conversation with Lynch, but you cannot have a conversation with someone who believe they are above everyone else.
We won't even get into the verbal attacks on members of the BOA or other staff, but there are some of the BOA meetings you can hear him yelling in the hall at one of the Alderman.
By his own actions he has showing he doesn't want to have calm and mature conversation let alone do right by the citizens of Raytown. Therefore the BOA has no other recourse but to start taking actions against him as allowed by the state laws.
Shame on them both!
How unbelievably rude. Some people, no matter where they are in this world, consider Raytown to be home. What a nasty way to behave.
The donut lady posts from time to time but mostly when she has a stake in what's going on. I'm not sure if rock lady posts here or not.
But as far as "outsiders" telling Raytowners what to do, nobody can beat that gasbag FOP guy.. Geeeesh!
Hyperbole! Bovine CACA!
Just think how much better Raytown would be today if we had been maintaining a balance budget all along.
Let us not forget the actions the Board of Alderman took to put all departments under the watchful eye of the city administrator was just another step in the right direct to ensure no single departments spending goes uncheck in the future as well as bring us in alignment with other great city's where everyone one is accountable to someone.
They are definitely in charge at City Hall. The chaos of departments doing what they will without oversight is in the past.
Now it is time to rebuild. Good job guys and gals. You made this old guy really proud of you!
Hi 9:52
We are called Volunteers in Police Service (not fire service or ambulance service.)
Like I said before they could have their own volunteers.
I believe the good folks of Raytown will step up and provide food or treats for fire/ems too.
Don't need a volunteer program to show your appreciation for what they do. Just do it!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
However, we all understand how busy he has been trying to calm other department heads that have been attacked by our city marshal.
I hope that employee and the city file the proper charges against him for his actions and need to get the press involved like we are seeing throughout this nation.
Attacks against women are not always sexual!
As for the mater at hand that continues to be over looked is the head of codes enforcement and his inability to address code violations. Maybe he has work for the city too long and has that Lynch attitude of not my problem I only here for my check and serve only as a guardian of my chair.
Don't think Ray, Codes Enforcement, is the only missing link to our city's success. The other and even more important to fix is Doug, the head of EMS. From the questionable death of a senior member of Raytown because using the first ambulance to get her to the hospital just wasn't good enough to telling the Board he is always fully staffed, but too often expects KCMO to run the calls that he just cannot manage.
His not as secretive meetings with the EMS service provider in Independence along with a few others in the metro as he shops for a new EMS service for Raytown.
Need anything more be said about the reason the department heads "MUST" be Raytwon residence when you have the "DOUG" example.
Keep up the good work Board of Alderman!
I understand that the VIP might turn an eye on fire as they are not part of the city, but PD has been raping the budget for years.
This has caused the citizens to be without EMS services at times and let us not forget the crazy spending down under Lynch's watch for a holiday party for the police officers and their families while all other departments got nothing.
NO our police department has had enough and those jumping on their bandwagon are not only embarrassing Raytown, but also themselves.
"NO our police department has had enough and those jumping on their bandwagon are not only embarrassing Raytown, but also themselves."
And the anonymous antics that occur here are not embarrassing Raytown? Give me a break.
The tin-foil antics that occur here are a total embarrassment to the City, and furthermore, I would venture a guess that the Alderman are posting here as well. Seems to be the only place they can post without risking a violation of the social media policy. The anonymous factor offers the Alderman protection and opportunity to speak without consequences. Yeah, the citizens are on to this game.
Since there were 8 votes in favor, the odds are the BOA would over-ride the veto and the ordinance would stand.
Would much rather have the Aldermen engage the citizenry using their real names, phones and email. Here's the thing, I find it rather strange that on the other place where Raytown citizens post, people do not post anonymously, we see very little of the glorious praise for the Aldermen that we do here. Why is that? It's not like differing views would not be listened to. Former Alderman Joe Creamer visits the other place from time to time, few agree with him, but he does his thing and leaves, and is welcome to come back. Anyone posting here is welcome to post in the other place as well, and yet we don't see much praise for the Alderman, or criticism of different views found at the other place.
But here, and only here, do we find conspiracy theories, chief bashing, Alderman bashing and other sorts of nonsense. The Alderman are posting here, they may not be participating in the poor behavior, but nothing binds their family, friends and other surrogates from doing so. Find all this very interesting and strange. Perhaps City Employees are posting here as well. Who knows..
9:17
So police volunteers are supposed to be embarrassed? I don't think so.
Like they said....if you want fire or ambulance folks to have treats, go deliver them.
There's nothing stopping you.
I see it as a waste of money being other 4th class cities have had the same issue with top heavy police departments as well as some of those same cities have paid for the study and to only the surprise of the "Lynch Raytowners" support group the police departments were top heavy.
Being top heavy was only a piece of an larger financially disaster being created by one individual at a deadly expense to the taxpayers.
Yes, "deadly" for when EMS has to go out of service because they cannot staff as they are not able to pay a living salary with several employees families on food stamps, but we have offers taking vehicles home as well as the rank pay increases. The police through their actions have created a "Pro-Death" policy for anyone needing medical assistance in Raytown. I am suprised the "MO Right to Life" down on 63rd St have not marched on city hall for putting "LIFE" itself in jeopardy here in Raytown.
When you and other "Lynch Raytowers" keep up the game of the Alderman are all wrong and bad people without anything other that the gospel of James "Jim" Lynch tells you so, you are following the foolish path of those on Nov 18, 1978. It is scary and leave unanswered questions for family and friends how one person can mislead individuals as well what their true underlining motive is.
Those with wisdom and the ability to rationalize the truth from lies must stand with are Alderman.
I have spoken to several people from other cities and they do the following:
Animal Control
Code Enforcement
Handicap Parking Enforcement
Assist walk-ins to the department with questions
Not a one of them has ever said to provide meals for the officers.
In fact they said at times the department put on appreciation luncheons for them being they are giving their time.
This has me agree with several of the post on here that there seems to be something strange that in Raytown the VIP group is providing meals for the officers.
We have bigger problems in Raytown than volunteers preparing meals of appreciation.
3:56
Can you provide the name of the city that lets police volunteers do:
Animal Control
Code Enforcement
Handicap Parking Enforcement.
Wouldn't code enforcement be a civil matter, not a criminal matter that the police would handle?
Animal Control? Volunteers go out and pick up dead animals or catch runaway dogs?
Handicap Parking--volunteers get to hand out tickets? Do they also go to court and testify against the person they gave the ticket to?
Please provide the details on your post.
3:56
You wouldn't like the the police volunteers even if they cured cancer, ended hunger and poverty, and brought about world peace.
Out of all the different community programs the police volunteers plan and execute, the meals thing has you upset.
Wow!
Wait you need Lynch to tell you how to think!
No one that sponsored the bill could explain what “with the approval of the board” added to the ordinance meant. Too vague in my opinion
Move on Aldermen, leave the PD alone and let’s work on more important things and move this town forward.
10:30pm
So why should that poster waste their time and do any homework when that poster could have been very specific with the cities he was referring to?
I too thought it very odd that he/she didn't mention the specific cities in his post.
Veracity is in short supply these days. We just need to make sure his post wasn't a bunch of baloney. Trust but verify.
He has never provided any proof.
Next thanksgiving crow for Raytown.
November 24, 2017 at 6:30 AM:
"Move on Aldermen, leave the PD alone and let’s work on more important things and move this town forward."
Um, seems to us like they ARE moving on. And perhaps Lynch would prefer to be left to his own devices. <- That's definitely not gonna happen from here on out.
Board of Aldermen, we're profoundly happy with the way you asserted yourselves this week.
It's a fair question: after a number of rather adverse incidents in a very brief period of time, should your chief continue to be permitted to rattle about? Or should there be a formal assertion in re to chain of command?
You have a police chief that skedaddles out of a public meeting into a hallway, who apparently pursued and initiated an altercation with an alderman, who shrieked at another one that simply wondered what the ruckus was, who returned a donation to someone he apparently doesn't care for, and apparently overtly threatened a city administrator merely attempting to execute a "what if" assignment as instructed. All this behavior from a supposed "professional" in short order, mind you, and perhaps there are other incidents that have been suppressed recently as well as over the years.
Impulse control issues are to be expected from toddlers and kindergartners. When children misbehave, they're routinely sanctioned by their parents, teachers and caregivers.
Imagine the feeling of futility when confronted with what appears to be identical behavior from a mid-sexagenarian administrator. Especially someone that has apparently been generally ineffective at reducing crime in Raytown.
Not all of this unease is "chief bashing". If chief is doing a competent job and working well with others, he should welcome transparency and have no difficulty working under any set of circumstances imposed upon him.
And this mayor is leaving himself open to a big fat, lengthy set of questions and challenges if he chooses to veto the decision of those who we elected to work for us.
Again, alderman, fantastic work.
So yes, let's "move on" and "let’s work on more important things and move this town forward."
http://www.ci.independence.mo.us/IPD/VIPS_How
Independence, MO - Check out some of the actives they do. I also understand from a conversation with one of their officers they give out tickets at Interdependence shopping center.
http://cityofls.net/Police/Programs-and-Services/Animal-Control/Volunteer-Opportunities
Lee Summit - Check out the area under animal control, which actually part of the URL link.
https://www.bluespringsgov.com/724/Volunteers-In-Police-Service-VIPS
Blue Springs - Help with detention and transporting vehicles just to mention a few duties.
Greenwood, MO under their former chief had the volunteers doing all kinds of things from code enforcement and animal control (816) 537-5020 to confirm and check if the practice is still in place.
If we look beyond our metro area their is proof that some cities provide cars for patrolling and enforcement of handicapped / fire lane parking violations.
http://charlottenc.gov/CMPD/Organization/Pages/SupportSvcs/Volunteering_COP.aspx
Now Lynch and his band of unleashed want you to believe many of the duties others have written about just are not done in other communities.
Lynch and his followers have again been caught not telling the truth, which should make us all question what else are they hiding.
There are still to many unanswered questions as well as his public attacks on elected officials.
How is 10:59 making a full of themselves when it was the VIP group that decided they needed to feed the police officers and they get upset at people think that was foolish.
On top of that it appears someone from your organization couldn't believe folks in other VIP groups are allowed to enforce handicap illegal parking, but 10:59 proved that.
I for one question what Raytown VIP is doing. Only thing I do know is that Lynch announced he would use volunteers to pick up were Raytown now has no officers. Based on the comments on the blog by VIP members it appears that officers once cooked for other officers.
Sorry, but I never heard such a way to run a police department.
Again, Lynch's words!
I also saw a post last week about what happened to the briefing room and why the VIP's didn't hold the citizens police academy in that room.
You know that is as good question last week as it is this week being I never seem a follow up form the VIP group, but they sure liked to blog about the academy.
One thing is clear the citizens want transparency and questions answered, but everyone tied to the police department doesn't want to provide the supporting documentation.
I guess if we want the truth we will have to visit Joe Creamer.
3:25
"I also saw a post last week about what happened to the briefing room and why the VIP's didn't hold the citizens police academy in that room."
What happened?
10:59
Thank you for providing the source material.
Would have been nice to have had that info on your on your original post.
Oh the pungent, sweet and oh so entertaining aroma of "Eau De Neophyte."
Seriously, you little ankle biters. You're several days past your shelf date.
You sincerely wanna "move Raytown forward?' Then switch your focus.
Recruit new business. Volunteer within the City.
Still don't "get" it?
Then you go right on ahead! Buy a few cases of chilled Red Bull and assemble! Light your torches! Organize the insurgents! The Chief needs your savin'! You are correct about everything! We've never even considered reorganization or a charter before! You are indeed the innovators! We are wrong about EVERYTHING!
P.S.
It's doubtful that your chief gives two shakes about any of you.
I have not seen any of the sometimes looney postings where anyone says or even implies they are a cop hater.
In many cities and counties across the country ignoring fiscal responsibility has led to draconian cuts which have decimated staffing in all departments. This is what happened in Ashtabula County Ohio:
In the ongoing financial crisis in Ashtabula County, the Sheriff's Department has been cut from 112 to 49 deputies. With deputies assigned to transport prisoners, serve warrants and other duties, only one patrol car is assigned to patrol the entire county of 720 square miles.
Right now the BOR is doing minor surgery compared to what could happen if the budget shortfall is just kicked down the road.
Yes there have been some pretty negative comments about the current mayor (former cop) and police chief plus his command staff.... but to say someone is a cop hater is going too far.
BTW... anti-police equals cop hater. IMHOTI
Ending the police pension for everyone?
This would doom the city. We would lose all of our law enforce officers. Thankfully, this can never, ever happen. Why? Once a government entity joins the LAEGERS pension it is forever. Legally, every entity that joins agrees to this, and payments MUST be made and it cannot be discontinued. I find it strange that anyone would believe that cops should work for a pittance. Not in today’s world....
Too soon to request a charter change. The voters don’t want it. Actually, problems with the city’s 4th class status can be addressed by the Alderman. They have the power to creatively address the deficiencies as other 4th class cities have done. With regards to chief Lynch, if you will notice, very few citizens praise him. Even at the other place you see little cheerleading. The folks at the other place care about police protection and that’s where the praise starts and ends. Nobody fawns over him like a god. We just want things set right. We want good governance and a police force that has the resources it needs. We also want a city council that listens and works. We know that Lynch was wrong to double down on his budget requests and we also know he was wrong to wait to the last minute to comply. We also know that there is a lot right with the police department. Good response times being one example.
Proves the previous point with his (or her) claim that this is an "anti-cop" site.
If you seriously want a better Raytown (and not just an unfettered police budget) please, please tone down the cop-hater rhetoric.
What about "alderman bashing" ?! Let's address that.
Do you think that they don't care about the police department or your safety ?!
I'm relieved that the aldermen voted as they did.
Your chief used what? 1 minute 10-20 seconds of an allotted 5 minutes at the podium at the council meeting a couple weeks back. His brief remarks were clearly devoid of any preparation. No analysis. No originality. A subdued, muffled non-exhortation. It was truly one squandered opportunity.
Then observe a cross-section of comments from our aldermen. I was very impressed with this city council. The sentiment, consideration, the flow of ideas.
Apples and oranges.
I urge you to review the "tape" online.
We have a very fine city administrator in Mr. Cole. And with the oversight of the city council, Mr. Cole and Briana Burrichter, perhaps Mr. Lynch can receive the assistance that he appears to require.
I have no doubt whatsoever that the aldermen, Mr. Cole and Ms. Burrichter are fully capable and are eager to work with Mr. Lynch.
Mr. Lynch, going forward you need to work equitably with everyone, or you need to resign. Immediately.
Otherwise, the police department may continue to fall down the rabbit hole into non-existence.
Mr. Lynch, you owe us all an apology for your recent conduct.