|
Age
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
59 |
|
Family
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
Married to Melinda, who teaches, and is finishing her doctorate at KU. Bob and Melinda are the parents of Ashley 20, who is in her second year of journalism at KU, and Neal 18, who is a senior at Kansas City Christian School. |
|
Occupation/place of employment
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
President/Broker of Montgomery and Company Real Estate Services. Our office is located in downtown Olathe at 107 W. Cedar.
Bob@MontgomeryandCompany.com |
|
Number of years you have been a resident of the city
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
Bob is a lifelong resident. |
|
Education
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
Graduated Olathe High School, served in the U.S. Army, attended Johnson County Community College, and the University of Kansas. Never one to set idle, Bob consistently refines his effectiveness through continued educational programs. |
|
Political experience
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
12 years as the Olathe City Councilman at Large position. League of Kansas Municipalities Legislative Committee, Olathe Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee on Immigration, Precinct Committeeman, campaign volunteer in numerous local and state elections. |
|
Civic involvement
(
Demographics / Personal Info )
|
1991 graduate Leadership Olathe, Olathe Chamber of Commerce, TLC, Temporary Lodging for Children, Character Council, Olathe Leadership Alumni Association, Comprehensive Plan Advisory Board, K-10 Association, K-7 Management Corridor Advisory Council, Rotary, and Optimist, numerous committees, boards, pro-bono services. |
|
Are you in basic agreement with the direction the City is currently taking to promote expansion and growth?
(
General )
|
Absolutely. Olathe is maturing and we are facing new challenges everyday. That is why we need consistent, proven leadership. And, that is why I’m running for re-election. |
|
What suggestions, if any, would you have as a member of the City Council to promote collaboration between members of the Council, city staff, and the community in achieving strategic directions established for the City of Olathe?
(
General )
|
One of the reasons I ran several years ago was because we were fractured and confused in our direction. We did not know where we were headed. By providing vision, through such things as the comprehensive plan, community goal sessions, the strategic plan, citizen surveys and public involvement, we have buy-in and ownership as never before. I am part of the team. I value collaboration and working relationships that make Olathe a better place to live.
We can always improve. Communication is the key to great leadership. At this time we are updating and revising our Comprehensive Plan. All elements of our community will be involved.
I am on the city’s Comprehensive Plan committee and will again promote wide participation and involvement. One of the main elements I will advocate that the Comprehensive Plan is intended to create steps for Olathe to be a sustainable community. This includes a diverse, structured, and balanced environment, mixed use development, and physical infrastructure/budgeting guidelines that create the economic basis to take care of what we have now and in the future.
On consensus/collaboration, I believe we can improve considerably by changing just a few of the dynamics in meetings. Meetings on consensus building should not be just the staff or upper echelons, where meetings and discussions may come to an impasse or the idea of joint progress is lost. For an open discussion that benefits the public, we need to go a bit further down the chain, creating a committee that includes council members, commission or board members, as well as citizens. One suggestion would be to facilitate the meetings with the idea of determining the ideal outcome first and the method of getting there second.
Examples would be:
A. Do we want the new community center to possibly be at the John P. St John High School? (Citizens want the school district and the city to work jointly for a successful use of this facility), and
B. Do the citizens want to control sprawl in the county? (Citizens would like to see us work out these future land use guidelines).
I believe that if we change the dynamics to focus on the desired outcome first then we can the go about finding solutions to get there.
|
|
What do you see as the major role of the City Council?
(
General )
|
All council members are the guardians and advocates of the community. As the citizen’s representatives we have the ultimate authority and responsibility to set the policies, budget, vision, and facilitation (collaboration). |
|
As a member of City Council, what would your major priorities be for the City for the next 10 to 15 years?
(
General )
|
First, our on-going task will be to refine priorities in the City Budget. Last year we talked about the “New Norm”. Our growth and revenues continue to change rapidly with the downturn in the economy. We made adjustments in spending to meet the challenges of the new norm. We were successful. That is why you did not see the City of Olathe listed as one of the cities in the metro with unexpected million dollar shortfalls. This year we know we are in for more of the same and have to prepare ourselves for what may happen.
To meet these challenges, we must look at how we can make Olathe a sustainable community. As I mentioned in #2, we must plan our work and work our plans. I believe we will be successful if we do.
Second, we must become a city that is more of a “true” legislative participant. If we really want to be a leader in the metro and nationally, we have to continue to think differently about how we do things. We need to be significantly more aware of the laws and policies established at the state and federal levels and to offer legislation of our own that we feel will work for our communities. As Thomas Jefferson said, “we can not keep our liberty by letting those elected to govern, govern unless they are governed by the electorate”. We can blame Congress for the failures of this country but the real blame is an apathetic people
Our legislative movements should be aimed toward the citizen’s priorities. Starting with what do we need to do to promote economic development, jobs, schools, health and retirement for our senior citizens. Ideas like targeting a specific industry to take care of things like our recyclables and waste. We could ask ourselves what legislative ideas can benefit funding for higher education.
Third, we need to improve on collaboration as described in my answer to question #2 above. Resources are at an all time low. The state, city, county, and school all need to focus on the best outcome for all.
|
|
Would you support additional sources of revenues to meet high priority needs of public safety, transportation, and economic development?
(
General )
|
I am always open to the discussion of additional new revenue. However that revenue should be closely scrutinized if you are referring to new taxation.
I would advocate that we look into a Business Park Tax for distribution centers that create high volumes of truck traffic. The city has never developed an area for this type of use and does not have the infrastructure or funds to make the appropriate improvements.
|
What level of priority would you place on the following?
- Public safety
- Traffic and streets
- Consensus building and stability in leadership
(
General )
|
They are all high levels of priority, but the highest level is the effectiveness of consensus building from a stable leadership that will fairly address each area. |
|
What are the three biggest challenges the City of Olathe faces and what should be done to address them?
(
General )
|
Olathe has many big challenges. I believe my views are all covered above in previous answers, but let me capitalize on three of them.
A. The budget – determining the “new norm” in revenue and prioritization of city services, see question #4.
B. Sustainability – “paying our way now so that we do not encumber our children’s future”, see question #2..
C. Vision/Collaboration – Being more directly involved in our legislative issues, see question #4.
Reviewing our “target markets” that reflect the needs of Olathe now and in the future, see question #8.
Creating outcome/result driven methods that guide our collaborative community efforts, see question #2.
I would like to state that there is no confusion that our citizens have identified traffic, maintenance, and public safety as major concerns to address. Our 5 year CIP Capital Improvement Projects address Traffic and Safety, see http://www.olatheks.org/Finance/Budget/Cip . On maintenance I called for a facility maintenance study, which has been completed and the results and needs will be incorporated into the budgets over several years. |
|
Do you support current policy on economic development tax incentives? If no, please specify recommended additions or deletions to the policy.
(
General )
|
Absolutely. I voted for those incentives and will continue to look for other innovative solutions.
Recent trends do concern me as to the long range health and sustainability of our community. Business parks that produce high volumes of truck traffic do not always produce enough benefit to the public. Will they pay their way in new taxes verses the cost of improvements the city will need to make in safe and efficient traffic flow (streets)? We may need a more cost effective and efficient approach to analyzing whether these types of businesses qualify for incentives. The old saying “does development pay for itself” still applies.
Target Industries – Any new business is not necessarily a “feather in our cap”. With the economic slow down of our growth we should focus on refining and focusing on our “target markets” that compliment the needs and desires of a sustainable community.
|
