The end of an era, of sorts, in Downtown Parkville.
There will be a new chairman of the board for the Parkville Old Towne Market Community Improvement District. That’s a mouthful, so let’s just call it the CID for the rest of this column.
Tom Hutsler had been on the board the entire 20 years of the CID’s existence. That changed–in unusual and surprising fashion–on Thursday morning. Hutsler, a downtown property owner and business operator, voluntarily stepped away from his board position after two votes for a different position on the board had ended in a tie between Troy Wilson (of Parkville Jewelers) and Heather Versfeld (Prima Facie Bistro). After the second tie vote, Hutsler volunteered to resign his seat so that either Wilson or Versfeld could take his spot, thus placing both Wilson and Versfeld on the board and Hutsler without the seat he had held for two decades. Of his 20 years on the board, Hutsler served as chairman for 18 years.
“I had no intentions when that meeting started of stepping away. None whatsoever. It was like a perfect storm,” he said. The contested seat between Versfeld and Wilson was for a designated “business operator” seat. “I was listed as a business operator position. Both Troy and Heather are good people and it was a 4-4 tie twice. I thought this was my opportunity to show good faith and do something good for the two people wanting that seat. Both of them have very good businesses and are passionate about Parkville and have the right intentions to work with the community. Both have good leadership abilities,” Hutsler told me after the meeting. “I just thought it was the right thing for me to do and the right time to do it.”
As it turns out, Versfeld will slide into the position formerly held by Hutsler. That board position expires in June of 2028. Wilson takes the four year term that was being voted on. Wilson currently serves as vice president, and with chairman Hutsler gone, will run the opening of the next board meeting when a new chair/officers will be chosen.
The Parkville downtown CID is funded by a one percent sales taxes on purchases within the district. Registered voters within the district, of which there are about 30, recently voted to extend the district’s existence and its tax levy for another 20 years. The vote totals were seven in favor and two opposed. “We estimate the one percent sales tax will raise about $3 million over the next 20 years,” Hutsler told me.
“Moving forward, I think the board is in good hands. We have certainly built the groundwork for them to be successful. There’s plenty of money in the bank, and in reserves, that they can use for bigger projects,” he added.
Hutsler isn’t going anywhere. Nobody loves Parkville, particularly Downtown Parkville–more than Tom Hutsler, few folks know more about the city’s history and nobody else carries the CID’s institutional knowledge that Hutsler does. “I’m going to continue to volunteer, in particular with the Memorial Day festival, and general volunteering behind the scenes,” he said.
During the CID meeting after Hutsler announced his move to step aside so that Wilson and Versfeld could both be on the board, the act was praised by multiple folks at the meeting, including Phil Wassmer, an alderman who has been on the CID board. “I commend you highly, that is a big move,” Wassmer said. When I reached out to Wassmer early this week to see if he had other comments, he texted me this: “After 20 years of controlling the CID, Tom stepped aside allowing new leadership. The tenor of the board in the last few years has been evolving to more fully support the Main Street Parkville Association and less so on separate CID initiatives. I think Tom felt like it was time to let that change happen.”
Heather Versfeld’s husband, Leon Versfeld of Prima Facie, praised Hutsler in an email he sent to Hutsler and copied to several people, including to a couple public email accounts. Leon Versfeld wrote to Hutsler, in part: “I wanted to take a moment to personally thank you for the way you handled this morning’s CID meeting. As you know, I have not hesitated to express my concerns regarding certain aspects of prior board processes and decisions. Because of that, I believe it is equally important to acknowledge when leadership is demonstrated in a way that deserves recognition. I was genuinely impressed by your decision to step down as a director in order to ensure that Troy and Heather could continue serving on the board. That was a selfless act that placed the long-term interests of the CID and the community ahead of personal position, and those moments often say the most about a person’s character.”
How’s the business climate in Downtown Parkville? Strong.
“Sales tax collections are way ahead of historical trends,” Gordon Cook, treasurer for the CID, said at Thursday’s meeting.
Freaky Fricker Fridays.
A couple of screenshots were sent my way that show Platte County Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker was having another Freaky Friday on social media last week. Several people have pointed out to me that it seems to be a trend that when Fricker’s Facebook account gets weird it often happens to be on a Friday, usually in the late afternoon into the early nighttime Friday. Is the frequent Friday timing a coincidence or are there contributing factors? Unknown. I suppose it’s possible somebody’s enjoying a couple of pops on Fridays and letting his hair down. But, unless you’re spending your Fridays with Fricker, none of us can say that’s the case. No breathalyzer test is required before posting on the internet, so if he is partaking in some type of liquid courage and running to Facebook it’s not like he’s breaking any laws. At least he’s not improperly accessing the prosecutor’s email account or something. Allegedly.
Don’t bother going to check it out, most of the really cringey stuff has been deleted.
Wouldn’t you love to get Fricker, Nan Johnston and Kathy Dusenbery in the same room at the same time? Imagine the drama. Netflix would buy the rights.
