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| Proposal Sparks Lively Debate |
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| News - Osawatomie | |||
| Written by Jeff Gulley | |||
| Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:00 | |||
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For the first 20 minutes of its work session Thursday night, the Osawatomie City Council considered a proposal to require city employees to live within city limits. Councilman Mike Moon brought the suggestion before to the council, saying his plan would affect only new hires, not current employees. “It’s been on my mind a long time,” Moon said. “I am concerned about locally owned dollars leaving the city. I think it’s a policy decision that helps create a culture, and a lot of good things can come from this.” Moon’s opening comments sparked a lively debate on whether a policy change would strengthen the city and create a larger sense of community. City Manager Bret Glendening said the current policy is to encourage employees to live in Osawatomie, and employees in some positions, including the city clerk, are required by state law to live in town. He said he had considered such an idea in the past and encourages all employees to live in Osawatomie. “I think it’s important, but not always practical,” Glendening said. “I think living in the city wouldn’t give the employee more buy-in to the position, but maybe more buy-in to the community.” On the other side of the issue was Councilman Brent Kaempfe. “I don’t think where they live makes them a better employee or the city a better community,” he said. “I think (the idea) is asinine.” Councilman Larry Ratley said he could see requiring those in some positions, such as department heads, to live within the city limits due to emergency response times, but he said he would not support an overall policy. Councilwoman Karen LaDuex said moving forward with the policy would show that the city is proud of what it has to offer. “If we don’t think we have enough to offer people to live here, why would anyone else?” she said. Mayor Philip Dudley asked the council to spend some time thinking about the proposal so it can be discussed again at a future meeting. In other action, the council on Thursday: Approved a rezoning ordinance for 34110 W. 359th St. from agricultural to RP-4, rural residential. The ordinance applies to a 10-acre track the owner wants to sell. Approved a special-use permit for city-owned property in the 600 block of Brown Avenue to allow for a farmers’ market. Approved a special-use permit requested by Launa Criddle to operate a child-care center in a R-2 residential district at 700 Parker Ave. Approved a final change order for the 2007 street-improvement project and authorized payments of $18,029 for 2007 and $22,745 for 2008, closing out both projects.
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