For a current list of
candidates filed for public office in Raytown scroll down to the bottom of this
week’s Raytown Report.
FILING PERIOD ENDS ON JANUARY 15, 2019.
To leave a comment use this link
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| BY GREG WALTERS |
State Audit
Petition Approved
The Jackson County, Missouri Election
Board has completed the verification of petitions by Raytown voters calling for
a State Audit of the City of Raytown. Petitioners were required to turn in 1,337
signatures of registered Raytown voters. Petition gathers surpassed the number
by a comfortable margin – 1,813 were submitted, with 1,623 being legible and verified.Petition Approved
On Friday, January 4th,
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s office confirmed the verification of
enough signatures to call for a State Audit of Raytown.
“The next step in the Audit process will
be for officials to meet with spokesmen for the call for a State Audit to
identify issues to be focused on in the audit”, said Tony Jacob, the lead
organizer of the petition drive.
The State Auditor’s office maintains a
hotline Raytowners can use to help pinpoint issues that should be covered in
the audit. Raytowners can also contact the State Auditor’s office via email. Contact
can be made personally or anonymously.
The telephone and email addresses are:
STATE AUDITOR HOTLINE PHONE NUMBER: 800-347-8597
STATE AUDITOR HOTLINE EMAIL: moaudit@auditor.mo.gov
High
Rate of
Ambulance Calls
Ambulance Calls
MONTH AS AMBULANCE PROVIDER
The
Raytown Fire Department recorded a high number of calls for ambulance service
during its first month of operation.
Raytown
Fire Chief Matt Mace told the Raytown Report “he was proud of how his men have
handled the transition” of the ambulance service to the Fire Department.
“Not only Raytown calls were up,” said Mace. “Calls for mutual aid by
surrounding communities were up as well".
In
November of 2018 the City or Raytown turned over operation of the Ambulance
Service to the Raytown Fire Department.
Raytown
voters will have the final say on whether or not the change is to be made
permanent. A ballot measure asking for approval of transferring the city license to the Fire District is planned for the April, 2019 Election ballot.
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| BY PAUL LIVIUS |
Paul’s Rant . . .
Transparency
is definitely not a watch wordwhen it comes to local elections in Raytown.
Why are
some governmental bodies reluctant to share information about upcoming elections?
This has been a popular topic on the Blog portion of the Raytown Report.
Greg
was the point man in digging out the information. What he found out is
enlightening.
There
are four public entities holding elections in April, 2019.
They
are: City of Raytown, Raytown Fire Protection District, Raytown School District
and the Jackson Count y Water Supply District.
Here is
what Greg found out:
Of those
four public entities, only the City of
Raytown has published names of candidates who have filed. In previous
years, a list of candidates in Raytown were typically posted on the City’s home
page.
Greg
said, “For reasons that are not clear, this year the list has been moved from
the home page to the City Clerk’s home page. However, there are not any
instructions telling anyone on the home page how to get to the City Clerk’s
page!”
The Raytown Fire Protection District also has a public
website. However, the District does not publish the names of candidates until
after filing closes.
“We do
not publish candidate names until after filing closes,” said Fire Chief Matt
Mace.
One reason
he gave was that the District does not manage its own website, so it incurs a
cost to make the changes. Another reason may be that candidates have been known
drop out of races – as did former Fire Board member Willard Ross, two years
ago.
Greg
said he emailed and phoned the Raytown
School District secretary asking why they did not post names of candidates for
the Raytown School Board. The School Board spokesman, Rachel Johnston, has yet
to reply.
“The
Raytown School District has a peculiar filing period”, said Greg. “Potential candidates
for the School Board can only file on days when District is open. This means
there are nearly as many closed days as open days for candidates to file on”.
The School District Filing Schedule follows:
The School District Filing Schedule follows:
FILING SCHEDULE ON SCHOOL DISTRICT WEBSITE
Filing will begin on December 18, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. and will
continue Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. except for the last
day of filing. Filing will not occur on days that the school district’s
administration offices are closed due to inclement weather. Filing will also
not occur on the following holidays and breaks when the school district’s
administration offices are closed: December 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, and January
1, 2 and 3. Filing will end on January 15, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. There are 2
positions available with three-year terms. On the first day of filing,
candidates will be listed on the ballot as determined by a random drawing.
Candidate Filings /
City of Raytown
is not seeking re-election
ALDERMAN, WARD 2
Jim Aziere
ALDERMAN WARD 3
Janet Emerson is not seeking re-election
ALDERMAN WARD 4
Bob Cochranis not seeking re-election
ALDERMAN WARD 5
Derek Ward
CITY COLLECTOR
No Candidates Filed
City of Raytown
Salary and Benefits:
MAYOR Paid $14,400 annually
CITY COLLECTOR
Eligible to
participate in the City’s Group Health Care PlanCandidate Filings / Raytown Fire Board
Jackson County Public Water District #2
JACKSON COUNTY PUBLIC WATER DISTRICT #2: The Jackson County Public Water District #2 is governed by five Directors. The Directors meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month. Directors are not paid a salary. There are two seats up for election this year, Subdistrict 3 and 5.
JACKSON COUNTY PUBLIC WATER DISTRICT #2: The Jackson County Public Water District #2 is governed by five Directors. The Directors meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month. Directors are not paid a salary. There are two seats up for election this year, Subdistrict 3 and 5.
Filing deadline is January 15, 2019 and is at the district office 6945 Blue Ridge
Blvd, Raytown, MO 64133. For more information contact District Manager Pat
Ertz at 353-5550.
Subdistrict boundaries:
Current fillings:
Subdistrict 3 – Fred Hartwell
Raytown C2 School District
Filing for seats on the Raytown School Board will be open
from January 3, 2019 through January 15, 2019.
There are 2 positions available. Each position is for a
three year term.
Candidate Filings / Raytown C2 School District
Lashonda Orykes
Bobbie Saulsbury
29 comments:
The city also hasn't posted anything about the audit. Damon Hodges stated in his press release the reason for no comment was there hasn't been communication from the state. Now that they are in communication there is still no statement.
It is troubling that the city continues to hide everything. The Chief stated to the news he was unaware of the petition that he had previousily made a 3 page statement about. Then the city says they don't know about the audit Missy Wilson made a full page statement that she interrupted public comment for.
Now we see they still lie after they've said they will focus on transparency. The Mayor doesn't want it out that his friends corperation is under investigation so they are ramming a payment through before the AG responce and before the auditors get here.
No person should believe the city or any of its leadership has scruples of any kind.
Greg and Paul,
Why are you surprised they hide the election information?
The mayor and Susan were soundly defeated after citizens found out they lied about the true cost of the tax hikes. They said it'd be only 60 bucks and we found out ours would be 300!
Then the city raised taxes twice in the next 3 months. They doubled the city fees. Then they dramatically raised sewer fees.
They told the news they didn't know about the petition when the Chief had a 3 page responce to the Star. Missy had a full page responce that interuppted public comments to respond to it and is on camera. But they said they didn't know anything about it like some Jedi mind trick.
After the signatures were turned in they said they would work on transparency. The city said the reason they didn't have a real statement about the audit was they hadn't communicated with the State. Now after long conversations with the auditors office they still aren't commenting. There still is no press release.
It's clear Mikey and crew up there are trying to hide his opponent and hid the audit and hide the money problems. He likes to smile a lot, and people believe him because city staff help him obfuscate.
My question again Greg and Paul, why are you surprised?
Nobody lied about the cost of the tax increases. Charts were provided and available online an at the polls. The real estate charts were spot on.
The City did not raise taxes twice or even once. The voters approved these increases long ago and during the last recession the BOA reduced the levy rate. The action they took restored the levy to its maximum.
"The Mayor doesn't want it out that his friends corperation (sic) is under investigation so they are ramming a payment through before the AG responce (sic) and before the auditors get here."
Would you like your crow boiled, broiled, baked, fried, or sauteed?
FYI:
When you respond it is a response, not responce.
Someone who uses the word "obfuscate" should know that.
Just another case for anonymous posting. IMHO.
The city did increase nearly every fee it charges the public. In some cases they created new fees. A large number of them were doubled. The city also went back and increased the property tax levy because in a previous budget year the city had foregone the tax increase. The state said they could reach in our pockets a little deeper and take more so, like good little lemmings, they did.
What does all of this tell you? It tells you the current Mayor and City Council has a record of raising your taxes and fees anytime the mood strikes them. Even after the votes turned back their ridiculously high tax increase proposals on property taxes, internet taxes and a gasoline tax the Mayor and City Council doubled down on fee increases.
Remember them next April. All they have to offer the taxpayers in Raytown is more tax increases.
I am happy to see the petition drive for an audit in Raytown. Wait and see. It will expose the corruption terrible management at City Hall.
The charts only included real estate not all tangible property. People on unhinged pointed that out. One member said that 75 dollar estimate turned into 600 dollars. Not including that information made me uncomfortable. The other that changed my mind was when we moved from repairing our road to giving the PD 2 million more. If the Mayor hadn't of said that I and many others would've voted for it.
As for your second paragraph, you admit the rates were raised but excuse it because they had the consent of the voters. So yes they did raise them. The only difference is the voters stoped consenting.
If your only argument is against spelling errors when you can read and interpret meaning, you're being a little pedantic. If more people focused on fixing the city instead of petty squabbling, we might be able to recover. But alas you are more concerned with a consonant than the fact that the mayor and his buddy are going to have to answer for their misdeeds.
The BOA does not have the authority to raise your taxes. Only the voters can authorize a tax increase. The BOA does have the authority to lower the levy and raise it to the approved ceiling. This is the truth. Somebody is insisting that this is not the case. The truth is what this election should be about. Stop the lies!
"I am happy to see the petition drive for an audit in Raytown. Wait and see. It will expose the corruption terrible management at City Hall."
Please, everyone do not forego the opportunity to address your concerns to the State Auditor. Please cite both current antics as well as any history of related behavior. Perhaps we can get this mess straightened out...and perhaps one or two individuals will have close calls with orange jumpsuits in the process. It's very important to speak out.
Your ability to make things up is impressive.
7:09
If I read a post, either here or on Facebook, that it is full of spelling and grammatical errors, I tend to discount the intelligence of the author, and therefore the veracity of the posting.
Well than, you sir (or ma'am) are a fool.
"Einstein excelled in science, but not in all subjects. Genius recounts Einstein failing his exams in literature, politics and French when applying to study at Zurich Polytechnic. Einstein later successfully retook the exams, but he wasn't a perfect pupil: He once blew up a lab during an experiment, and was uninterested in rote learning."
It's also long been told that he had trouble tiring his shoes and often on the train if he didn't hold his ticket would forget which stop he was supposed to exit on.
Often the most intelligent people don't concern themselves with trivial matters.
You should read a little about Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a prolific writer and a teacher. She also was first lady. And she said arguments like yours are from a small mind.
Please understand. I make my posts on my cell phone. The tiny little letters are hard to type accurately. It does not help that I have large fingers.
A word of advice. Do not be so judgmental in your comments. Not everyone has the same advantages as you. You probably type your messages on a real keyboard. Good for you! But it is very small minded of you to make fun of those who have typographical errors.
You are the one that is going to eat crow. Judging from your size you like to eat. Please go back to independence and stay there.
When a writer misspells the same word twice it is not likely to be a typo. And I believe this same poster has misspelled that word in multiple posts with his "large" fingers. Ha-Ha
When I post using my phone, I take a moment to proofread and make corrections, because I also discount comments with errors. I guess you can call that an advantage. (Hopefully this post has no misspellings.)
1/7/19--10:03 pm
I know who you are referring to and that is not me. I have lived in Raytown for over 30 years now.
You were wrong about the author of that post. Thank you so much for proving my point.
I noticed at the meeting no one said anything about the audit. What's going on with that? They were quick to make statements against it, but now silence!
Why city officials are not commenting about the state audit? Because they are scared. Some of them have reason to be. The revolving door of city department heads at city hall is not a sign of a well run government. Promoting from within is good but when you promote from within because no one else wants the job it is a sign of a poorly run organization.
Half of the city city council, five seats, are up for election this year. Only one incumbent has filed for re-election. When politicians run away from their problems it is a sure sign of people running away from a problem. The Mayor has a chance to show some leadership but instead goes into a bunker mentality. He is using members of city staff to try to figure out what the state auditor is after.
The State Auditor's job is to investigate how city hall operates. The goal is to ensure the city is run properly and in compliance with Missouri state laws.
If something less than that is happening, then there are definitely people at city hall who should be concerned.
This city needs new leadership. The opportunity is there for this to happen. Nearly half of the city council is, in effect, resigning.
Time for some new people to step up and take charge. Because what we have running city hall now is clearly not working.
"Time for some new people to step up and take charge. Because what we have running city hall now is clearly not working."
An understatement of massive proportions. It's extremely frightening that practically no one will step up, challenge and replace a couple of people that are extraordinarily unqualified to represent this City or to make decisions for it.
Maybe because people with common sense know the city is circling the toilet bowl and don’t want to be part of that board. Just saying.
I don't know what y'all are talking about. The mayor says the city has never been more together, he's built bridges to everyone.
Weird, I remember the screaming from the Dias a year ago, and just a month ago a profanity laden tirade where an alderman walked out of the meeting. As mentioned on this website he's presided over the racially charged rants of city officials at meetings. Yeah that's someone I'd want to work with as an elected offical.
I didn't see a press release from the city, but it appears the TIF bonds went through, finally the city can take a sigh of relief, little though it may be.
I wonder why they aren't celebrating and announcing it, the only way I knew about it was the related from the mayor's campaign that triumphed him as saving 2 million dollars (in 12 years). I didn't know he voted for it, I thought that was the Board but steal credit if you don't have your own.
"The mayor says the city has never been more together, he's built bridges to everyone....Weird, I remember the screaming from the Dias a year...Yeah that's someone I'd want to work with as an elected offical (sic)."
That's an easy one. It dawned on them that their behavior in public proceedings was being observed and evaluated. They've scaled back their comments, eye rolls, and deep breaths.
It's election time! Time to cross-post about patiotism, respect for humanity, civic pride and public service. Especially on Unglued. Plenty of image management in force over on that pseudo-Raytown group. A certain admin has taken one noticable, fat step back with the invective.
Epiphany? Oh heck no. IMAGE CONTROL. Time pucker up. It's baby-kissin' time.
They eventually realized (they're kinda slow on the uptake, IMHO) that their actions were indeed unprofessional and inappropriate, and most importantly, that they and their cohort's behavior would eventually impact their chances of being reelected.
Same ole same ole, though. Leopard -> spots. They've just burrowed deeper underground with their antics, more than likely.
When was the TIF bonds refinanced?
This is news as just a few weeks ago a finance group walked away from the city
“Profanity laced tirade where an Alderman walked out of the meeting”
You must be referring about Alderman Steve Meyers briefly leaving the meeting way past 10:30 PM when Alderman Ryan Myers last minute GO Bond presentation and then ensuing IT glitch took 10 minutes to get dialed up. PROBLEM is there was NO profanity. Another PROBLEM with your false statement is he as well as other Alderman took a break and they all came back to the meeting when the power point presentation was ready for viewing.
So at the end of the day the PROBLEM is really people like YOU 10:20 AM that want to portray untruths in hopes to get public distrust stirred up. And when people want to know some of the issues and PROBLEMS with Raytown one of the places to START are with the Negative Nancy’s that don’t bring any practical solutions or sweat equity to the table. Spewing venom and false statements don’t count.
@1-11 836am
Well the mayor wouldn't lie for political gain, so it must be true. I saw the meeting you're talking about where the banker said no on wanted us.
Mayor McDonough led a collaborative effort of a diverse group of elected officials and staff to facilitate refinancing of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) area around Walmart, Scooters, IHOP, Freddy’s, Ace Hardware and NAPA Auto Parts, resulting in an expected savings of over $2 million by decreasing the cost and term of the original TIF.
Note the word facilitate. Doesn’t say it got done, just was moved forward. Come on man at least report honestly
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