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Controversy lingers when it comes to mayor and park board
By STEVE PENNThe Kansas City Star
When the Kansas City mayor’s mind is made up, it’s made up.
And even he realizes that he’s made a decision that may be perceived as controversial.
Some of the names — and there have been many — suggested and submitted to the mayor in the past few months as potential replacements for Frances Semler on Kansas City’s Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners simply won’t make the short list.
To be sure, many of the submissions were quality people who would serve admirably if selected as the fifth parks board commissioner. The problem is, the mayor is really only considering nominees from a certain part of the city.
In other words, don’t expect the next appointee to be from Midtown, the Southland or even the West Side.
At full strength, the parks board is a five-member body. Since Semler stepped down, the board has been operating with just four members. So far, those members – Ajamu Webster, Aggie Stackhaus, Tyrone Aiken and board president John Fierro – by all accounts have been on the same page. There’s hasn’t been a big need for the fifth member to break a tie vote.
But the day could come.
And because of that possibility, Mayor Mark Funkhouser can’t hold off forever on making a decision about Semler’s replacement.
In an interview last week, the mayor outlined his criteria for someone to land the coveted spot. At the outset, Funkhouser let it be known that the next board member must be from a specific part of town.
“It has to be someone from the Northland,” Funkhouser said. “I appointed Frances because she was a Northlander who shared my vision. I think it just makes sense to have all areas of the community represented on the parks board. And out of the 120,000 residents north of the river, I’m sure I can find one that meets my criteria.”
The second prerequisite is that the fifth board member must be in sync with the mayor.
“It has to be someone who shares my vision,” Funkhouser said. “And it has to be someone who will get along well with the other four members.”
By vision, Funkhouser means he wants someone who shares his philosophy of delivering cost-effective services for city residents. And he wants someone who genuinely cares about the well being of young people. In fact, he thinks the parks board job has changed dramatically in light of the cloudy economic climate.
“The mayor is now much more demanding about what he wants,” Funkhouser said, speaking in the third person. “It’s one thing to be a parks board member and sort of go with the flow. And it’s another thing to be a parks board member who doesn’t just go with the flow and recognizes the financial restraints.”
He said he thinks his current board understands the latter issue. He proudly likes to point to the board’s recent decision not to increase funding for the Liberty Memorial.
“For me, that was a red-letter day,” Funkhouser said. “Spending money on the Liberty Memorial doesn’t necessarily provide services for residents. That funding would fully fund what I want to do with the Mayor’s Night Hoops. For me, that’s an easy call.”
The mayor is well-aware that some people may view his decision to consider only a Northlander for the role as controversial. But he said he believes that debate and controversy go with his job.
“I suspect that every board appointment I make for the next three years will be controversial,” Funkhouser said. “It’s not my intention to create controversy. It’s my intention to create change. But change is controversial.”
Now that Funkhouser has outlined what he wants, the search can be narrowed and be more focused. We know the next parks board member will be from the Northland.
It has to be someone who will work well with others. And we know whoever it is will be thoroughly checked out on Google and likely a few other search engines.