Category: Opinions

Unified Government looks to change

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, is marking its 25th anniversary by having consultants explain how it can do a better job of governing about 165,000 persons.

I am not opposed to the Unified Government trying to do a better job. However, it is important to respect history in charting the course for the future.

Ashley Hand, the UG’s director of strategic communications, writing in a recent UG newsletter, said the present top-to-bottom study effort has never been done since the city and county governments were unified. That may be the case. However, it is important to examine what happened during the years before consolidation.

In the late 1970s, a volunteer Chamber of Commerce committee of professionals, including an accountant and senior private sector management personnel, did a very extensive study of city government. The committee’s conclusion was that the city could save a considerable amount of money if it had a central personnel director and a central finance director. Both those positions were instituted; considerable savings were realized

In 1981, a 15-member volunteer committee spent a year studying local government here and elsewhere. (I was a member of that committee.) The conclusion was that the city here could save considerable money with a professional city administrator. That came about after an election in 1982.

Consolidation of city and county government came about in 1997 after a volunteer committee studied the situation extensively. There had been various attempts at consolidation dating back to 1937. However, the community approved it in an election in 1997.

Presently groups of paid consultants, the Meriweather Group, Management Partners and the Robert Bobb Group, are making suggestions about how the Unified Government can do a better job. That could cost the UG as much as $118,000. I had considerable problems getting that cost information and finally did receive it with the help of Ashley Hand. Maybe one of the consultants will make a recommendation on how to improve open records requests.

Previous successful efficiency studies have originated and were driven by very responsible and committed volunteers. That is not the case with the present study. A strong volunteer base would have helped assure the study would have been successful. Besides, it would have saved the UG a considerable amount of money.

Murrel Bland is a former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Business West.

Senator comments on various issues

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

The way Roger Marshall sees it, there are three main issues facing Americans today. They are inflation, inflation and inflation.

That was the message the junior U.S. senator from Great Bend delivered to members of the Congressional Forum who met Friday, July 15, at Davis Hall at Wyandotte County Lake. The forum is a committee of the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce.

Sen. Marshall, a Republican, said he fears that the economy will suffer a recession. He blamed the Biden administration for too much unnecessary spending.

High gas prices are a result of limited supply; he said that it takes two years for any new oil drilling effort to become operational. The senator has encouraged the use of biofuels.

Sen. Marshall is a medical doctor who has delivered more than 5,000 babies. Affordable health care has been one of his concerns.

The senator told of the need for immigration reform; he also said it is important to have a secure border.

Sen. Marshall spoke about the need for a qualified workforce and praised the efforts of Kansas City Kansas Community College and Donnelly College for helping meet those needs.

Sen. Marshall said he is opposed to eliminating the filibuster rule in the U.S. Senate that requires 60 votes before a bill can be passed. Democrats have criticized that rule.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Business West.

Neighborhood watch leaders hear about human trafficking

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

David Hopkins needs help.

Hopkins, a detective with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, made the plea for assistance at a meeting of the West Patrol Advisory Committee Thursday, June 23.

Hopkins is assigned to human trafficking crimes; he made a plea to about a dozen leaders of neighborhood watch groups, citing that they are the eyes and ears of their respective communities.

Hopkins said that the internet is used in many human trafficking cases. He said criminals will lure victims who are desperate. These include undocumented immigrants or teenagers who have run away from home. He said prostitutes are often involved in human trafficking cases.

Major Dustin Dungan, the West Patrol commander, said staffing in the Police Department, continues to be an issue. Presently, the Police Department has 369 officers authorized, with only 309 in service.However, there are 23 in training and nine in the Police Academy. The situation is even more critical with only 50 percent staffing among dispatchers.

Maj.Dungan reminded those present that fireworks can be shot off legally July 2, 3 and 4. He said illegal fireworks include M-80s and bottle rockets. He said the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve were the busiest two nights for patrol officers.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and the Piper Press. He is a director of Business West.