• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Friday, January 15, 2021
31 °f
Platte
32 ° Sun
35 ° Mon
34 ° Tue
36 ° Wed
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

County clerk won’t seek re-election

Ivan Foley by Ivan Foley
January 12, 2014
in Platte County
13
SHARES
328
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

One term is going to be it for Platte County Clerk Joan Harms.

Harms told The Landmark she will not be putting her name on the ballot when her position comes up for election this year.

RelatedNews

Health department gets much less than requested

More CARES grants approved

NVB branch now open

The clerk says reasons of “health and family” will keep her from seeking reelection. Her decision is not political, and has nothing to do with the county commission’s recent decision to significantly cut her staff salary budget.

“I really want to run, I just don’t think I will,” she said Monday, explaining for the past few months she has been battling rheumatoid arthritis.

“Rheumatoid arthritis is not something they can really cure. You just have to live with it,” she remarked.

Harms, a Republican, was elected in November of 2010, defeating longtime incumbent Sandy Krohne 54% to 46%, with 16,455 votes for Harms to 14,062 for Krohne.

Prior to entering politics, Harms said her experience was in the corporate world.

“This is a business office. I ran because people came to me and said ‘we really would like you to run,’ Harms said.

She said there have been accomplishments in her office over the past few years.

“We have processes and procedures in place for the next person,” Harms said. “This office is a paper jockey. We don’t do anything magical.”

She has taken the process of accepting money out of her office for any and all licenses and fees handled by the clerk’s office.

“They come to my office to fill out a form and then we send them to the treasurer’s office to make payment,” Harms explained.

That way, she added, the county doesn’t have to audit her office for money.

Another efficiency improvement at the county, she said, is that the building of the agenda for county commission meetings is now done via a shared computer drive.

Harms said her office is run in a more fiscally conservative manner and on a smaller budget than when she was first elected.

“I think I’ve personally clerked every county commission meeting, or at least been in the room for each one,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed it.”

The clerk’s office staff salary budget was $74,000 in 2010; $74,000 again in 2011; cut to $60,000 in 2012, and was at $62,000 for 2013.

She said she has reduced expenditures in her office and saved the county money by doing things like returning $5,000 of $62,000 that had been budgeted in her staff salary line in 2013.

In the 2014 budget (see related story), the county commission has reduced the county clerk’s staff salary line to $50,000, a move that caught Harms and her staff by surprise. This week, she announced the move would force her to cut the office hours for her office from 8-5 to 9-4. Harms said there would be days where she personally will be in the office until 5 p.m., but that the posted office hours will be 9-4.

“Keeping a good staff is very important to me,” she remarked.

She explained she has no one in mind to run for election to the spot she is about to give up.

“I don’t have anybody that I have selected,” she said.

County positions up for election in 2014 include county clerk, presiding commissioner, prosecutor, county clerk, collector, recorder and auditor.

Filing for county candidates opens Feb. 25 at 8 a.m. and will close March 25 at 5 p.m.

Tags: electionsplatte county
Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley is owner/editor/publisher of the Platte County Landmark. Foley has been on the news beat in Platte County with The Landmark for 38 years, specializing in local government issues and accountability journalism. He has penned multiple award-winning investigative pieces. He provides weekly observations and editorial commentary in his Between the Lines column and serves as host of Landmark Live, a light-hearted videocast featuring newsmakers and events in the Northland. During his time at the helm of The Landmark, the newspaper has been awarded on multiple occasions for General Excellence in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. In 2016, Foley won the Tom and Pat Gish Award, a national honor given by the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky for displaying courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism. A big fan of the Chiefs and Royals, Foley resides in Platte County not far from KCI Airport.

Related Posts

45 Years Ago–January 16, 1976

by Ivan Foley
January 14, 2021
0

Mr. and Mrs. Michael McGinness, of Platte City, announce the birth of their daughter, Marcie Gayle McGinness, at North Kansas City Memorial Hospital. The grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Taylor and Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. McGinness of Lathrop,...

30 Years Ago–January 18, 1991

by Ivan Foley
January 14, 2021
0

Alma M. Hubble has been named as nursing manager for the Obstetrics Department of Spelman Memorial Hospital in Smithville. She and her family recently relocated to the Platte City area from Springfield. An expected seven percent decrease in revenue from...

15 Years Ago–January 12, 2006

by Ivan Foley
January 14, 2021
0

The message is clear. Annexation is a priority for the Platte City Board of Alderman. As part of that message delivered at their regular meeting on Tuesday evening, three points were clarified by board members. They are interested in annexing...

The Big Lie

Sometimes the big lie gets used as a political strategy

by Ivan Foley
January 14, 2021
0

Looks like Nan Johnston should just set an annual appointment time with an investigator from the Missouri Ethics Commission. Landmark Live will be a magical time when we come back to life for a show Thursday, Jan. 14 at 6...

Next Post

Sewer rates to rise by 3% at Parkville

Popular News

  • Carlotta E. Palmer

    A $20 drug deal goes horribly wrong

    53 shares
    Share 21 Tweet 13
  • State ethics board investigating Parkville mayor

    26 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 7
  • Court upholds suspension of area doctor’s license

    24 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 6
  • Love Notes From Nan – Investigation Edition

    85 shares
    Share 60 Tweet 10
  • Three want spot with health department

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved