One aldermen position is open in each of Grain Valley's three wards. In Ward I, Dale Arnold and Chris Bamman are on the ballot. In Ward II, Rick Knox is running unopposed, and in Ward III, Ryan Skinner is running unopposed. Below are answers to questions Valley News sent to each candidate.
*Updated 8:00pm 3/31/22. Responses from Rick Knox have been added. Dale Arnold, Ward I Candidate I moved to Grain Valley in 1986 with my wife, of now 45 years, and our 2 daughters. I served for 32 years with the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District attaining the rank of Captain/Acting Assistant Chief. I retired, due to an injury on the job, leading to my disability retirement 4 years ago. I have been active in the community and served in many ways through the years. What are the top 3 priorities for the City in the next five years? How will you work with the Mayor, Aldermen, and City staff to address these issues? First and foremost, we need to maintain our communities infrastructure including water, sewer, streets, curbs and street lights. This is all needed to keep a safe environment for our citizens. Second: As our community has grown, we have outgrown many of our city's facilities. We need to balance the need for larger facilities, with the ability of the taxpayers to provide those necessities. Third: We must continue our efforts on economic development bringing more mercantile, sit down restaurants and industrial or light industry. That would hire and pay a higher scale wage for those who want to live, work and play in our community. To achieve this will require leaving personal agendas at the door. Stepping up to help when needed, by attending events like Night out Against Crime, and Community Development evening to show support to our employees. Attending events allow the public access to their leaders to discuss what is occurring in our community. When talking with constituents, what are the concerns you hear most often? What can the Board do to address these concerns? The one concern most often heard are the taxes that we pay. I'm not sure what can be done to change this, other than working for the continued growth of our community. So that we spread the cost of government over more households and businesses. As we get larger the amount of taxes each individual will have to pay, should go down for the community. What do you see as the best path forward for addressing facility needs for the police station, city hall, and community center? I feel that there is not a need to tear everything down and start with all new facilities. It is my feeling that if we approach the process with building a new community center first, then that would allow us to repurpose the old community center as a police station. With the police department move, we now can use the entire building as city hall. That should meet our needs for the next 20 years or more. This should save considerable taxes, at today's high cost of construction. This is a blueprint already used by our neighbor to the east and west of us. It has worked well for them, as it should for us. What should the City's priorities be in terms of economic development (attracting new businesses, developing downtown, improving the environment for existing businesses, etc.)? This is a most challenging area for our community. We set geographically to too close to Blue Springs, making it not profitable for some larger companies to come to our community based off populations and expected commercial viability. This kind of ties into the needs for city facilities. Some believe that we should move away from the area on Main Street and sell the property to a big business, that will pay millions in taxes. It's just not feasible. That a Box store or something similar will come to our community and pay the kind of taxes that will reimburse the citizens for the millions of dollars already invested at the current city hall site and facilities. One only has to look at the plight of big box stores and how they are disappearing to understand this is not in the future for Grain Valley. I spoke to economic development in my priorities above. As to improving the environment for current businesses, that would take an improved working relationship with the Chamber of Commerce (known as the Partnership). A refocusing on promoting existing businesses, should be a priority. Do you feel the police department is adequately staffed and current patrols are sufficient? What are your suggestions to ensure residents feel safe and their property is secure? Our current police department has its struggles. Adjustments in patrol and personnel assignments may be necessary. The addition of three new officers this fiscal year should help with this. A study of needs may be needed to determine if more personnel are needed. The tax base is what will limit what is feasible for the city to afford in this area. Despite the current issues with crimes of opportunity, with car break ins and stolen autos', we still live in a safe community. The best way to handle this is to stay vigilant and aware of what is happening around you and early reporting of suspicious activity. Many of our City candidates, including both mayoral candidates, have served in this position or as aldermen for multiple terms. While their dedication to the City and to public service is admirable and appreciated, what can long term leaders do to foster new leadership for future years? My experience has shown that the average person including myself understand little about how our communities are managed. After a time in office I have learned how things work and began to figure out ways to improve our community, within the limitations that are there. There are so many things that need to be done to keep our city healthy. Street improvements, expansion of the water and sewer systems, and additional personnel to meet the service needs of our community. All these things at once are pulling on the limited amount of funds available. Knowing the history of what has worked and what has not worked in our community's past helps make for better decision making as we move forward. Hopefully those who come after will have done their homework and are prepared to carry on. That is the way it has worked and will work for years to come. There will always be young leaders that will raise up and take on the tough challenges for whatever reason. We can help them through encouragement to get involved and by setting a good example for them to follow. Chris Bamman, Ward I Candidate My wife of 33 years and I have lived in Grain Valley for about 19 years. We have 3 children all who graduated from Grain Valley Schools. I’ve served our local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, have coached youth basketball, baseball and soccer. I’ve served on our local School Board for three, 3-year consecutive terms serving 4 of those 9 years as Board President. I’ve served one, 2-year term as Alderman of Ward 1 and Mayor Pro Tem. I stepped away from local politics for a short time focusing on my career and a significant amount of travel associated with my job. I work in the area of Energy Engineering, Energy Conservation and Sustainability. My travel requirements are reduced and I look forward to the opportunity of getting back to service to our community and to others. Similarly, I worked for about 8 years as the Executive Director of Facilites Planning and Operations at the University of Central Missouri. Running a college campus is very similar to running a small city. These experiences coupled with my previous School Board and Alderman experience provide great experience and background for continued success in the role of Alderman for Ward 1. What are the top 3 priorities for the City in the next five years? How will you work with the Mayor, Aldermen, and City staff to address these issues? I see our top 3 priorities as supporting our Police. There is too much turnover, too many vacant positions that can’t be filled and their facilities are sub standard for a city of this size. Second, I see needed improvements to city infrastructure in the areas of streets, curbs and sidewalks. There’s been focus on streets but our efforts need to be expanded. My experience with Engineering and Construction can provide valuable guidance in this area. And last, but not least, providing focus on supporting competitive wages ad benefits for other areas of our city team is another area where we had success before when I served as Alderman. There are many other areas that require focus and improvement but these are my top three for present and near term future needs. When talking with constituents, what are the concerns you hear most often? What can the Board do to address these concerns? The single biggest concern I hear is about the rising incidents of crime in our city. I believe supporting our police and looking for way to attract and retain our veteran officers is the best way to correct that problem. Having a full “quiver” of officers available to patrol and respond to calls is the best way for us to reduce the growing crime statistics. What do you see as the best path forward for addressing facility needs for the police station, city hall, and community center? I am a supporter of the new police station. I prefer the butterfly trail location. This is to make sure we aren’t infringing on activities like food truck Friday locations, our Fall Fair and our parks. The activities that occur in these areas are too important for our community. Regarding our community, I have always wondered why we would locate city hall and the community center on the most valuable piece of property in the city. I believe the community center and recreation areas need to ultimately be moved to the Sni A Bar Farms property when this can be supported and it makes sense for the city. The current location is outgrown but more importantly can be better utilized generating revenue for our tax base and ultimately reducing our taxes. What should the City's priorities be in terms of economic development (attracting new businesses, developing downtown, improving the environment for existing businesses, etc.)? Future development in our city should be focused on bringing better paying jobs to the community. Technical and Healthcare and the like. Further, the continued development and revitalizing our downtown area is also an area where we can continue to move forward. I am a fan of CID’s (Community Improvement Districts) and the like but I am not a fan of continuing the practice of TIF’s. Our school district has taken it “on the chin” for far too long. Do you feel the police department is adequately staffed and current patrols are sufficient? What are your suggestions to ensure residents feel safe and their property is secure? I answered this up above and won’t take up more space repeating myself here. In short, we need to make sure our Police Department is as healthy as possible as an organization. From leadership, competitive wages and benefits, facilities, etc. Many of our City candidates, including both mayoral candidates, have served in this position or as aldermen for multiple terms. While their dedication to the City and to public service is admirable and appreciated, what can long term leaders do to foster new leadership for future years? Politics in our community have become very ugly. Our Mayor’s race is an example of this. When you look at just finding someone to run for various offices you don’t have to look very far just to see the extremely low percentage of people who actually vote in these elections let alone find those willing and interested to serve. So few are making the decisions for so many in our community which in my opinion is very sad. It seems a little kindness would go a long way to draw more into the dialogue and maybe participate. Rick Knox, Ward II Candidate Rick Knox is currently serving as the Ward II aldermen and is running unopposed. What should the City's priorities be in terms of economic development (attracting new businesses, developing downtown, improving the environment for existing businesses, etc.)? It's my opinion that the City works to attract not just new business, but the correct business. What did I mean by correct? We need to work at bringing in business that meets the needs of our City. We need shopping here in The Valley that keeps or citizen shopping here, not in the neighboring communities. Developing our down town area is a major need that we have been working on and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor and we need to continue to push this. Do you feel the police department is adequately staffed and current patrols are sufficient? What are your suggestions to ensure residents feel safe and their property is secure? Is our Police department adequately staff? NO, it's my opinion we are understaffed. We must improve our staffing and minimum staffing per shift. I here Mayor Johnston talk about the F.B.I. statistics that say our staffing is where we should be. Those stats do not take into account the demographics of our city. Our city is cut into three sections due to the interstate and the railroad, with only one way to respond from opposite ends of the city this can cause major delays in response times for officers. This puts or officers in grave danger if they need back up. We must do a better job of attracting and retaining our officers. I also support the building of a new Police station to bring our police faculty up to code and todays standards. This not only allows for that, but also helps our city staff to have a better working environment that they need and deserve. Many of our City candidates, including both mayoral candidates, have served in this position or as aldermen for multiple terms. While their dedication to the City and to public service is admirable and appreciated, what can long term leaders do to foster new leadership for future years? I'm running for my second term, this first term has been a learning curve, with the tenured members they can give guidance to new members. It's also important to have members on the board who know the history of how, why past decisions were made and if they worked. We need short term, medium term and long term goals. Tenured members who have helped set this goals can help new members understand the goals. Leading the city is a moving target and tenured members have to be willing to accept newer members and listen to their ideas and concerns. I have found this to be the case in my experience with the present board Alderman. The most important job of the Alderman is to be good stewards of the tax payers money. Ryan Skinner, Ward III Candidate I am a 2009 graduate from the Grain Valley School District. I graduated in 2012 from the University of Central Missouri with degrees in Criminal Justice and Political Science. I also attended the Central Missouri Police Academy, where I obtained my Peace Officer certification. Following college and the police academy, I became a Deputy Sheriff in Boone County, MO (Columbia, MO) for 4 years as a patrol deputy. While at the sheriff’s department I also worked as a recruiter, where I had the opportunity to work on morale and retainment issues. I left the Sheriff’s Department and joined the Oak Grove, MO police department for a year before deciding to change careers. I now work for a manufacturer in Kansas City, MO as a Regional Manager. Aside from work history, my wife Laurel and I just welcomed our first child in September, and we look forward to raising her in Grain Valley. What are the top 3 priorities for the City in the next five years? How will you work with the Mayor, Aldermen, and City staff to address these issues? The police department, infrastructure, and commercial growth are the top 3 priorities for the city in the next five years in my view. Concerning the police department, working with the Board and City Staff, we need to take steps to bolster the department’s ability to retain officers. This includes addressing pay compression among our veteran officers, looking into forming specialized units so officers can grow their skill sets, and just as importantly how we recruit new officers. Regarding infrastructure, the Board and City staff need to strategically work together to plan for these immense projects. There are key roadway and intersection issues, especially North of I-70, which create congestion and pose dangers to motorist. Also, facility infrastructure, such as the community center and city hall need to be addressed. A comprehensive plan that all parties can agree on is a must to move the city forward. Lastly, responsible commercial growth is very important for the city. Working with the Board and City Staff, we need to ensure that we are thoughtfully looking at new commercial growth and ensuring that it benefits the city. It is important to bring in commercial businesses that will allow Grain Valley residents to spend their hard-earned money within our city. This will help grow our tax base and help ease the burden from single family residences. When talking with constituents, what are the concerns you hear most often? What can the Board do to address these concerns? The biggest concern I hear most is the increase in property crime occurring in our city. Supporting our police department by helping bring the department back to full staffing is the quickest way to address this. With an average of 2 or 3 officers working at any given time, it is impossible to have adequate coverage of the city. To improve the staffing issue, I would work with the board to find new ways to recruit officers and then retain them. One way to due this is recruiting from local colleges and paying for new recruits to attend the police academy. The officer would sign a contract and agree to work for the department for a set amount of time to pay back the expense of the academy. This would open the door to a new stream of potential officers to recruit from. What do you see as the best path forward for addressing facility needs for the police station, city hall, and community center? I believe the best path forward concerning the police station is for voters to vote in favor of the new police station on April 5th. I believe this is an immediate need for the city and the proposal put before the voters meets the needs of the department. Regarding City Hall and the Community Center, I believe the Board who will be in place after April 5th needs to work with city staff to create a plan to address this. The politization of this topic has hit a breaking point in my opinion and the voters will decide on how this should be handled on April 5th. What should the City's priorities be in terms of economic development (attracting new businesses, developing downtown, improving the environment for existing businesses, etc.)? The city should be encouraging responsible commercial growth. It is important to remove the tax burden from the single-family residences and transition this to commercial businesses through sales tax and property taxes. The city should have a strong focus on supporting the family owned businesses that have made Grain Valley what is today while also inviting new growth into our community. For developing downtown, I believe it is important for the city to provide financial assistance to businesses who are looking into moving into existing downtown structures through engineering and architectural funding. This will help the city transform the downtown aesthetics and streetscape, while also assisting small businesses at the same time. Do you feel the police department is adequately staffed and current patrols are sufficient? What are your suggestions to ensure residents feel safe and their property is secure? With the department having at least 8 open positions today, it is clearly not fully staffed. Once we have fixed our recruiting and retainment issues, I believe we need to take a serious look at creating specialized positions to address the real fear our residents have of crime in our neighborhoods. Patrol officers who are responding to call after call, unfortunately do not have the luxury of being able to sit in a neighborhood for a long period of time looking for criminal behavior. Instead, they are busy responding to calls for service. Specialized officers who are not responsible for responding to calls for service would allow for increased proactive patrolling to help catch and prevent criminals targeting our community. Many of our City candidates, including both mayoral candidates, have served in this position or as aldermen for multiple terms. While their dedication to the City and to public service is admirable and appreciated, what can long term leaders do to foster new leadership for future years? Leaders who have been in their position for multiple terms can bring experience and leadership to the city. To foster new leadership, long term leaders must have an open mind and willingness to listen to new members and those from different generations in our community. Grain Valley has a median age of 30.5 years, so this means that the decisions made by our current leaders will influence many generations to come. When making important decisions, such as the city complex, our leaders need to be thinking about the long-term consequences that come with it. I look forward to working with the leadership and ensuring every decision that will affect our future generations are carefully considered. Comments are closed.
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