During the Nuisance Meeting mention was made of an odd circumstance. Apparently a resident on Eastside Drive had trash that was not picked up by Allied Waste due to the nature/quantity of the trash. After being informed by the Police that the trash needed to be picked up, the owner said he didn't have the money to haul it off. During the weekend with the consent of the Mayor, the Chief of Police used a city truck to pick up the trash and deposit the stuff in the City Dumpster...free. Well, not exactly. You see it was paid for by you and me, the taxpayers. The City Attorney observed that being unable to pay is not a reason to avoid giving a citation. Case in point, the last City Court saw a WL citizen get 10 days in Platte County slammer because she said she did not have the money to pay court fines for similar "nuisance" violations. Magically, the morning after her first night in jail she produced bail to spring the joint.
Another example of the use of public resources for a private endeavor was the recent trip to Fort Riley by some folks in the WL Police vehicle. Don't get me wrong, it was a great cause, but in my opinion it was a misuse of a City vehicle, fueled by City paid gasoline, carrying private citizens. I pointed this out in a telephone conversation with the mayor shortly after the event. His take? He said maybe he should reimburse for the gas. My response? He missed the point. I don't believe there is intentional wrong doing. Six months into their terms Vic and Jerry can't claim they are "new". I don't know what veteran aldermen Mary, Pat, and Tanya are thinking. Somebody needs to take charge, after all, it is your money.
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- mike moratz
- Weatherby Lake, Missouri, United States
- Medical Industry professional, experience in medical devices, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Managed care and reimbursement expert with speaking engagements at national and regional forums.
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19 comments:
Who is the city attorney? Does he attend the various council meetings? Sounds like he has a brain working in the right direction.
John Reddoch, of Kulman, Reddoch and Sullivan is the City Attorney, his partner, Scott Sullivan normally is the prosecuting attorney for City Court. They do attend BOA meetings and others as well. It is difficult for counsel to deal with issues they know nothing about or find out at a BOA meeting. Another legal source available to the City is the Missouri Municipal League (City is a member). They conduct an annual elected officials conference which is great source of information. One highlight is the seminar that deals with legal issues. They go over specific situations including examples not unlike the two I outline in this blog item. I believe Vic and Jerry did not choose to attend. Mary, Pat and Tanya attended last year. Thus, my perspective that "Gee, I didn't know" doesn't fit.
I believe the money for the Ft Riley troops was organized originally by Mayor York as a "City of Weatherby Lake" event, so therefore wouldn't city cars be able to be used. After all it was "Weatherby Lake" that got the credit for the wonderful donation. Why complain about something that was done as a "City Event"
I have posted previously about this, but in case you missed it. The original troop initiative was not started by Mayor York, but rather the Northland Mayors Council, the chair at the time was Mayor Dusenberry of Parkville. The Mayors did go to Ft Riley to present phone cards to departing troops, the cards supplied by an anonymous donor. The Mayors who attended (including York) payed out of their pocket for gas for private vehicles. This was discussed at a BOA meeting as noted in the minutes of the meeting on April 17th, 2007. (http://www.cityofweatherbylake-mo.gov/Minutes/65.pdf).
I attended that meeting and took notes. Interestingly at that same meeting were current aldermen Hoy, White and Finn
It seems to me that the city is being run like a club, possibly a business, but definitely not like a city government which is neither of the above.
Mike,
Why in the world would you condem and try to throw water on what was a beautiful event for our community. For the first time in a long time we came together for a common purpose...to give these returning soldiers something to smile about and to try to help them in some small way, but the best we could do. In 2 short weeks we raised over $7,000 and about a week later made the trip there to present it to them. The looks on their faces said it all. We made a difference in their lives.
Let's keep in mind and not lose sight of the good that has come out of this effort.
Well said Dan, club is a good description.
I personally felt attacked for not contributing to the soldiers fund. There are hundreds of well deserving charities out there. Someone decides this is the charity of the month and we all should give. When approached, I suggested, in turn, they contribute to a charity I support, they were not agreeable. Now we are onto the Weatherby Lake entrance signs charity. Who came up with that? We are also being hit up with WLIC fees. Not everyone is made of money.
Mike, would you object to someone sending out a post card letting people know about your blog? Nothing controversial, just letting people know.
I anticipated a zealot or two involved with the fund raising effort for the soldiers would be upset with "Free Ride", so let me be very clear. If you re-read the blog I said it was a "great cause" but there a two issues here. The effort "good", the use of public resources to support a private cause/effort "bad". How does one choose which "good cause" the City uses resources and which it does not? Dan got it right, the City is not a club. A club/ad hoc group can do what they want, a City is bound by Federal/State/County/City laws.
Back to the soldiers, just so you understand, I am a veteran of the Vietnam era. My issue isn't about supporting the troops, it is with the Mayor and Board allowing the use of a City vehicle, City paid gas, (possibly on duty pay), to carry private citizens to Fort Riley and back. I think you will find a range of opinions from "it was a bad idea" to "it was a violation of state law". That is one of the differences between government, businesses and clubs.
I was wondering why the police car is running the whole time an officer is inside sitting down eating, the renters food. Mind you he's not the officer on duty...I saw this myself at a party I attended. He was inside the building chatting with the other officer and eatting a long time for the car to be running.
Let's grow up people. Some of the complaints that we come up with are petty to say the least. A car running. Well if you were so concerned why did you not go say something then??? As to Mike, you said you were a "veteran of the Veitnam era"? You didn't say a Veteran of Vietnam you said era, so does this mean you were in the war fighting or you were just alive during that time? No particular reason, just curious that you brought it up.
Geesh, I would have published my DD214 if there was so much interest. I anticipated there would be those who would be upset with questioning the use of the Police vehicle with the event itself. My intent in mentioning my service was that veterans who served in the 60's and early 70's were/are keenly aware of the lack of support or outright hostility to returning soldiers. Therefore, I certainly support the effort to thank those who serve now. However, my view remains unchanged, the use of public funds/resources should not be mingled with private events/efforts. If you ask the Mayor, I think now, grudgingly, he would agree.
That is the problem Mike, it was not a private event! It was a city event. The money was donated in the name of "the City of Weatherby Lake" not in the name of any individual.
The money might have been donated in the name of Weatherby Lake, but it was not donated from the CITY of Weatherby Lake. The money was not deposited in a City account, it was in an account managed by Don Birmingham. There was never a committee appointed by the City (Mayor or Aldermen) to handle the event. Donations were raised by an ad hoc group (thanks to them), some of the funds came during an event the group hosted in Birmingham Park, but not sponsored by the City.
One day someone decides it's a good idea to raise funds for returning troops . So off they go find a troop and suddenly the name "City of Weatherby Lake" is associated with it. . Our city did not vote on it, it was decided by a handful of people. Further, if you look at our city as a whole compared to who actually participated in the event, it still is a very small minority. I think if our city had voted on it or something similar then you could call it city event but it wasn't voted on. It would follow the use of our police department's vehicle was for effect. Imagine when they drove up in a Weatherby Lake police department's vehicle.. I'm sure our Mayor and everyone was puffed up like puffers proud to hand over the funds. There are laws governing this. That is the point.
If our city council continues in this form, then we will end up with attorney and court costs in some suit because they were acting more like a social club than city officials.
If a few of us went door to door collecting or decided to have a gathering for the American Cancer Society, shouldn't we be able to use the WL police car for delivery of funds? Isn't this about the same?
Can we drop it already. Everyone gets the point. Using the car may not (was not) the correct thing to do. Lets stop acting like teenagers who have to keep gossiping. Lets move on to bigger fish that need to be fried. The BRB would be a good one. Don't know how long it took firemen, etc to respond to the tree on the resident. I'm sure it wasn't nearly as fast as it should have been, especially beings she was elderly. We all know things get worse the older you are far more quickly that if you are younger!
I count fourteen or less people making a comment in this blog over a week period of time. Let's see .. . . . what do you suggest 7.19pm blog - ten or less people allowed to comment over a three day period? Mmmm . . . . we have hundreds living at the lake - this is far from gossiping 7:19 blog and certainly not enough people aware or commenting.
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