Parkville
candidates want positive race for mayor
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by Nick Dupont
Landmark reporter
Incumbent Parkville Mayor Kathy Dusenbery and her opponent
Charlie Poole say this year’s mayoral election will
focus on city issues and growth, not character slamming.
In a letter to the citizens of Parkville presented Tuesday
night at the aldermen meeting, the mayor stated former
alderman Poole phone her over the weekend to discuss how
they could make the race more positive—something
recent elections lacked.
“It dealt with an alderman’s race and what
some of her supporters did,” the mayor said. “They
went and got signatures stating that the opponent had
done some things that put her character in question. But
the people who signed that were the chairmen and current
members of our planning and zoning. It changed our ethics
by-laws, caused quite an uproar and a lot of dust last
spring. That kind of thing has only caused division in
our small city. Charlie Poole and I would like to stop
that and set a better example.”
The first step in setting that example is by limiting
the number of political yard signs allowed. She says the
purpose of the election should be to build up, not tear
down.
“I’ve always felt that yard signs are negative
and a little tacky. In the neighborhood I live in we can’t
have any yard signs. People waste a lot of energy trying
to get their signs strategically placed just right on
their lawn only to have them vandalized or stolen later.
They do nothing but provoke more negativity.
“The most important thing is positive growth in
Parkville. We have so many areas that are awaiting development.
How we handle that development is the question.”
Poole is a former Ward 1 alderman who was defeated by
Dusenbery in the 2004 election. Poole had served as an
alderman for 14 years prior to running for mayor.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, Chief of
Police Bill Hudson was given praise by the board for how
his department handled last Thursday’s bomb threat
at Park University. Hudson credited Sgt. Eric Sligar,
whom he said had the organizational skills to “shut
down the situation quickly and safely.”
Hudson also said he has received compliments from many
other organizations involved including the Kansas City
Police Department, the Platte County Sheriff’s Department,
and the FBI. He also updated the board as to what may
have prompted the threat made by Washington state man
Brett S. Tanis:
“The man had taken a shine to one of the women who
worked for the university,” Hudson said.
“He had come there the day before and proposed to
her. Apparently she rejected him. When he came back the
next day looking for her and couldn’t find her is
when he started talking about bombs.”
City Administrator Joe Turner switched gears midway through
the meeting to present a memo to the board on strategic
goals the city has in 2006. Among some of the goals mentioned
were increasing police officers, establish a recycling
center, building more playgrounds, improving the city
website, adding programming for channel 2, and removing
zoning for riverboat gaming if the city can successfully
acquire the Steamboat Arabia.
In addition to the goals, Dusenbery said a symposium
for all Parkville business owners to discuss general issues
on how to improve teamwork would be held on Jan. 30 at
Platte Valley Bank.
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