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Charter Review Commission
Public Meeting Minutes
Westport-Roanoke Community Center
May 10, 2005
Members Present
Aggie Stackhaus
Alice Ellison
Mark Thornhill
Staff Present
Greg Williams, Mayor’s Office
Bill Geary, Law Department
Aggie Stackhaus thanked everyone for coming to participate and also talked about the work for far of the Commission. She said that no decisions have been made, but the commission was appreciative of the work from 2000-2001 and that the one direction the commission is pursuing is to use the July 10, 2001 new charter as its base document. They want to recommend flexibility for the new Charter and have a streamlined Charter. The current charter is 300 pages long with amendments that have happened over 75 years. The commission has discussed hot button issues such as term limits, initiative, referendum, and recall along with departmental structure and departmental detail in the new charter. Alice Ellison added that we are very interested in your input. Mark Thornhill said that if you haven’t seen our current charter it is hard to grasp the task of streamlining it. I don’t know every section, but I want to make it more workable.
Mark Forsythe said that one of his interests is that we should not have part-time elected officials when we have amore than $1 billion budget. If the council were full-time we would get better candidates. He doesn’t want to change the form of government. Forsythe agrees with pushing the general election date back to coincide with other municipal elections. He would also like to see Saturday elections discussed. Others in the group said there was no guarantee that more people would vote on a Saturday rather than a Tuesday.
Bob Crutsinger said our fiscal year should change because it does not make sense to receive the bulk of our revenue in December. Although every government has a different fiscal year, it makes sense to end the City’s on December 31st.
Marnie Gibson questioned moving the voting date to a Saturday. People will vote on a Tuesday if they really want to vote. We don’t know definitively that more people would vote on a Saturday.
Suzi Fisher said that the Park Board should continue in the same structure that it is now. They take great care of our boulevards. Ms. Fisher works with the Rose Society. She could not imagine asking for and receiving the same level of service if it was a normal city department and was unsure of how they would support the projects in Loose Park. She could not imagine Kansas City without the beauty of the Parks and run by the Parks Department.
Aggie Stackhaus asked her opinion of Councilwoman Nace’s to allow the Mayor to pick the number of Park Board members. Suzy Fisher like the number they have now. She said five seems to work well. She went on to say that she did not want to see the vehicle tax revenue go away and for the community centers to close. We are lucky to have the Ward family’s involvement in Loose Park. There is a big tradition for Adopt-A-Park and it is working well.
Aggie Stackhaus said the Council must decide on how to do the vehicle tax renewal. Mark Thornhill said that any change or new idea for funding parks with a dedicated revenue stream was above the Commission’s role. Thornhill asked Fisher whether her communication was with the Board or the Staff or both? Was the staff informed? Fisher said the staff is informed and works well with her and other citizens.
Paul Minto said the election dates discussion make him think of the waning participation of the Kansas City electorate. Initiative, referendum, and recall have been under attack. Those three things are the cost of freedom. We cannot make the process more difficult, it would then be harder than ever to be heard. With referendum we got something we would not have had.
Brenda Guest said she has been in Kansas City for medical care and has fallen in love with the City of Fountains. The Westport-Roanoke center has supported five generations of Kansas Citians. Seniors and children must have a place to go and be able to have recreation. Guest also supports no change in the initiative process.
Henry Lyons recounted that he was part of the group which led an initiative process to pass the two consecutive term limit. Keep it the same. The evidence has favored term limits. Strong mayor and a three term limit were defeated by voters. There is no concrete evidence that the two term limit has been bad for Kansas City. Term limits level the playing field. Lyons said that if the commission even puts term limits on the ballot as a separate issue that the voters should reject every single question presented to them on the charter.
Mark Forsythe said if you were going to ask for a term limit change, make it a separate question. Mark Thornhill asked what everyone thought of term limits.
John Tancredi said he was on the Center School Board and drives for FedEx. He has lived on Paseo, in Northeast and now lives off 85th and Ward Parkway. He is supportive of the Parks Department set-up but believes we should have seven members, one from each district. He sees catch basins full of leaves, curbs with debris and yards in Ruskin Heights that still have debris from the 2000 ice storm. He applauds the mayor and council but sees small things that don’t get taken care of. He thinks eight years is enough time to accomplish a lot of things. He agrees with moving the general election back to match the school board and municipal elections in early April. He watched the Commission meeting last Friday and it seemed to be very productive.
Imani (no last name given) said she tried to download the Charter and couldn’t find it. She complained about not getting a meeting notice except through an e-mail that she read by accident. She thought the Commission’s process needed to be more transparent. There should be a way to got to the web and get all the information. She thought all of the reports by Mark Funkhouser should be followed up and reported on. She is concerned about checks and balances. There is an inordinate amount of money and attention on Downtown. People need to have a sense that they have input. She does not trust the TIF commission. Where is the money and accountability? She supports the current term limits. She agrees with the coordination of election dates in the Spring. City needs more streamlining and transparency. Don’t take away citizens input.
Aggie replied that she would work on getting information on the website. Imani said she does not read the newspaper or own a television. Mark Thornhill said the commission meetings are on Channel Two, but it is an inexact science as to when it will air.
Mark Thornhill said a comprehensive clean-up seems to be a good idea and it doesn’t make sense to gerryrig some result of the Commission. There hasn’t been too much controversy on the idea of streamlining.
Bill (unknown last name) asked if charter could be changed without a vote of the people? Answer: No. he then talked about the zoning ordinances study that is ongoing. He wanted to get more information on it. Mark Thornhill said that the Charter should be a broad statement of ideas and the ordinances should be more specific. Aggie Stackhaus said she was unsure of a concept of total transparency. Imani said that the elected officials are the enforcement mechanism for the auditor’s recommendations and that she wants and deserves to know everything. Aggie said the committee’s take testimony by e-mail. Imani said she doesn’t own a television much less cable so she does not know when to e-mail. Lynda Callon was also upset about a perceived lack of advance notice of this particular Commission public meeting. She discussed the lists that exist in City Hall and that individual departments and the Neighborhood Alliance have access to. Imani said maybe she should be upset with her own neighborhood leaders. She lives in Washington-Wheatley. Aggie reiterated her desire to get the commission’s work on the internet.
Lynda Callon said some of the responsibility lies with the individual. She has declared war on Parks and Recreation. She is not comfortable with the City Manager having control either. There is no current mechanism for accountability. Maybe we should elect the Parks Board. The current board just follows staff. Tim Kristl said we should get grants for swimming. Staff never pursued it. She thinks they should televise Parks Board meeting and that they don’t need a full course lunch every time they have a meeting. Callon went on to say that the Board has made a conscious decision to starve the Westport-Roanoke Center. She wants a compromise between City Manager control and an independent board. The board should not be a defender of the staff. Aggie Stackhaus said she tried to change the parks department set-up four years ago.
Callon said the Zoo had to get out from under the Parks Board as did Starlight. Rich areas of the City have great parks because of the private donations. Recreation should be for poor people who have no where else to go not as a profit center for Parks and Rec. In my neighborhood these recreation programs have run off the kids and seniors. Now we have a bunch of Johnson Countians playing softball. Callon says leave the current term limits in place and do not change initiative, referendum and recall.
Bill said that if the Charter is amended there should be a periodic review. He also said there should be specific credentials needed for department directors. They should not be political cronies. Aggie asked if the City Manager should be able to make hires directly as it currently is. Bill said yes that if the City Manager hires them then he would be accountable. Henry Lyons said the city manager should be held accountable. Imani was upset that the city manager was from somewhere else. She thinks the auditor should have input in the city manager and their hires.
Mark Forsythe said the city manager had to be able to pick his team of people. He also said that the charter should be a living document. He said let’s do the housecleaning now and then do other things over time so that the voters don’t have to digest everything all at once.
Marnie Gibson complained over complicated ballot language. Mark Thornhill said that a ballot question on a new charter would be almost impossible to make simple. She agreed that ballot language is difficult to make easy.
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