“What’s Wrong at Raytown City Hall?”
THE FOLLOWING EDITORIAL WAS PUBLISHED IN THE
KANSAS CITY STAR ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 (page 18A). IT ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR AN INDEPENDENT AUDIT OF THE CITY OF RAYTOWN.
City officials have failed to publicly address the suspicious practices, despite repeated questions from concerned citizens. TO READ MORE USE THE FOLLOWING LINK
USE THIS LINK . . . KC STAR EDITORIAL
Raytown Audit Petition Sign Up Locations
USE THIS LINK . . . KC STAR EDITORIAL
Raytown Audit Petition Sign Up Locations
Or . . . Stop by
Doughboy’s Doughnuts located at 63rd and Woodson to pickup
petition forms or to sign a petition (11559 East 63rd Street,
Raytown, MO 64133).
 |
| BY GREG WALTERS |
Service to be Discussed
First
Reading of an Ordinance Transferring the Raytown (EMS) Ambulance Service to the
Raytown Fire Protection District will be held
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Raytown City Hall, 10000 East 59th Street
Meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.
The public
is invited to share its opinion on the transfer of the Ambulance Service to the
Fire District during the Public Comments portion of the meeting.
- Meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. / Public Comments is the first item of business.
- A sign-up sheet is at the entrance to the room. Speakers will be called to the podium in the order of when they signed up. Raytown residents are given priority to speak.
- Each speaker is allowed five minutes to make their presentation.
Blog Rules . . . BY PAUL LIVIUS
Every
now and then we find it is necessary to review the rules governing the material
on the blog portion of the Raytown Report.
Most of
our readers understand and follow the rules. The use of obscenity has all but
vanished from our page because we simply will not print your blog if it is
laced with vulgarity.
A big
thank you for that to our readers!
We
recently received what was entitled a Press Release regarding the transfer of
the EMS (Ambulance Service) to the Raytown Fire Protection District. The Press
Release was unsigned.
All
press releases require the name and phone number of the person submitting the
release. If whoever sent the release will provide the required information, we
will gladly publish it.
Congrats
to Us!
Greg and Mecee Celebrate 40 Years
Greg and Mecee Celebrate 40 Years
That
being said, after browsing through his tons of photos (Greg is quite the
shutterbug) I pulled out some of my favorites and asked him to share them with
you. The picture were taken along the Rhine River in Holland, Germany, France and Switzerland.
So,
without any further ado, here are a few of the photos we enjoyed the most.
Amsterdam, Holland has more bicycles than people. That is because the working population will typically take a train into town and pickup their bicycle from public bicycle parking areas to move around the city. They chain their bike to a bike stand and at the end of the day and take the train back home. Streets are typically filled with pedestrians, bicycles and very small delivery trucks. The bikes are usually not that fancy as a deterrent to bicycle thieves.
Basel, Switzerland has public water fountains all over the city. The fountains run continuously. Basel is one of Europe’s oldest cities and has rarely been touched by the ruins of war. Walking the streets of Basel is like walking in a museum. Speaking of which, the artwork and remnants of some of the buildings go back to the earliest expansion of the Roman Empire.
Cologne, Germany is home to some of one of Europe’s oldest and largest Cathedral. Construction of the Cologne Cathedral began in 1248. It took seven centuries to build. Finally completed in 1880, the Cathedral escaped any major bombing by the allied forces in World War 2. It stands as the most magnificent example of a Gothic Cathedral in our modern world.
Strasbourg, France is
one of the prettiest cities of Europe. The pictures (above and below) show how the oldest European cities were built
along waterways. Over the centuries the rivers were channeled and tamed. Most
streets do not have curbs, like the river, the streets but against the
buildings.
Heidelberg, Germany is
home to the Heidelberg Castle, the ruins, partially restored, hover over the
city that shares its name. The city was spared allied bombing runs by American
forces because of its beautiful architecture. The ruins of the Castle were the
result of a French invasion and occupation of the city in the 17th
Century. The narrow street pictured is typical of most older European city
streets once you leave the highways that link the cities together. All of the
European cities we visited relied heavily on mass transportation, street cars
and trains.
Those Clever Nazis! Along
the hillsides of the Rhine River, are castles. Most have been restored. It was noticed the rail line entrances and exits to tunnels had edifices that looked similar to the castles in
the countryside. The reason was that during World War 2 the Nazi command built the castle-like
structures at tunnels to disguise them from American and British
bombers.
You can always tell the
Americans because they are more colorfully dressed than the Europeans.
 |
| Excitement on the first day. This picture was taken at a train station / mall near where our boat was docked. About half way up the tunnel from where the picture was taken a terrorist attacked some people with a knife.The police quickly subdued him and carted him off to jail. |
 |
| If you go to Holland you must visit a windmill. This particular windmill is in Holland. The name of the country is actually the Netherlands. Holland could be compared to a state in America. Over the stretch of centuries the two names have become to mean the same thing. Both are considered proper use of the language. |
Amsterdam, Holland has more bicycles than people. That is because the working population will typically take a train into town and pickup their bicycle from public bicycle parking areas to move around the city. They chain their bike to a bike stand and at the end of the day and take the train back home. Streets are typically filled with pedestrians, bicycles and very small delivery trucks. The bikes are usually not that fancy as a deterrent to bicycle thieves.
Basel, Switzerland has public water fountains all over the city. The fountains run continuously. Basel is one of Europe’s oldest cities and has rarely been touched by the ruins of war. Walking the streets of Basel is like walking in a museum. Speaking of which, the artwork and remnants of some of the buildings go back to the earliest expansion of the Roman Empire.
Cologne, Germany is home to some of one of Europe’s oldest and largest Cathedral. Construction of the Cologne Cathedral began in 1248. It took seven centuries to build. Finally completed in 1880, the Cathedral escaped any major bombing by the allied forces in World War 2. It stands as the most magnificent example of a Gothic Cathedral in our modern world.
 |
| NOTICE THE LOCK AT THE TOP OF THE RIVER - ANCIENT BUT STILL WORKING! |
Heidelberg, Germany is
home to the Heidelberg Castle, the ruins, partially restored, hover over the
city that shares its name. The city was spared allied bombing runs by American
forces because of its beautiful architecture. The ruins of the Castle were the
result of a French invasion and occupation of the city in the 17th
Century. The narrow street pictured is typical of most older European city
streets once you leave the highways that link the cities together. All of the
European cities we visited relied heavily on mass transportation, street cars
and trains.
Those Clever Nazis! Along
the hillsides of the Rhine River, are castles. Most have been restored. It was noticed the rail line entrances and exits to tunnels had edifices that looked similar to the castles in
the countryside. The reason was that during World War 2 the Nazi command built the castle-like
structures at tunnels to disguise them from American and British
bombers. 
You can always tell the
Americans because they are more colorfully dressed than the Europeans. 
Comments
Andy Whiteman
Let me get this straight. A city leader that has an office number, an e-mail address, a cell phone, and who spends an INORDINATE amount of time online cannot be bothered to respond to multiple requests from a major publication regarding the city?!
Really? What else would we expect at this point?
How absolutely irresponsible, pathetic. You represent US.
How difficult would it have been to respond to media? To the CITIZENS?
This lack of response from the current regime is very telling, IOHO.
Here's to one very generous, robust, lengthy upcoming State audit.
A thorough REAMING is in order.
Will it be expensive? You betcha! You cannot, however, pin this latest debacle on "past administrations". A straighforward, honest response from those that represent us shouldn't have been an issue at all.
Let's roll out the red carpet for the Auditor's office. This needs to happen.
We should cater. I do a killer cordon bleu.
Someone post a sign-up sheet.
WE and our neighbors are so angry at the codes department they don't do there jobs either. Actually they don;t send anyone out if you called in to report something. I am told that they have been told not to worry about it. WE as a neighborhood are about to consider a lawsuit ourselves due to the fact we cannot get anything about a major problem in our neighborhood that effect everyone.
CITY HALL YOU HAD BETTER START LISTENING YOUR TIME OF RECKONING IS COMING. THE PEOPLE OF THIS CITY DESERVE BETTER THEN THIS.
I think we're all too aware of who has had their writing utensil in hand, proboscis to paper since Sunday morning, penning a lengthy retort to the KC Star oped, gearing up for another dramatic dash-punctuated presentation at Council this week.
Next time, simply respond to requests for information. If you have nothing to hide and can comprehend basic concepts, any response at all shouldn't have been an issue.
Why would anyone feel the need to offer a retort to the Kansas City Star? The editorial board who wrote that Op-Ed is just parroting the talking points of a well known resident. I can think of a failed journalist right here in Raytown who badly mismanaged a huge opportunity and who has buried their head in the sand when it comes to reporting the truth.
It's also curious that the sudden shortfall came out of nowhere while they were in charge. All of a sudden a 3 million dollar shortfall? The outside accountant finds a conservative estimate of $400,000 in surplus?
Let's not forget the "over budget" police expenditures that was also a mistake. I'm not suggesting corruption, but garden variety incompetence may be a contributing factor in this latest "crisis". It's strange that it's not such a crisis now that those two are gone.
A 100k bill for a state audit probably won't calm down the true haters, but it might answer some questions for those not on a witch hunt...like why the huge fluctuations in revenue predictions from a city that is basically dead in terms of financial progress?
There are all sorts of rumors coming out of the police department. The Kansas City Star reported:
From Aug. 1 to Oct. 31, 2017, more than 30,000 time sheet adjustments were made by city employees, according to data from the human resources department. At least 8,700 of those corrections are unaccounted for, meaning officials have not determined why the changes were made.
Those are serious accusations.
Another troubling sign is the revolving door of upper management at city hall.
Following is a list of upper management positions that have had people leave them during the current administration under Mayor McDonough.
MAHESH SHARMA City Administrator
TOM COLE City Administrator
MARK LOUGHRY City Finance Director
BRIANA BURRICHTER City Finance Director
KATIE HORNER Public Works Director
JOHN BENSON Community Development Director
KEVIN BOJI Parks and Recreation Director
TED BOWMAN Major in the Raytown Police Department
BRENDA GUSTAFSON Public Information Officer
This city needs an audit. If for no other reason than to fix the problems in management at city hall. It is very clear our elected officials do not believe there are problems at city hall.
This is our chance to fix those problems. If someone asks you to sign an petition for an audit of Raytown, please sign it.
Did you even READ the KC Star article? Or do you need someone to explain it to you?
Numerous serious, LEGITIMATE concerns were mentioned...that NEED to be addressed,,,by the State! And we're certain that other issues may be discovered at audit.
"Just saying".
The city needs the spotlight of truth shone on it
Well darn shootin', then! (Insert a visage of bared teeth, mock contemptuous outrage and upheld, clenched digits!)
That pygmy outfit, the KANSAS CITY STAR, purposely sidestepped senior editorial review and legal department clearance just to publish a HIT PIECE on Raytown City government.
And they mindlessly relied solely on crib notes from that "well known (sic) resident" 'cause they were tolded it was so!
All for just because.
Good grief. Just step off.
The city needs the spotlight of truth shone on it
The only thing the election showed is that the residents did not want to increase taxes. There was not a check box on my ballot asking me if I trusted City Hall.
the mayor and several of his buddies that were elected said was that the city needed a state audit.
What has happened in the last 2 years plus that these same elected officials no longer seem to say
anything.
I think that the mayor has used up a lot of political capital.
So expect them to go after entitlements next year according to a spokesman for the pres.
You do know that social security and medicare are two very prominent entitlements don't you?
Most voters did not know MAGA was going to cost seniors so much.
I do fear that the radical left of the Democratic Party will try to strip all those gains from us. There are not many races of national importance in this part of Missouri. Except for the Senate race. Goodbye Claire. You have done enough damage. Time for you to retire.
By the way, whoever wrote that fairy tale about the Kansas City Star Editorial Board should be ashamed of themselves. The Star may be many things. But they fact check everything on their editorial pages. If they wrote about rampant changing of time cards by city employees at city hall reaching into thousands of instances, you can bet the farm it happened.
The editorial would not have been written without proof.
I remember when Alderman Black asked if all the police showing up at budget hearings were being paid to be there. The next day a steady stream of police who were at the meeting retrieved their time cards and corrected them.
If the Star wrote it, there is no doubt they have the proof to back it up.
You have a bad situation at city hall. Parts of the government have literally gone rogue. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen are a big part of the problem because they know what is going on but refuse to take steps to correct it.
If you think it will get better by keeping the same crew in charge of running the good ship Raytown you are going to be disappointed.
So instead of addressing this problem, the Board decides to throw EMS under the bus with no warning to EMS employees and a severance package that is a slap in the face to employees who gave the better part of their careers to the city. How shameful.
"Let me get this straight. A city leader that has an office number, an e-mail address, a cell phone, and who spends an INORDINATE amount of time online cannot be bothered to respond to multiple requests from a major publication regarding the city?!"
Just watched the BOA meeting. Yes, Ms. Wilson. We await further clarifications from you.
Following Ms. Wilson's comments, the following nuggets from " uh uh it not me, it not my fault" Mayor Mikey:
"...thank you for that excellent explanation and um the fact that when they need information...news media should know that you and Damon are the people to get ahold of as you are our official public information officers for the City..."
Not so fast, "Mr. Mayor". You ANSWER, even if it's a simple "no comment" and/or a referral to an authorized source.
Professionals and true administrators don't ignore ANY request for information. And they don't deflect responsibility.
We are tremendously disappointed in this "administration".
the EMS was also included unless they used KC MO.
You can go to work at amr