Something tells me we all should be keeping an eye on this apparent movement by some members of the Platte County Committee for Public Safety. A committee whose primary mission was announced as “to help find solutions to an overcrowded detention facility” has strayed from that stated mission into the possibility of proposing a new courthouse be built somewhere other than downtown Platte City.
Not sure if this idea has been pondered much beyond the thought of “how nice would it be to have brand new courtrooms.” And by the way, architects have already determined the existing courthouse can be–and the county commission says will be–remodeled to create room for two new courtrooms, with the county commission using ARPA (federal grant) money to do so.
Anyone looking at this through a business lens will tell you that if the courthouse is moved out of its present location, it would be a devastating blow for Downtown Platte City. Main Street would be on a fast track to ghost town status.
It’s time to suggest folks at the Platte City Chamber of Commerce and even the folks at the City of Platte City better pick up the phone to catch the ear of people at the decision-making level at the county. Better start circling the wagons and begin expressing opposition to the thoughts that are apparently brewing inside the minds of some folks on the committee for public safety and elsewhere at the county level. There are times when you can’t be a cheerleader and instead must be willing to scrap, and this might be shaping up to be one of those times.
The more that this type of “we want to move the courthouse” discussion is allowed to continue without community pushback the greater the chances it could be spoken into reality. Or at minimum spoken onto a ballot proposal.
On our front page you’ll see that up to $10,000 of taxpayer money is going to an architectural firm to work with the “detention facility” committee in their work to come up with proposals. Is some of that going to be spent on a plan to propose a Taj Mahal of a new courthouse somewhere outside of Platte City?
For the life of me I don’t understand the push for a new courthouse when the architects and engineers have already said the building is sound and there is existing space for two new courtrooms in the current facility. The building can serve the needs for the next generation, we’ve been told. And the county commission has already announced plans to spend the free ARPA money from the feds on the renovations.
What’s the problem? This new courthouse idea is obviously coming from a position of want, not need.
If the jail committee proposes a new courthouse outside of Platte City as a solution to their designated purpose of “to help find solutions to an overcrowded detention facility” will the county commission feel compelled to put both a new courthouse and new jail on a ballot? If so, brace yourselves for the price tag on that one. Wow.
And isn’t the county’s bond rating still at junk status? So now is the time you want to spend potentially hundreds of millions of dollars on new facilities because judges say “we just need a new facility?”
Yikes.
This is going to be fascinating to watch.
Pretty pumped that Jack Stack Barbecue is considering a potential location in Platte County, southeast of the I-29 and Barry Road intersection.
Everybody has their favorite Kansas City barbecue joint. Mine is Jack Stack, in particular their Freight House location. Great food, great atmosphere at the Freight House spot.
Tammy Thompson, chair of the Platte County Republican Central Committee, reached out this week to say she wants to provide more information on the planned vetting process the local Republican party plans to begin using for candidates who want to put the R after their name on the ballot for county offices.
Last week the central committee announced that if a candidate would like to run as a Republican for county office, the candidate must first contact the chair of the Platte County Republican Central Committee. “Per RSMo. Sec. 115.357, no candidate can file for office under a political party’s name unless and until that party accepts the filing fee,” Thompson said last week. She explained that the fee is not legally paid until the committee treasurer accepts the funds, and she said the funds will not be accepted until the vetting process has been completed and approved.
“We aren’t making up random questions. The vetting questions will be strictly based on the party platform,” she said this week. “These questions were created by several county chairs across Missouri, so not even directly from us.”
Thompson goes on to say that “the candidate doesn’t have to get 100 percent, as we don’t all agree on everything, but they must get at least 75%.”
Thompson remarked that “it is not up to the committee to pick a winner in the primary, it is up to the voters to decide who they want to represent them in the general election and to know that the choices they are given in a primary are at least who they say they are.’
It’s another situation that will be fascinating to watch. We have a lot of those going on in Platte County these days, don’t we?
Aaron Jung and his Horticultural Impressions crews do fantastic work. Come see what they’ve already done with landscaping in the 2.5 ft. x 10 ft. planter outside The Landmark’s new office space, 212 Marshall Road, Suite C, Platte City.
(Get more barbecue recommendations from Foley by email, ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)