Producer’s Corner B.B. King Page 4
Spice It Up With Shrimp Page 7
Sports Page 8
Free complimentary copy March 6, 2015 • Volume 2, No. 20
www.raytowneagle.com • 75¢
First Baptist Raytown Welcomes First African American Pastor In 172-year History With a 172-year history, most of First Baptist Raytown’s firsts happened long ago, but this month, they are celebrating a very important first in their history – their first African American pastor. Kansas City native Ron Haley joined the
FBR staff in early February as the new Discipleship and Groups Pastor, filling a position that has been vacant for three years. The mega church that now sits on 350 Highway started out with 16 members meeting in a home in December 1842. Over the following 172 years, the church saw growth and change for the better with each first they experienced. Their first church building brought so much growth that within 12 years, they had to build a larger worship center to hold all of their members. Over the next 100 years, the church grew exponentially. In the mid-2000s, the mega church saw church membership drop as it endured some struggles. After a yearlong search for a new senior pastor, the church called Dr. Brandon Park
to lead First Baptist Raytown beginning in September 2012. Park’s youth and energy brought a fresh perspective to FBR, focusing on being a strong multi-generational and multi-ethnic church family. Over 35% of the Raytown community is made up of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians. Park desired for FBR to be a reflection of those demographics, making the church a true picture of the community in which it is located. Within just a year, great things happened at FBR. Over 1,000 new people visited the church for the first time, many of those individuals joining the membership, resulting in First Baptist Raytown being named one of Outreach Magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Churches in
America in 2013. After a year of re-visioning, rebranding, and much prayer, the church began a nation-wide search to fill the Discipleship and Groups Pastor role. The yearlong search ended not with bringing someone into the position from across the country, but by filling it with another Kansas City area pastor who had become friends with Park months earlier. As Discipleship and Groups Pastor, Haley oversees all of FBR’s small groups, as well as serves on the church’s leadership team and helps preach on Wednesdays and Sundays in Park’s stead. Haley also leads a team pastors and directors that are responsible for children from the cradle through college, missions both internationally and
locally, and the Care Ministry, which offers Christian counseling services. In just a few short weeks, Haley has already observed something very important about FBR regarding diversity: “Not only will FBR accept you, they will love you.” Ron Haley became a part of history at First Baptist Raytown on Sunday, March 1, 2015, when for the first time, he preached an important message on why we are better together. First Baptist Raytown has three Sunday services: 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 5:00 p.m. and is located at 10500 E 350 Highway, Raytown, Mo. 64138. Find out more by visiting www.firstbaptistraytown.com.
Charter Commission Hosts First Town Hall Meeting
Steve Guenther, chair of the Charter Commission, opened the public forum on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, presenting a copy of the 35page Charter document that has been mailed out to registered voters who participated in elections since 2007. Approximately 47 to 48 meetings convened with 95% attendance and countless hours have been spent by the elected commissioners researching volumes of material and debating issues. Those who were present to field questions from the public, in addition to Guenther, were Ted Bowman, Sandy Hartwell, Mark Moore, Lisa Emerson, Mary Jane Van Buskirk, Janet Emerson and Greg Walters. Alderman Jason Green, a track coach, could not attend because of a meet. Mike McDonough and Susan Dolan were ill. Alderman Charlotte Melson chose to sit in the audience and Alderman Jim Aziere did not attend. Charter attorney, Allen Gardner, could not make it because he was in Jeff City but will be available for the next public forum on March 24, 2015. Guenther explained to the audience that the Charter document is a living document just like the Missouri Constitution. The document includes a Question & Answer section where Gardner addresses some of the questions that have already been asked by citizens. “More than once, Allen told the commission that he was pleased with our excellent draft. There were some legal issues to address but he plans to recommend our balance of power objectives to other charter
commissions,” Guenther said. “Every section got at least 66% approval but most of the sections received unanimous approval.” Guenther reported that the charter commission was allotted $16,000
By Diane Krizek
“Consequently, the Wal-Mart on State Route 350 did not bring the development we had hoped for. But if not for our foresight and transparency, we would not be where we are today,” he claimed. While his first term wrapped up projects that began during the previous administration, Bower proudly spoke of the Aldi’s, Jimmy John, Chipotle and Gamestop development. He reported that Raytown had attracted 80 new businesses while in office but gave plenty of credit to real estate developer, Chris Payne, who bought up a number of blighted properties in Raytown that he turned into promising ventures, from the Raytown Plaza to the Ex-
Upcoming Charter Forums March 13 at 1:00 pm at Jessica Estates II, 11801 E 80th Drive March 24 at 7:00 pm at City Hall, 10000 East 59th Street by the city and had spent only $5400 primarily for legal counsel, leaving a balance of over $10,000 for distributing the document. Direct Response Services of Raytown was awarded the bid of $4700 for printing 3200 copies and mailing them for 41 cents apiece, making the total cost per piece only $1.88. One member of the audience wanted to know the benefits of the charter. Guenther explained that there were a number of benefits which will be listed in a 4-page brochure that summarizes the charter highlights for those who don’t want to read the entire document. First and foremost, a charter will elevate Raytown in the business community and City Hall will no longer be constrained by Missouri Statute governing a Fourth Class City. For exam-
Steve Guenther introduces the Charter document while commissioners get ready for questions. L to R Greg Walters, Ted Bowman, Lisa Emerson, Mark Moore, Mary Jane Van Buskirk and Sandy Hartell ple, Missouri statue puts a limit on fines. Our municipal judge’s cannot give fines over $500 so the next step for repeat offenders of petty crimes may have to be jail time. Another benefit of the charter is that citizens will have a voice in government with the power of initiative, referendum or recall that is neither to hard or too easy to achieve. Some folks in the audience questioned the established thresholds of the charter but those who work campaigns remarked that the numbers are hard to achieve but not impossible. Two members of the audience questioned the need for the City Admin’s residency requirement. They believed that qualifications were most important. “I don’t care if he lives in China.” Guenther replied, “We looked at 39 charters and of those 37 had residency requirements. About a third of those charters did not allow a waiver of the requirement, another third allowed a waiver and another third
allowed for an extension of time to comply with the requirement. We asked why they required residency. The response was that they believed the position was as important as any elected official who must have residency. We currently have an ordinance requiring the city administrator to reside in Raytown.” Ted Bowman added, “The Board of Alderman have always had the power to change the residency requirement but chose not to. Having a charter would give you, and those who believe as you do, the power to remove the residency requirement, subject to a ballot vote.” Another member of the audience voiced concern over whether the City Administrator’s employment would be affected by the charter because he does not reside in Raytown. “We deliberately wrote into the charter that all contracts entered into by the City, whether construction or employment, should remain in place. Our intent was never to target
the City Admin’s employment contract so the charter states that all contracts shall remain in full force and effect,” explained Guenther. “Will your attorney put that it in writing that the employment contract will not be subject to attack?” came a retort from the audience. Guenther replied that no lawyer is going to put in writing that a contract can’t be legally challenged because some good attorney may finds an angle to make a case.” The next Public Forum is schedule for March 24, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. The Charter Commissioners announced that they will make themselves available to discuss the charter with residents of multi-tenant complexes who may have difficulty getting to the public forum at City Hall. Calls have been to the management of Elliott Place, Bowen Apartments, and Jessica Estates. As of this date, Jessica Estates II, 11801 E 80th Drive, has scheduled a public forum for its residents on March 13 at 1:00 p.m.
Bower Makes Last State Of The City Address
On Wednesday, February 25, 2015, Mayor David Bower made his last State of the City address at the First Baptist Raytown. He chose not to run in the upcoming municipal election on April 7. He spoke to a full house that included regional mayors, county legislators, civic leaders, friends and family, all of whom he thanked for their support and inspiration to him. The Powerpoint presentation surprisingly did not match the caliber of past years yet it helped the Mayor highlight his eight years in office that he said began with the DOW dropping 680 points and the mortgage crisis.
treme Grand Prix that went into the old Hy-Vee on Blue Ridge Boulevard. Bower announced that Payne acquired the property of the old YMCA building on 350 from the owners who “had once thumbed their noses at us but let them build downtown.” He reported that the city launched a new website on February 6 this year that was not fully operational but would offer the flexibility of doing city business outside of city hours and that Board of Alderman and Planning & Zoning meetings would finally be live streamed like the rest of the cities in the metro area.
Bower said he joined a task force that would stop the waste of money spent fighting the border war between Kansas and Missouri and looked forward to his being part of KC Rising, an initiative to help the Kansas City area realize its full economic potential. He ended his speech with “thank you for the last eight years”. President of the Raytown Chamber, Vicki Turnbow, came to the podium to present Mayor Bower with a hard bound scrapbook commemorating events during his eight years in office. The house gave him a standing ovation at that. For many, this was truly an emotional moment for various reasons.