Credit Card Fees Waived
The Raytown Board of
Aldermen has waived credit and debit card fees for payments made on sanitary
sewer bills dated August 24th through October 13th. Any questions regarding
this waiver of fees should be directed to the Sewer Billing Department at
737-6088.
Raytowners who pay sewer bills by check or cash are not charged
bank fees for their transactions.
Bits and Pieces BY GREG WALTERS
THE
STATE AUDIT is anticipated to be
released by the end of September. Representatives
of the Missouri State Auditor are expected to meet on September 22, 2020 for a
closed meeting with the Board of Aldermen.
Missouri State Statutes require the Board to review the State Audit before it is released to the public. Sources at City Hall place the release date to the public to be September 29th or 30th.
LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER ELISA BREITENBACH will be undergoing heart surgery next week. Elisa and her husband Marjain, own and operate Doughboys Doughnut shop located in the Woodson Shopping Center at 63rd and Woodson Road.
Doughboys has been recognized by Pitch Magazine as one of the premier doughnut shops in the metropolitan Kansas City area. Macaroni Kids has awarded Doughboys its coveted Gold Daisy Award as one of Kansas City’s best kept secrets. KMBC has recognized Doughboys as one of the top five donut stores in the Kansas City area.
This means no delicious Doughboy Donuts until next Friday.
Doughboys will be closed a couple of days this week so Elisa will have time to recuperate from her surgery. They will re-open on Friday, September 11th.
Well wishes and prayers for her speedy recovery are appreciated.
COLEMAN PARK NEIGHBORS met with City Officials last week to discuss solutions to problems at the park. Park Board member Robbie Tubbs, Jim DeLong, Kahdijha Hardaway and Alderman Greg Walters met with City Administrator Damon Hodges, Police Chief Robert Kuehl and Park Director Dave Turner.
Since there were nine people in attendance, Walters and Hodges agreed to hold the meeting outdoors at the Number 2 Shelter House at Colman Park.
Topics included, parking in the grass, excessively loud music, four-wheel motorized vehicles on park trails, curfews and park safety in general.
Park Director Dave Turner shared plans to inform the public of park rules through the use of improved signage and deterrents to vehicles and four wheelers off grassy areas of the park. He also outlined a plan to using local police and private security service to speed up response to calls for service from the public.
Chief of Police Robert Kuehl said that park safety is a “work in progress”.
“We need to be constantly evaluating and re-assessing what works when it comes to public’s safety,” said Kuehl.
Long time resident Jim Delong said he felt progress was made at addressing the concerns of the neighborhoods around the park. DeLong described the meeting as “a good beginning”.
PLANS UNDER CONSIDERATION OR BEING IMPLEMENTED BY THE PARK DEPARTMENT:
- Improved signage clearly stating park rules.
- Use a private security service to enforce park rules. Police will be notified as well.
- Place parking curbs in front of the curb in shelter house areas to keep cars off park grass.
- Require a non-refundable deposit on shelter houses (to be) forfeited if any park rules are broken. This change requires approval of the Raytown Park Board.
Crime / Police Report . . .
•
Two of the three robberies that occurred this week were domestic in nature and
each involved one person taking an item by force from their romantic partner.
The third robbery was a strong arm robbery between acquaintances.
• On August 29th, at approx. 7:15 am,
officers were dispatched to assist the Raytown Fire Protection District
regarding a structure fire at a vacant house in the 11100 block of 83rd St. The
fire was extinguished, and no one was injured. The Missouri State Fire Marshal
is investigating the cause of the fire.
9 comments:
What businesses are going in the old Smith Bros plumbing building and the old Smith Bros Hardware building?
I saw on social media that Porter's Furniture is going in the Smith Bros site.
I am not trying to be snarky.
If the audit shows no malfeasance on the part of the city, will the supporters of the audit apologize for wasting the city's money?
I am wondering what other cities use a private security company to patrol their parks.
Maybe it is just we, but sounds like we are paying twice for this service, which is waste.
it also brings up the age old question on where are our police and has GPS be turned on to track their patrol or is this just proof that there is a lack of patrol and community policing.
The effort by the police department and other city departments to solve problems at Colman Park is not a waste. It is part of a solution. Community policing is a good solution but it requires more manpower than the RPD has. So bringing in a less expensive way to help enforce ordinances in not only working, it makes fiscal sense as well. Raytown parks are like all other area parks. The Covid-19 Pandemic has made our parks a very attractive alternative to parks in Kansas City. The number of assaults and shootings in our giant neighbor has sky-rocketed. So people come here to party. It is that simple
The police, our elected officials and the Park Department are working hard to find solutions to a difficult problem. Progress is being made.
They are working for solutions and making progress.
It is not, as you wrote, "a waste".
Both Kenagy and Colman parks also have homeless who have settled into our parks. My guess is you would probably deny that is a problem as well. Such denial is not a solution. In fact, it becomes part of the problem.
Independence, Lee's Summit, and Blue Springs all have similar problems in their parks. They also have a much larger police force than Raytown. Independence has Independence Center, Independence Commons, and Bass Pro Shop. They all have high priced homes and are able to collect significant property tax revenues. All Raytown has is Walmart and mid-to-low-priced homes with corresponding tax revenues. It makes a huge difference.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Elisa Breitenbach, owner of Doughboy's Donut Shop in Raytown has had a successful surgery and is recovering at home. Her family, associates and friends wish to thank the Raytown community for their show of support during her recent surgery.
Welcome back, Elisa!
Why would we need to apologize for the Audit. There have already been enough changes to justify the audit.
Marjain Breitenbach
The Board of Aldermen did meet this past Tuesday night. The Missouri State Auditor's office informed someone at City Hall they would not be attending the meeting. The meeting date had always been set up as a "tentative meeting date".
A reason was not forwarded to the Board of Aldermen from the City Administration or from to the State Auditor's Department. As far as I know. I was not in attendance at last Tuesday's meeting due to a business conflict that could not be ignored.
As soon as we learn of a new meeting time and place, it will be shared with our readers.
Greg Walters
Alderman, Ward 1
Post a Comment