A few items at the City of Platte City are worthy of mentioning this week.
Here’s one. And this is extremely good news.
The City of Platte City is on the verge of getting a much needed sound system for its meeting room. A proposal for a wireless audio system received recent approval, and it will allow the audience to better hear what gets said in the meeting room.
If you’ll recall, when the new City Hall first opened nearly two years ago we mentioned in this space that a sound system is desperately needed, as the acoustics in the meeting room are awful. It took a little longer than it should have but it seems the problem is about to be solved. Cost will be about $32,000 but it is so desperately needed that it will be taxpayer money well spent.
It also lays the groundwork eventually for the city being able to livestream its meetings at some point in the future. I wouldn’t expect Platte City livestreaming meetings to be something that happens soon. The city doesn’t exactly move at warp speed on certain items, and this seems like another one of those topics that will be a slow roll. I would anticipate a lot of paralysis by analysis when it eventually gets suggested to the board that aldermen meetings should be livestreamed so that anyone at home can watch in real time.
Paralysis by analysis. Here’s what AI says about it:
“Analysis paralysis, or paralysis by analysis, is the state of being unable to make a decision or take action due to an excessive amount of thinking, overthinking, or overanalyzing a situation, often fueled by a fear of making a mistake or the desire for a perfect solution. This overthinking leads to information overload, confusion, anxiety, and a resulting inability to progress or choose a course of action.”
Going a little further:
Overthinking: You delve too deeply into every possible option, detail, and potential outcome.
Fear of Failure: A desire to avoid making the “wrong” choice or experiencing negative consequences leads to indecision.
Perfectionism: The belief that a perfect solution must be found can cause you to delay or avoid making any decision at all.
Indecision: You become stuck, unable to choose one option and instead remain in a cycle of deliberation and second-guessing.
All of these descriptions fit what the Platte City Board of Aldermen is doing on the topic of developing a backyard chicken ordinance. Good night already, approve a policy then tweak it at some point down the road if you need to. Some folks at the city have been way overthinking that one.
Yes, if you’re guessing the above stanza is an indication the Platte City Board of Aldermen did not take action on a proposed chicken ordinance at its meeting last week you would be correct. It has become an almost painful process to watch at this point. And the funny thing is no one, absolutely nobody, has stepped forward to say the city should not allow chickens in the city. And yet the city leaders are getting caught up in overthinking the details. Let’s not try to reinvent the wheel. Most area cities have some sort of backyard chicken ordinance, so Platte City isn’t exactly breaking political barriers with this move. There are plenty of model ordinances out there to use as a guide.
The city’s delayed proposal calls for roosters to be on the do not fly list, so to speak, which is appropriate. That’s the good news. The bad news is the poor folks living next to the guy who has a rooster crowing at all hours are having to live with that major lifestyle inconvenience while city leaders continue to delay action.
I hate to bag on the weather again but I’m going to. In fact at this point I’m filing an HR complaint on Mother Nature. Can we get some fall-like temperatures? It’s the first week of October and we’re still getting daytime highs in the upper 80s. Totally inappropriate.
It’s fall. We’re supposed to be heading into the coat closet and pulling out a jacket in the mornings. Few things in life are better than the cool and crisp fall air slapping you good morning across the face as you step outside in October, am I right? Of course I’m right.
But alas, nothing like that yet. And nothing fall-like about the long-range forecast on my weather app, which shows high temps like this over the next five days: 87, 89, 90, 87, 88. That’s gross.
Another City of Platte City nugget for you:
I’ve heard from a longtime Platte City resident or two that some shepherd’s hooks that were at graves of loved ones at the Platte City Cemetery were removed for mowing before family could grab them after the Decoration Day holiday. Never fear, the city has your shepherd’s hooks. The hooks are at City Hall.
“People can contact me at City Hall to arrange a time to come look at them to see if they can identify the ones they are interested in,” Bryan Richison, city administrator, told me this week.
So there you go. City Hall’s phone number is 816-858-3046 and Richison’s email address is brichison@plattecity.org.
The NFL has announced that Bad Bunny will be the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl this winter. For commentary on Bad Bunny, I defer to our musical expert, Ponder the Thought columnist Guy Speckman on page 3.
I don’t like to kiss and tell but Bad Bunny was the nickname for my prom date back in high school.
(Find Foley overthinking the subject of overthinking. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
