On the Ballot: Mayor Candidate Profiles

Two candidates, current Mayor Chuck Johnston and former mayor Michael Todd are on the April 5th ballot. Each candidate responded to the following series of questions from Valley News.

Chuck Johnston
 
If elected, what are your top three priorities?
The City recently sold a portion of the Sni-A-Bar Farms site to the Mid-Continent Public Library to build a new branch. What is your vision for the remainder of the City-owned property?
I would like to see it sold off to a developer with the front third of the property along Buckner-Tarsney zoned as commercial and the back two thirds zoned as residential. While we do need more green space I don't believe however that putting a park in the most south eastern point of the city is that advantageous when the town is clearly growing to the north.
 
What should the City's priorities be in terms of economic development (attracting new businesses, developing downtown, improving environment for existing businesses, etc.)?
Something that everyone has always been asking for is sit-down restaurants. We are starting to get to the point were we could support a few more upscale restaurants I believe the citizen are at that stage where restaurants would be more feasible. I would also like to see more skilled labor trades coming to town where we would be able the provide jobs for the resident rather than having them have to drive to larger cities for work. The more we can do right here in Grain Valley captures more revenues to help support the tax base.
 
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? 
According to FBI guidelines where the smallest city they rank in their guideline is 50,000, they recommend 15 officers per 10,000 of population. With our population at just over 15,000 that would be 22 or 23 officers. We just had a swearing in that brings us to 30 officers. Based on the FBI guidelines we are fairly well over their recommendations. I believe we are at an adequate number of officers. We do have a bond issue on this years' ballot for a new Police Station. Getting that put through I believe will help the productivity, efficiency, and overall moral of the Police in Grain Valley. 
 
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?
This is a question that is starting to affect all aspects of life as things have evolved. Where will the replacements for all positions in life come from as people's goals, expectations, and needs change. Going into political life you are putting yourself out there under a microscope for very little pay, a lot of criticism, and very little reward unless you appreciate self accomplishment. I'm sure other will come along to fill the shoes of those that have already accepted this challenge and are stepping down or just moving on. But unfortunately those replacements aren't running around with a sign on their back saying they're ready to step up. I'm just not sure how you identify and find those that are ready. In the past I have approached several that have expressed an interest and a couple of those are still involved. I believe we just have to do our best to encourage those that do express an interest. It has always been that way in the past and a lot of great people have stepped up to fulfill the needs. I'm sure there will be other great leaders and/or just good people that will fill the vacancies as needed in the future.

 
​
Michael Todd
 
If elected, what are your top three priorities?

1. Staffing issues throughout the city primarily the Police Department.  I realize that we are in times where everyone is struggling to find employees, but just blaming hard times is not being proactive enough.  We have had some positions go months without a single applicant.  We need to do more to see what we can do to separate us out from other entities looking for employees so we can have good candidates for our positions.  The same goes with retaining the people we have.  From Public Works to Police we have good employees and we need to do a better job of retaining them.  It cost us thousands of dollars to train new employees when we lose employees.  In the last 18 months we have lost 8 rank and file officers.  Some of these officers are leaving to take lower paying jobs in other jurisdictions so it is an issue beyond money that we need to get to the bottom of.
2. Crime Prevention needs to be improved.  Some people want to say we don’t have a crime problem, or that it is a problem everywhere.  That isn’t good enough for me.  Just because there are increases everywhere doesn’t mean we should stick with the status quo and not be more proactive in what we are doing to protect our residents and their property.  I’m proposing we establish a Crime Prevention Unit.  This Unit would be comprised of dedicated officers who only worked towards Crime Prevention and didn’t work addition patrol shifts.  They would work flex schedules so they would be available at the times that we saw they were needed for Crime Prevention.  For example if trucks in the industrial park are being hit for their catalytic convertors they could set up to catch possible thieves,  if we have had cars being broken into in Rosewood they could set up to watch for suspicious activity there, maybe there are reports of speeding on Montana Ridge between 2 PM and 6 PM daily.  Again they could set up and run speed control on Montana Ridge.  Maybe some houses in Woodbury are wanting to establish a Neighborhood Watch Program.  These officers could meet with the residents of Woodbury to get that established.
3. Infrastructure Improvements.  We need to continue working towards the street plan that was established with the street study that was budgeted for during my last term as Mayor.  That identified the order of street resurfacing and curb/sidewalk repair around the city.  Included in that is we need to start working on the Buckner Tarsney corridor north of I-70.  What I mean about that is the intersections of Duncan Road and Buckner Tarsney and Rust Road and Buckner Tarsney.  The residents that live north of I-70 make up a very large portion of the population of Grain Valley and it is difficult and unsafe for them to get into town and back home.  These intersections need work and we need to start that process.

 
     The City recently sold a portion of the Sni-A-Bar Farms site to the Mid-Continent Public Library to build a new branch. What is your vision for the remainder of the City-owned property?
          First thing is I would like for the city to take the money they received from the sale of that land to the library and use it, along with any other property sales they make, to start the purchase of some land around the Rosewood/Woodbury subdivisions to star the process of having a park north of I-70.  Land is not getting cheaper and if we don’t start that process soon there will never be a dedicated park in the north portion of our town.  Now for the remainder of the Sni A Bar Farms property, which I believe is around 40 acres, I propose to dedicate it as Park and Recreation Space.  There are not a many large green spaces left in town and we need to protect that one from becoming several hundred homes and commercial properties.  There are lots of uses from a Parks standpoint it could be used for and that is something down the line for the residents to decide on.  Additional trails, splash pad, play grounds, even a possible location for a future Community Center close to the area where the library will be.  Lots of possibilities from a Parks and Recreation standpoint can go there.
 
     What should the City's priorities be in terms of economic development (attracting new businesses, developing downtown, improving environment for existing businesses, etc.)?
          Attracting New Business
               We need to be in constant communication with our developers, land owners, and brokers of vacant properties to see what they have in the works and what we can do for them to assist them.  Projects come up really quick and lots of times have quick turn arounds.  We also need to set up some meetings with our building owners to see what the city can do to help them lower the cost of rent in Grain Valley.  Business rent is very high and if we want to retain and attract businesses we need to see what we can do to assist landlords in lowering those rental costs.
          Developing Downtown
               I believe the biggest thing we can do here is to improve foot traffic to promote our downtown businesses.  The Grain Valley Fair Association is going to be trying something new this year on June 3rd, July 1st, and August 5th where we move our popular Food Truck Friday Nights back to downtown for those three nights to draw foot traffic downtown to see what all downtown has to offer.  I’m excited about the opportunity this brings and hopefully we can work on more of these types of events in the future to increase foot traffic.  Some great businesses have been added over the last few years and we need to promote those. 
               I think they city has also already taken an important step in trying to get some Main Street Improvement Grants.  Hopefully that comes through and can be used for some improvements that are needed as well.
          Improving Environment for Existing Businesses
               We start with having some meetings with existing businesses.  The landscape has changed since I was last in office with the onset of COVID so I’m not familiar with all of the struggles our businesses are currently having.  Once we can get a handle on those struggles we can work towards the solutions that we can make as a city.  We can’t help with everything, but there are things we can do.  I’m sure one struggle is the price of space in town and again that is something we need to talk with landlords about to see if there is anything from the city standpoint that can be done to help lower that.
 
     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 addressed this a bit in my first response regarding my top three priorities.  I don’t believe we are adequately staffed at the moment.  Part of that is we can’t keep the positions we have filled.  The Board of Alderman took a step in the right direction with the 2022 budget when they added a few more officers.  The issue we run into is we are very seldom fully staffed.  We  have had 8 rank and file officers leave in the last 18 months.  That is a huge percentage of our officers.  These officers aren’t always leaving for better paying jurisdictions either.  Some are taking pay cuts to go to other departments.  We need to get to the bottom of what is going on and work to retain the officers we have so we aren’t constantly playing catch up and training new officers.  If we can get fully staffed and then focus on adding more officers through a Crime Prevention Unit I think we start to see the property crimes decrease.  These criminals are very seldom from Grain Valley.  They are coming from outside our community because they think we are easy targets.  We need to start catching them and prove to them we aren’t easy targets so the word will travel to avoid committing your crimes in Grain Valley.
 
     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’ve been called a glorified party planner by some because of my involvement in the Grain Valley Fair and Food Truck Friday Nights.  While I was Mayor we also did the Pool Parties for the kids and the Movie with the Mayor Event.  I really think getting the community involved through all of these types of events is how we get people involved.  I meet and talk to so many people at the Fair and FTF that I normally wouldn’t get the chance to.  Through the events we had for the kids I got the chance to talk with lots of parents.  Not to mention the kids got the chance to meet and talk to a lot of us involved in the city.  Being involved can be intimidating to some especially when your only experience with government might be what you see going on with the Federal or State Level.  By being out in the public, having these events, having the conversations, I think it gives people a bit more of a comfort with the city and then they are more ready to serve.  I know it’s a long ways off, but 20 years from now we might see my daughter in this position of answering questions for the Grain Valley News.