Aug. 9, 2012 Volume 2 • Issue 00 75 cents Send your news to gladstonenews@npgco.com
Ground breaks on city center By Matthew Hunt Soaring temperatures could not keep city officials and guests away from the groundbreaking ceremony for a professional building at Linden Square on Monday, Aug. 6. Carol Suter, mayor of Gladstone, opened the ceremony and said the city had been asking for a couple of decades for a city center — a place to call home and gather with family and friends. “The dream is coming out of the ground,” Suter said. “What is coming is what the people have been asking for.” The city center is located in Linden Square, covering a 40-acre plot at Northeast 70th and North Cherry Streets. The center will include an amphitheater, outdoor ice skating rink, concession stand, public restrooms and the business Dentistry for Children. The amphitheater will hold about 250 people, and officials predict it could host more than 200 events a year. Suter said the project will bring in not only the community but jobs for the area as well. She said the project could bring more than
MATT HUNT/Special to Gladstone Dispatch
The staff of Dentistry for Children use golden shovels to commemorate the ground-breaking ceremony for the professional building at Linden Square where their office will relocate. 50 jobs to town. Dr. Louis A. Pollina of Dentistry for Children said his business had out grown its current location, and the staff is excited about the new space. He said it’s been a dream working with the city, and his busi-
ness will bring in as many as 10 new jobs. “This is a state-of-the-art building, and we can treat more kids,” Pollina said. “Expanding will mean more chairs, more staff.” CENTER/Page A2
Gladstone mulls consolidating dispatching services By Angie Anaya Borgedalen Gladstone and Liberty are among the cities in Clay County that have joined with other local cities and public safety agencies in hiring a professional consulting firm to conduct a public safety consolidation feasibility study. Under a memorandum of understanding, the Clay County Public Safety Dispatch Consortium, made up of police and fire departments and the sheriff’s office, would explore the possible consolidation of dispatching services. Members of the consortium include Clay County, Liberty, Gladstone, Excelsior Springs, Pleasant Valley, Kearney, Kearney Fire & Rescue Protection District and North Kansas City. After Gladstone sent out requests for proposals and received nine responses, the consortium selected Intertech Associates to conduct the study. The firm will be paid $92,000 to provide a comprehensive overview of current conditions, make recommendations and offer options for dispatch centers. Clay County, Gladstone and Liberty have agreed to each pay $20,000 toward the study’s cost. According to Lt. Andy Hedrick of the Liberty Police Department, the study is expected to be completed next year. Hedrick told the Liberty City
Council at its meeting July 23 that for Liberty to remain as its own Public Safety Answering Point it could cost an estimated $2 million to $3 million to acquire new radios, equipment and infrastructure. Due to narrow banding requirements and federal mandates by the FCC, the city’s current system could be obsolete and unusable after Jan. 1, 2019, Hedrick said. “At this point we don’t think that date is set in stone,” Hedrick said. “We’ll see where we are in six to eight months. That’s when some decisions will have to be made.” Gladstone Police Chief Mike Hasty said their situation is a bit different. After passing a quartercent law enforcement sales tax in 2010, Gladstone spent $1.6 million for new equipment and joined Kansas City’s state-of-the-art regional radio system. Gladstone budgets about $30,000 annually to pay Kansas City to maintain the system. “We were interested in the study to see if there’s a cost savings in consolidating dispatching services,” Hasty said. “Right now we’re all operating multi-call locations.” In 1995, a similar study was initiated involving Clay County, Liberty, Gladstone, North Kansas City and Excelsior Springs but was not implemented. “A lot has changed in the last 15-16 years, especially technology,” Hasty said.
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