Alert: The Platte City water tower is back to being Pirate orange again. By Pirate orange, of course, we mean the shade of orange the Platte County High School uses for its mascot and other Pirate stuff and whatnot.
The drama began last year, late summer/early fall, when the iconic orange water tower in Platte City received a needed repainting. The goal was to match the previous orange color, which was in line with the official school colors of Platte County High School. But it didn’t turn out to match the previous orange and wasn’t close to the school’s official orange. The finished product last fall turned out to be a considerably lighter shade of orange than was on the tower previously. The reason for the discrepancy was apparently due to the choice city officials made while looking at paint samples prior to the repainting.
But wait, there’s more.
The workmanship on the initial paint job was less than satisfactory. There were some areas where the tower “was not evenly painted” and some color fluctuations on the tower could be seen when it was completed, city officials told The Landmark. So the contractor, American Suncraft, agreed that the quality of the finished work was not acceptable and told the city it would repaint the tower at no additional cost, and would use the city’s corrected choice of colors.
Tom Cole, city administrator at the time, was put in charge of acquiring the exact paint color codes from the school district in hopes of returning the tower back to its intended color. In addition, a Landmark reader, Tim Kelly of Parkville, who owns Commercial Waterproofing (Tim and the guys at Commercial Waterproofing were the company I hired for the exterior renovation of the historic Landmark building at 252 Main St. back in 2008), contacted the newspaper to tell us his company painted the water tower many years ago and he has access to the previous color code. So The Landmark forwarded Kelly’s contact information to Cole, who was thankful for it because, he said, “I may double or triple check the formula provided by the school district. There are actually two Platte County R-3 varieties of orange.”
Anyway, the second repainting was completed late last week. So far everybody on social media seems pleased with the final shade of orange.
And everyone lived happily ever after. The end.
More big news from City Hall in Platte City, as you’ll see on our front page. Longtime city clerk Amy Edwards has been cut loose. And by that I mean she was fired. Actually, according to minutes of the closed session in which it happened, her employment was “immediately terminated,” if you’re into politically correct wording and such. City officials aren’t talking about the reason(s) for the decision, nor are they required by law to provide a reason.
Not sure if this played a role in her exit but the vibe from some folks on the inside over the years, and some folks in the community who had dealings with her, was that Amy could be difficult to work with. I can tell you with confidence she was extremely close to Marji Gehr during Marji’s eight month reign of terror as city administrator, and there was quiet speculation in some circles last year when Marji was canned that Amy would also be hitting the door, either voluntarily or involuntarily. That never materialized, at least until last Thursday night.
My business interactions with Amy in recent years were most often via email, which is a different animal than working in the same office or in a capacity that requires face to face contact. During the times I did interact with her in person while covering news during her 28 years with the city the interactions ranged from icy cold to warm and friendly. I never knew which version of Amy I was going to experience, the cold or the friendly.
I will say after Marji’s forced exit a year ago that Amy seemed more personable than she did prior to that time.
Gotta admit I’m a little surprised that Platte County Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker says he has decided not to seek reelection in 2026. Not surprised that when Fricker made his decision to fade away in a year and a half that Platte County Recorder Christopher Wright was quick to announce that he’ll run for presiding commissioner in ‘26. Wright has always seemed to be operating with an eye to a higher office, and you can’t deny that he has been good about promoting himself and his changes to the operation of the recorder’s office.
Speculation is that there will be at least one other Republican to run for presiding commissioner in 2026, with chatter that the folks who supported the children’s services tax will be working to find/fund/support a candidate, if they haven’t already identified one. Remember, that’s roughly 57% of voters who took part in an election with 81 percent turnout who are not happy that the county commission did not follow the will of the voters.
Expect the summer and fall of 2026 to be an interesting political time in Platte County.
Don’t look now, and you don’t have to give me a standing ovation or anything, but my 13-1 ticket (don’t get too excited, it was pizza money level on March Madness futures, we’re talking a ticket for $350) on Florida to win the NCAA basketball championship that I told you about in recent weeks has paid off. Or it will, just as soon as I can get over to the Hollywood Casino sportsbook to cash it. Landmark distribution specialist Fred Felix tells me now I should buy pizza for everybody on our next mailing day. Like a judge in a children’s tax lawsuit, I’m taking that matter under advisement.
If you’ve been following along, you’ll recall I purchased that ticket on Florida at 13-1 odds way back on Feb. 10. That investment was made shortly after watching Florida play Auburn in a nationally televised game on ESPN on Saturday, Feb. 8. I sat down to watch that game with the specific intent of wanting to see Auburn play, as the national pundits were raving about how good the Auburn team was. But the most impressive team to me on that day was Florida, and as a result on my next trip to Hollywood I put some pizza money on the Gators, not the Auburn Tigers. As previously reported, on my Feb. 10 trip to Hollywood I also grabbed a 10-1 ticket on Houston to win the title. As you know by now, Florida and Houston both advanced to the title game, so I was able to watch Monday night’s championship battle knowing regardless of which team won, the result was going to mean some more pizza money in my pocket at either 10 times or 13 times my original investment.
Devoted Between the Lines clones know this is three straight March Madness tournaments in which we’ve held a winning futures ticket on the eventual champion. The previous two years it was UConn and then UConn, who won in back to back years.
Come back next February or March and we’ll guide you to another March Madness winner and more pizza.
(Find Foley pondering pizza purchases)
