Roeland Park city administrator gets pay boost

Roeland Park City Council members on Monday endorsed the job performance of first-year city administrator Keith Moody.

After reviewing his work following one year on the job, the council gave Moody a raise to more than $100,000 a year.

The five-hour special meeting consisted of a series of executive sessions and ended with a unanimous public vote to approve a new contract to supersede Moody’s original contract. That original contract paid Moody $96,000 a year. He’ll now earn $102,000 annually.

Both the original contract and the new one are “evergreen” and have no ending dates, officials said. The new contract also calls for increased severance pay for Moody, should the council fire him “without cause.”

Moody came to Roeland Park after serving as city administrator in Platte City and then in Harrisonville, Mo.

“He’s done a great job for us,” Mayor Joel Marquardt said. “We’re pleased with the vast amount of municipal leadership experience he possesses.”

The extension capped a day of good news for Roeland Park. Significantly, the long-simmering threat of losing the city’s largest single sales tax generator, the Wal-Mart store at 5150 Roe Blvd., seemed to evaporate with the announcement that the retailer was dropping plans to move to Mission, and into developer Tom Valenti’s Mission Gateway proposed project at Roe and Johnson Drive.

Wal-Mart also pledged to remodel the Roeland Park store.

City administrators have also been focusing on issues with the Roeland Park Aquatic Center.

At last week’s regular meeting, council members approved an agreement to evenly split with the Johnson County Park and Recreation District the cost of a new, $128,000 blower and heater for the fabric dome that covers the aquatic facility each winter.

Moody said the eight weeks needed to order and install the device means the pool at 4843 Rosewood Drive will remain uncovered through November. The city will continue to heat the water so that the swim teams, including the Kansas City Blazers and Bishop Miege High School, that use the pool may continue to do so.

Moody said Johnson County Park and Recreation has told the city that it does not wish to extend the agreement to split the operating costs of the pool when the deal expires at the end of 2018. That means Roeland Park would need to cover the entire annual cost of about $400,000.

Meanwhile, city staffers will undertake a detailed study to determine how much it would cost to operate the pool on a summer-only basis, versus year-round.

The pool opened 20 years ago and has been managed ever since by the county. The county initially paid for the winter dome and supporting equipment. The dome was patched a couple of years ago and should last for another eight years, Moody said, while a new dome would cost $300,000.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Roeland Park city administrator gets pay boost."