Thursday, Dec. 29 2011 6:01PM
YEAR IN REVIEW: The top 10 of ‘11
The stories that left the biggest impact on Lee’s Summit
By Miranda Wycoff, mwycoff@lsjournal.com
Julie Scheidegger, the Journal
Nestled amongst the crowd gathered on the steps of Lee's Summit City Hall Sunday, Ava Parshall, 6, listens during the memorial ceremony, "A Time of Reflection," to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks.
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closeFrom tax levy failures to growth and development and everything in between, 2011 has been an interesting year for Lee’s Summit. The Lee’s Summit Journal editorial staff whittled an entire year of city actions, school news, tragedies and triumphs to rank the following as the top 10 newsmakers of Lee’s Summit in 2011.
1 The R-7 Levy Failure – The biggest news of 2011? It was easily the R-7 school district’s failed attempt to impose an 89-cent tax increase on residents last February. The idea that the district would impose a tax increase – especially one of that magnitude in delicate economic times – rubbed Lee’s Summit voters the wrong way. Although many around Lee’s Summit voiced their opposition, perhaps none did so as formally as the Citizens for Responsible Education. “We’re not anti-school district, I want to make that clear,” said spokesperson and former Lee’s Summit City Council member Ron Williams. “A lot of times when you oppose something within the district, people say you’re anti-education or anti-children. This is just about us saying ‘enough is enough.’”
Ultimately, 15,373 residents came out to voice their opinion on Feb. 3 and overwhelmingly said “no.”
But the vote didn’t come without consequences. School officials made $6 million in budget cuts during February and March. Those cuts included a 20 percent reduction in all extra-curricular budgets at the elementary, middle and high school levels, cuts to the Parents As Teachers budget, the elimination of the summer library program, deferring textbook purchases, creating music and activities fees at the middle and high school level, adding more combination classrooms and laying off 20 teachers.
2 Exergonix – 2011 started off with a bang in economic development when Don Nissanka, CEO and founder of Exergonix, announced his plans to not only headquarter the company in Lee’s Summit, but also to build an entire green technology park around it.
Although some hiccups were experienced along the way – even after the announcement was made – Exergonix plans to bring at least 150 high-paying, technology-based jobs to Lee’s Summit within the next five years. In return, the city paid $1.4 million from its one-time economic opportunity reserve fund and promised several million in tax abatements as long as the company met its end of the deal.
The green technology park will be located on M-291 South, just south of U.S. 50 on the old Pfizer property. The University of Central Missouri has also been in talks to move its Summit Center campus to the site when its lease at the Summit Technology Center is up.
3 Citywide trash & curbside recycling – The city council had been considering implementing a citywide trash and curbside recycling plan since spring of 2010. But the issue came to a head in 2011 and citizens and elected officials alike were not above some old fashioned garbage slinging.
Because the proposed plan still left many unanswered questions for city councilmembers – like average monthly cost to the residents – the city decided to put out a Request for Proposals from the haulers. They said it was just to see what was out there. But that ruffled many a feather including citizens who didn’t want their right to choose a trash hauler taken away and the trash haulers themselves who didn’t want to lose their business in Lee’s Summit. An email chain started by resident Jim Whitaker to all the city council members led to a lengthy online “discussion” about citizen rights and eventually included state representative Sheila Solon, R-Blue Springs and Blue Springs City Councilmember Ron Fowler firing off responses. The opposition group My Trash, My Voice – started a website, an online petition, robocalls and mailers. And large trash hauler Deffenbaugh even filed an injunction against the city to stop the RFP. In late October the city council voted 7-1 to discontinue the RFP process. No definite answer on whether the process or the issue of a citywide plan was given, but Mayor Randy Rhoads said the initiative – which began as a way to increase recycling – was a “work in progress.”
4 Pedestrian Fatalities – During the last half of the year, a sad statistic emerged in Lee’s Summit: three pedestrian fatality accidents in five months. As 2011 comes to a close, the Lee’s Summit Police Department is still investigating the death of Cody Bowman, who died in an overnight hit-and-run accident Nov. 17 or 18. The driver who struck Bowman turned herself in Nov. 18. But because the investigation continues, the case has not yet been submitted to the county prosecutor’s office.
Bowman, a 21-year-old Lee’s Summit resident, was killed on U.S. 50. After sunrise, a rush-hour motorist spotted his body in a grassy median between that highway and Blue Parkway, just east of the O’Brien Road overpass. Bowman’s death followed an Aug. 27 pedestrian fatality involving Amy King, 44, of Pleasant Hill. King was struck by a vehicle traveling eastbound on U.S. 50 near Todd George Road.
On July 1, Hanna Jo Kimble, 15, Independence, was killed after being struck by a car on Interstate 470 near Woods Chapel Road. Kimble had been retrieving an item that had fallen from a pickup truck she was riding in when she was struck by a car driven by a 19-year-old Raymore man.
5 Rialto Ownership of Downtown – In April, developer and former owner of some prominent real estate in downtown Lee’s Summit, Kurt Pycior, sat down with the Journal to tell his side of the story. It’s one that began with the collapse of a bank and ultimately led to Pycior losing his properties at Third and Douglas streets – the Hartley Block and the Darron building – sold in March on the courthouse steps for a collective $3.8 million to Rialto Capital Advisors of New York City. In the months that followed, chaos ensued and many of the existing businesses in those properties were operating without a lease or any promise of one for several months.
“We still don’t have a lease. That really bothers me a lot,” said Ryan Schnabel, owner of Maggie’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant, said in May. “I feel insecure about putting a lot of money in the place.” In the end, Maxwell’s Grill and Bar and Platinum Jacks, the bar behind the restaurant had to close its doors.
Former owner Denise Sapp said there were a lot of issues when she and her husband, Kelly – who was then serving in Afghanistan – took over the restaurant from the previous owners, and they had to fight their way back. But when Rialto took over, they indicated that they were going to raise the lease on the 8,000 square foot restaurant and bar.
“We were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but then this happened, and it was the final straw,” Sapp said. There is still no business occupying that space, although Maggie’s is in talks of moving the business across the street to the larger space.
6 Unity Annexation – Another big economic development story surfaced in July 2011 when the city announced it was in talks with Unity Village and Unity School of Christianity to annex a 300-acre piece of land located south of Colbern Road between U.S. 350 and Douglas Road. After some months of negotiation on how exactly the annexation would best work for all parties, the city approved its end of the deal Dec. 15. With approval from Unity Village, the annexation of most of the property will be complete – although the small amount of the property that included a residential area will require a different process. The hope is that the property will make room for some much-needed class A office space. To kick-start development in phase one of the project the city will be fronting $3.8 million from its allocated reserve fund to realign Blue Parkway to the east to make room for more developable land between the road and U.S. 350. When the property begins to get developed, the money would be paid back with interest through a Chapter 353 tax abatement process – meaning that once the land is developed and earning its maximum taxing potential, 50 percent of the taxes paid will go to the taxing jurisdictions like the city, school district, county and others. The remaining 50 percent will go toward reimbursing the city for the $3.8 million used to fund the public improvements through a Community Improvement District. The idea is that public improvements would hopefully kick-start development of the area. A similar incentive tool for phases two and three, although they will not be fronting any money for that portion.
7 City prosecutor fired - It started with a birthday card circulated around the legal department at Lee’s Summit City Hall. Now, former city prosecutor Rachel Townsend alleges that her objection to the “sexually charged card” cost Townsend her job. Townsend filed a lawsuit in November against the city, City Attorney Teresa Williams and City Manager Steve Arbo saying she was “subject to unlawful retaliation.” According to Case.net, records indicate that a March 1, 2012 Case Management Conference has been scheduled and a judge assigned.
The lawsuit filed Nov. 2 claims that on Jan. 18 Townsend was suspended without pay so the city could investigate her complaint against the card.
“(Townsend) was escorted from the building by (Human Resources Manager Barbara) Moberg in front of a packed courthouse after gathering her effects, which greatly embarrassed (Townsend),” the lawsuit states. Townsend was ultimately fired as city prosecutor April 14.
8 Ted White settlement – In July the city finally resolved the longstanding lawsuit filed by wrongfully convicted Ted White for $15.5 million. White filed suit against the city, his former wife, Tina, former Lee’s Summit police officer Richard McKinley (who is now married to Tina) and former Lee’s Summit Police Chief Ken Conlee after White spent more than five years in prison on child molestation charges. That guilty verdict was later thrown out after a second trial ended in a hung jury (11-1) and his third trial on the charges resulted in an acquittal.
In 2006, White and the city came to a resolution for $16 million, an amount the city later said it could not pay because it was unlawful due to a city ordinance. In March of this year, Federal Judge Nanette Laughrey said she would not “tolerate stonewalling” by the city of Lee’s Summit and threatened to open up a fraud hearing in the case. The fraud case was nearing when news of the settlement came down. “Ted White and his family are happy that this 13-year ordeal is behind them and they can finally have an opportunity to heal,” his attorney Brian McCallister, with McCallister Law Firm in Kansas City, told the Journal. Assistant City Manager Brian Scott said the settlement payment comes from the reserve portion of the city’s general fund.
9 Redistricting – When the 2010 Census results returned, Lee’s Summit grew substantially – ranking the second highest growth rate in Missouri at 29 percent and bringing its population to 91,364.
But with the Census results came the issue of drawing new district maps for both the city and the state. The city, like it had always done, appointed a citizens committee to draw its new district map. But when that map was brought forward there were some on the council who thought it was too political. Ultimately, the council voted 5-4, with Mayor Randy Rhoads breaking the tie, to approve the citizen-drawn district map. But at the very next meeting Mayor Pro Tempore Ed Cockrell had another plan. He wanted a special council committee to redraw the map. Much to the dismay of some members, that plan was approved and the council adopted a council-drawn map.
The Missouri General Assembly had similar problems deciding on new district boundaries and the map was eventually given to the courts to decide. And after months of deliberation, the courts actually submitted two maps in December – deciding the Senate map needed some work. The second – and final – map had some major impacts on the Lee’s Summit area in that Sen. Will Kraus, who currently represents all of Lee’s Summit in District 8, was drawn out of his district and into district 10. Kraus said he’s waiting to see if anyone will challenge the map, although he will continue representing Lee’s Summit and District 8 for the next three years.
10 Hospital changes – Lee’s Summit’s two hospitals and another on the city’s outskirts kept local health care in the headlines with new bricks and mortar, services and leadership.
In June, Saint Luke’s East-Lee’s Summit announced a $68 million project to improve services and expand the hospital by 182,000 square feet, 58 beds and hundreds of parking spaces. In September, Lee’s Summit Medical Center announced that its CEO, community leader Damond Boatwright, was being transferred from the 64-bed facility to the CEO post at the 350-bed Overland Park Regional Medical Center. MCA Midwest Health System, which operates both hospitals and several others in the region, announced Boatwright’s replacement at Lee’s Summit Medical Center in November. The new CEO, Jackie DeSouza, was previously chief operating officer at Research Medical Center.
Truman Medical Center-Lakewood, located just outside the city, was in the headlines in October with the opening of an expanded and renovated maternity unit, the Lakewood Family Birthplace. The $8 million project is expected to increase the hospital’s deliveries from about 1,000 to about 1,800 a year. It features 19 labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum suites, eight more than in the old unit.
Journal reporter Rob Roberts contributed to this article.
