Even though the city administrator, who may or may not have played an interesting role, is now gone after being fired by the board of aldermen, there remains a lot of public interest in the assault case involving now-former Platte City Public Works Director Brad Wallace. Wallace pled guilty to an assault of a man in a Mexican restaurant last year. The assault took place last May. City officials were able to keep it on the down-low for a few months until The Landmark got wind of it last August. Wallace’s guilty plea came in August and after The Landmark broke the story a lot of alleged details about high level personnel at City Hall started coming to light through our tip line and beyond. I still have questions over whether the elected officials ever received the full story of what exactly happened that night, who was present at the time–and in what sequence–from their upper level personnel.
With that public interest in mind, The Landmark put in an official request for the restaurant’s video of the assault that was referenced by authorities in charging documents. Since more than six months has passed since the case was disposed of, that video is now a public record and a copy of it should be in The Landmark’s hands any day now.
The public interest includes, among other things, questions over which high level city employees were present at the time of the assault, as there have been varying reports circulating around town on that aspect. A look at the video may help us clear that up.
Speaking of the City of Platte City, there will be a contested race for mayor at the municipal election on Tuesday, April 2.
Tony Paolillo, incumbent mayor, will be challenged by Steve Hoeger, who currently serves as an alderman. We reported Hoeger’s filing in December when he tossed his hat in the ring. Hoeger officially issued his candidate announcement this week, and you’ll find it on the front page of this edition.
Should be an interesting race to follow. Public awareness and forward-thinking by Hoeger has made him one of the voices of common sense and reason at the city. He seems intent on moving the city forward and cleaning up the recent controversial times that in large part were the fault of the now-former city administrator at City Hall.
One of the factors at play was a power grab attempt going on among Paolillo and the city administrator inside City Hall, and the aldermen eventually put a stop to it with a unanimous vote to fire Marji Gehr as administrator.
Indications are Paolillo continued to be in Gehr’s corner even as aldermen had come to the conclusion that enough was enough.
Now, there may be some disagreement on how to handle the opening of interim city administrator. That discussion is supposed to renew at a special meeting later this week.
Apparently there is still some back and forth going on between Platte County commissioners and the sixth judicial circuit judges who do their thing inside the Platte County Courthouse. Commissioners and judges have been in discussions for months on renovations to be done for the courts/judges inside the historical courthouse in Downtown Platte City. You’ll recall last fall the judges were openly pleading for a new, much larger courthouse to be built somewhere other than Downtown Platte City before the county commissioners–who are in charge of county facilities– said nope, not gonna happen.
The county has millions of dollars in federal ARPA money that it is using for things like courthouse renovations, an additional courtroom, secured parking, mechanical items, etc.
Scott Fricker, presiding commissioner, has notably said the county commissioners are obligated to give the judges what they need, while the judges, according to Fricker, “think we should be giving them what they want.” There’s a big difference between those two things, Fricker says.
Word on the street is that judges want all courtrooms bigger, they want more courtrooms, and they want every courtroom to be jury trial eligible, even though jury trials in Platte County still are not an overly common occurrence.
County commissioners discovered last fall that judges have been consulting with a St. Louis-based law firm, which has led to speculation that judges might be considering some form of attempted legal action against the county commission over the disagreement over facilities.
It’s all very interesting. We’ll do our best to keep you updated.
Baseball season will be here before you know it, guys and gals.
Let’s talk about this. After all their off-season acquisitions on a spending spree which in part was being done in hopes Jackson Countians will vote yes on the upcoming new stadium proposal, I was thinking this might be a good year to put a couple dollars on “over” the Royals win total. You’ll recall last year I suggested under their win total and it was an easy winner.
But now, the oddsmakers have set the Royals projected win total so high that we need to have a conversation about this before risking any dollars. The Royals projected win total is now 73.5. First time I looked at it earlier this year it was 72. So the line keeps going up. You might think a 1.5 game difference in a win total isn’t much, but as someone who has won–and lost–some MLB win total over/under wagers by one game, let me tell you that it is.
Last year the Royals won only 56 games. So going over 73.5 would require an improvement of 18 victories. Say what you want about the off-season acquisitions, but man. Improving by 18 victories will not be easy. Thus, I’m reconsidering whether I want to pull the trigger.
Anyway, send me your thoughts on this Royals over/under 73.5 conundrum, ivan@plattecountylandmark.com.
Just know that I’ll have at least one win total wager suggestion prior to the start of the MLB season. It just may not involve your favorite team.
(Plenty of basketball bracket talk coming your next week. Will you have your bracket ready? Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)