Blue Springs is a community known for its community partnerships, planned growth and shared vision. We are a place where challenges become opportunities, and goals turn into reality as we focus on providing high quality municipal services and a unique quality of life for our residents and business community.
In 1981, I was elected to the city’s Board of Alderman and more than 20 years later, I’m encouraged to see the continued commitment of departments and members of the City Council to make the needs of our citizens and our city government a key priority.
After just a few short months in office as the mayor of Blue Springs, I can look around this great city of ours and affirm that Blue Springs is certainly a community on the move. Through citizen feedback tools such as our annual Citizen’s Survey and the Renew the Blue visioning process, the City Council is working along with staff to develop strategies for improvement for various City government programs and services.
When citizens voiced their concerns about the pace and quality of multi-family housing developments in the city, we listened. One of my first acts as mayor was to establish a moratorium and strategic planning task force in order to examine multi-family development in Blue Springs.
Our Blue Springs Police Department is one of several key departments that is working to enhance the many direct services it has to offer its citizens. Trend information from the Department’s 2007 Annual Report indicates that our Police Department takes citizen safety very seriously, reflecting an 18 percent decrease in violent crime from 2006.
Blue Springs is a community that is poised for growth and expansion in every sector of the city. Furthermore, we have recognized that in order to anticipate and support such growth, the city must also be prepared to respond to citizens’ increase demand for more efficient, quality government services. On Aug. 5 the city of Blue Springs will present two questions on a general election ballot for voter consideration. Question 1 asks voters to consider improvements to our sewer facilities to meet mandated environmental regulations. With Question 2, the city of Blue Springs is proposing the issuance of $28 million in general obligation no tax increase bonds for road and intersection improvements including the widening of Woods Chapel Road, Duncan Road at Woods Chapel Road/R.D. Mize Road intersection, the extension of Moreland School Road to Liggett Road and the Colbern Road and Highway 7 intersection
Citizens are encouraged to visit the city’s website at www.bluespringsgov.com to learn more about the proposed bond issues and how these proposals, if approved, will impact our community as a whole.
An exciting future lies ahead of Blue Springs and through the commitment and continued cooperation of the entire community we can continue making our city a leader in Eastern Jackson County for decades to come.
