Commissioner Kuhn brings up some very good points, though a few of them are not quite right. It is no fault of Commissioner Kuhn's as he has not been intimately involved in all of these projects. Nor has he had time to catch up as he cannot question other commissioners about it except during open meetings.
I am puzzled and offended by comments from a former commissioner regarding the intentions of the newly elected commissioners. These comments were full of misinformation and inaccuracies, so much so that some may construe them as part of a political hack job.
This former commissioner posed the question, "Where's the outrage?"
The real outrage to me is being accused of doing something that would harm my town. In this spirit, I'd like to shine a little light on some facts as rebuttal.
Former Commissioners decided to spend $1,500,000.00 for a hike-bike trail that starts and stops nowhere, while simultaneously sending back the grant money for a new adult softball park and eliminating the existing fields at the middle school. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
The majority of those moneys for the hike-bike trail is from grants. The trail starts at Paris Park and ends at the South Summit bridge for now, but is intended to circle the entire city when finally completed. The process will allow give the city the funds and direction to improve the west and south entrances into the city. It will also open up the rivers for more recreational use. This grant was accepted before I became a commissioner and I still have some issues with it, but it has already made some improvements in cleaning up the west Madison area to some degree and a lot of improvement to the less visible area just north of west Madison. I believe we will have more public involvement on this in the near futur.
As far as the new softball park, the small amount of grant money was returned because we had no means of obtaining the millions of dollars to pay the difference. It was originally hoped that the people of Ark City would approve a 1/4 to 1/2 percent sales tax increase for 2 to 5 years to raise the funds, but the county raised sales tax for the new jail and an additional sales tax, even for such a great project, didn't seem favorable from the community. There are still options available for this.
Former Commissioners decided to support a railroad overpass on Kansas Avenue, which resulted in payment of $500,000 to purchase land from USD 470. Then the school was forced to turn right around and pay this same amount out to have a new bus access paved after it was discovered the new overpass cut off the parking lot entrance. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
The parking lot entrance was already in the plan and the school district was aware of it. It is true the city did have to purchase the land from the school district, but the school district is paying for the new road out of the money from that purchase. The change will actually improve traffic on the street and through the parking areas. Part of this money will also go towards building new ball fields for the schools to replace the ones at the middle school. Things could change as the money now belongs to the schoold district and they can spend it as they see fit. It would be a great idea for the Traveler to print a detailed story on this.
Former Commissioners supported efforts to arm the cops to the teeth with guns and gadgets while the real crime prevention opportunities are virtually ignored. The Northwest Community Center, Sally's Palace and Big Brothers Big Sisters (to name a few) are instilling social value in the young...that's how you prevent crime. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
Former commissioners made no direct decisions on the purchase of arms, though special budget improvements were made for dispatch equipment and computer systems for the cars. The commission sets the budget for the police department based on requests at the end of the year. This new commission has received a request for protective equipment and weapons for special circumstances to create a county team involving Winfield, Ark City, and the Sheriffs Dept.
The last few years the commission has donated more than ever to Big Brothers Big Sisters (I even helped arrange a very large donation from a new business in town), the Northwest Community Center and Sally's Palace. It should be noted that Sally's Palace has not used up all of their budget in either of the last 2 years.
Former Commissioners decided to attack the unfortunate few who have only a single- wide drive providing paved parking for only one car. (In this case they created some outrage!)
The parking ordinance had nothine whatever to do with the size or type of driveway other than the building of new driveways. This confusion was caused by the traveler not printing all of the information. The fact is that the commission responded to community requests and try to create an ordinance to not allow people to park "on the lawn" in front of their homes. It did not affect street parking, parking in the back, or on adjacent properties. This could and probably should be brought to a vote by the people some day. It would not come to the commission if people didn't bring it up. If we don't address an issue like this that is brought to us, are we really doing our job?
Former Commissioners decided to reconfigure and beautify the downtown streets, great. However, the utilities under all this beautification are as much as 100 years old, creating the potential for future financial disaster. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
The five block area that this encompasses has only water and sewer to be concerned with. Replacing them without any problems would have been very expensive and probably unnecessary. What we have could be good for another 50 years without major problems. It would also seriously delayed the project even further. New wiring for the street lights, Christmas and utility lights and speakers, as well as water to irrigate the trees was installed.
The movement to change a quorum from 3 to 4 commissioners is designed to help the Commission deal with our city's issues more efficiently. We are not the first nor even among the first to enlarge a quorum for this purpose, proving that others have seen that it makes sense.
Does anyone really think that the two work sessions per month are remotely enough to correctly monitor city operations? And in case you're wondering, the current commission routinely spends over 6 hours in session, whereas the previous commission work sessions were typically conducted in less than one hour.
Why would anyone want to limit how much on the city's behalf we are allowed to work? WHERE IS THE OU RAGE?
Finally, I appreciate what the former commissioners did on our behalf, but times are changing. We have a new City Manager and we have issues that we have to address that for whatever reason were viewed as not critical in the past (streets, water, sewer, the youth).
Part of the beauty of living in a democracy means if you win an election, you are obligated to do the work. If you lose an election, you must watch the winner do the work.
We have enough obstacles to overcome. The new commission doesn't need any roadblocks thrown up in the name of sour grapes and sour grapes alone.
Mell H. Kuhn Ark City City Commissioner
Please understand that Commissioner Kuhn was not intimately involved in all of these things before the election, and has not had the time nor the ability to communicate with other commissioners since the election to have all of the accurate information. If I were to guess I would have to say that most of Commissioner Kuhn's information came from the Traveler which rarely can print all of the information and occaisionally (and I am sure unintentionally) prints the wrong information. Hopefully this will make everyone ask more questions of the Traveler, the commissioners, and the system. A better informed public will help us move ahead in the right direction.
Be care if you question the Traveler you will end up opening a can of worms. To question the Editor you will be treated like a bad person. To point out his misgivings will anger him and cause him to attack!
"This grant was accepted before I became a commissioner and I still have some issues with it, but it has already made some improvements in cleaning up the west Madison area to some degree and a lot of improvement to the less visible area just north of west Madison."
The west madison area has been gated off closed to the public. Why?
"It will also open up the rivers for more recreational use. This grant was accepted before I became a commissioner and I still have some issues with it, but it has already made some improvements in cleaning up the west Madison area to some degree and a lot of improvement to the less visible area just north of west Madison. I believe we will have more public involvement on this in the near futur."
West madison was closed off by adding locked gates. No there is no acces on either side of the road for the river. Is this part of the construction plans? Any idea on how soon we can acces that section of the river?
The nature of order in our town determines that no vehicles are to travel upon the flood dikes that protect us from political uncertainties, that leaves the city the right to blockade any access to the river after tractors mowing the right of way by chance spin their tires. After that area you soon enter the Kaw Wildlife area, heaven forbide that motorized vehichles crush the eggs of the endangered species of the submerged nesting fowl.
__________________
"I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals." == Winston Churchill
West madison was closed off by adding locked gates. No there is no acces on either side of the road for the river. Is this part of the construction plans? Any idea on how soon we can acces that section of the river?
The Hike/Bike trail plan has not been completed. It can even still be refused by the commission. The work done so far was in preparation. Other than acquiring some property, including the old auto salvage yard on west Madison, there have been no steps made towards this project. It may well happen that the grant is refused and we never actually start the project. A lot will depend on what people think. The gran will pay for 77% of the project, but that still leaves a several hundred thousand dollars the city will have to pay along with it.
As far as the closing of West Madison to the river, there are way too many department and details for any commissioner to keep up with everything. That would be handled by the streets and parks department. They are listed in the phone book and can answer exactly why it was closed and when it might be open again. I can think of several possibilities for temporarily closing it off, especially with the high water, but you should call and get the exact information. I recommend calling the departments any time you want specific information. Even if the commissioners are familiar with what you ask about, it is most likely we are not up to date as we only meet every 2 weeks. It would be a huge waste of time for each department head to notify each of us individually on each project. If you have trouble reaching a department by phone, please let me know. There are times when they are busy, and they do very little of their work in the office, but they should return calls in a reasonable amount of time.
I am puzzled and offended by comments from a former commissioner regarding the intentions of the newly elected commissioners. These comments were full of misinformation and inaccuracies, so much so that some may construe them as part of a political hack job.
This former commissioner posed the question, "Where's the outrage?"
The real outrage to me is being accused of doing something that would harm my town. In this spirit, I'd like to shine a little light on some facts as rebuttal.
Former Commissioners decided to spend $1,500,000.00 for a hike-bike trail that starts and stops nowhere, while simultaneously sending back the grant money for a new adult softball park and eliminating the existing fields at the middle school. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
Former Commissioners decided to support a railroad overpass on Kansas Avenue, which resulted in payment of $500,000 to purchase land from USD 470. Then the school was forced to turn right around and pay this same amount out to have a new bus access paved after it was discovered the new overpass cut off the parking lot entrance. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
Former Commissioners supported efforts to arm the cops to the teeth with guns and gadgets while the real crime prevention opportunities are virtually ignored. The Northwest Community Center, Sally's Palace and Big Brothers Big Sisters (to name a few) are instilling social value in the young...that's how you prevent crime. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
Former Commissioners decided to attack the unfortunate few who have only a single- wide drive providing paved parking for only one car. (In this case they created some outrage!)
Former Commissioners decided to reconfigure and beautify the downtown streets, great. However, the utilities under all this beautification are as much as 100 years old, creating the potential for future financial disaster. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?
The movement to change a quorum from 3 to 4 commissioners is designed to help the Commission deal with our city's issues more efficiently. We are not the first nor even among the first to enlarge a quorum for this purpose, proving that others have seen that it makes sense.
Does anyone really think that the two work sessions per month are remotely enough to correctly monitor city operations? And in case you're wondering, the current commission routinely spends over 6 hours in session, whereas the previous commission work sessions were typically conducted in less than one hour.
Why would anyone want to limit how much on the city's behalf we are allowed to work? WHERE IS THE OU RAGE?
Finally, I appreciate what the former commissioners did on our behalf, but times are changing. We have a new City Manager and we have issues that we have to address that for whatever reason were viewed as not critical in the past (streets, water, sewer, the youth).
Part of the beauty of living in a democracy means if you win an election, you are obligated to do the work. If you lose an election, you must watch the winner do the work.
We have enough obstacles to overcome. The new commission doesn't need any roadblocks thrown up in the name of sour grapes and sour grapes alone.
Part of the beauty of living in a democracy means if you win an election, you are obligated to do the work. If you lose an election, you must watch the winner do the work.
It would seem that the duty of doing your work is to do the work for the people. And to leave ones self ego at home when working for the people. I have seen that in this town some people run and when office and play catch up for 3/4 of the term elected to and they really don't try to get up to speed before even putting a name on the ballot. It seems that is one of the reasons the tires just keep on spinning and we go nowhere, beacause each time we have a new group of elected people they have to event the wheel again, over and over and over again and again and again. It would be more fair to the citizens if those elected would have some sort of respect for the previous officials work and look at trying to keep things moving forward, like what to do after the projects already in process are complete
