Mrs Eickoff,

Please accept this question in the manner it is intended, just to get to the truth about why you are choosing to run for office after being out one term. I also asked all candidates in the other thread what their position is on the consolidation of fire departments. And please feel free to comment or post on any of your positions or really anything you might want to say to prospective voters.

Thanks for the opportunity to post here.
I decided to run for office again because of the many people asking me to do so. Also,it was disheartening to see almost nothing built since I had left office.
When I left office I was excited that the city was in good hands but have come to know that the open and honest government that was promised has not been delivered. 3 out of the 5 councilmembers currently serving will tell you that they are often out of the loop and get only half truths. That won't happen with me should I get elected.

As far as the consolidation with the fire departments goes I am totally against it. It has never been a secret that I, unlike my opponent, was never a fan of consolidation with the UG in 1997. I think history has already proven that the UG tax cuts that were promised in 1997 still haven't come and the residents in western Wyandotte County would go back to preconsolidation days if they could.
Once you give up some of your freedoms it is nearly impossible to get them back.

Mrs Eickoff,

I thank you for posting in this forum and hope that you will continue to check The Island occasionally should others have questions. Also please feel free to post regarding any issues that relate to the upcoming election. As I have told others, I intend for this to be a place where candidates and incumbents alike from both Edwardsville and Bonner Springs can have another outlet to dispel rumors and let the public know where you stand on issues. As you may or may not know, the Chieftain forum from days gone by was very partisan as to what it allowed. I will do my very best to make this section a totally non-partisan forum where the people can get information straight from the candidates.

Again, thank you for your input.

Hello Stephanie,

Thank you for posting here. Some would consider those accusations fairly serious. This administration has practiced open and honest government in every step of the way. Although not all issues have unanimous votes by the council, non have been decided in the dark. It is true, however, that not all councilmen chose to attend the many workshops and work sessions held in order to plan for the future of our city (both long and short term). It is unfortunate that not all the current councilmen chose to attend any of the training sessions offered by the Kansas League of Municipalities to learn the roles and responsibilities of local elected officials that have been offered on numerous occasions.

I, for one, would be very interested in hearing details of any 'half truths' or examples of 'out of the loop' situations of which you speak.

It is also common knowledge that a majority of Edwardsville and Bonner Springs residents (myself included) voted against the Unified Government concept and it has proven to be less than beneficial to either of the cities. I'm not sure I understand what 'freedom' was 'given up'. Once it happened, we wanted to have representation on the commission. I feel it would have been more appropriate to have a commissioner representing each city as well as one from this commission district (District 7).

I couldn't agree with you more on the consolidation of the Fire Departments. I have never seen any evidence supporting any possible benefits of such a plan.

Once again, thank you for posting here and I look forward to your future posts.

The latest example I can give of half truths or out of the loop situations would be the issue with the cemetery board. Upon receiving a call from the board president, John Kindred, I called three council members to see what was going on. John Kindred told me that the city administrator told him that the council had approached him and wanted the administrator to take over the money for the board. When I asked the members they said that wasn't true. Someone was for sure out of the loop on that situation.

One of the platforms discussed 2 years ago was broadcasting the council meetings via the city website for those who were unable to attend. I feel that is someting that should be a priority.

On the subject of the Cemetery Board funds:

The matter was discussed at length by the City Council and staff as a result of the Independent Audit Report that was received by the council at the October 27, 2008 and discussed in length again at the November 10, 2008 City Council meeting concerning the 2007 audit. In both the 2006 and 2007 audits, the auditors suggested that since public tax moneys are issued on behalf of the city that those funds should be accounted for within the City's accounting system. The council then directed staff to investigate the matter and correct the situation prior to the next audit cycle.

When staff attempted to bring the funds into the city's accounting system it was discovered that there are unique circumstances regarding our City Cemetery since it was, at one time, a privately owned cemetery that was sold to the City in order to have the city be responsible for its maintenance and upkeep.

Mr. Kindred rightfully and wisely brought some of these historical circumstances to the Administrator's attention. It was decided then to hold off on any actions until all of the historical facts and documents were gathered and legal council reviewed the many Kansas State laws regarding the operation and accounting practices of cemeteries. That process of information gathering is currently taking place.

The Edwardsville Cemetery Board is a well run, upstanding, and greatly appreciated asset to our community. We have one of the nicest city-owned cemeteries in the area, if not, in the country! Cemetery Funds are always a very sensitive subject and this research is not meant to be a criticism of that fine board. The city is just doing its due diligence and assuring that all laws are being followed.

Once the information is gathered from all aspects of this subject, the City Council and the Cemetery Board will have a work session to hear all of the facts and reach a practical solution. (That solution might just be as simple as no changes to current practices or as complex as changing the entire accounting system of the Cemetery functions...it's hard to even speculate at this point, without all of the facts.)

So, you see, the city staff was just doing what was directed by the City Council back in November. I'm not sure who was 'out of the loop'. I applaud the cemetery board chairman's (John Kindred's) efforts to assure that history is never lost and that everything is considered to assure the proper flow of taxpayers' money.


By the way, all of the city council's agendas and minutes are available online for a year. The city clerk also has all of the minutes of meetings dating back to the early 1900's. We have just begun to post the agendas and minutes for all of the appointed volunteer board meetings as well so as to keep the citizens more informed of all public meetings and city business.

This is an open question to anyone. Is there any chance of the council meetings being broadcast live any time soon ? I can appreciate that there may be a few challenges but I would think that in our age of web cams and other digital wonders that it would be that big of a deal. Is there any opposition to it and if so why ?

Hi everyone, just reading forums. Hopefully when we get a larger server we will be able to run the meetings from a recording but not live. As for what was said about council members not attending schooling, there is reading material that gives the council informationg about what his/her duties are and how to perform those duties. It costs the city nothing in travel expenses, hotels, or food to do this. I know that some, love to go to any and all of these, at the cost of the citizens. We are talking about $500 in travel expenses alone. Upwards of $1000 if you include hotels and events, and meals. If you multiply that by 6, and have 4-5 (schoolings) a year, that is upwards of $30,000 a year. I believe that when it is free, it should be taken. Hopefully these forums do not get ugly, alot of people read these and we do not want that black cloud again. As for the cemetary board leave them alone, they have done a great job for the last 50 years or more. I wish I could recall who directed staff to try and take that away from them....I know it was not me.

Forgot to put who I was if you could not figure it out John Eickhoff

I'm still learning about this area, but I would like to put in my two cents. I think it is absolutely fabulous that we have an area, where we can take in all viewpoints on the the city's politics. Thank you to TM for providing this and thank you to everyone who has posted here. I look forward to reading differing viewpoints.

Mystroy

Mrs Eickhoff: Thanks for posting on this forum. I for one am very gratefull. I have one question regarding your previous administration. I understood that some council members, and I think yourself were being sued for various alleged infractions. If you were sued what was the suit for and what was the final disposition.

While it is true that the city had several lawsuits filed I was named as the defendant in only one of those cases. That was a case where I, along with at least 10 other elected officials and city staff, were sued by a former resident by the name of Ferluga. It was a RICO suit. The suit was dismissed by the federal judge.

Mrs. Eickhoff,

Do you recall some of the other people named in that law suit ?

I just pulled the paperwork. John Broman, Doug Spangler, Pat Isenhour, Tim Kelly, Jim Befort, Phyllis Freeman, Reed Walker, Dan Van Patten, John Bayless, Bob Lane, Murray Rhodes, John Thurston, Hntb Corp and myself.

Thank you.

On the subject of broadcasting the council meetings, while it sounds like a great idea in theory, in reality it's very impractical. The computer hardware and storage needs alone would negate any advantage, and cost the city a great deal of money for limited benefit. However, a more feasible approach might be to record the audio of the board meetings, and then make the audio available as a podcast or .mp3 download through the city website or even iTunes.

I wish you would have gotten elected I know you would have done things a lot differently, If there’s a successful recall election I hope you will consider running again.

On another interesting note, samie, where is your outcry against Mark Bishop, the fire department union puppet?

Where are there grounds for recalling anyone?

Getting a recall is not that easy. So far I haven't heard of any reason for a recall. They haven't broke any laws.

Thank You Samie. Yes I would have done things differently as you stated. I would always consider serving my community in the future should any opportunity to do so ever come up.