In the feel good political article of the year, the KC Star simply praises County Executive Mike Sanders.
While pointing out a few bumps with the firefighters union, the article notes that Mike has developed excellent working relationships with members of the Jackson County legislature. Balancing the budget, lots of communication and open government is what the county government has been about this last year.
After years of discord, the County Legislature and the county administration got along in 2007 — which may be the most notable achievement of County Executive Mike Sanders’ first year in office.
...
Sanders made some tough decisions in 2007, not all of them well-received. He is most proud of bringing spending in line with revenue, although he slashed 142 jobs and took heat for backing tax support for agencies outside county government. But Sanders has quietly ushered in a new era, said Legislator Dennis Waits.
Congrats to Mike on this great article
6 comments:
I read this article. I know Phil et. al. will be on here soon, but I'm glad we supported him as an oganization.
Good for mike.
He's done a great job with what he inherited. It's good to see dems showing that they can perform when given executive elected positions. Also, kudos to the legislature for not falling into the old habits of past years.
Actually, I wish Mike well because I wish the County well. He really should cut back from those 80 hour work weeks, though, and spend more time with his family. Take some time to coach soccer.
I only wish to point out that any success is partially due to the $13 Million SURPLUS he inherited in the General Fund on 1/1/07 -- along with the surpluses in EVERY fund on that date as confirmed by the 2006 Annual Audit Report released in August.
(Happily, it seems that his staff's announcement in January of a Budget "deficit" that triggered the loss of so many merit jobs -- including the entire environmental staff -- was inaccurate. I assume his staff has contacted those merit employees to apologize for the error & offer their jobs back. Perhaps Anonymous can confirm whether that has occurred. It would go a long way toward dispelling the ugly rumor that the Audit Report -- which was due June 30 -- was held up six weeks until after the Merit Board upheld the "deficit" firings on appeal.)
As for "peace" in County government, I guess the question is at what price?
Phil, for yourself and YOUR family, please try to move on. People lose elections. Big deal. More important is how you deal with it. Your myopic obsession with all things Sanders cannot be healthy for either yourself or your family. It's a new year, treat it as such and try to move on.
Congrats to Sanders on being the consensus "KC person of the year" on RUKUS.
Post a Comment