EDITOR:
Current management of our county government tends to waste our money as we are plagued by a lack of transparency and public involvement.
Just look back on some of the costly decision-making that’s come out of the commissioners’ suite in the past few years. We had an expensive study and PR contract to try to sell taxpayers on a new jail. We voted it down. And some trio of commissioners on duty in the past got the county on the hook to bail out a Zona Rosa financial contract which could have cost us big money. In the end, expensive lawyers and a bunch of court battles helped us wriggle out of the debt, but left us with a crappy credit rating. Don’t forget, we’re still waiting for the commissioners to distribute our COVID-19 windfall to our health department and schools. So far, the commissioners have failed to play nice and proportionally share these funds with Kansas City where many Platte Countians live.
Managing the county’s business is complex and the challenges are significant. If you’ve been to a Platte County commission meeting, you know it’s time to hit REFRESH. If you haven’t, you can be glad David Park has been there on your behalf.
For years now, David Park has been observing and reporting on the administration of our government. He is experienced in local government (EDITOR’S NOTE: an earlier version of this letter to the editor incorrectly stated Park is an attorney, he is not). He’s the kind of responsible American citizen we should all grow up to be. He’s at the commission meetings and committee hearings, the guy in the sports jacket taking notes. Nothing gets past him. He asks the legal and financial questions we can’t and knows when the answers are lacking or bogus.
It’s time for our growing county to be managed by professionals with accountability and transparency. We need the diligence of David Park. He’s at all these meetings and researching the issues anyway. We just as well put him on the commission and make this county all it can be.
–LeAnn Karbaumer
Platte City