27 July 2007
Dear Folks,
Last night’s town hall meeting was out south. I didn’t Mapquest it because it was on 103rd Street and I know where that street is. Unfortunately, 103rd is cut up by the Grandview Triangle at the exact place where the meeting was, so as it turned out, I had no idea where we were going and Funk ended up being 3 minutes late. Funk hates being late. Luckily, the crowd was forgiving and we had another great meeting with lots of voices heard.
The City Manager’s contract automatically renews for another year – from April 30, 2008 to April 30, 2009 – if the City takes no action before October 25, 2007. The Finance Committee voted on Wednesday to terminate the existing contract so that the new Council can negotiate a contract with him that takes into consideration the Council’s goals and priorities. The Ordinance will go to the full Council next week.
Along those lines, the Council will participate in a daylong retreat to firm up their goals and priorities as a group over the next four years. They will hire a facilitator to make the most of their day. The hope is to come out of the retreat with a clear focus of not only what they want to accomplish as a group together, but also how they want to go about accomplishing it. The idea to work together as a group is very powerful, as they will accomplish far more for the City when working together rather than individually. This is not as hard as it seems as they pretty much have the same priorities already – who wouldn’t want to help prevent crime or make the city work better for regular folks?
The Economic Development and Incentive Task Force has begun to hold public hearings this week and will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings at various locations around the city. The schedule is on the Mayor’s webpage at www.funksfrontporch.com. If you would like your voice to be heard on this issue, please come out and participate.
Councilmember’s Cindy Circo and Russ Johnson have been working hard on the renewal of the one-cent sales tax for capital improvements. They make a great team; Cindy is especially good at meeting with groups and Russ is a great number cruncher. Both just came off the Public Improvements Advisory Committee so they know a lot about how the process works and how it could work better.
Funk’s first draft of his book is due on Tuesday. The shouts of joy coming from midtown on Tuesday evening will be attributed to me. It has been a long road and our family is glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
In faith,
Gloria & Mark
You can respond to this newsletter at funksfrontporch@gmail.com.
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The Mayor’s top ten priorities:
1. Establishing a good working relationship with the Council
2. Getting the City’s finances in order
3. Making downtown work
4. Tending to our neighborhoods
5. Implementing the Housing Policy task force recommendations
6. Improving the perception and the reality of public education in Kansas City
7. Reducing Crime
8. Repairing our sewer systems
9. Establishing an excellent regional transit system, which includes light rail
10. Improving citizen satisfaction with City services
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