Welcome to the start of The Landmark’s 149th year of uninterrupted publication. You’ll see details on that milestone in a story elsewhere in this issue. It’s one of the oldest newspapers in the state, dating back to the closing days of the Civil War. It’s astounding that the paper has never missed a week of publication in that time.

Since the newspaper is now 149 years young, that means a milestone birthday celebration is only a year away. The Landmark will be involving the community in a 150th celebration as much as possible. In fact, Platte City Mayor Frank Offutt and I have already held a brief pow-wow on this topic.

If you have suggestions on how the newspaper and community should commemorate The Landmark’s notable milestone next year, let us know.

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As we celebrate turning 149, The Landmark is also ready to announce with great pride that we have our latest winner of the coveted Landmark Award for English. The $250 cash scholarship is awarded to the top English student at Platte County High School, as selected by a faculty panel at the high school. This year’s winner is Hailey Godburn.

This is the 32nd consecutive year The Landmark has presented the award to an R-3 senior.

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Back and forth we go.

The latest in the “it’s not our fault, it’s their fault” debate over who or what is to blame for communication problems Central Platte Fire Department is having since the switch to narrowband radio system is now back in the county’s lap.

As you’ll recall, it started in April when the Central Platte fire chief and assistant chief criticized the county for Central Platte’s inability to communicate with law enforcement or with many other fire departments on mutual aid calls. Two Central Platte fire board members then met with the county commissioners and sheriff’s department representatives. The county in so many words said the problem is due to the fact that Central Platte isn’t properly using its new radios. The county said the problem is that Central Platte representatives missed nearly every meeting the county held with first responders as the switch to narrowband radios was being discussed and completed.
Tuesday night, Central Platte representatives fired back, saying that at a meeting of area fire chiefs nearly every other fire department in the county reported having trouble with the new radio system. Central Platte indicated it would be demanding that the county submit the codes needed for Central Platte’s radio man to program the fire department’s new radios. A vaguely worded reference to “going through the FCC if we have to” to get the codes was made. The county has previously indicated it doesn’t hand out the codes “to just any private contractor.”

Anyway, the latest development in this soap opera is scheduled to play out tonight (Wednesday) when fire representatives attend a communications meeting with county officials.

Mike Ashcraft, newest Central Platte fire board member, has had his emotions batted around like a tennis ball. He was the most vocal about getting serious with the county when the problem was first brought to his attention. Then after the meeting with the county, Ashcraft’s disgust was leveled at his own department. “It seems a lot of our problems are self-imposed” he told The Landmark, saying at one point in our conversation that Central Platte leadership seems to have a “John Wayne” complex. Then Ashcraft attended a meeting of the area fire chiefs, and now his anger is directed back at the county.

So the tennis ball is now back in the county’s court. Let’s see what happens.

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Bjustrom’s bjoard meeting bjreakdown. Great bjalls of fire.

Was it arrogance or a cry for help? I can never tell.

Lisa Bjustrom, the Central Platte Fire Department bookkeeper/wannabe board member/mother hen personality who sits at the front table and often chimes in without being asked on matters that should only be discussed by board members, had a meltdown during Tuesday night’s meeting. Bjustrom is assigned the task of compiling the agenda. As you’ll recall, board member Andy Stanton recently led a push to have the meetings run in a professional--and legal--manner. Part of that involves an agenda that clearly identifies potential action items involving spending. In the past, the board’s agenda was literally as specific as this: “Old Business” and “New Business.” Not good enough. Stanton reiterated that fact Tuesday night when Bjustrom had vaguely disguised what amounted to a spending request for a training trip under the agenda item “public relations.” When Stanton objected by reminding that actions involving spending should be itemized on the agenda, Bjustrom threw a fit. I had left the meeting a few minutes earlier to tend to another work matter. But my phone started ringing with a play-by-play description of Bjustrom’s embarrassing tirade. Stanton also confirmed it with me in a later conversation. Bjustrom during a portion of her fit asked Stanton: “Do you want to do (prepare) the agenda?” Bjustrom, obviously, forgets that she works for the board, including Stanton. The board doesn’t work for her.

Bjustrom is a perfect example of the culture that has needed changing at Central Platte. Her Tuesday night audition for a strait jacket is a sign that more work needs to be done. Her attitude is “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Yes, Lisa. And that’s the problem. You’re doing it wrong. You’re doing things that are not in compliance with the Sunshine Law.

This is the kind of ridiculousness Stanton, and to a lesser extent Ashcraft, has been trying to clean up. Kudos to Stanton for keeping his cool during outbursts like the one in which Bjustrom embarrassed herself.

Though she obviously doesn’t think so, Bjustrom is really nothing more than a very replaceable piece of the puzzle. There are others who would gladly perform her duties at her rate of pay. And 99% of them would bring much less drama to the table. After Tuesday night’s inappropriate three-minute outburst of sarcasm and rage, Bjustrom should be bjanished. It won’t happen, based on the personalities in play. At minimum she should be forced to skip a recess. Or placed in the timeout chair.

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Firefighters earlier this year selected Larry Bigus--or is it Bjigus--to continue serving as fire chief. That choice--according to department bylaws which apparently are often treated as nothing more than suggestions-- needed to be approved by the board of directors. Bigus was approved by a 2-1 vote by the board, with Stanton opposed. Stanton told Bigus his vote is nothing personal, but rather a desire to improve the district’s battered public relations image.

“The best way I can explain it is that, from all the reports I can gather, he just doesn’t play well with others,” Stanton said.

I don’t know if that viewpoint is directly related to the aforementioned “John Wayne” reference Ashcraft made a couple of weeks ago, but it certainly sounds similar.

(When a weekly dose just isn’t enough, get Between the Lines with the publisher 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Call it irony. Maybe call it karma.

Call it what you will, but here’s the inside skinny: You know the Platte City Police Department’s new location at Fourth and Main? Sources are saying the interior of the building has a distinct aroma of cats. Maybe a colony of cats lived just outside the back door. More likely, a previous occupant of the building is a huge fan of felines. And we all know an overabundance of even the cutest of kitties can create a distinct, shall we say, fragrance.

The irony? Carl Mitchell, police chief, has made it somewhat his personal mission to crack down on feral cats. In a story that rightfully garnered regional attention, he even approved the improper placement of a surveillance camera on private property to presumably try to figure out who was feeding stray cats in a certain neighborhood.
Several months later, the city’s top cat cop is apparently getting a taste of feline flavor each and every work day.

I’m certain the department is working to fix the problem right meow.

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After hearing reports of the alleged feline fragrance in the police department’s new headquarters, I emailed D.J. Gehrt, city administrator, to see if he would confirm. He confirmed without directly confirming. Even Gehrt saw the humor.

“Given the events of the past year, it is great to see that irony is alive and well in the world. . .” he said in response to my question.

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I bet the den of Royals’ manager Ned Yost smells like a lifetime of bad decisions.

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In this day and age of news getting everywhere at the speed of the internet, you may have already heard about this. But just in case . . .

If you enjoy watching train wrecks and freak shows, there’s one playing out on Twitter right before our very eyes. If you care to look, that is.

It appears Amanda Bynes, who I’m told was a successful child actress on shows that aired on the Nickelodeon network, is now 27 years old and quite literally having a public breakdown on Twitter. Her bizarre behavior (posting overly revealing photos of herself) and off the wall words contributed to her gaining one million Twitter followers despite the fact she has only sent about 450 tweets.

Many pop culture enthusiasts agree that following Bynes’ Twitter feed is similar to not being able to look away from that crash on the highway.

E! Online entertainment news describes it this way: “The mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a question mark and topped with a blond wig known as Amanda Bynes is transforming before our very eyes. But transforming into what, you ask?”

Do with this information what you will--or won’t. Every now and then, Between the Lines readers deserve a pop culture update to help you keep your finger on the pulse of society.

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As you see in this issue of The Landmark, Parkville has a new city administrator. Here’s the kicker to this story: Parkville will pay the new administrator an annual salary of $96,000.

Say what? The former administrator, Shannon Thompson, who had been there more than four years, was “only” making $83,000.

Lauren Palmer may turn out to be the best city administrator in America. Or she may turn out to be a bust. More than likely she’ll fall somewhere in the middle. We don’t know. But what we do know is that Parkville is paying a premium rate to a person who has never been a head administrator.

The depressing part of this for area taxpayers? Every other city--and city administrator--in the area is going to look at what Parkville is paying its top hired hand and this will create a snowball effect that will spiral out of control. Hold on to your wallets.
Government spending begets more government spending.

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And don’t forget, Parkville also has an assistant city administrator.

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Hats off to the folks at Park Hill School District for a much improved atmosphere of transparency.

After learning that the school board had voted to extend the contract of Scott Springston, superintendent, The Landmark put in a request for information surrounding the extension and salary details on his current and future contract years. Expecting a vague response because, honestly, it’s pretty normal for many public agencies to play stupid by pretending they don’t understand what it is you’re looking for, I worded my request as specifically as possible.

About 24 hours later, we received a very detailed response that included even more information than we had asked for, including a very specific breakdown of Springston’s contract package over each of the next three years, a copy of his original contract, and a copy of the addendum to his original contract. It was beautiful--and how it should be.
Insiders say Springston himself is very supportive--and one of the leaders--of Park Hill’s effort to become more taxpayer friendly when it comes to the idea of transparency and being open with information requested by the public. Another leader in this regard is Chris Seufert, board member. Seufert, by the way, was the only board member to vote against the motion to add on to Springston’s contract and provide salary increases in each year of his deal. As of Landmark deadline, which was earlier than normal this week, Seufert had not yet responded to my request for his reasoning for his vote. My educated guess would be after the uproar that followed when the public learned how outrageously compensated Dennis Fisher, former superintendent, had become in his time at Park Hill, Seufert would have preferred the district to hold the line on those matters for the time being.

Fisher, you’ll recall from reporting exclusively done by The Landmark, was being compensated to the tune of nearly half a million dollars per year. He also was driving around a luxury car--for both business and personal travel--provided by the school district. During his seventh and final year at Park Hill, Fisher’s compensation deal was for $454,000. According to terms of his extension, Springston’s package will be worth around $362,000 in his fourth year at Park Hill.

(There’s no price tag on the publisher’s package. Get his deal 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Deep breath. Exhale.

If you’re tired of questionably needed, feel-good sales taxes lifting Platte County’s sales tax rate to the highest in the KC metro area, breathe a sign of relief. At least for the time being.

Remember that crazy 1/8th cent sales tax for the Kansas City Zoo that was passed by Jackson and (narrowly) by Clay counties in November of 2011? Remember how the tax, despite a valid petition of signatures by registered voters, didn’t make it to the ballot in Platte or Cass County? Then I’m sure you’ll remember the fact that Friends of the Zoo took the matter to court after, despite the collected signatures, county commissions in Cass and Platte did not put the zoo tax on the ballot in their respective counties.

Friends of the Zoo lost its legal battle at the circuit level in Cass, then took it to the district court of appeals. The court of appeals this week upheld the lower court’s ruling--that the county commission in Cass had the discretion over whether to place the question on the ballot. It was not mandatory, the court says, that the commission put the petition-driven initiative to voters.

Of course the Friends of the Zoo still have the option to pursue the matter to the Missouri Supreme Court, but for now Platte and Cass counties certainly like the way this thing has been handled by the courts. It shows the county commissions in each county (in Platte, the commission at the time consisted of Jason Brown, Jim Plunkett and Kathy Dusenbery) weren’t nuts when they maintained they had the legal right not to place the matter on the ballot. It also shows the county received sound legal advice on the topic (that’s an unsolicited plug for Bob Shaw, the sometimes praised, sometimes verbally abused county counselor).

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My favorite remark at the time the debate over whether the two counties would be forced to vote on the zoo tax was made by Brian Baker, a county commissioner in Cass County. Baker unleashed this quote to the Cass County Democrat-Missourian newspaper in 2011: “I’ll jealously defend Cass County’s budget before I’ll give money to a bunch of chimpanzees.”

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If you’ll recall at the time the issue was in the news, I mentioned in this column I was thankful the county commission had a true conservative lean to it at the time. With Brown in the presiding commissioner chair as opposed to his predecessor, Betty Knight, who claimed to be a conservative but in reality never met a sales tax idea she didn’t support, it was refreshing to see the commission take a bold stance by doing nothing. Doing nothing sometimes is the bravest thing to do, especially when you’re catching heat from zoo supporters and liberal media types like tax-loving Yael Abouhalkah at the Kansas City Star.

In 2011 after the petitions were turned in, Abouhalkah wrote this editorial directed at elected officials in Cass and Platte counties: “No funny business. Just follow the law. . .”

Well, according to two different courts now, “follow the law” is exactly what the commissions in Platte and Cass did. Libs can throw a hissy fit, as they’ve been known to do anytime conservatives give opinions, but for now the law certainly upholds the route chosen by Platte and Cass in 2011.

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As a sidenote, it would have cost Platte County an estimated $65,000 to hold that special zoo election in the off year of 2011.

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It has been an up and down week for the Central Platte Fire Department. The department deserves praise for its handling of a fire that had the potential to be worse than it was in the Estates of Platte Valley Saturday night. The blaze, the cause of which is still being investigated but is believed to be an accidental fire that started on the front porch, brought significant damage to a home at 2900 Willow Terrace in Platte City.

On the downside, it’s coming to light via our front page story that the firefighters’ leadership failed to attend most of the training sessions and informational meetings the county hosted in regard to the new digital radios. And Central Platte leadership chose to have its radios programmed by a private vendor instead of through the sheriff’s department. Those two factors, according to information the county shared with fire board members Mike Ashcraft and Andy Stanton, are what has led to Central Platte’s troubles with the new system.

As was reported here a few weeks ago, Central Platte firefighters complain of not being able to communicate with other fire departments, with law enforcement, or with helicopter ambulances. County leaders say that’s because of choices of action--and inaction--made by the leaders of the rank and file firefighters. The sheriff’s department, in a move that seems reasonable, has declined the sharing of codes necessary for a private vendor to reprogram Central Platte’s radios. Ashcraft admitted this week it seems most of Central Platte’s communication problems are “self-imposed” and pledged to “work on” that problem.

The only communication problem for which there isn’t an immediate answer is for Central Platte to radio directly with South Platte Fire. That’s because South Platte chose to switch to Kansas City for its dispatching service.

At any rate, the communication issue and lack of Central Platte attendance at the county’s training sessions are expected to be topics when the fire board meets on May 14.

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Speaking of Central Platte meetings, remember Mike Ragone, the Firefighter of the Year who drifted into a flowery speech of self-importance at the February board session? Ragone is the one who said firefighters were offended by a cartoon that had appeared in The Landmark, a cartoon for which the department should sue the newspaper, Ragone urged. “Firefighters were extremely offended by the cartoon.

Clearly it was defamation. That’s damages, quite frankly,” Constitutional Scholar Ragone told the board that night, speaking with authority in his voice while making ridiculously misinformed statements about the law, the Constitution, and the United States Supreme Court. I recorded his bluster on my cell phone and still listen to it at least once a week for cheap entertainment.

The board, as you’ll recall, ignored his request to take action.

Anyway, Ragone is now gone. He is no longer with the department and no longer living in the area. Sources say he has moved to Florida, where he is likely dishing out First Amendment commentary to impressionable minds in the Sunshine State.

(Cartoons and commentary available 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Hats off to State Rep. Nick Marshall, Republican of Parkville, for leading the push for an investigation into what the heck the state was doing releasing personal information of people with concealed carry permits (see front page story). It will be interesting to watch how this plays out.

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As you’ll see in our front page story, a feasibility study is underway at the Platte County Jail. The jail, which opened only 15 years ago, was touted as being ahead of its time. Apparently now the fear is that the jail in its current configuration is about to reach its peak. Platte County Sheriff’s officials tell me the county averages around 145 inmates in a 154-bed facility.

“We’ve gone over capacity many times. Our high is 170 inmates,” Cpt. Erik Holland said to me recently.

The study is expected to come back with recommendations on options for handling a potential continued growth in inmate population. There is what has been called a “futures” area in the lowest level of the facility, an area we’re told the county has been using to store a variety of old equipment and documents, etc.

Of course by now you’re also aware the county has around $10.7 million in emergency radio infrastructure debt due to the recent upgrades to meet a federal narrowband emergency radio mandate. New county commissioners Duane Soper and Beverlee Roper in January mentioned the possibility of putting a 1/8th cent sales tax question on the ballot in August to fund the radio debt. The Platte County Board of Elections says the deadline to place an issue on a special August election ballot is May 21.

Since we’re being told the report on the jail study won’t be completed until the summer months, my personal speculation is the county won’t be placing any sales tax measure on the ballot in August. Don’t be surprised if the sheriff’s department ends up hoping the sales tax question will seek more than 1/8th cent to cover any wish lists as far as the jail is concerned.

Also, coming off the bombing in Boston, now is the time you’ll see local law enforcement agencies across the country start selling the “need” to have more equipment at their disposal, everything from armored tanks to drones to weapons of mass destruction.

Because, you know, you just never know.

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There’s a new local website now in operation that will make for some interesting reading and is worthy of your time. It’s the product of local resident Kirby Holden and you can find it at www.plattecountyr3facts.com

Holden says he constructed the website to “keep the taxpayers of Platte County up to date on information about our schools. We will look at mailers, test scores, pay and other information.”

There are some eye-opening facts. Holden’s site exposes what he says are misleading statements made by the school district in regard to such things as test scores and awards. Holden has attended and served on community committee meetings at R-3 and has raised many questions and let his feelings be known on many occasions to top district officials like Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik and school board members. He says he hasn’t been happy with the response he has received, in particular from Reik, which is surprising and disappointing considering the last time R-3 took a levy issue to the voters it was thumped quite handily. R-3 needs to be in fence-mending mode with voters. When he had reached his fill of unsatisfactory responses from school officials, Holden created the website.

If you pay attention to such things, you already know what the reaction of district leadership is going to be. That game plan has become well-known. Privately, they’re going to hint that Holden is a “radical” and accuse his facts of being “wrong,” even though he links to state education-run sites. Publicly, they’re going to claim he is “putting out misinformation” without ever providing verifiable facts correcting what they claim is “misinformation.”

This much I can assure you: Holden is a passionate patron who lives east of Platte City. He is a veteran at fighting battles, like the successful one against a proposed major development along a narrow stretch of Hwy. 92 a few years ago. He is thoughtful, extremely intelligent, caring, and a good communicator who wants the best education for his kids. He cares about how public money is spent. And he is a bulldog when he knows he is right. If that makes him a “radical” in the eyes of leftist bureaucratic spenders who often occupy school administrative posts, lazy resume-builders who often occupy school board seats, and fanny-kissing types who often push propaganda without verification, I really don’t think he cares.

I’ve just started to peruse plattecountyr3facts.com. Some of the early highlights include Holden taking the school district to task for touting an award that no longer exists. He exposes how the district’s test scores aren’t as lofty as district mailers promote them to be, and provides links to state education sites to verify his information. He points out that the “Distinction in Performance” award Platte County R-3 consistently boasts of winning is actually closer to a participation ribbon than an elite award. “There are 522 school districts in Missouri. In 2011, 70% of them received the ‘Distinction in Performance’ honor,” Holden points out. “The standards for this award are so low that of the 17 local schools looked at, 13 received a perfect score. Not really the award it is presented to be. The really scary part is once in the past six years we (R-3) did not get the award,” he said.

“R-3 compares most everything to the state average. Remember when you look at the state averages for any comparison, these averages include Kansas City and St. Louis schools, which contain some of the worst scoring schools in the nation. I believe we don’t just want our kids doing better than Kansas City and St. Louis,” Holden says.

There’s much more but I won’t go into it here. Read the website for more items that may cause you to pause.

To generally summarize Platte County R-3’s approach on matters such as test scores and costs per student, Holden says this: “They don’t really lie, they just don’t tell you all of the truth needed to make an informed decision. We (patrons) have been answering the school district’s survey questions without knowing all of the facts.”

Check out plattecountyr3facts.com. See if it opens your eyes or makes you say “Hmmm.”

(Eyes are open 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Welcome back to Between the Lines. Since last we spoke in our weekly chats here on page A-2, much has happened in the news and with our newsmakers. In other words, it’s been business as usual.

Read on.

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Stay tuned for some future Between the Lines fun with this: I’m getting multiple reports--confirmed by a political blogger who was present--that an elected official had a meltdown in a public meeting last week in which he made reference to “that idiot at The Landmark.”

Every time I read that quote it makes me smile. Apparently The Landmark is not only occupying that guy’s head, we’re rearranging his furniture. Without even trying.

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Of course the news scene is dominated this week by the bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Our buddy and longtime Landmark contributor Greg Hall was running in the marathon again this year. Many of you are familiar with Greg, as he is an annual guest at our Christmas party and even helped cover some of those Pirate football championships back in the day. Hall writes a sports media column that we post to our web site several times a week and runs his own site at greghallkc.com.

Anyway, as I learned of the explosions via Twitter, I grabbed my cell and immediately started calling Greg’s cell number to check on his welfare. At the same time, my Twitter account was getting direct messaged and The Landmark office phone immediately started ringing with media types asking, as one of them put it, “Is there an ice cube’s chance of getting Greg on the phone?” Sam Hartle of Channel 41 called. Kris Ketz of Channel 9, who by the way played some kick-ass defense for our soccer team during the Comets Media Game in December, messaged to ask for Greg’s contact info. Even legendary news anchor Larry Moore, he of the golden throat, dialed The Landmark office asking for a way to contact Greg. Note to Larry the Legend: It was an honor. Call back sometime when we’re not busy breaking news. Then my son sent me a text saying he was listening to 610 Sports and the hosts were mentioning Greg and The Landmark, basically begging for a way to get Hall on the phone. Then Landmark columnist Chris Kamler sent an email saying media types were contacting him asking for a way to reach Greg.

The first few attempts at calling Hall’s cell were met with a recording to the effect “your call cannot be completed at this time.” On about the third or fourth try, Greg answered and we were able to talk for a few minutes. Hall, an accomplished marathon runner, had already finished the race and cleared from the finish line area before the explosions occurred. “I was about 4-5 blocks away,” he said. “With music blaring on the streets, I didn’t even hear it.” Things soon got a little more hairy. “They're moving us out of this area, looking for more bombs. They seem to be treating it like a terrorist situation," Hall then said in our brief phone talk. I told him that in case he didn’t already know it, every media outlet in Kansas City wanted his time and that 610 Sports was basically begging him to call in. He said his phone was about to die and we hung up.

A short time later on his Twitter account @greghall24, Hall posted that an explosion had occurred very near him and more panic was ensuing. As it turns out, that was the “controlled explosion” that police conducted--apparently without warning to many within earshot--on a suspicious device they had found. Eventually Hall made his way into a restaurant where he was able to charge his phone before authorities arrived and forced the evacuation of the building.

If you don’t yet follow Hall on Twitter, do so. Scroll back through his timeline of posts on Monday to get a feel for what he was experiencing.

Also, check out the column that he wrote about his Boston Marathon experience, which we have now posted for your perusal at www.plattecountylandmark.com/ghall.htm.

Greg’s performance in the marathon is worth bragging about, though he won’t do that.

We’re just happy to have the guy back in KC safe and sound.

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Chris Kamler, our Rambling Moron columnist you will come to know and love--if you haven’t already--has been busy in his role as multimedia magnate. Thursday night he was representin’ at the Red Carpet Event for the new Jackie Robinson movie. Kamler was hanging with people like Harrison Ford (after last week’s column by Hearne Christopher, I feared Kamler and Indiana Jones might end up in a seedy joint by night’s end) and current and former Royals. His coverage of that night starts on our front page.
Then Saturday, Kamler (@TheFakeNed on Twitter) put together a Tweet-Up for fellow Twitter enthusiasts at The K during the Royals game. There must have been a lot of noise at the Tweet-Up, as Kamler reported waking up with a headache the next morning. Sunday, The Landmark was credentialed for the Royals game and Kamler was busy cranking out journalistic genius from the press box. Check out his K Replay feature on page B-2.

Every Wednesday at 4 p.m, Chris hosts a radio show on ESPN 1510 AM called The Ballgame. His guest as The Landmark was going to press this week? None other than Greg Hall. The discussion, of course, was set to focus on Greg’s experience at the Boston Marathon and his commentary on what he saw after the explosions. Chris was gracious enough to invite me into the studio to help pepper Greg with questions but I had to decline due to previous scheduling commitments. Besides, the three of us might have ended up fighting over microphone time, and who wants that?

(UPDATE: I did manage to give the show a call. You can hear the show here: http://bit.ly/11f3YF6)

(Ivan Foley gets microphone time 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

There are many angles from which Tuesday’s election results can be viewed, and there’s no hurry to hit them all the day after the 3/8th cent road sales tax passed by a comfortable 57-43% margin.

But it is time to touch on a few, in no particular order:

*The easy part of their two-part approach to the financial issues facing the county is now over for Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper, the two new associate county commissioners. The easy choice for them was to place the existing tax on the ballot for renewal, to keep in the good graces of fellow bureaucrats heading road districts and municipalities. But no change to the tax question means even though the issue passed handily, the county commission woke up Wednesday morning with the same problem it had prior to the election: How will the county pay for the $10 million of debt associated with the emergency radio mandate?

The answer to that won’t be as easy for the new commissioners, because for the first time it will put them in a position of making decisions that could place them politically sideways with a good number of folks.

Roper and Soper have previously proposed a 1/8th cent sales tax election later this year or raising the property tax levy by six cents. The other option--not likely to be chosen based on the new regime’s reluctance to use the word “no” when it comes to spending requests--would be cutting general fund expenditures by $1.3 million annually.

*Opponents to the county’s sales tax question recognized they were in an uphill battle from the start, especially when operating with a small campaign budget. Fighting a tax is never easy, especially when the election is in the always low-turnout month of April (or worse when it’s a special one-issue election, remember the park tax renewal in 2009).

For opponents, there was the imagined bad guy fear factor to overcome, you know, the “They want to tear up our roads--and next they’re coming after our puppies.” What gets misunderstood and misinterpreted by some observers--often intentionally so for political reasons--is that opponents weren’t against road funding and in fact had explained what they saw as a better plan. Those of you with a sense of history, for instance, will recall that this newspaper and this columnist editorialized in favor of the roads tax when it was proposed and passed 10 years ago. This time around, opponents--and this newspaper--favored a plan that included a portion of the sales tax going to roads (2/8ths) and a portion going to the radio debt (1/8th). A sincere look at the road and bridge needs over the next 10 years would have shown that 2/8th cent would have been sufficient. Add in the 1/8th cent for radio debt and the county’s financial challenge for the time being could have been met without an overall increase in the sales tax rate. That approach wasn’t taken by the new county commissioners because it wasn’t as easy. That approach would have required a bit more work than just slapping the same tax on the ballot and crying that opponents were being “naysayers,” whatever that means.

*Have you noticed that the county’s tax questions presented in low-turnout elections pass comfortably but the officeholders who promote them aren’t nearly as successful as the taxes they have promoted? For instance, Steve Wegner was a county commissioner who worked harder than anyone at getting the road tax passed 10 years ago. One year later he was defeated in his reelection bid. Same for Michael Short. In 2009, the county’s half cent park tax renewal was promoted by Betty Knight, Jim Plunkett and Kathy Dusenbery. In 2010, Knight got cold feet when conservative Jason Brown let it be known he was interested in making a run at her post and stepped aside. Plunkett did not seek reelection in 2012. Dusenbery sought reelection in 2012 and was narrowly defeated by Roper, who put off the impression during her campaign that she would be more fiscally conservative than Dusenbery. (We’re still waiting for any sign of evidence to support that, by the way.)

In other words, put those tax questions on the ballot when the county is electing officeholders in either August or November of an even numbered year--when turnout is high--and the results would likely be different. As an example, turnout Tuesday was 15%. Voter turnout last November was 70%. Yikes.

*A bit of irony. Many of the Parkville area folks who were working in favor of the 3/8th cent tax for roads are the same ones who campaigned for Dusenbery in her unsuccessful reelection bid against Roper. The irony is if Dusenbery had been reelected, it was her intention to cut the amount of the road tax and build in a dedicated amount of the 3/8th cents for radios. Take a minute to digest that.

*Dusenbery made an observation to me a year or two into her term that the northern part of the county is “a different world” from the southern part of the county. That could be interpreted a couple of different ways. One way to interpret it is that the northern part of the county is more fiscally conservative than the southern. Another way to interpret it is that the folks in the northern part pay closer attention to the week-to-week activities going on within county government. The impression by some is that the folks in the southern half of the county are farther away from the county seat and thus they don’t think about county government all that often, unless there is an issue that is a potential direct hit. Perhaps it’s more of a “don’t bother us with the details, just give us our cut of the money” attitude. It wouldn’t be fair to make blanket statements, so I’m treading carefully here. But it is fair to opine that while many taxpayers in the northern half of the county are concerned about things like $10 million in radio debt sitting there with no dedicated revenue stream, many folks in the southern half of the county are more concerned that they get $1.5 million from a county sales tax to ensure they get more traffic circles and wider lanes on Hwy. 45.

Remember, in 2009 when the park tax passed 54-46%, it actually failed in the precincts located within the county’s second district (northern half). Certainly some similar patterns are reflected in looking at the precinct-by-precinct breakdown of Tuesday’s road tax vote. The precincts that heavily opposed the tax are northern: Platte City (57% opposed), Hoover (69%), Seven Bridges (59%), Shiloh (70%), and New Market (64%).

Precincts heavily favoring the 3/8th cent road tax were primarily southern locations, including Lake Waukomis (77% in favor), Prairie Point--Tiffany Springs (67%), Weatherby Lake (70%), and Parkville (64%).

*As the county commission prepares to enter the next phase of tackling the real challenge in its financial future, The Landmark will be there to keep you posted. Thanks for reading.

(Tackle challenges 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

What a lovely winter we’re having this spring.

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After weeks of waiting for the county to explain itself and offer unsolicited details, on Monday of this week--eight days ahead of the election--I left a voicemail for the county folks to ask if there is a list of road projects detailed in its 3/8th cent road tax plan. It’s not a newspaper’s job to do the county’s campaigning for it. If the county had a detailed plan, it needed to be taking those details to the voting public long before now.

The county commission has chosen to run and hide on this topic instead of inviting the public out to share information and proposed plans for their proposed tax.

But for grins, I left the voice message Monday. A few hours later the county public works director emailed me a three-sheet information piece that had obviously been prepared ahead of time. Were they going to keep it secret if I had not asked? And three sheets? In 2002-03 the plan was very detailed, had been vetted by the public, and many public forums had been held for input. Not this time around.

Even the cheerleaders and apologists for the county commission have to admit this has been a weirdly-staged proposal and campaign by the county. As one public figure told me this week: “It has been chicken-bleep.”

You can’t argue with that. It has been a stealth campaign lacking transparency. That’s reason enough to vote no. If you need more reasons, keep reading.

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Basic math and logic are getting tossed out the window as the county commission responds to the plentiful pushback it has been getting against its road tax proposal.

We’ve all heard the term “fuzzy math” that was coined by George W. Bush. The county commission is employing what I call “double count math.” Your Platte County commissioners are using it as a desperate measure. They're trying to tell you that voting for the 3/8th cent road tax will also fund the $10 million radio debt. This is a total fabrication.

If the roads tax passes as presented, it will be impossible to pay off the county’s emergency radio debt without a tax increase or a very significant cut in general fund expenditures. Presiding Commissioner Jason Brown has made that statement many times. The new associate commissioners, desperately trying to pass a tax plan that was not taken to the general public for input, are in denial.

In a hard-to-read flow chart with slings and arrows making it look like a high school algebra worksheet gone bad, the county this week basically says this: Hey, if you renew this road tax, we’ll bring in $1.3 million in accompanying use tax that we can put toward our $1.5 million annual payment on the emergency radio debt.

Sounds good, right? But it’s complete BS. Here’s why. Hang with me here, the explanation is lengthy but it is not at all complicated. Commissioners are not counting on you taking the time to employ logic on this.

The county is already getting that $1.3 million in accompanying use tax. Renewing the existing sales tax CREATES ZERO NEW USE TAX MONEY. That’s zero as in zero.

The problem is the county has been putting that $1.3 million of use tax in the general fund and has been spending it to fund basics of government. And for the last few years we’ve been told the general fund is strapped, right? So if suddenly the commission decides to spend that $1.3 million in use tax money for radio debt, it’s going to need to find another $1.3 million elsewhere to balance the general fund budget.

That’s basic math and common sense. That means a tax increase or $1.3 million in cuts to general fund expenditures.

The commissioners are counting the use tax funds twice. They’re counting it when they look at their general fund. And now they’re saying they’ll count it to go toward radios. Breaking news: You can’t spend the same dollars twice. That’s Washington D.C. math. Platte County watchdogs are too smart for that kind of misleading propaganda.

If commissioners say they’re going to put the $1.3 million in use tax money toward radio debt, they’re selling you a bill of goods unless they can tell you how they will at the same time cut $1.3 million from general fund expenditures. Can the general fund survive the taking of $1.3 million from it? No. Not without major cuts to government or a tax increase, one of the two.

But don’t just take my word for it. Even Kevin Robinson, county auditor and friend of the two new county commissioners, will tell you the same thing. Read our front page story for his reaction to the county commission floating the idea to pay for radio debt with road use tax money. Because the county has been spending the use tax money on general operations, the fund wouldn’t be able to survive a hit like that, Robinson confirms.

“You’re going to have to make up for it somewhere else,” he said, which would mean either a tax increase or an equivalent $1.3 million cut in expenses.

And based on their actions in their first few months in office, do you have any confidence that new commissioners Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper are willing to cut expenditures? Absolutely not. They’ve been busy growing county government, not downsizing it. Since January, they’ve added four county employees to the budget. They’ve been busy giving raises, adding employees, and proposing new taxes.

If you think Roper and Soper are suddenly gonna turn into budget cutters and start slicing $1.3 million from the general fund budget then I hope you enjoy your time with the Easter Bunny this weekend and have a good time sitting on Santa’s lap in December.

The only way this commission is going to change its ways and turn fiscally conservative is if the voters force the action. Voters have that opportunity on Tuesday by voting against the 3/8th cent sales tax proposal.

Demand the commission come back with a plan that will address the roads tax and radio debt at the same time with a 3/8th cent tax proposal that puts 2/8th cent toward roads and 1/8th cent toward emergency radio debt.

You’re not just voting no, you’re spelling out the solution for them: Bring back a 3/8th cent tax that addresses roads and pays off the radio debt at the same time. It’s not a difficult concept.

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Simply stated, if you vote yes you’re telling the county you want more taxes. Because in reality, that’s the only way the radio debt will get handled. Roper and Soper publicly said as much in early January. They can’t run from it, they said it in an open meeting with road district officials in January. The Landmark was there. Audio recordings are available.

If this road tax passes as proposed, Roper and Soper said their options for dealing with radio debt are to increase the property tax levy by six or seven cents or come back with a 1/8th cent sales tax for radios later this year. They even asked (begged) road district officials to be on hand to help them pass the radio tax, in what sounded like a trade-out for putting the road tax on the ballot at its current level of 3/8th cent.

The political pressure will be on the new commissioners regardless of how next week’s vote turns out. Fascinating stuff.

(Get fascinating stuff 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Hey, remember that time when a government agency said: “We don’t need to continue that temporary tax any longer. We’re living within our means and will let that tax expire.”

Me neither.

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Hey, remember that time a couple new county commissioners came into office and said: “Give us some time to evaluate the overall financial situation of the county, both present and future, before we start proposing taxes. Until we get a grasp on things, everybody will get told ‘no’ to requests for increased spending.”

Me neither.

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The last roads tax, passed in 2003 with a 10-year sunset, accomplished and solved most of the major road problems facing the county. Discussions about cutting the 3/8 cent road sales tax down to 1/8 cent before putting it up for renewal were underway by the previous commission, before new commissioners Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper came into office. With $10 million in emergency radio debt, restructuring the road tax at a lower rate and building in a sales tax percentage to go to radio debt would have been the more fiscally responsible proposal for county taxpayers. Roper and Soper, instead, stepped on the gas pedal.

The problem is this: The new commissioners haven’t yet developed the capacity to tell anyone “no” when it comes to requests. Roper felt a lot of pressure from her home city of Weatherby Lake to keep the road tax at 3/8 cent. Apparently Weatherby Lake, instead of treating this money as the gift that it is, has annually built its street budget with the assumption the money from the road tax was always going to be there. As a result, Weatherby Lake--and perhaps some other entities--have created their own dependency.

That’s not the purpose this road tax was designed to serve. But don’t take my word for it. Steve Wegner was second district county commissioner at the time the county designed the workings of the tax and put the question to voters. Wegner was the man who played a major role in creating the plan and personally led the pitch around the county. In other words, he knows the history.

“Tax monies going to the cities and small road districts were designed to be used for maintenance,” Wegner emphasized in a conversation with The Landmark this week. “The money wasn’t to fund new projects.”

The reason for that, obviously, is that those entities each have their own tax levy. If they want/need new projects, those entities can adjust their tax levy for that. Instead, what it appears has happened at Weatherby Lake and perhaps other areas, is that the government grew addicted to that money and started spending as if the road tax share was a never-ending thing.

That’s not the taxpayers’ fault. That’s the fault of those who have been entrusted with spending public money at the local level.

Under the original guidelines developed along with the first road tax, county road tax money going to Parkville so the city could pass it on to a MoDOT project like the widening of Hwy. 45 was not the intent.

“We dedicated no such money to go to the state of Missouri,” Wegner said. “I don’t think they need our money to do that.”

Wegner and other county officials at the time didn’t want the rich (MoDOT, Parkville Special Road District and Platte City Special Road District) getting richer off the county’s road tax.

The current proposal, according to Greg Sager, public works director for Platte County, calls for all entities to share equally this time around. In other words, the rich entities like Platte City Special Road District and Parkville Special Road District will be taking a share of the road tax if it renews. Last time, those two road districts were not provided a share because of their already deep coffers. This time, the rich will get richer.

“That’s like giving money to Donald Trump for cash flow,” Wegner said in disbelief upon hearing that news. “I can’t support this plan.”

******

By the way, Weatherby Lake has a population of 1,723 people.

Records on file at the county treasurer’s office show the City of Weatherby Lake has received $781,000 of county road tax money over the first nine years of this tax. That’s $453 per every man, woman and child in the metropolis of Weatherby Lake. That’s roughly $87,000 per year coming from the county sales tax for streets at Weatherby Lake. Wow.

How about this stat: the City of Weatherby Lake covers a geographical area of only 1.3 square miles. So a city of 1.3 geographic square miles being gifted $87,000 per year for roads hasn’t yet solved its road problems after nine years?

Seems ridiculous and irresponsible. Don’t punish the county taxpayers because Roper’s home city hasn’t spent its monetary gift wisely.

(Get some unfiltered commentary 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley and Facebook.com/ivan.foley)

If you entered The Landmark Bracket Battle, here’s what you’re up against if you’re out to win a Landmark subscription. This is Foley’s Forecast. Don’t be scared:

ROUND OF 32: Louisville, MU, Oregon, St. Louis, Memphis, Michigan St., Creighton, Duke, Gonzaga, Pitt, Wisconsin, K-State, Belmont, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Ohio State, KU, UNC, VCU, Michigan, UCLA, Florida, San Diego St., Georgetown, Indiana, NC State, UNLV, Syracuse, Butler, Davidson, Illinois, Miami.

SWEET 16: Louisville, St. Louis, Michigan State, Duke, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Ohio State, KU, Michigan, Florida, San Diego State, Indiana, Syracuse, Butler, Miami.

ELITE 8: Louisville, Michigan State, Gonzaga, New Mexico, KU, Florida, Indiana, Miami.

FINAL 4: Louisville, Gonzaga, Florida, Miami.

CHAMPIONSHIP: Louisville 72, Miami 65.

Follow @ivanfoley on Twitter for updates throughout the tournament.

Be sure to get in The Landmark’s wildly popular NCAA Bracket Battle. See the details in a story in this issue. Anybody with a higher score than yours truly will win a free subscription to The Landmark and very public bragging rights. Top scorer wins $100.

Get your 15 minutes of fame. Make your picks and be somebody. Fax your bracket to 816-858-2313 or email to ivan@plattecountylandmark.com.

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I gotta admit the smoke-blowing approach by the Catholic Church Selection Committee is a creative way for them to get involved in all the March Madness stuff.

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Parkville’s Economic Development Council this week announced it is endorsing the county’s 3/8 cent sales tax proposal for roads.

Don’t color me stunned. This is the same organization that endorsed Parkville’s crazy idea of legalizing golf carts for street traffic in a city filled with winding roads and bad sight lines.

“The Parkville EDC and its Board of Directors join business leaders and other major civic organizations including the Platte County Economic Development Council and the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce in endorsing this issue,” the Parkville EDC’s letter of support states.

Couple of things to discuss here. Number one, has any EDC or Chamber of Commerce ever opposed a tax issue? Honestly, I can’t recall a time such a group opposed any proposed tax hike (and keep in mind, this proposal is in reality a tax hike because if allowed to expire as scheduled, taxpayers would enjoy a decrease).

Chambers of Commerce and EDC’s are typically run by a bureaucratic bunch, often lacking in individuality, who don’t have a problem promoting the idea of spending other people’s money. So really, the fact organizations like these hide behind the “group think” approach in endorsing the tax isn’t really news. What would be news is if such a group actually had the tummy to publicly oppose taxing and spending.

It’s understandable wanting to see the good in all things, and it would be nice if we lived in a perfect world. We don’t. Taxpayers don’t have to like or accept every attempted attack on their wallets.

The bottom line is this: Representing the good of the taxpaying public occasionally calls for getting one’s nose dirty. That’s not going to happen inside a chamber of commerce or economic development council.

******

By the way, who are these unidentified “business leaders” the Parkville EDC claims have endorsed the county’s sales tax proposal? That’s a blanket statement that needs some specifics, folks. Name some individual names for us--you know, names of people not involved in a leadership role of your EDC. Please and thank you.

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And by the way, Yael T. Abouhalkah, editorial writer for the Kansas City Star, was all gung-ho on Twitter about the county’s proposed sales tax measure when it was first announced that the tax will be on the April 2 ballot. This comes as no surprise. Yael and the Star are extremely liberal thinkers when it comes to taxes. Keep in mind, Yael was always the Kansas City Star’s mouthpiece/cheerleader for Betty Knight during her time as presiding commissioner. Also keep in mind, if the tax and spend policies of Betty Knight were still popular in Platte County, Knight would still be presiding commissioner. She stepped aside rather than run for reelection in 2010 because she could feel that the political wind was shifting.

Anytime the liberals in the region are telling you a proposed tax is a great idea, be afraid. Be very afraid.

******

On the topic of chambers of commerce and such, it’s fair to say now the Platte City Chamber of Commerce can officially be described as an irrelevant organization. I’ve long maintained the group is nothing more than a social club, and recent developments have reinforced my observation.

Case in point: When you hear City of Platte City leaders talk about efforts to attract development east of I-29, they talk of working with the Platte County EDC. City leaders don’t mention the local chamber of commerce, which no longer has a contract with the city for economic development efforts. And when the mayor recently gave a major economic development speech, he didn’t seek an audience with the Platte City Chamber of Commerce. His speech was to the Platte City Lions Club. That is very telling in itself.

I will give the chamber credit for this much: Its paid staff has become less grumpy and more cordial than it was under the previous executive director. So at least the chamber has become a more friendly social club, as opposed to the cliquish and often holier-than-thou organization it had become under the previous director.

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More follow-up on Angela Van Batavia, the Park Hill teacher--you remember, the one who tried to hide her identity by signing her maiden name--who wrote the letter to the editor complaining about our reporting in exposing the $454,000 compensation package to former Superintendent Dennis Fisher. A little more research this week uncovered this: Angela Van Batavia is married to Brian Van Batavia. Brian Van Batavia is the assistant principal at Lakeview Middle School in the Park Hill district.
It’s all becoming clear. Who better to scream foul about exposing an extravagant compensation package for a school administrator than the spouse of a school administrator? What a circus.

It has me thinking now we need to take a transparent look at the compensation packages of every administrator at every level in the district.

(Constant news and analysis, plus Bracket Battle updates, are yours at Twitter.com/ivanfoley, Facebook.com/ivan.foley, or via email to ivan@plattecountylandmark.com. Getcha some.)

Hey, remember when 54% of voters in 2009 approved a renewal of the county half cent park tax? The 10-year written master plan for this money included horse trails.

Yes, it was in there.

Well, here it is 2013 and there is absolutely no sign of horse trails becoming a reality.

Voters were hoodwinked.

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Hey, remember when 54% of voters in 2009 approved a renewal of the county half cent park tax? The 10-year written master plan for this money included mountain bike trails.

Yes, it was in there.

Well, here it is 2013 and has anyone heard a word about mountain bike trails becoming a reality? Voters were bamboozled.

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Hey, remember when 54% of county voters in 2009 approved a renewal of the county half cent park tax? The 10-year written master plan for this money included canoe trails.

Yes, it was in there.

Well, here it is 2013 and there is still no sign of canoe trails becoming a reality. Duped again.

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I mention these items not because I think an overwhelming number of county residents are longing for horse trails, bike trails, and canoe trails.

The point is this: Government can tell you how it plans to spend your money if you approve a dedicated tax; it can put all kinds of project lists in writing; it can make all kinds of written plans, but the bottom line is the government is still going to have the ability to change its mind and spend your money however it wants within the legal framework of the dedicated tax. The only thing certain is once that tax is approved, the government types are going to become addicted to that money and they’re not going to give it back. The only recourse is to kick that tax in the fanny when it comes up for renewal.

Something to think about before you vote in favor of a “dedicated” tax.

*******

By the way, Platte County has a 3/8th cent dedicated sales tax renewal on the April 2 ballot.

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Last week’s anticipated economic development announcement from the city of Platte City concerning potential development efforts on the east side of Interstate 29 was more of a statement of generalities and not exactly groundbreaking news. There’s talk of forming an enhanced enterprise zone, working closely with the Platte County EDC on future development efforts, and future use of such tools as neighborhood improvement districts, etc. to “sell” to potential developers.

There is still some speculation in certain circles that the city is having to work hard to keep KC Bobcat as a part of the Platte City business community. KC Bobcat looks awfully crowded at its current location at I-29 and HH, and earlier there was talk Tracy would like to attract the business to a spot near the Tracy exit on I-29.

So, it’s possible Platte City’s development effort east of I-29 could be as much about retaining existing businesses as it is about attracting new ones. Time will tell.

The thing I liked best from Mayor Frank Offutt’s ‘State of the City’ speech to the Lions Club last week was his insistence that any development incentives will be done without increasing taxes or fees upon existing businesses and residents. The public will need to be diligent in holding the city to that promise.

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If you read my Twitter updates, you already know this. If you don’t here’s the scoop. I was bombarded with phone calls and emails after last week’s paper included a letter to the editor signed with the name Angela Dozier. In the interest of full disclosure of connections to the topic at hand (the transparency issue at Park Hill) we had attached a line in her signature identifying her as a teacher at Park Hill. Readers familiar with the teaching staff at Park Hill began contacting the paper, saying there is no “Angela Dozier” listed on the roster of Park Hill teachers. Readers feared that the letter was signed with a fictitious name.

Here’s the background story. The letter to the editor signed by Angela Dozier arrived via an email account listed under the name Angela Van Batavia (in her correspondence she did not identify herself as a Park Hill staff member).

It is The Landmark’s policy to research the authenticity of letters to the editor prior to printing, so in beginning that process we conducted research into both names. We could find nothing under the name Angela Dozier but became aware of voter registration records and evidence of a Park Hill teacher by the name of Angela Van Batavia.

The next step in our verification process is to phone the letter writer. I called the phone number “Angela Dozier” had supplied the day before the paper came out. “So you’re a teacher at Park Hill?” I asked. She paused, sounding surprised we had figured that out. “I am a teacher at Park Hill and a patron,” she responded. I then asked her about the two different names. She answered only that the Van Batavia email address was “an old email account.” From that, I thought perhaps she was recently divorced and therefore had a new last name. Satisfied that I was indeed talking to the person who had sent the letter, that’s as deep as we needed to go in that conversation, as we typically don’t need nor care to know the details of our readers’ domestic situations.

Turns out Angela’s last name is Van Batavia after all. Dozier, she admitted this week after the topic was blown up on Twitter, is her maiden name. Her explanation for the bit of misdirection? “I used my maiden name in my letter, as the beliefs and ideas in my letter were mine, not my husband's,” she said.

That’s quite a leap in logic. Using Angela’s approach, married women all across America should now identify themselves by their maiden name when giving an opinion.
Draw your own conclusion. My gut feeling is Angela signed the letter as “Dozier” hoping her employment as a teacher would not be discovered and thus her viewpoint could not be interpreted as having a bias.

At any rate, that was last week. More letters on the Park Hill transparency topic are in this issue. Enjoy by clicking here.

(Ivan Foley always uses his maiden name. Follow him at Twitter.com/ivanfoley or email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)

In case you haven’t noticed, it has been a crazy week or so in terms of weather, with a couple of heavy snows dumped on Platte County. Sincere kudos to the road crews for keeping up with what has been a monumental task. They haven’t been tested often in the past couple of years, but when they have they’ve responded well. The county road clearing crew earned praise from first responders at the scene of the train vs. car accident last week. And those of us in downtown Platte City can attest to the fine way the city of Platte City public works crew has handed the difficult chore of maneuvering piles of snow in what is a challenging environment to do so.

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As we go to press on Wednesday, based on agendas from recent closed door meetings, a big economic development announcement from the city of Platte City could be coming soon. Mayor Frank Offutt will be giving a ‘State of the City’ address to the Platte City Lions Club tonight. Does he have some sort of news for the community in regard to a plan for the area east of Interstate 29? Stay tuned with us here and at Twitter.com/ivanfoley. I’m anxious to hear details as to whether the money involved is private or public. And anxious to see how the public will respond if public money is being spent on “potential” development.

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As an audit of the Central Platte Fire Department gets rolling, here’s hoping the communication with the auditors is being handled by the three fire board members (Paul Regan, Andy Stanton and Mike Ashcraft) rather than being turned over to Lisa Bjustrom, who serves as the bookkeeper and unsolicited adviser to the board on many matters. I’m sure Bjustrom is a good person and probably good at basic accounting as well, but during meetings I do find her remarks on spending topics to be quite entertaining. If the board is seeking services on just about any matter, Bjustrom has no problem spending the money--without a bid process. But every time the topic of a audit came up, Bjustrom was quick to mention how expensive an in-depth audit of the department’s books and procedures could be.

She has expressed many times in open meetings that she doesn’t feel the need to put certain service items out for bid, because members of the department or family members of firefighters are already hired to do the work. She seems to feel the practice of hiring firefighters and family members without a bid process is a completely acceptable way for public money to be spent. With that in mind, the fear is unless the board members are communicating directly with the hired auditors, the district isn’t going to get the type of audit it is paying for. My guess is Stanton and Ashcraft will stay on top of it.

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As we told you we would when we first exposed the topic in a Feb. 6 front page article and subsequent editorials, The Landmark is continuing its look at the lack of transparency in general and the 3-part contracts of former Park Hill Superintendent Dennis Fisher.

A teacher in the district this week submitted a letter to the editor (to read it click here) in which she claims the reporting is one-sided and casts Park Hill in an unwarranted light. I think it’s cute that an employee of the district is stepping forward to try to defend her employer for less than transparent activities and $454,000 compensation packages to a now-former superintendent. Unless things have changed at Park Hill, the teacher may get a nice bonus in her next contract for defending the school district.

Shoot the messenger all you’d like. We wear it as a badge of honor. The truth of the matter is that the facts are what is casting the district’s past practices in a negative light. And the truth of the matter is that some folks currently in place at Park Hill are working to clean up the lack of transparency issue. Chris Seufert, board member, is one of them leading the charge. Helping aid the cause has been some revealing comments by former board member Fred Sanchez, who despite the insinuation in the letter to the editor, certainly broke no laws by legally having a concealed weapon on his person at a board meeting.

For the record, the newspaper has reached out to those who were involved in the decision-making in regard to Fisher’s past contracts. Most notably on that list is John Thomas, former school board president, who has made negative remarks about the coverage of this topic on his Facebook page. Recently I extended an invitation to Thomas to sit down for an in-depth interview on this topic, since he signed some of Fisher’s contracts. Thomas has not responded to that invitation.

Sometimes no response says it all.

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As we have previously reported, Fisher’s compensation was hidden in the form of three separate “agreements” instead of one employment contract. It seems that method was an attempt to hope the general public would never know about things like bonuses, incentives and payments of nearly $100,000 annually into Fisher’s pension.

The teacher’s letter this week put The Landmark’s focus back on some documents related to Fisher’s employment. Guess what we found this time?

The Park Hill School District (um, that would be taxpayers within the district) purchased, maintained and insured a “full size American-made vehicle” for Fisher’s business AND personal use.

Read that again.

It was written in his contract, strangely placed under the sub-heading of “retirement.” It doesn’t say the superintendent was furnished a car for business use. It says Fisher was furnished a car for business and PERSONAL use. Personal use, of course, means anything. Fisher could take the car on vacation, go to the movies, run to the grocery store, anything. . . at taxpayer expense.

It’s not hyperbole to say that’s insane. What government entity thinks it is appropriate to buy and maintain a vehicle for an employee’s personal use? It shows a lack of accountability on the part of the school board and a clear case of a superintendent outfoxing some not-so-smart foxes who were supposed to be serving as his bosses.

I mentioned the car benefit to a person who ran for Park Hill School Board a while back. This former candidate remembers the vehicle well.

“I rode in that car with him when I ran for school board. It was a top of the line luxury car. I didn’t know at the time I was helping pay for it. During the tour, he was adamant about how the administration was not being paid enough. Why did the families, students and teachers of Park Hill get taken for dollars used for the superintendent’s own personal use and enjoyment?” asked the former board candidate.

That’s a question a guy like John Thomas should be able to answer--or at least try to answer. The Landmark’s door--and our phone lines--are wide open.

(Catch us 24/7 regardless of the weather at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

It’s not clear how they can do it or what it will mean if they do, but the chatter in political circles is that the Platte County Republican Party will be working harder to “vet” candidates who file as Republicans in the future. The tax-and-spend ways and views being espoused by the two newly elected county commissioners has quite obviously sparked the recent talk.

As has been mentioned in this space previously, with the decline of the local Democrat party to the point of irrelevance, what’s happening is candidates with less than Republican-like backgrounds and beliefs are filing as Republicans because they realize it’s next to impossible for a Democrat to win a local election in Platte County. Once these Republicans in disguise get elected, the worry, the fear and the evidence is they will not/are not following the core Republican beliefs of smaller government and lower taxes.

******

The life and times of Park Hill school officials would be so much simpler if The Landmark wasn’t around. Yes, I’ve written that sentence before. I first wrote it in September of 2008. It still rings true today.

Our recent articles about the past lack of transparency at Park Hill--and the recent movement afoot to change that--has me recalling a Park Hill incident in 2008.
There was an opening on the Park Hill School Board, and the board was in the process of selecting a person to fill that spot. It came to our attention, mainly by listening in on public conversations, that at least some board members wanted their deliberations about candidates to fill the spot to be held behind closed doors. When the board decided to form a subcommittee to sort through a list of 18 candidates, Alan McArthur, Landmark reporter at the time, politely asked if the meetings of the subcommittee would be open to the public. Alan had worked at The Landmark long enough that he already knew the correct answer to the question he was asking. He just wanted to find out if anybody at Park Hill knew the correct answer.

The correct answer, of course, is that such a subcommittee meeting by law must be open to the public. But that’s not the way John A. Thomas, president of the school board at the time, initially answered Alan’s question. “No, I don’t think it will be,” Thomas said, before Park Hill’s communications coordinator Nicole Kirby quickly stepped in to say the matter would be researched and assured us the committee meetings would be run in accordance with Sunshine Law regulations. In other words, the meeting would be open. They said they would notify us of upcoming committee meetings. They didn’t. Alan found out about it by searching their web site.

But the fun didn’t stop there. The subcommittee meeting was set for 7 a.m. on a Friday. But that’s only half of it. The chosen meeting site was the Corner Café in Riverside. You heard it right. . . Park Hill chose to hold a public meeting of three board members and the superintendent at one of the busiest morning cafes in the Kansas City area. What a joke. Call me paranoid, but I’m gonna say they chose such a time and place in hopes it would deter the press from attending. Their plan almost worked. But much to Park Hill’s chagrin, I’m sure, The Landmark did attend. Reporter Alan McArthur showed up at the Corner Café on that Friday morning. He chatted with Superintendent Dennis Fisher, whom we now know as the man with the jaw-dropping $454,000 contract/benefits package, in the lobby of the restaurant.

When the three board members--John Thomas, Denise Schnell and Bob Weidt--arrived and the restaurant employee asked how many would be seated at the table, Fisher answered four. As in three board members and himself. Another not-so-subtle hint, wouldn’t you say? Or did Fisher really think it was coincidence that a reporter was just hanging out chatting with him at the café at 7 a.m.?

Anyway, Alan was mentally primed and had been prepped for such a situation. Undaunted, he pulled up a chair next to the uncomfortable board members and superintendent to take in the circus, err, I mean the “meeting.” Yes, three board members and the superintendent ate breakfast at a noisy, crowded restaurant while talking through the process of choosing a new school board member. Alan’s report on the session included everything but a critique of the food, as the working journalist declined to order.

******

John Thomas, the former Park Hill School Board president mentioned above, had an interesting time in public service. I can remember when he was recruited/encouraged/supported by conservatives who hoped Thomas would make a difference and bring a new perspective to the board. So much for the best laid plans. Thomas fell into the same ol’ same ol’ instead of being part of a new approach. Thomas obviously didn’t have a grasp of the concept of open meetings. Thomas obviously was subservient to the superintendent. Thomas obviously didn’t mind the huge contract/benefits packages for the superintendent, a package that spread the rewards out in three separate contracts which meant the public would have to dig deep to be able to figure out the shell game hiding the total amount of the superintendent’s compensation. Thomas obviously liked to, as former board member Fred Sanchez so eloquently describes it, let the tail wag the dog.

Thomas now spends time on Facebook as a media critic. And, hey, who can blame him for that after such a stellar career in public service?

It’s best for taxpayers that Thomas remain a media critic and stay away from a position that allows him to spend public money.

******

Baseball season must not be far off. Had a dream last night that some childhood buddies and I were tossing a ball around in an open field. We were all about 12 years old. It was cool and it was weird, all at the same time.

******

What really made the dream weird was that Firefighter of the Year Tom Ragone suddenly appeared riding horseback across the field, carrying a baseball bat, a catcher’s mitt and a copy of the Constitution--with a pet monkey riding on his shoulder.
Ragone warned my friends and I that we were defaming the sport of baseball and the great men who have played the game. He demanded an apology and threatened a lawsuit.

We let him carry on for 10 minutes. Then we laughed and kept playing.

(Send your request for an apology to ivan@plattecountylandmark so it can be received and ignored. Follow Foley at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Oh, shoot. Better gather my lawyers. I heard it’s a clear case of defamation to offend the Central Platte Firefighter of the Year.

******

In his public role, Mike Ragone is a publicly-paid firefighter for the publicly-funded Central Platte Fire District. Records show Ragone checked in for 387 runs last year and was paid $5,642 for his “volunteer” duties.

But Ragone isn’t just any firefighter. Recently, he was very publicly bestowed the honor of Central Platte Firefighter of the Year. Good for him. Nice honor for a public figure.

Ragone loves to spend fire department money. In other words, your money. At last month’s board meeting, for instance, he lamented the fact the fire district had a good amount of money in the bank. “We’re a government entity. We should be running our balances to zero,” he said.

That remark tells you all you need to know. There’s no desire for accountability or fiscal responsibility from anyone who would make that comment.

I’m told in his private life he travels a lot and is some type of “consultant” for other fire districts. Better yet, on Tuesday night at a meeting of the fire district board of directors, we learned Ragone fancies himself a Constitutional scholar.

Yes, toward the end of a meeting under an agenda item labeled “public relations,” Ragone launched into a blustery speech. Ragone, who appears to have a feeling of self-importance that perhaps comes standard with the “consultant” profession, in short claimed that he and other firefighters have been defamed and libeled by this newspaper. He seemed to particularly feel defamed by a recent editorial cartoon on this page. That cartoon followed a comment in this column that I’ve seen “monkey poop fights and drunken poker games” more organized than a Central Platte fire board meeting.

The outstanding cartoon produced by Matthew Silber in the following issue displayed a scene of monkeys throwing poop at one another with two guys sitting at a table, beverage can in hand, cards on the table under the tagline: “Monkey poop fight + drunken poker game=Central Platte Fire Board meeting.”

Ragone, a white man, even tried to play the race card, saying “calling someone a monkey” is a racial slur. Well, perhaps, Scholar Ragone, but that’s irrelevant since no one was called a monkey.

“Firefighters were extremely offended by the cartoon. Clearly, (the cartoon) was defamation. That’s damages, quite frankly,” Ragone continued in his spiel, which went on for more than 10-15 minutes.

Ragone asked the board members to write a letter to The Landmark demanding a public apology (Note to self: let’s do a cartoon on this).

Ragone claimed the monkey poop/drunken poker game cartoon--which obviously was a satire of the atmosphere often found at fire board meetings and aimed at no individual person--was “defamatory” and “libelous” to firefighters. He claimed he has gotten a couple legal opinions from attorneys that back him up on this. Maybe he visited with attorneys operating out of a van down by the river.

The publicly decorated Firefighter of the Year even claimed firefighters--who are paid with your tax money and who work with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment purchased by you--are private citizens protected from editorial scrutiny. Yes, the decorated Firefighter of the Year says he is not a public figure. “I’m not free game. They’re not free game,” he said, referring to a crowd of young firefighters in the room who, not knowing any better, looked on with wonderment in their eyes as their scholarly leader tried to go all Patrick Henry-like.

I recorded Constitutional Scholar Ragone’s State of the Union address on my phone. I’ve listened to it at least a dozen times. It’s comedy gold.

If Ragone’s talk were a skit on Saturday Night Live it would be the hit of the show. It’s the authority in his voice with which he says stuff that is total BS (things like “the United States Supreme Court is very clear on this”) that makes me laugh out loud. I’ve already hosted “listen to this” sessions at my desk with friends and co-workers. I’ve accumulated enough column material from his Declaration of Defamation to last a lifetime.

******

Board member Andy Stanton pointed out to Ragone that he missed the point of the cartoon. My guess is Ragone and his followers missed the point on purpose. His speech ended when, after more than 10 minutes of listening to his baloney-filled shtick, I asked if he’d like me to address the topic. Another person in the crowd asked him “Are you an attorney, sir?” My comment to Ragone was that his expert opinions on legal issues and his expert opinions on what newspapers can and cannot do--even though he is not a lawyer nor a newspaperman--were “way off base” and “not even close” to providing an accurate interpretation of the situation. I rebuked his claim that he, as a taxpayer-funded firefighter for a taxpayer-funded department, is not subject to editorial scrutiny. The room went quiet. Board member Mike Ashcraft had already indicated he believed the newspaper’s opinions are protected by the Constitution. Stanton asked the firefighter/constitutional scholar if his request was for the board to write a letter to The Landmark seeking a public apology. Ragone said yes. Stanton said “your request is. . . . received.”

In other words, received but not going anywhere.

******

People in desperate situations say and do desperate things. Ragone was simply trying to find an argument by attempting to turn the cartoon into something it wasn’t. The pushback from firefighters is due more to their loss of power and influence rather than any true feelings of “defamation.” The good ol’ boy network is slowly being replaced by an atmosphere of accountability pushed by Stanton and Ashcraft. Firefighters aren’t used to it. And they don’t like it.

For years, firefighters spoke up at any point during a board meeting. They influenced and mentally intimidated lesser-willed men who were on the board prior to the arrival of Stanton and Ashcraft. If Tuesday night’s smooth-flowing meeting is an indication, those days are coming to an end. As of this month, meetings are being run in a more professional manner. Services that have been typically supplied by firefighters or family members of firefighters on a hiring whim are being put out for bid, to ensure proper use of tax dollars and greater transparency. An audit process approved Tuesday night will ensure the district’s books are in order--and proper procedures in handling funds and services--are being followed.

Improvements in policies and procedures are being made at Central Platte Fire and that’s good for the community. Firefighters would be better suited to embrace the process rather than fight with anyone who wants to see continued improvements.

(Get ‘scholarly’ Twitter updates 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

As we all know, there are some great mysteries in life. Let’s touch on a few of them this week. Read on.

******

Did you know the Platte City Police Chief makes more money per year than the Platte County Sheriff? It’s true. Irresponsible, but true. Why?

The annual salary for Carl Mitchell, chief of police for Platte City, is $72,654. The annual salary for the Platte County Sheriff, per a formula set by the state legislature for a sheriff in a first class county, is $72,258.

It is ridiculous that small cities like Platte City have continued to grow the salaries of their police chiefs to the point the chief's salary is higher than the head of a department he calls on for help when a case is above his department's pay grade. There is no fiscal discipline being displayed in these small cities.

*******

As a counterpoint, it should be mentioned that if the sheriff ever needs advice on how to illegally place a surveillance camera on private property he could call the higher paid police chief of Platte City. So there you go.

******

The City of Parkville has placed a use tax question on its April ballot that the city says will bring in $38,000 per year that the city will lose if the tax is not passed. It will be on the same ballot as the county’s 3/8th cent road sales tax question.

So Parkville can’t survive without $38,000? There isn’t $38,000 worth of “fat” the city could cut from its budget? I haven’t even studied the city budget in any great detail as of yet but off the top of my head I can name two areas where the city could easily save more than needed to make up for any “lost” $38,000.

No. 1: Eliminate the city’s unnecessary and useless public access television operation (as much as I’d like to have my mug appear on Parkville’s most watched television station, eliminating the channel would account for $30-$35,000 in annual savings right there.)

No. 2: Forget the idea of having a city administrator and an assistant city administrator. Question: How can a city of 5,500 people need--and justify--two administrators? Answer: It can’t.

Decide on who will be the new city administrator, whether it's the interim Sean Ackerson or a new hire--then eliminate the assistant position. This alone would save more than enough money saved to account for this potential $38,000 loss of use tax revenue.

Taxpayers of Parkville, this solution was conceived in less than two minutes. No consultants, no committee meetings needed.

Boom. You’re welcome.

******

Platte County Commissioners are traveling to Jefferson City this week for officeholder training sessions put on by the Missouri Association of Counties. They’ll need a five passenger vehicle.

******

Can anybody else picture the elected commissioners running to the car to head to commissioner training with auditor Kevin Robinson clinging to the tailpipe (‘Guys, wait! Isn’t this for all of us?’) and director of administration Dana Babcock riding on the hood (‘Duane and Bev, go this way!’)?

******

At Monday’s county commission meeting, newly-elected second district county commissioner Duane Soper remarked that his first month has been active and interesting. “We’ve had the budget and the 3/8th cent road tax (proposal). I feel like I’ve taken part of my campaign and checked off a couple things I said I was gonna do and I’m proud of those decisions.”

This is at least the second time Soper has publicly referenced pledges he says he made during his campaign to justify some decisions he made in his initial month in office. The first time he said something to the effect that if anybody is surprised by some of his early decisions then “they must not have been paying attention” during his campaign. But the mystery is, did Soper really make these kinds of promises and pledges during his campaign? Look, it’s entirely possible we may have missed something, but I like to think there’s no other outlet that has its finger on the pulse of local politics quite like The Landmark does. And Soper has done some things in his first month that nobody around these parts can find record of him saying or writing that he intended to do. For instance:

*Where is the campaign literature or where was the speech in which Soper said he favors expanding county government and growing the county’s expenses by adding four new non-essential county employees? Does anybody have evidence Soper ever said that or wrote that? Cuz we musta missed it.

*When and where in his campaign did Soper say he would favor raising the county’s tax levy by six cents over a finding a no tax increase solution to emergency radio debt? He said it after taking office. But where’s the campaign piece or where was the stump speech in which he promised to raise taxes? Cuz I have a feeling a bunch of voters missed it.

*When and where in his campaign did Soper say he would turn down the chance to let voters decide on a dedicated funding stream for the county’s emergency radio debt that could be done without a tax increase? Can anybody find evidence that he made a “promise” to do that in his campaign? Cuz we musta missed it.

*When and where in his campaign did Soper say he would favor increasing the county’s sales tax rate by 1/8th cent? He publicly promoted that thought a few weeks ago. But is there any evidence that he said in his campaign he would favor doing that over a plan that could be done with no tax increase? Cuz we musta missed it.

******

On the heels of what has been a tax-and-spend kind of month by a Platte County Commission comprised of all Republicans, there was a meeting of the Platte County Republican Central Committee Monday night. I found it to be a combination of interesting, fascinating, occasionally testy, with at least one-part weird/bizarre.

No room to get into it here. Look for a special Between the Lines column focusing primarily on the weird/bizarre part of the meeting at plattecountylandmark.com in the coming days. I’ll tease the column at Twitter.com/ivanfoley when it’s ready for your perusal.

(Weird/bizarre is most often the norm at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

As we all know, there are some great mysteries in life. Let’s touch on a few of them this week. Read on.

******

Did you know the Platte City Police Chief makes more money per year than the Platte County Sheriff? It’s true. Irresponsible, but true. Why?

The annual salary for Carl Mitchell, chief of police for Platte City, is $72,654. The annual salary for the Platte County Sheriff, per a formula set by the state legislature for a sheriff in a first class county, is $72,258.

It is ridiculous that small cities like Platte City have continued to grow the salaries of their police chiefs to the point the chief's salary is higher than the head of a department he calls on for help when a case is above his department's pay grade. There is no fiscal discipline being displayed in these small cities.

*******

As a counterpoint, it should be mentioned that if the sheriff ever needs advice on how to illegally place a surveillance camera on private property he could call the higher paid police chief of Platte City. So there you go.

******

The City of Parkville has placed a use tax question on its April ballot that the city says will bring in $38,000 per year that the city will lose if the tax is not passed. It will be on the same ballot as the county’s 3/8th cent road sales tax question.

So Parkville can’t survive without $38,000? There isn’t $38,000 worth of “fat” the city could cut from its budget? I haven’t even studied the city budget in any great detail as of yet but off the top of my head I can name two areas where the city could easily save more than needed to make up for any “lost” $38,000.

No. 1: Eliminate the city’s unnecessary and useless public access television operation (as much as I’d like to have my mug appear on Parkville’s most watched television station, eliminating the channel would account for $30-$35,000 in annual savings right there.)

No. 2: Forget the idea of having a city administrator and an assistant city administrator. Question: How can a city of 5,500 people need--and justify--two administrators? Answer: It can’t.
Decide on who will be the new city administrator, whether it's the interim Sean Ackerson or a new hire--then eliminate the assistant position. This alone would save more than enough money saved to account for this potential $38,000 loss of use tax revenue.
Taxpayers of Parkville, this solution was conceived in less than two minutes. No consultants, no committee meetings needed.
Boom. You’re welcome.
******

Platte County Commissioners are traveling to Jefferson City this week for officeholder training sessions put on by the Missouri Association of Counties. They’ll need a five passenger vehicle.
******

Can anybody else picture the elected commissioners running to the car to head to commissioner training with auditor Kevin Robinson clinging to the tailpipe (‘Guys, wait! Isn’t this for all of us?’) and director of administration Dana Babcock riding on the hood (‘Duane and Bev, go this way!’)?
******

At Monday’s county commission meeting, newly-elected second district county commissioner Duane Soper remarked that his first month has been active and interesting. “We’ve had the budget and the 3/8th cent road tax (proposal). I feel like I’ve taken part of my campaign and checked off a couple things I said I was gonna do and I’m proud of those decisions.”
This is at least the second time Soper has publicly referenced pledges he says he made during his campaign to justify some decisions he made in his initial month in office. The first time he said something to the effect that if anybody is surprised by some of his early decisions then “they must not have been paying attention” during his campaign. But the mystery is, did Soper really make these kinds of promises and pledges during his campaign? Look, it’s entirely possible we may have missed something, but I like to think there’s no other outlet that has its finger on the pulse of local politics quite like The Landmark does. And Soper has done some things in his first month that nobody around these parts can find record of him saying or writing that he intended to do. For instance:
*Where is the campaign literature or where was the speech in which Soper said he favors expanding county government and growing the county’s expenses by adding four new non-essential county employees? Does anybody have evidence Soper ever said that or wrote that? Cuz we musta missed it.
*When and where in his campaign did Soper say he would favor raising the county’s tax levy by six cents over a finding a no tax increase solution to emergency radio debt? He said it after taking office. But where’s the campaign piece or where was the stump speech in which he promised to raise taxes? Cuz I have a feeling a bunch of voters missed it.
*When and where in his campaign did Soper say he would turn down the chance to let voters decide on a dedicated funding stream for the county’s emergency radio debt that could be done without a tax increase? Can anybody find evidence that he made a “promise” to do that in his campaign? Cuz we musta missed it.
*When and where in his campaign did Soper say he would favor increasing the county’s sales tax rate by 1/8th cent? He publicly promoted that thought a few weeks ago. But is there any evidence that he said in his campaign he would favor doing that over a plan that could be done with no tax increase? Cuz we musta missed it.
******

On the heels of what has been a tax-and-spend kind of month by a Platte County Commission comprised of all Republicans, there was a meeting of the Platte County Republican Central Committee Monday night. I found it to be a combination of interesting, fascinating, occasionally testy, with at least one-part weird/bizarre.
No room to get into it here. Look for a special Between the Lines column focusing primarily on the weird/bizarre part of the meeting at plattecountylandmark.com in the coming days. I’ll tease the column at Twitter.com/ivanfoley when it’s ready for your perusal.
(Weird/bizarre is most often the norm at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

The taxpaying public deserves more transparency than it’s getting from school districts. It’s time to end the shell games when it comes to hiding expenditures involving salaries of administrators, for instance. It’s time to be honest and upfront with the public in regard to how many tax dollars are going toward funding salary (some on ‘hidden lines,’ so to speak) and total compensation packages for administrators.

It’s a problem everywhere. It has been a huge problem inside the Park Hill School District. Right now, the buzz in education circles across the Northland is how the covers are getting pulled back and some mind-blowing numbers are coming to light at Park Hill.

So what is the fuss about? How about this: Did you know that in school year 2011-12, the Park Hill School District paid out $453,968 in total salary/compensation to Superintendent Dr. Dennis Fisher? Yes, that’s nearly half a million dollars to your local school superintendent. Insert your own expletive here.

Here’s the kicker. Had you called Park Hill or sent an email asking for “the salary” of the superintendent during 2011-12, you likely would have been given this number: $243,500. But the secret is that number only included Fisher’s base salary of $239,500 and a $4,000 doctoral stipend.

Of course school officials who deal with this information aren’t stupid. They know when a patron asks “how much are we paying our superintendent,” the patron wants to know the bottom line, how many total taxpayer dollars are being invested in the top spot. What they get in return--not just at Park Hill but other district as well--is a line of half-truths.

Let’s look at Fisher’s 2011-12 situation, for instance. After the $243,500 the school would have openly acknowledged, there is a $50,000 “benefit maintenance” payment. What’s this for? I’m told it came in his paycheck, just like salary. Its purpose, supposedly, is so that the superintendent could take that money and invest it in some benefit program he would like to have, with the idea being this is because there is not a 401K program at a public entity like a school district. But understand, Fisher was handed that $50,000. What he did with it from there is his business.

Looking further at Fisher’s 2011-12 deal, he earned $40,000 in bonus money. This is listed as a performance stipend, payable if the district achieved certain goals. It’s not clear what those goals were but apparently they were easily within reach, as out of a possible $50,000 bonus Fisher was paid $40,000 of it. So if you’re scoring at home, with the “benefits maintenance” of $50,000 and bonus money of $40,000, Fisher’s salary has grown from $243,500 to $333,500 in cash money.

Moving beyond direct cash of $333,500, the next stunner is that the school district was paying both halves of his retirement contribution. In most of these type situations, an employer will match an employee’s contribution into a retirement pension plan. But Park Hill goes beyond that. Park Hill pays both for its superintendent. You read that right. In 2011-12, Park Hill paid $49,034 for the employer’s contribution into Fisher’s retirement pension, AND paid $49,034 for Fisher’s contribution into his retirement plan. Yup, that’s $98,000 taxpayers put in Fisher’s pension in that year alone. That’s astonishing. Digest that for a minute.

Add in some payments for a health plan, dental, vision, life, disability, family health, family dental, family vision, Medicare, vehicle allowance dollars, and the grand total of Fisher’s salary and compensation package that year was $453,968.

I’ll let a Park Hill taxpayer take it from there.

“I know several people who are upset with this, both in the amount of money and the lack of transparency. Is the public going to want to vote for any more tax levies after learning this? I have friends who are teachers in that district. They’ve told me the district is top-heavy in the number of administrators and in the salary paid to those administrators,” Park Hill patron Nancy Kraus Womack told me this week when I asked for her reaction.

Expect much more on the shell game topic in future editions.

******

So remember that budget message that Platte County Auditor Kevin Robinson did not present along with the proposed 2013 county budget, instead saying it couldn’t be completed until after final budget approval by the county commission because it was a ‘statement of policy?’ Well, Robinson distributed the budget message Monday, six days after the county approved the budget, which is, as one Landmark reader pointed out, kind of like closing on a house before the inspections are done.

In addition, there’s plenty of evidence that the county auditor is up to more than just “crunching numbers” inside the administration building. Robinson is in full political mode. You might even say right now he is the fourth commissioner. He clearly is privately speaking into the ears of both new county commissioners, Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper, now known as Tax and Spend. So far, Tax and Spend are allowing Robinson to guide much of their decision-making. Whether that’s inexperience, lack of confidence in their own abilities, or the personal social relationship they all enjoy, it will eventually be proven to have been a mistake.

******

Need evidence that Robinson has become political as auditor? Here’s some. The previous county commission cut expenses, didn’t grant staff raises but fully absorbed a 10% health insurance cost increase for the benefit of staff, in order to meet a constrained budget revenue. When the previous county commission did this, Robinson publicly criticized commissioners Jason Brown, Kathy Dusenbery and Jim Plunkett for “showing a lack of business acumen” and their actions resulted in, according to Robinson, a politically-charged “unsustainable budget philosophy.”

Now, the current county commission consisting of Brown, Tax and Spend approves expenditure increases including four non-essential new positions not called for publicly, approves a budget that did not include a summary required by state statute, approves a budget without the public having such summary information in advance in order to adequately evaluate the budget in detail, and then proposes more taxes in order to fund certain increased expenditures that were caused by somebody else but which such commission stated in the election campaign process they would prudently address as fiscal conservatives. Tax and Spend last week passed up a chance to dedicate a funding stream for the emergency radio mandate without a tax increase. Why isn’t Robinson issuing memos about the lack of business acumen? He won’t, because Robinson’s household (his wife is the county’s HR director) is directly benefitting from the pay increases at the county and Robinson is enjoying his new role as the fourth commissioner.

Aren’t all of these officeholders Republicans? Well, at least in name?

(News, views, notes and quotes 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Well, heck, another week in the books and I still haven’t reached my lifelong goal: I wanna be on Parkville’s cable access channel.

I don’t ask for much. Just get me some face time on Parkville’s most watched television station.

******

How quickly can a political career derail? Looks like it can happen in as little as three weeks.

We may be seeing what was once considered a rising political star drive her own train right off the tracks less than a month after taking the wheel. I’d rather turn my head but I can’t. There’s a couple of reasons for that. 1. It’s my job to look. 2. It’s a natural reaction to check out the carnage.

Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper took office Jan. 1. A little more than three weeks later, both are catching a tremendous amount of heat in political circles for their decisions to expand county government and raise taxes.

When--and it will eventually happen--he comes to realize the folks inside the administration building who currently have his ear are leading him to do what’s best for them instead of what’s best for the county, Soper may have enough street cred to overcome his rocky start. With Roper, I don’t see it. Droves of people who worked tirelessly and put their names on the line for her during a rugged campaign are already jumping off the Titanic.

Remember, she only defeated incumbent Kathy Dusenbery by 46 votes. If another election were held tomorrow, as Between the Lines takes the temperature of folks around the county it’s my impression Dusenbery would win by a margin in the hundreds. That’s the effect of some bizarre moves Roper has made in her first few weeks.

Fiscal conservatives don’t typically come into office and immediately start expanding the size of government. They don’t agree to add four employees. They don’t lobby for giving five percent pay raises across the board (her effort to do this failed and she had to settle for 5% for deputies, 3% for everyone else). Fiscal conservatives don’t turn their heads at a chance to fund county debt without a tax increase. Fiscal conservatives don’t then, after turning down the chance to do it without a tax hike, lobby for a tax increase to pay that debt.

Roper has already done all those things.

She has also been openly critical of previous commissions for not addressing the need for dedicated funding for the emergency radio mandate. On Tuesday, the chance to assign dedicated funding for the emergency radio mandate stared her in the face. She refused it.

And I thought the first couple years of Dusenbery’s term cornered the market on bizarre. Not so.

Did you see this awkward start coming? Some folks did. I admit I didn’t. Even though I noticed she talked out of both sides of her mouth on some issues, such as sales taxes in general and the county park tax specifically, Roper had a lot of us convinced she was a fiscal conservative. Last summer when she talked about what a great thing the road tax has been, people just assumed that if she worked to keep the road tax in place a self-described fiscal conservative like herself would then cut some fat in other areas of county government to pay for other needs. That’s not happening. Roper doesn’t want to give $1.2 million each year from the road tax to pay for the emergency radio infrastructure debt, even though that would still leave at least $4.5 million annually going to roads. Instead, Roper has a big government plan. That plan is to propose a new sales tax, this one of 1/8th cent, in August. Then if that fails, she and Soper have indicated they will be in favor of raising the county’s property tax levy from one cent to seven cents.

Good luck with that. Put that on your political resume in 2016. See how things turn out for ya.

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Did the Platte County Commission hold a public hearing on a budget without making all of the required budget documents available to the public 10 days in advance? Sure appears that way. Platte County Auditor Kevin Robinson says all required budget information was made available. The Landmark disagrees with his interpretation. Jean Maneke, attorney for the Missouri Press Association, agrees with The Landmark.

The item in question is what is known as the “budget message.” It was not made available to the public 10 days in advance of the hearing. Robinson had said in a public commission meeting on Jan. 9 that the budget message would be ready Jan. 14. It wasn’t. In an email exchange with our newspaper on Jan. 15, he said he was still “crunching the numbers” for the budget message, which doesn’t make sense because the remainder of the proposed budget had supposedly already been posted, meaning the numbers were already crunched. On Tuesday, the day of the hearing, I asked Robinson if the budget message had ever been completed. He responded that the budget message was something he could not complete until the budget had been approved by the commission “because the budget message outlines the fiscal policy,” and that “until the budget is approved there is no fiscal policy.”

Say what? That makes no sense. Previous county auditors have had the message included with the proposed budget. More importantly, if Robinson really couldn’t complete the budget message until final budget approval by the commission, why was he telling us on Jan. 9 that he would have the message ready Jan. 14? On Jan. 15 he was telling us he would have it ready “soon.” Then on Jan. 22, he tells us the budget message is a document that can’t be completed until after budget approval by the commission? The Between the Lines BS meter is jumping off the charts.

State statute 50.590 indicates the proposed budget document shall include: “(1) A budget message outlining the fiscal policy of the government for the budget year and describing the important features of the budget plan, giving a general budget summary setting forth the aggregate figures of the budget in a manner to show the balanced relations between total proposed expenditures and total expected income and other means of financing the budget compared with the corresponding figures for the last completed fiscal year and the current fiscal year, and including explanatory schedules classifying expenditures by organization units, objects and funds, and income by organization units, sources and funds.”

Platte County’s proposed budget never included that message. The auditor admits the message wasn’t even ready as of the day of the hearing. It’s the opinion of this newspaper, and the opinion of the Missouri Press Association attorney, that the county’s duty to meet the statutory requirement in advance of their budget hearing can be seriously called into question.

“If the message is a mandatory part of the document and if the hearing cannot be held until 10 days after the document is ‘made available to the public,” (50.600) then if it is really not available then I’d say they can’t have a hearing,” says the Missouri Press Association’s attorney.

Something to chew on.

(You can chew 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

In Platte County, we’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t have a happy ending.

In this movie, county taxpayers eventually end up disappointed. In this movie, policymakers involved in the decision end up out of office at term’s end.

Flashback to the year 2009. The Platte County Commission--at that time comprised of Betty Knight, Jim Plunkett and Kathy Dusenbery--held meetings with supporters of the county’s half cent sales tax for parks. The initial 10 year term of the tax was about to expire and would need to be renewed. But there were other financial matters on the horizon facing the county, not the least of which included consistent problems meeting budget requests by the sheriff and the prosecutor, and a looming unfunded narrowbanding emergency radio mandate.

The commission at the time had the option to restructure that half cent park sales tax before placing it back on the ballot. It could have split the half cent into a quarter cent for parks and quarter cent for law enforcement, or even less than that if it would so choose. Instead, in a decision that is now widely seen as a mistake--even by at least one of those who made the decision--the commission made no changes to the structure of the park tax prior to putting it up for renewal. A parks department that was already sufficiently--let’s be honest, overly-funded--was going to get another 10 years of a half cent tax--roughly estimated at the time to be around $80 million. Law enforcement? Nothing. Surprisingly (more on that in a minute), the sheriff and the prosecutor stayed silent in the campaign and the park tax passed 54% to 46%.

Move forward to present day. County commissioners now are Jason Brown and newcomers Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper. The narrowbanding radio project cost came in at around $11 million. The county has no dedicated funding source to make the payments on that debt. But good news. The county’s 3/8th cent road sales tax is about to sunset, and the opportunity to restructure that tax so that a per capita portion of funds raised through a renewed 3/8th sales tax could go to paying off the debt on the mandated emergency radio system. Brown has said he favors this approach.

But based on comments made at a public meeting Wednesday night, Roper and Soper don’t seem to be interested in that approach. Their preference, based on their comments Wednesday, is to keep the status quo in regard to the road tax. They based their leaning, at least in part, by meetings they had with road district officials and some mayors of cities. Not surprisingly, officials of road districts would like to keep the same level of funding. Duh. After you’ve been eating at the taxpayer trough for 10 years, it’s tough to settle for less, right?

So the county commission is indicating it intends, at its meeting on Tuesday, to approve the placement of the road tax in its current structure on the April ballot.

But the bad news doesn’t stop there. Roper and Soper then advocate an additional sales tax proposal to be placed before voters in August. They propose a 1/8 sales tax with proceeds going to pay off the radio debt.

This approach would raise Platte County’s sales tax rate, already the highest in the metro area, by another 1/8 cent. That’s assuming voters don’t kick it in the rear.

Oh, and if that sales tax measure should happen to fail in August--and let’s be honest, that’s a real possibility--Roper and Soper say their next move would be to raise the county’s tax levy from one cent per $100 assessed valuation to 7 cents.

A 700% increase in the property tax rate. Try running for office in the future with opponents salivating at the chance to use that fact against you.

*******

First, when they met with those folks, what did the county commissioners expect the road districts’ answer to be? Asking road district officials if they're willing to ask voters for less road tax money is like asking kids to ask less from Santa.

The approach by the county commission is lame. That’s not leadership. The county commissioners have the power. The county commissioners hold the cards. This is an important decision that needs to be made by the county’s top policy makers. No need to try to share this important decision-making process with road district entities and cities, some of which, quite frankly, are very small fish.

County commissioners with leadership qualities would take the bull by the horn and guide the public to a solution that works for all aspects of county government. That solution would be to restructure the road tax.

Leaders lead. Leaders don’t share important decisions with officials from podunk road districts.

Most people on the street can’t even tell you what road district they reside in or who the elected leaders of their road district are.

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So, you might argue, directing some road tax funding to radios would hurt these small road districts and small cities who have grown dependent on a nice check from the county road tax, right? The answer here becomes a matter of want vs. need. Sure the entities want the same level of revenue. But is that what’s best for the county as a whole? After 10 years, county roads are in much better shape than they were a decade ago. Decisions based on prioritized needs have to be made.

And here’s the thing nobody wants to talk about: If they’re not happy with the amount of money they’ll be getting from a future roads tax, these local road districts and cities can tax their own constituents for more money. Read that again because it’s very important. You want more improvements within your own road district or within your own city? Propose a tax to your own residents, not to the entire county.

Why depend on a countywide tax to solve a very localized ‘problem?’

*******

There are several risks here with the county’s announced approach. The biggest concern might be the long-term negative effects of raising the sales tax rate. People are noticing the amount of sales tax they’re being charged on their receipts. Even the road district reps admitted as much during Wednesday’s worthless pow-wow. Of course, what should even be more of a concern is whether the sales tax issue(s) will pass in the first place.

After watching them in action Wednesday night, it appears to me Soper and Roper might be a bit disconnected with the mood of the voting public on tax questions. Think back to last April. Platte County R-3, a school district that had not lost a bond issue or levy question election in decades, was given an in-your-face rejection by voters.

And what if the county isn’t the only entity with a tax question on the April ballot? These are not great economic times. The more tax questions presented to voters in April the higher the risk the county’s question could be defeated.

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Secondly, even if the road tax issue passes in April, then the Roper-Soper plan gets worse. The preferred Roper-Soper next step would be to place a 1/8th cent sales tax question for law enforcement (primarily emergency radios but there would be some slush, too) on the August ballot.

I’ve got a news flash for you that nobody is going to openly acknowledge: There are a good number of voters lying in the bushes, champing at the bit to get a chance to kick a law enforcement sales tax in the fanny.

Why? Many of the folks who worked their tails off to oppose the half cent park tax renewal in 2009 are still disappointed--pissed would be a more accurate word--that the prosecutor and the sheriff did not step forward to help campaign against the park tax proposal. Those folks still hold a grudge against the prosecutor and sheriff’s department because of it. They’d like to vote against dedicated funding for law enforcement for no other reason than to spite law enforcement folks who politically tucked tail in 2009.

My guess is there might even be some significant campaign money generated to fight such a proposal.

If the existing roads tax is reconstructed in a manner that allows some of those funds to go toward emergency radios, it would defuse the ambush that is awaiting a separate law enforcement tax.

******

Less than three weeks into their reign, Commissioners Roper (a self-described Libertarian) and Soper are running the risk of having very short honeymoon periods. A step further, at this rate Roper and Soper are almost certainly destined to be one-termers.

Fiscal conservatives and believers in small government can’t be pleased with the direction things are headed so far in 2013. Already, Roper and Soper have pushed for a budget that creates three new county government positions: a receptionist, a housekeeper, and a parks director of events; a budget that includes five percent raises for some employees and three percent across the board raises for the remainder of county workers; a proposal to raise the county’s already too high sales tax rate; and if that sales tax idea fails, they want to increase the property tax levy by 700%.

Not exactly the start fiscal conservatives envisioned.

(Get a jump start 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley, Facebook.com/ivan.foley or ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)

Sometimes in this column we’re quick to point out what we believe are deficiencies, lack of good judgment, or unwise moves by our local governing agencies. You may not believe this, but just as often we’re aware of deficiencies or situations that we know are wrong but stay silent for a time, giving those involved a chance to correct the situation on their own without having to dish out a public flogging.

When it comes to how things are being done at the Central Platte Fire Department board meetings, the moments of polite silence are done. It’s time for the board in particular and the entire department in general to realize it’s going to, in one fashion or another, be held accountable by the taxpayers who provide the funds for the “volunteer” department. There are laws that govern things such as open meetings. There are general rules--not laws, but good governmental practice--that govern other aspects of conducting a smooth public meeting.

And Central Platte fire board meetings are anything but smooth. I’ve seen monkey poop fights and drunken poker games conducted in a more organized fashion.

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Here are just a few things for the board--and its employees--to keep in mind. First, the Missouri Sunshine Law requires--this is not a suggestion, this is the law--that an agenda for your meetings be posted at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. The agenda should be posted at your meeting site or at district offices, which are one and the same. The fire district is also required to furnish a copy of that agenda to any media and others who have requested to be on a contact list at the same time the agenda is presented to members of the board. The law requires an agenda must be “made available” to media who have requested a copy.

Just as importantly--and this is an obvious problem right now--your agenda needs to get more specific. The Central Platte fire board often votes on items--usually spending requests by firefighters who sit in the room and take part in virtually every discussion as if they are elected members of the board--that are not listed on the agenda. Unless the item being voted upon is considered an emergency, this is inappropriate and a violation of the Sunshine Law.

Chris Koster, attorney general for Missouri, advises agencies that the meeting notices statute provides that a public governmental body’s tentative agenda should be constructed “in a manner reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered.” In other words, just listing agenda items such as “old business” and “new business” is not good enough.

Jean Maneke, a Kansas City-based attorney who is a Sunshine Law expert for the Missouri Press Association, explains it even better. “The agenda needs to be constructed so that the public has a general idea of what you’re going to discuss. If a board is just casually amending the agenda or is too lazy to list specific agenda items, it raises some potential problems.”

It certainly does. Like getting sued.

And what if the board is voting on non-emergency items that are not listed on the agenda, is that a violation? “Definitely. You’ve got an argument that that’s violation,” Maneke points out.

Don’t take this as criticism and certainly don’t take it as a threat but instead consider it friendly advice. Questionable decisions and questionable expenditures increase the level of public scrutiny. With increased public scrutiny comes the increased chance somebody might want to take you to court for treating the Sunshine Law the way a dog treats a fire hydrant.

Here’s another thing that needs to be controlled. The practice of allowing everybody sitting in the audience--including the district’s hired accountant sitting at the table, who frequently spews opinions on items that have nothing to do with her hired duties--to take part in every discussion of every topic needs to stop. I’m not by nature a formal person but the fire board’s meeting structure is way too informal and is influencing at least one board member. Remember, this is a meeting of the fire board, not the fire department. Three board members are elected by the public to make these decisions. Comments and input from the audience--here’s looking at you, firefighters--could be handled at the beginning of the meeting under an agenda item referred to as “public comments.” Up to five minutes per speaker. If you want input on every point of discussion during the meeting, put your name on the ballot at the next fire board election.

We all know by now that the Central Platte firefighters are a sensitive bunch. They can’t understand why anyone--and I do mean anyone--would question their methods on any topic. After all, you know, anytime they propose spending money it’s all about saving lives. Getting a shower put in the satellite fire station? Well, that’s about saving lives. Having a relative of a firefighter clean the fire house, provide computer services, mow the grass or clear the snow instead of properly putting these services out for bid? Well, it’s all about saving lives, you know. In their minds, somebody without a direct connection to the fire department isn’t going to clean the offices, mow the grass or clear the snow as thoroughly so there’s no need to even put services out for bid, right?

Buying a 2013 Chevy Tahoe at a cost of $32,000 to replace a four-year-old Dodge Durango? That’s all about saving lives, you know. That Durango, you know, is just not dependable. But wait, the Tahoe they’ve ordered won’t even be in until June. If lives are really at stake, shouldn’t the department run out to purchase a new Tahoe off a lot somewhere instead of waiting until June? Imagine the lives that are being put at risk as we wait five months for that new Tahoe to get here. . .

******

The “it’s all about saving lives” behind every proposed expenditure can be shot full of holes if somebody wants to be an ass and employ logic to shoot down those scare tactic talking points. We don’t mind doing it in this column. There are others out there who feel the same. While you don’t see those folks running to meetings to spout their opposition, their true feelings were shown at the ballot box last year when longtime board member Stanley George was voted out by a candidate who did little more than put his name on the ballot. That was a signal that the days of the department getting by with the “good ol’ boy” approach are over.

Board member Andy Stanton “gets it.” Newly-appointed board member Mike Ashcraft “kind of” gets it, but seems to be too easily swayed once the firefighters are sitting in the meeting room taking part in every discussion as if they are fellow board members. Veteran board member Paul Regan does not “get it” and never will, at least until the day his fate is decided in the same fashion in which George’s fire board career ended--at the ballot box.

(It’s all about saving lives 24/7 at Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

Welcome back to Between the Lines. This week’s column is closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.

******

Well, this happened quietly and virtually unnoticed.

You know who is the longest-tenured elected officeholder at Platte County? Why that would be Eric Zahnd, your county prosecutor.

Zahnd was first elected in 2002 in an active campaign against Tammy Glick, who had been appointed prosecutor after Todd Graves left to become U.S. Attorney.

Remember what left wing pundits were saying about Zahnd during the 2002 campaign? I do. I’m sure Zahnd does as well.

“He’s a political opportunist. He’s just passing through. He has his eyes on a bigger political career. He’s going to use this as a springboard to run for some other office. . . .”

Remember? That was the word from those who pretend to have their finger on the pulse but don’t really have their finger on the pulse.

Ten years later, Zahnd is still here. Still putting bad guys away. Sure, he might seek some higher office at some point. But the man has been here a decade. It’s not like he was just gonna make a pot of coffee in the office and head on down the road.

Zahnd admitted to me recently he looked around the room during the Dec. 28 swearing-in ceremony at the county and it hit him that he is now the longest-tenured elected officeholder in Platte County. In fact, it’ll take some research to verify, but I’m guessing a check of historical records would show there aren’t many folks who have served as Platte County prosecutor for a longer period of time than Zahnd has.

Not exactly the trait of a political opportunist. . .

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By the way, where’s the need for the public access television channel (known as Channel 2) at the city of Parkville? In the name of all things fiscally responsible, it’s time for the city to cut the cord on that $30,000 to $35,000 annual expense. Mayor Jim Brooks recently indicated he would be in favor of pulling the funding. He is right on this one.

I wish there were a way to get an actual count of viewership. What do you think it would be? Maybe 20 people? And if you take out elected officials who just like to go home and watch their own mugs on the tube, the viewership is probably less than that.

Come up with your own estimate on viewership and do some math--break down that cost per viewer. It will knock your socks off.

The only buzz I’ve ever heard about Channel 2 is when less-than-ambitious journalists would watch the meetings on the channel from the comfort of their home or favorite restaurant and then file a news story for their media outlet, trying to give their audience the impression they had actually been in the meeting room. Pretty sure taxpayers never needed to be covering the costs for that ‘service.’

Pull the plug on that boondoggle.

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So the charge of patronizing prostitution against former Platte County High School principal Patrick Martin has been dismissed in Kansas City Municipal Court. No reason or explanation given (see front page).

You’ve heard my commentary on this before: Municipal courts are a joke. In many situations they’re kangaroo courts whose main purpose is to generate revenue for cities. Justice most often takes a back seat to dollars and diversions. That’s why it would be a crazy mistake to ever entrust significant power--such as the power to issue administrative search warrants--to a small town municipal court.

******

If we were in the South, this would be a great time for somebody to say: What in tarnation is goin’ on around here?

That’s a question even more folks will be asking after they take a look at the Platte City Police Department’s yearly crime statistics. The stats are the topic for intrepid reporter Valerie Verkamp’s insightful front page story.

If the public needed any more evidence that some things just aren’t right inside the Platte City Police Department, the yearly department activity report provides it. This is just weird. The flow of traffic within Platte City is growing, not subsiding. If you don’t believe that, try to make a left hand turn out of nearly any business driveway along Hwy. 92 at certain times of day. You’ll need to have a lot of patience.

So with traffic on the rise, how come traffic citations issued by the Platte City Police Department are down 33% in the past year? Traffic “stops” are also way down, showing a drop of 28%.

DWI arrests have also fallen off remarkably, from 36 in 2011 to 22 in 2012. That’s a 39% drop.

So what gives? Is the city spending less on its police department than ever before? Absolutely not. In fact, The Landmark’s research shows the city’s budgeted amount for its police department in 2013 is a whopping 30% more than it was just two years ago.
The drastic falloff in car stops, traffic citations, DWI arrests, etc. almost certainly has to signal a directive in priorities coming from someone in charge, presumably Carl Mitchell, police chief.

While I would never want Platte City to be known as a speed trap and certainly support the idea of neighborhood patrols, this is too drastic of a drop to think everything is fine and dandy. It signals to me the police department is spending way too much time on low priority matters. Think feral cats. Think surveillance cameras.

And a nearly 40% drop in DWI arrests? That happens when police aren’t patrolling certain areas of the city at certain times of the day or night. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.

Members of the public are not stupid and most are not naive. For much of the past year or so, folks have noticed where police patrol cars are often parked for lunch, sometimes for dinner. I realize everybody needs to eat lunch or dinner someplace, and by all means it’s nice for the police department leadership to patronize local businesses.

But it’s just not a good look for police cars to be sitting unoccupied for long periods of time in front of establishments whose primary source of revenue comes through alcohol sales. When the public makes these observations (it has) and then it comes to light that DWI arrests are down by 40%, the public reaction is going to be “hmmm.”

(There are weekly newspapers and then there’s The Landmark. Say “hmmm” 24/7 by following Twitter.com/ivanfoley)

The holidays are over and all of us here at the ol’ Landmark hope you were able to enjoy some special time with family and friends the past couple of weeks. Everybody needs a chance to catch their breath on occasion.

While you were hopefully recharging your batteries, The Landmark continued doing what it does. Gathering news, information, commentary and entertainment and distributing it at the earliest possible times. The Landmark has truly become a 24/7 hub of information with our presence at Twitter.com/ivanfoley and Facebook.com/ivan.foley.

There’s never been a better time to be a news junkie. Take advantage of the opportunities available to you as a consumer of local news.

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Rambling Moron columnist Chris Kamler and your Between the Lines columnist had a blast in our roles at the Media Game at the Missouri Comets Saturday night. As you’ll see in Kamler’s front page report, the battle ended in a 2-2 tie. If you weren’t one of the 4,500 people in attendance at the Comets game that night, I hope you were able to follow along on Twitter or Facebook. There are plenty of pictures--and even a Coach Chris Kamler-produced video--of the evening’s fun on our Facebook pages. Both Chris and I thank the Comets for inviting us and putting up with our nonsense. Fun times.

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Carl Mitchell, the embattled--and deservedly so--police chief in Platte City, was out of the office for a couple of weeks before returning on Monday.

So was this a disciplinary action or a vacation? That was the question I posed to DJ Gehrt, city administrator. According to Gehrt, the official word is that the chief was on vacation.

Sources say the chief was told by his superiors to stay out of department headquarters while he was “on vacation.” I asked Gehrt about this and his response was: “I strongly encourage all the department heads to stay away from work while on their vacation time because it defeats the purpose of vacation if they are constantly at work. This is especially true of the public works director and chief of police, who are exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Leonard (Hendricks, the public works director) and Carl (Mitchell, the police chief) both have to be encouraged to really take time off because they both tend to keep working,” Gehrt told me.

In the aftermath of the uproar over the improperly placed hidden surveillance camera on private property without a warrant or permission, now we’re hearing there is some real internal discord within the police department that has been sent up the chain of command.

In any event, what can be reported with absolute certainty is that the city’s public safety subcommittee is scheduled to meet Monday at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. As you know, the situation surrounding the hidden camera fiasco has been forwarded from the subcommittee to the full board of aldermen, so it won’t specifically be on the subcommittee’s agenda on Monday. But, Monday’s meeting will offer the chance for public comments, so you never know what might come up.

******

Is KC Bobcat considering leaving Platte City? That seems to be a concern among city officials. Talk in some circles is that an effort is underway to try to attract KC Bobcat from Platte City to a potential development on the west side of Interstate 29 at the Tracy exit.

KC Bobcat might be feeling a little squeezed at its current location at the northern entrance to Platte City at I-29 and Exit 19. Across the street from KC Bobcat is that old gas station/restaurant property that at one time was going to be developed by Dina Cox and friends. The property has been vacant for many years with a for sale sign prominently displayed. Gehrt tells me the city has encouraged KC Bobcat and the property agent for the former gas station/restaurant property to talk to one another, and the city is apparently even contacting local contractors who might be interested in bidding demolition of the structures on that property. But the ‘why’ behind that is not clear.

I asked Gehrt if the city has plans to acquire the property in some fashion and then offer it to KC Bobcat as an incentive to stay in Platte City. “No. Staff has encouraged KC Bobcat and the property agent to talk to one another. Last I heard is that the parcel is not large enough. However, the city is very open to working with KC Bobcat to help them expand in Platte City,” Gehrt told me.

We’ll keep you posted.

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Be aware that her name has changed but the city clerk in Platte City is still the same lady. Amy Hubbard became Amy Edwards when she got married on Dec. 21.

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The swearing-in of new officeholders went off without a hitch at the Platte County Administration Building Friday, including the oaths taken by new county commissioners Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper.

The first county commission session featuring Roper, Soper and presiding commissioner Jason Brown will be Monday morning. But the first real test for the new commissioners will come when they finalize the 2013 county budget this month. Of particular interest is how the new commissioners will handle the auditor’s recent recommendation to approve a five percent salary hike across the board for county employees. A lot of voters and taxpayers will be watching with great interest to see how the new leaders react.

Sometimes elected officials fall into the habit of being too in touch with “co-workers” and advisors inside the governmental buildings and as a result become out of touch with taxpayers and voters paying the bills. That’s the challenge here for Roper and Soper, who will be lobbied by friends inside the administration building to approve the five percent pay hike for everybody, while the prevailing mood outside the confines of county government is that a five percent pay increase in these economic times is inappropriate.

It will be a fascinating first month for the new commissioners--a month that could set a tone for what to expect over the next four years.

(There’s never an inappropriate time for Between the Lines via Twitter.com/ivanfoley or Facebook.com/ivan.foley)