Rest assured, thousands of city employees are continuing to show up every day and are still working their hearts out to make Kansas City a better place to live. In many cases, we are working under the most demoralizing conditions possible.
You may not appreciate this blog or NRFPB but they are the only outlets we have to TELL THE TRUTH. There is no critical reporting from the media, Cauthen quashed the employee satisfaction report, and councilmembers aren't listening. A healthy organization would have an outlet for employees to voice our concerns. INDEPENDENT THOUGHT IS NOT ALLOWED AT CITY HALL.
We are watching this organization, that we have dedicated our professional life to, systematically destroyed. Doesn't anyone care that the public is lied to day after day? Doesn't anyone care that millions of dollars that could benefit KC are, instead, paying off Cauthen's friends in Denver?
No apologies. We are just TELLING THE TRUTH!
(NRFPB stepped out first and is one of my personal heroes. I only began my own because I don't know who GPS is and am concerned about confidentiality.)
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8 comments:
Don't get disheartened...there is a new sheriff in town and whether you agree with his way of "sheriffing"...he is heading in the right direction. It is taking a little longer than hoped and planned to get all the new posse members heading in the same direction...but it will happen, hopefully sooner than later.
The report that you say WC is squashing, will come to the surface. The CIMO and Perfect Output audits are due in January. The truth has a way of revealing itself, but too often not in our time frame. The porn report is a beginning to light being shined on those areas that are being so desperately withheld...but it is coming. The employee satisfaction survey is high on the Sheriff's to-do list...perhaps we can get the posse to by-pass WC and get a survey done by an outside professional. Of course that would take them growing a spine and probably having another shoot-out.
There is a battle going on between the old regime that had a strong grip on everything and everyone, and the determination and strong desire to re-establish law and order to the citizen's corral...the struggle is going to take time and a lot of disheartening attempts like Dec. 13
Some of us are speechless, totally dumbfounded by certain of our new council people who really don't get it...but their seats are their's to lose...so their fate is in their own hands.
There are going to be a lot of horse feathers flying in the next few months. In the meanwhile, keep the comments coming, they are being heard out here on the range.
What do you mean "old regime"? For me, as an employee with almost 15 yers, "old regime" means the period of lackluster performance under Brown and Collins. The way I see it, long term city employees (those with 20+ years) want to go back to the days of inefficiency and lack of accountability.
Why weren't you asking these questions 10 years ago? Because your nest was feathered and now you feel threatened.
I love this blog. Good work.
As I see it, one obvious problem with Funk (besides his wife) is a lack of a plan, or his inability to tell anyone what that plan is.
When someone has been in City govt as long as he has, and ends as mayor, they better have a detailed plan of what they want to accomnplish and a tiem frame attached to it and be willing to share it. All I have seen from Funk is the formation of numerous committees who will then tell him what he should do.
This lack of leadership was a stone around his neck during the campaign. Auditors are great at finding problems but they are weak at fixing them. So far he has shown no intererst in the marketing of the City(a huge deal in our style of city govt) or detailed problem solving plans.
Sure maybe our trash service will get a little better and sure maybe some capital items will be addressed, but his own weakness (leadership) will haunt him for the next 3 years.
1:27 Not all of us have been around 20+ years. We just want honest, open accountability by an ethical manager. We needn't be experienced with the Brown and Collins years to recognize the Cauthen corruption. We're crying out for TRUTH and accountability. What is your objection to that? Do you wish for all City positions to be filled by Denverites? Why don't all of you get on I-70 West and don't stop until the elevation is a mile high?
I can see that there are a lot of things that could be improved in City Hall. The problem is not the staff or the city manager. The problem is the council. The council has historically lacked the guts to make things right. This council is no different. They attack the staff and the manager but ignore the fact that many things are screwed up because they lack the courage to write effective ordinances.
As a city staffer I don't mind the insults and vitriol. It's part of the job and the council needs to demonize somebody to make themselves look good. What bothers me is when they act as if they don't know that they are part of the problem.
Well, it has to begin someplace, and sometime, doesn't it?!! And there is no time like the present!
I don't think anything will ever return to the old days of lack luster you refer to, it's that old pendulum swing from one extreme to the other and then it really starts "ticking" somewhere in the middle.
You and I can make it happen, but not if we start fighting among ourselves. I am old enough to know that there is a certain "core" and life to city gov't and its intended function, so to speak. We just need to get that rhythm going, as some have said, with honesty and integrity. Take care of basic services and nurture our citizens. We 20+ers want to step back and watch it grow and thrive in an atmosphere where all of the hard working employees are rewarded for a job well done. Right now some of us are hanging on because we don't want someone from Denver sitting in our seats.
I'm not talking pie-in-the-sky..I'm talking about picking up the pieces right now. That means supporting Mr Funkhouser. Like it or not, he is our Mayor and I know he wants to get our city on firmer ground. Let's not dig our hole deeper by being divided any more than we are. It is what it is! and we can either make lemonade or continue complaining about sour lemons.
Don't count on Funkhouser
Anon at 4:39 p.m.
You are absolutely right. We need to start today but Funkhouser is taking himself out of the arena. If he comes along fine but we have to be determined to "right the ship".
It has happened before. Remember Berkley? Although he didn't start off offending half of KC (one of his problems was that he wouldn't offend anyone), he was very weak. He had a hard time setting big picture goals and making tough decisions. But KC moved forward, due to a strong city council and strong professional staff.
We can do it again. I also believe that this City Council will join us, when they know the truth. Most of them are decent, intelligent people but they are believing the Cauthen hype.
I am a long-time city resident and, from where I sit, city services, response time, etc. have never been better. You all may have time to sit around feeling sorry for yourselves and playing the victim, but it seems others are out there making this city a better place to live and work.
And when are you going to realize Funks stinks? Some of his biggest supporters during the election (including those who gave lots of money) are disgusted they backed him.
You can't control the mayor, the council or the manager. These problems are inherent in city government. If you don't like it, why don't you march yourself down I-70 because the above-mentioned are not going anywhere.
Oh, and thanks for the improving city services.
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