Tuesday, Feb. 02 2010 5:46PM
Van Acker removes items from agenda
Miranda Wycoff, Journal Staff
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ReprintConcerned citizens filled up Greenwood City Hall Monday night expecting a meeting. What they got was most agenda items voted off by Alderman Jim Van Acker and Sara Ring.
At the beginning of the meeting on Monday, Van Acker asked for the floor and then proceeded to make a motion to strike four items from the evening’s agenda. The items included public comments, a discussion about an appointment as the designated contact person for the Katy Trail, an ordinance regarding on-street parking, staff reports and the mayor and aldermen reports.
The motion was seconded by Ring.
“This board is dead people,” said Alderman Jim Payne, furious after the motion passed. “Nothing is going to happen until the election, so I hope you all get out and vote.”
Van Acker asked again for the floor, following Payne’s comment, but Mayor Rich DeCourcy denied his request.
Van Acker said he wanted to take those items off the agenda because he and Ring “have been neglected and denied Robert’s Rules of Order.”
Van Acker said the two have had no say on the agenda items that were presented at the meeting.
Although the agenda for Greenwood Board of Aldermen meetings is never exactly the same — public comments are not always granted time during the meetings — staff reports and mayor and aldermen reports are usually a pretty standard item.
But Van Acker said he was just following the example of past meetings.
“If you look back the last several meetings, there haven’t been any mayor and aldermen reports on the past agendas,” he said.
At the Jan. 11 meeting, there were no aldermen reports, however, staff reports were on the agenda.
As far as removing the public comments, Van Acker said not having a designated time for public comments on the agenda was to “keep the meetings going and to keep nasty politics out of the situation.”
The discussion regarding the appointment of the parks board as designated contact person for the Katy Trail was taken from the agenda because Van Acker said he thought the contact person should have been Ring.
“Three meetings ago I made a motion to appoint Alderwoman Ring as the official Greenwood Board of Aldermen contact person,” Van Acker said. “It makes sense to have one person as the contact and not a huge parks department.
“She wants to take this on and she deserves it.”
Van Acker said he took the only ordinance off Monday’s agenda because it was a “political ploy.”
The parking ordinance would have essentially prevented on-street parking on certain city streets, including Allendale Lake Road.
“It’s the same one we didn’t pass months ago,” Van Acker said of the ordinance. “The people don’t want it.”
Van Acker continued to say that if something is going to be done regarding the city’s on-street parking ordinances, then a snow route or a emergency route would be more fair.
“Something that would be fair for the entire city,” he said. “Something that would allow parking on just one side of the street.”
The board did manage to approve the city’s bi-monthly payables on Monday. Although Van Acker motioned to take the payment for Morgan Contractors off, saying he did not agree with the way they did the striping on the streets. Additionally, Ring made a motion to take the mayor and aldermen salaries off the payables in order to save money, but that motion did not garner a second.
The board also passed a resolution of support for the Kansas City Area Rock Island Corridor Coalition and its efforts to protect the Rock Island Railroad Corridor for the Katy Trail and future transit use. This resolution passed unanimously.
To reach Journal reporter Miranda Wycoff, call 816-282-7017, or e-mail mwycoff@lsjournal.com
