Things are getting more interesting at the City of Parkville.
As you’ll see in a story elsewhere in this issue, another official complaint in regard to lack of transparency/Sunshine Law has been filed with the Missouri Attorney General.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Representatives from Citizens for a Better Parkville have already held discussions with the office of Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway. And word is the auditor is getting very curious. Maki and others have received a high level of engagement in early talks with the state auditor’s office.
“They (the auditor’s office) want to sit down with us and go through all the open records requests that have been made. They want to know what the attorney general is aware of, what is he not aware of. And they want to be included in every open records request going forward,” says Jason Maki of the citizens group.
Citizens for a Better Parkville, a political action committee, has indicated it is giving city officials a chance to directly request a state audit. This polite angle is the result of some confident statements put out last spring by Mayor Nan Johnston, who wasn’t shy about saying she would “welcome a state audit.” The citizens group is giving Nan a chance to make good on that statement.
Maki says if the city has not made a request for the state audit by November then the citizens group will begin the petition process and start soliciting the necessary number of voter signatures to force the state audit. The PAC is organized and ready, if necessary, to begin that process, Maki says.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: Don’t look now but cold and flu season will soon be upon us.
With that in mind, kudos to the Platte County Health Department for conducting another series of free drive-thru flu shot clinics in the county. This is really a cool and convenient service. And you can’t beat the price.
The Platte City clinic, conducted outside the Platte City Middle School, in particular proved to be very popular. A line of cars formed ahead of the scheduled 11 a.m. start time on Monday so officials began the clinic early. I arrived about 10:40 and activity was already underway. It was scheduled to run till 2 p.m. but the pre-set amount of vaccine was gone well in advance of that.
In Platte City, 250 shots were administered, which is the maximum amount the health department had available for the drive-thru event. On Thursday at Riverside, 226 shots were administered, health department officials tell me.
Ruh-roh. This might not go as smoothly as the commissioners expected.As you know by now, the Platte County Commission has appointed an 11-member committee to study the sales tax structure. Apparently this is their idea of “public input.”
Specifically, the county’s half cent sales tax for parks expires in December of 2020 and it’s time to decide what level of tax will be sought in renewal. And the county commissioners have made it very clear they want to cut the amount of the half cent park tax and also create a sales tax dedicated to law enforcement.
As word was initially leaking out about the formation of this committee and some of the names of folks who were going to serve, it seemed the commission was naming a small group of friendlies who would basically provide an echo chamber for the commissioners. They may have quietly received a little criticism about it, because some late additions to the committee have made the roster interesting. There are some folks on the team with strong personalities, not likely to be easily swayed. For example, Gordon Cook, an accountant from Parkville, got a great point across Monday night during the first meeting of the group. Sandra Thomas, committee chair and personal friend of the county commissioners, indicated she’d like to be done with committee meetings by the end of the year. Cook thinks if things are done the right way it will take longer than that.
“With all due respect, if we’re looking to be done by the end of the year you’re looking for approval of an answer that’s already on the table,” Cook said.
Well, hello. Maybe these meetings aren’t going to be a snoozefest after all.
Let’s talk Chiefs.
The team’s got a few problem areas, as I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’ve watched the past couple of games.
Thursday night KC is at Denver in a nationally televised stand-alone game against the Broncos. It’s bounce back time. I’m predicting the KC defense puts up a rare good performance in this one and the Chiefs get a victory, covering the three point spread.
If I’m wrong on this, I’m counting on many of you to shoot me a message telling me what an idiot I am. Don’t let me down.
Andy Reid is an intelligent guy, a high level coach, and I’m glad we have him in KC with the Chiefs.
But he often seems to develop brain cramps when working under pressure. We’ve seen it numerous times with clock management at the end of the half or more importantly at the end of games. We’ve also seen it with some head-scratching play selection calls on crucial drives late in games.
It is possible for a person to be extremely intelligent, extremely detailed with game plans, have top-notch skills in advance scheming and yet not be a calm and strong thinker in pressure situations. The first doesn’t always guarantee the second. Andy needs to appoint a trusted assistant to be talking in his ear during pressure times of the games. That doesn’t seem to be happening.
To hell with ego and pride, get a trusted voice in your ear during hectic times. That’s good advice in any walk of life, not just coaching football.
(Get drive-thru Between the Lines thoughts on Twitter @ivanfoley and on Facebook at Platte County Landmark. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com and find Foley on YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram)