Our Choices Tomorrow

You may have your mind made up regarding tomorrow's choices for the WL races...in which case you might want to skip this post today.  Or you can read on and confirm that choice.  Or you can take one last shot at being an undecided as you drive to the Community Center to vote.  (An aside, remember when we used to vote at City Hall?..yipes, especially during contested elections it could be a challenge to navigate and park.)

Mayor
Alan York has served the community twice as Mayor, both times stuck with cleaning up messes.  The first time was serving as Mayor, elected by his fellow aldermen, after the resignation of Pauli Kendrick.  The City budget was left hanging and Alan got the job done.  Two and a half years later, he beat Mike Henderson handily and again had to get the City back on track.  One of his hallmarks was communication with the aldermen.  There were no surprises at Board meetings, information was disseminated clearly.  There was clear direction to the Public Safety and Public Works Departments.  Alan was available, accessible, present.  He has been an alderman, on the Planning Commission in addition to being Mayor.  His background in Finance gives the City another pair of trained eyes we currently do not have.  A long time Platte County resident, Alan continues to have contacts throughout the county, something we have lost over the last two mayors.  It is time to re-engage beyond our city limits, there is too much development, too much activity beyond our city limits to ignore.  If you know Alan at all you know how passionate he is when it comes to preserving our lake...after all we are Weatherby Lake.  Development inside and outside our City will continue to be a challenge, and City government has a role up to the waters edge.  I know Alan is committed to working with the WLIC to continue their role in protecting the watershed was well.  It doesn't happen very often but here is an election where the challenger is truly an upgrade for the office, an upgrade for the City.

Aldermen East and West
Both Tanya Finn and Steve Clark represent years of service to the City, both as aldermen and volunteers outside their roles of aldermen.  As Jerry Bos says, "good men(women) are hard to find".  Voters on both sides of the lake can return two stalwarts who take their elected roles seriously, which means they do not "mail it in".  Both aren't afraid to ask questions of the Mayor when information is absent or unclear (and there has been plenty of that).  If you compare, really compare, the opponents to Finn and Clark, whether it is at the Forum or information published, it is no contest, in my opinion.  Regardless of who wins the mayoral race, both incumbent aldermen should be re-elected to continue the good work they have done.

So there you have it, my votes tomorrow, and hopefully yours.  York/Clark/Finn.
And that is As I See It.