“If all economist were laid end to end, they could not reach a conclusion”, George Bernard Shaw
“To one that has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible”
St. Thomas Aquinas
We are now at a point with the State of Kansas financial picture is looking very bleak although there are signs that things may just be leveling out some. One description is that the free-fall is over, the parachute has opened, our fall has slowed considerable and even though we are drifting, we are looking for a soft place to land.
My sense is that many hard choices remain and we still are in this together. Before the year is out we will have a better understanding on what is really important; not just in the area of government services, benefits, and facilities, but in our personal lives as well.
The Adjutant General, MG Tod Bunting announced this past week the closing of 18 of the 57 National Guard facilities. This is an effort to absorb the KNG portion of budget cuts. The armories are owned by the State of Kansas and the soldiers are paid from federal funds.
The operations and guard mission will continue, there are some changes that will be necessary but these challenges will benefit Kansas in the long run. This forced consolidation will demonstrate that the co-location of services and personnel can develop efficiencies we do not yet identify.
How about this scenario? Why not consider consolidation of the emergency preparedness equipment and organizations? Seems to me that when we have a crisis such as a tornado, flood, or ice storm we always scramble to set up an “emergency services coordinating center:”
You know what I am talking about, Westar Electrical Utility crews show up, additional ambulances and rescue crews are brought into help, the National Guard is activated, local volunteers show up, the churches go on alert, the Red Cross and Salvation Army become engaged, and the city, county and state crews are placed on call and the list goes on.
There is the issue of coordination of services, communications, parking for all the vehicles, additional security, press news releases, victim notification, elimination of duplication of services, delegation of who to send where. I will admit the groups have done a great job working together in the past.
What if the State of Kansas rethinks the way we are organized on a day-to-day basis? What if we had a large area where we could house the city, county and state vehicles, snowplows, backhoes and dump trucks inside a secure area? What if we consolidated the existing facilities of all of the agencies that I have mentioned and now we have a single area, perhaps with a single headquarters building where all the aforementioned services were located.
I see some efficiency that could be realized, co-location seems to be a reasonable possibility. I understand that Westar has a problem of not having a large secure staging area to keep poles, wire, park trucks and coordinate their efforts with out of area contractors.
Would it be easier if a permanent central emergency coordination facility that is capable of dispatching a snowplow, line crew, ambulance and security detail to a specific location because they have all the available resources at hand? Does everyone really need his or her own office building and garage facility?
Can you not envision a large secure area (fence) that houses the heavy vehicles for the State Highway, County, and City? There would be a place for the HAZMAT, ambulances, food services, utility companies and other emergency rescue services.
The location would be where all day-to-day operations could be dispatched, but during an unforeseen incident the necessary reaction forces could muster and assist in coordination efforts.
Now before you all start tearing my head off, I want to say this is just a concept that has been discussed and when you respond please send your specific reasons why this would or would not work. While you are at it, offer an alternative solution.
This is a concept that has been discussed from time to time. The budget cuts have caused us to close numerous small armories and force equipment consolidation within the National Guard, and yet maintain readiness. I think the rest of us should start “thinking out of the box” as well. What do you think?
How about that mail-in ballot asking how you prefer your new $0.25 cent county tax funded? The vote you give is whether you want a sales tax or property tax increase. You do not have an option of no new additional tax at all. I just received my county real estate tax statement this past weekend.
According to my documents Butler County expects to receive $2,637,967.09 more in property tax revenue,
which is a 12.5% increase from last year. This all done with only a 0.2% mill levy increase. This is Butler County Government only and does not reflect the increased revenue that the state, school districts, city or Butler Community College stand to receive as well.
I want to thank Ms Green and Mr. Vargas at the El Dorado Middle School for allowing me to speak to their 8th grade classes last Veterans Day. I was there for over 4 hours and I would like to complement the students on their attentiveness and curiosity with their very good questions. I was given double duty to discuss being a Veteran as well as discussing Representative Democracy. Thanks again.
I consider it an honor and privilege to be your Representative in Topeka and I do want to know what you think. Have a blessed Holiday season. Thanks, John
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