I'd like to call this meeting, the Clay County Commission to order. We will begin with our invocation. President Rudy Garcia will lead us. Please come forward. Make sure the light is on and the mic is ready and then proceed. Hi. Good afternoon. Rudy Garcia with the Church of Jesus Christ of Light. Are they saying thank you for having me here?
Our dear Heavenly Father, we're grateful to be here this evening as we commence this Clay County commissioners business meeting and grateful for these leaders who sacrificed their
time and their talents and their efforts to lead and guide this part of
Daivinyard. We're grateful for their sacrifices, for their good hearts, and
their desire to serve, and to support the community in which we live in.
Dear Father, we pray that the proceedings this evening will be inspired, that
decisions will be made that will be according to thy will and the needs of the
area and the members who live in this great community. We're grateful for all
those who live here for the businesses, for the schools and the religious organizations
that are in the area. Please, we pray that that will bless each of those that live
in the area that they will feel I love and be grateful for the blessings that they have.
Again, we pray for inspiration and guidance as we proceed through this meeting this evening
and we humbly ask for these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Please join me in the play.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you.
Please call the roll.
Commissioner Nolte.
Commissioner Wittington.
Here.
Commissioner Lawson.
Here.
Commissioner Wagner.
Here.
Chair.
Next item on this evening's agenda is the approval of the agenda.
Commissioner Johnson moved to approve tonight's agenda.
Motion been made for the approval of this evening's agenda.
Are there any questions or comments?
Seeing none, you'll recognize the close.
I close.
You call the roll.
Commissioner Johnson.
Yes.
Commissioner Thompson.
Yes.
Commissioner Carpenter.
Yes.
Yes. Commissioner Whittington. Yes.
Commissioner Lawson. Yes.
Commissioner Wagner. Aye.
Motion passes 6-0.
Members, are there any members of the public who would like to comment to the commission on any issues of importance to them?
Seeing none. That brings us to our consent agenda administrator.
The consent agenda allows the commission to act upon items considered to be routine and approved in one motion.
These may include items that have been reviewed by the commission in a prior session.
There will be no separate discussion unless a commission request that an item be removed
from the consent agenda and considered separately.
There are two items on the agenda this evening under consent.
The first item is approval of the minutes from the July 25th business meeting.
In resolution 2024-226 is approving the employee's payments from July 27th to August 2nd.
there are 175 invoices that total $299,504 and 87 cents.
Thank you.
Are there any questions or comments related to the consent agenda?
Seeing none, Commissioner Johnson.
Move to approve tonight's consent agenda.
Motion been made for approval of the evening's consent agenda for the discussion.
Seeing none, you are recognized to close.
I close.
Please call the roll.
Commissioner Johnson.
Yes.
Commissioner Thompson, Commissioner Carpenter, Commissioner Weithington, Commissioner Lawson, Commissioner Wagner, motion passes, 6-0.
That brings us to the seating's regular agenda. There is one item on the seating's regular agenda that is 2024-227, administrator.
Resolution 2024-227 is approving invoice payments for the Clay County Prosecutor's Office from July 27th to August 2nd.
There are 12 invoices totaling $9,255.
$1.59 cents.
Any questions?
Seeing none, is there a motion, Commissioner Johnson?
Move to approve 2024-227.
Emotions been made for approval of 2024-227.
Further discussion?
Seeing none, you will recognize the close.
I close.
Please call the roll.
Commissioner Johnson.
Yes.
Commissioner Thompson.
I request myself.
Commissioner Carpenter.
Yes.
Commissioner Willington.
Yes.
Commissioner Lawson.
Yes.
Yes, Commissioner Wagner.
Aye.
Motion passes, five in favor, one recusal.
It brings us to discussion items.
We have two discussion items on this evening's agenda.
The first one being Chapter 90, Parks, Updates, Administrator.
Yes, as the Commission may recall, a couple of weeks ago, our interim parks director presented
to the Commission of Weather, lengthy report on recommended changes and additions to Chapter
there was some discussion, great feedback by the commission and so Director Davis is here again this evening to recap some of the information that we're recommending to change based upon the conversation that the commission had at the last meeting.
Thank you, please proceed.
We'll go through one ordinance tonight and that's 90.28 and that's page 34 and 35 of your
packet just to get to that. Last week or last time we discussed there was some questions
over the curfew ordinance and after some discussions with the sheriff's office we've come
to conclude to scrap that and incorporate it more into the park closings is basically
an all or nothing if we close the area, all ages, hour restrictions. So 90.28 would
cover that park closings. We did add that the County Administrator and Parks Director
have authority to establish hours and close certain areas. And it also by simply posting
of signs with those such hours as we need to do.
We also did add a section that the sheriff, the fire chief, or an emergency management
director and an emergency may temporary close as a designated area or a portion of a
designated area when necessary, necessitated by public health or public safety reasons.
And that's basically the changes I can go through everything else if you want to again,
or if you have questions on this.
are there any questions from the commissioners either on what was just the
section just covered or any other part of this chapter?
Seeing none, do you
just looking for consensus that we are approving of the of this chapter change?
Correct. We'd like some direction from the commission if you would like us to
bring it back. Chapter 90 with these revisions from the previous draft for
for your consideration for adoption at the next meeting.
That being said, if there are no questions for discussion,
is there consensus to move forward on that?
Seeing a lot of head nods and thumbs up,
nobody has any concerns at this moment to express.
All right, well, it sounds like we have consensus,
so thank you very much for the presentation.
Next item on discussion would be update
on senior tax relief program administrator.
Yes, the commission is aware the county commission adopted an ordinance late last year for the county's senior real estate property tax credit program and the governor did signed a bill just recently that did do some clarifications with regarding that so we will be coming back to you all with some recommended changes to our ordinance so that we're in compliance with that.
But we wanted to take the opportunity this evening.
Administrative Services Officer Jacobs is here to give you an overview not only of those changes and what you might see in the changes to the ordinance coming forward, but also what staff's been doing and working on and what the plan is to roll out this for our senior property owners in January.
Secretary.
Please proceed.
Good evening.
Deanna Jacobs administrative services officer,
the senior real estate tax property tax credit
program.
I don't know why I can't say that.
I type it 100 times a day.
Brief overview as county administrator indicated the original bill was signed in July of 2023.
This commission adopted the ordinance and November of 23 and at that point staff began working on how we can make this work and get it implemented.
In July of 24 the Governor signed Senate Bill 756 that modified portions of the current law which as the administrator indicated will require some modifications.
The changes to the current law indicate that you no longer have to have a Social Security
Retirement eligibility.
The base year does not predate the adoption of the program.
Counties have expressed authority to adopt reasonable procedures to carry out the purpose
and intent.
We cannot limit, counties cannot limit the definition of or scope of eligible credit, amount
or eligible taxpayer, such as a cap on the assessed value or income.
and an adopted ordinance does not preclude it from being amended or superseded by petition.
Those are some of the new things that don't really impact our current ordinance.
However, these new items do, and that would be that if the tax liability declines will
low out of the base year, the lower amount will become the new base year from that time forward.
Our ordinance indicates that it will go down, but it will come back up to the original base year.
The base year shall be increased, reflect real property tax liability attributable to new
construction and improvements, only the incremental amount that changes the assessed value.
The assessors are really excited about that part.
The property, if the property is annexed into a taxing jurisdiction which they did not owe
real property on their base year, then the base year will be increased, reflect that tax
liability.
All of these items will need to be adjusted in our current ordinance.
So what's that mean for us?
We have to amend the Clay County ordinance to reflect those changes and we plan to bring
that to you in August 22nd.
We've been working with various departments and Lucas from the assessor's office has been
really wonderful in helping us with some of that language.
And we need to continue to hone our logistics and the implementation of the program in getting
the word out. Big, big obstacles in those things. The first one is finding a company that
can actually calculate our taxes accurately and to implement this program. The first
year the program is simple because they're all starting with the same base year. After
that it gets more complicated. We've reached out to our current vendor and some other vendors
across the state. No one has actually said they can do it. However, as of yesterday afternoon, we did
We received information from the company that would be an increased or an improvement, an upgrade to our current. The project cost for that would be $3.8 million. If you include the additional cost of project hosting, first year support, public access hosting, it increases the cost of $4.5 million. And they still can't tell us that they can do the taxes, but they've got a program for us.
So we're going to continue to look and push our current vendor to see if they can do what
we need them to do and to make all of the individual adjustments that need to be made
to the taxes.
This is what we envision the tax bills to look like.
They will have four columns.
One will be the initial taxing liability.
The second will be the base year.
the third will be the credit, the credit,
and then the last will be what is actually owed.
So we decided that we would bring to you
a couple of examples.
We pulled two properties.
One is in the North Kansas City School District.
The other one is in the Liberty School District.
To just give you an example of what a tax bill
or a tax credit might look like for an individual.
We used real tax years just so there was no question
about the amount of the tax that was applied.
These are numbers from previous years.
In this case, the base year is the year prior to the year
in which you become eligible, 62 or older, and you apply.
That's really important that we make sure
that our citizens understand they have to apply for it,
for them to be eligible for this and for it to be applied to their taxes.
services. You can see that we have listed out the different agencies that are the taxing
jurisdictions. And what's important on this particular one is the two at the bottom.
The state tax, which is the Blind Pension Fund, and then the North Kansas City School
debt, both of those are considered constitutionally protected. So they are not eligible for this
program. Those two taxes will continue to increase. You can see the difference between
the new adjusted balance and what the base year was from $5.89 to $6.74 and $13.70 to $15.68.
These, however, will stay the same and that's where the individual is going to get their tax
break.
So if you look at this, you can see that the program eligible taxes are $4,200. The unadjusted
tax liability is $4,300 resulting in $159 savings for that year.
That is this tax bill.
Second example.
Similarly, broken down, you will see the debt levy and the state tax are not together.
I don't want citizens to think that they will be always together.
So they may show up other places, but they will say debt levy or the state tax.
The base year is 1968, the balance due is 2164.
If you look at this, you can see that the eligible taxes are 2164, if they had not been
in the program, it'd be 2782 and this person saved $617.
So there's going to be a lot of variance in the amount of money that individuals save.
And unfortunately, based on the questions that we're getting, there's a lot of confusion
about what their tax bill is going to look like.
A lot of them believe it is going to be exactly the same
as it was in 2024 or their base year
because they don't understand that there are,
in this case, two taxes, but any debt obligation
or the state tax are not eligible for this
because they're constitutionally protected
and this is a statute.
So that's going to be really important for staff
to get the word out on that
and try and help people understand
and it's not going to be exactly the same in all likelihood.
How are we going to do that?
Any way that we can.
We're going to try and get a hold of all of the news,
the radio, social media.
We're going to shout it.
I think we're going to give Commissioner Lawson the megaphone.
We are going to various meetings throughout the community
and we are going to send flyers to various churches
organizations throughout the county if we can find an email, we'll send them a
flyer. Post these things that lodges like an Elk's Lodge or VAW or VAVW Lodge.
Credit unions, teacher credit unions, law enforcement or public service credit
unions, anywhere that we feel that it might reach persons who would be
interested in this program.
Here's a list for those at home to see where we're
going to be for public presentations. This is just the list that we have at this point
in time. If anybody reaches out to us and wants a presentation, we are going to do our
best to accommodate that and go out and get, again, get the word out and hopefully with
your assistance. And any one that would like to join us and help us do that, we'd appreciate
it. In addition, we're going to be taking applications on site. We have chosen the senior
center because it is January, February and March in Missouri and we don't know what
the weather is going to be in.
Our belief was that a senior center would be best equipped to handle anyone that might
have challenges getting in and out of a building or around during that time of the year.
This is the flyer each of you should have had one at your seat and this is what we are
still working on, there are some minor tweaks that we need to do to it, this is the front.
And then as you open it up, the information is on the inside of the eligibility, what
documents you might need to apply, where you need to apply, and then directly cross from
that, the application sites, and that's where how it folds in.
If you open it up, then you've got the frequently asked questions, and then a list of presentation
session or informational sessions that will are listed there for anybody to attend that
would like to.
And then the QR code on the back.
This is our family of flyers.
They're kind of jumbled up there together but you have an example in front of you.
The first one is the little flyer that we hope to put in the tax bills and send out to every
household so that we're trying to reach absolutely everybody.
Then, you have that one sheet that has the information on the public presentation sessions
and the application dates.
That's something that could be put on a bulletin board.
You don't have to worry about it flipping and turning it over and that kind of thing and
then you have the flyer.
So those are at this current time.
Those are our flyers and we will adjust them as necessary as additional things come forward.
Thank you for the presentation. I'd like to point out that I think we as a commission
have done a good job in putting this together and particularly Commissioner Lawson who
led our task force to put this together, so I want to thank her particularly, but I think
all commissioners participated in this, so I think that I think we can be reasonably proud
of the effort we've put forward and I think we are well serving our citizens, particularly
our seniors, with this program. So, with that Commissioner Lawson?
Yeah, first of all, I want to say you did a hell of a job on this. This is, it answers
the questions, doesn't go into big, hairy detail, but it answers the questions. I think it
will put a lot of people's mind at ease. And the fact that you've already got all of these
different dates set up that's phenomenal you know we too often government does
something and then they never follow up on it you know it just left out there
well you should have come in or you should have done it this is wonderful I'm
highly impressed and real real pleased with the way you did this I am I think you
We were all sweating bullets and trying to get this thing set up.
I thought that our current software company said, we will be able to do this for you
for nothing, were they just bulleness or what was the deal?
That does not appear to be the case at this point, it would be 4.5 million because that's
for the premium.
Totally, so we're going to have in order to do all this and our software and everything
that's necessary for it. We're going to be looking at 4.5 mil. Commissioner that's only
if you choose that company. We are going to explore every other avenue to be able to be a little
more cost effective. Oh good. It doesn't seem like it's it's really cost effective to to spend money
that we could be saving others. Yeah. Boy. That's I was so excited when they said oh we'll do it for
nothing. I thought, oh, we're home free. So I should have known, right? But anyway, thank you.
Always hope. Yeah, I will, I will come to every single one of those. I'm just tickled to death
that you're, you're doing what you're doing. I appreciate it. Really appreciate you.
Commissioner Wagg, oops, sorry. Commissioner Wagg, there we are. I am sorry, but there we are.
We've cleared times in charge.
I guess.
I want to add my voice to thanks.
This is a lot of great work that you've done.
And I think more work and better work
than we've seen out of some other counties
that have this very same.
But I'm not going to name any of those counties tonight.
But do have a couple of questions.
One is actually coming off of the question
that our fellow commissioner asks.
So, I did expect there'd be some financial hit to this, but I guess my question is not
knowing exactly where that will end up.
Do we have some idea of a plan of financing that, whether that is one time out of next year's
budget, spreading that over years, don't know until we actually hear back what's kind of the
thought. Good question and we don't know at this point in time. I will tell you right
now I was I had sticker shock and probably fell out of my chair when data gave me
the 4.5 million dollar number. We had anticipated some costs associated with
but nothing and and again to be clear the current software that we use so this
isn't just changing our software so that it can you know recalculate the
relief program it is we have to upgrade because it's an essence what we currently have is basically
antiquated and they're wanting us off that platform yeah and yes we all know that happens with
software quite frequently but I agree I think staff is doing their due diligence reaching out to
other counties saying what are you using and they are working on a backup plan plan B that it means if
we don't have it set up in a new software for next year when we're preparing the tax bills that we
We will do it manually on those that are eligible for the tax credit.
List out some filing cabinets and start filling a full of papers.
So I don't know if along those lines it's even possible as you talk to some of these
counties but I wonder if there's a joint RFP opportunity that maybe spreads some of those
dollars down.
Right.
We may be looking at some kind of short-term financing for this or you know until we pick
the actual software and really get down to the nuts and bolts of it and then we can look
at what are the financial options that we have to cover the cost?
Fair enough. Then the only other question was kind of taking that debt-lovy question,
maybe a little bit further. So Kansas City, for example, is in its seventh year of its 20-year
bond plan, geo bond plan, where it is raising every year. Does that work the same way as the
school districts, levy example, because presentively, they'll raise it.
There's another bond that goes out that year.
So anything that may have been voter approved that would have allowed for
some sort of debt issuance, wherever it is, you're still going to pay for those rises.
That's correct.
That's our interpretation of this point, yes.
That's what I would assume or else we get, or the state gets sued, but that's their problem.
But okay that does will all be listed out separate so you'll be able to see what
portion of that is the debt binding. Yeah and I guess I would suggest based on the
schedule you've given and again I agree great a great schedule as you go I think
that probably makes some sense to the degree that you can individualize those sorts
of things to whatever community that you're in. So if you're in Kansas City you've
You've got to deal with this, but if you're in liberty,
you're going to deal with this.
I think that may be a little bit of extra handholding,
but I think it's probably worth doing,
so that people understand to your point
that things just don't freeze and you don't have to worry
about them again and life goes on and those obligations
go on, so anyway.
Wonderful, wonderful job.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Carpenter.
Mr. Carpenter.
Thanks, yeah.
No questions.
Just wanted to say thanks as well.
I'm not just for today, but in the pamphlets great.
But going all the way back to the beginning of this process,
you know, there's been a lot of complexities and ambiguities
for the beginning, and just one express my gratitude to you
for helping us navigate all of those over the last year.
And I know there are more ahead with the implementation
and all the logistical pieces of that.
So thank you for all your work on it.
I know it's been a couple of minutes.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Withington. Yeah, I just want to say thank you also and I'll help share this on social media and everything and just want to say thank you for your leadership on this Joanne. If it wasn't for you, we had some commissioners who wanted us to sign a letter of intent. So for you, we wouldn't have got this done. So appreciate your leadership.
And I would like to say that this is this is not my product. This is the product of your staff. This is the product of the clerk and the clerk.
Collector and assessor and the media team is definitely a team effort.
This would never have come together without the team that you have before you both here
and at home.
I did have a couple other questions, if you don't mind.
One of them is if someone improves their property substantially, then that will trigger another
event.
Would that in any increase, would that be based on the increment of what the improvement
it was and not the overall value of the property or how would that work.
Law indicates it would be based on the incremental improvement and that would be added to the base
year.
However, there are some logistics on trying to figure out how that would happen.
It seemed like kind of a complicated question.
I know that the spirit of it obviously tells us where I believe we need to go, but then
putting that into practical effect is a little more tricky.
So, one of the things working with the assessor and the team that did it, I think, is
mentioned is, you know, the statute really didn't define what construction. And so we believe
the intent is if somebody does something to their property because they have to put up a ramp
or making it accessible and are doing some new construction from that perspective, you
know, we believe that that shouldn't adjust, right, the value. However, we're kicking around
the idea that if the addition, the new construction is 100 square feet or greater added on to the
home, then that would be our threshold that you would have to basically add on a word.
Now, we're still working through the logistics on that and what that looks like.
Okay.
I agree totally about the, any improvements that increase mobility because of, you know,
inability to actually access it's sort of American with disabilities kinds of issues.
The other we talked about the cost of the software.
where do we have any kind of a handle on what the ongoing cost would be clearly they
would be much less and we are you are going to be exploring other options but do we have
any just sort of general idea of what the annual maintenance of that software might also
include.
I mean, I guess I realize that it's going to go back out for a review and you don't necessarily
have that information but assume there will be some additional cost that we need to be
aware of.
They did indicate in their email that they would keep the maintenance cost at $195,000 for the first five years.
I don't know if there were additional costs that would be associated with that on a yearly basis.
And we, you know, again, doing cost-benefit analysis, I'm sure we paid maintenance now for the existing software.
So really, what's the delta of the increase on the annual cost versus what we've been playing?
And we'll bring all that to you once we have a final recommendation.
So you have a full financial picture of what this is going to look like.
And I assume that would be the case. I just wanted to bring it up so that we would all have it have an awareness of that.
Are there any more questions or comments on this issue?
Seeing none. That would conclude where we at there we are. I would include this part of the discussion.
So that moves us on to the onters, excuse me on the reports. Auditor's cash basis administrator.
Yes, included in your agenda packet is the auditor's cash basis monthly report as a
band of July. So certainly if you have any questions about that information please reach
out to the auditor.
Okay. That brings us to County Administrator
comments administrator. Just a couple items. First of all and the county is taking applications
is online, you can go to the county's website at www.claycountymod.gov.
We are opening up for registration for the next citizen academy that will be kicking
off this fall and so I encourage any citizen that is interested in participating.
Please go to our website and fill out the application.
The county is also taking applications.
We have vacancies on two boards, the tourism board and also the domestic violence board.
And so if anyone is listening and is interested, there's information on our website about
those boards and if they would like to be considered for that, you know, please go and fill out the application.
And then finally, I know Commissioner Nalti is looking for a commissioner that might be
interested in starting on the EDC's Midwest Small Business Board and so if you are interested in
filling that position on the EDC board, please let Commissioner Nalti know. And finally,
the commission's next meeting is next Thursday, August the 15th, the 6 o'clock here in the chambers.
Thank you. That brings us to Commissioner Comments.
Commissioner Woodington, we'll start with you if you don't mind.
Very well. Commissioner Lawson.
We'll hold on a sec. Let me get back there.
There we are.
I had to say something.
You know, no, I do want to have a shout out.
Karney has just named a new police chief.
His name is Mark Thomas and Mark has been kind of filling in since March.
But they have gone ahead and I think Mayor Pope put force that name and the
alderman agreed with that and he's a gentleman with a lot of experience and
I think he's going to do great for Carney. I remember when we first moved to
Carney there was one policeman and it was officer Frank and man you didn't
mess with him. The kids were scared to death of him. He was a big man and he just
didn't put up with anything but he kept that place just in line. The kids were
good, the town was safe and so now looking at it as grown and all the officers
they have, I you know I really commend this gentleman for taking the job on
because it's not a small job anymore but just wanted to give him a pad on the
back for getting the job and keeping carny safe we hope.
Commissioner Wagner. Just very quickly thanks to those that exercised their
right to vote earlier this week not everybody does it and not everybody around
the world gets the opportunity so thanks to those who do that for those who
prevailed congratulations for those that did not that's okay better luck next
time. Thank you.
Mr. Johnson, Commissioner Thompson, Commissioner Carpenter.
Well, I just want to jump on actually Commissioner Lawson's comments from last week about the Olympics.
I've been enjoying watching the Olympics.
Everybody has, I ran track and high school and USA track and field is having a banner.
You're maybe the best in the history of the country, so go USA.
And in fact, you all probably saw.
We had a local guy, Quincy Hall, from right down south, I think.
one gold in the 400 and I used to run the 400 not as fast as Quincy, but anyway it's been
great week for America, great couple of weeks and going to keep watching, celebrate it.
Thanks.
I just have a couple of things, one is I do encourage commissioners to, as we have our boards
and commission vacancies come up and they are posted, I do welcome your recommendations and
And if you have someone that you've encouraged to put forth their nomination, please let me
know.
So I can make sure that I pull up those, I will be getting those applications obviously.
But if there's someone that you are interested in, I certainly welcome the input of commissioners
when it comes to making those nominations.
So please feel free to reach out to me in that case.
I also want to echo what Commissioner Wagner said.
that is, thank you for those who participated in our Democratic Republic, that is something
that Commissioner Wagner rightly pointed out. It is not a universal, it is not universally
recognized as something that everybody on this planet can do. It just I think underscores
what an incredibly special country we have. And if you don't participate, I hope that you
we will consider participating in the next election,
be an informed voter and perform your civic duty
because if we don't, I think we are the worst forward.
I think I remember a quote that those who don't vote
are destined to be ruled by those who do.
And so please make sure that your voice is heard.
With that, we are adjourned.
Thank you.