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Blue Springs, MO —
After years of enduring increasingly crowded court dockets and cramped quarters for jurors, residents of Eastern Jackson County should see relief in the next couple of years.
“Key component of that: We’re not going to ask for a tax increase. We’re not going to roll up the levy,” Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders said at Thursday’s Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon.
The county is close to settling on a design for the interior renovation of the Truman Courthouse, the 1836 landmark at the center of the Independence Square. Plans call for a tourism center, space for art and some county offices. That could be done in about a year.
That frees up space in the Courthouse Annex, a couple of blocks away at 308 W. Kansas Ave., where judges, jurors and several county offices are cramped. Even though Eastern Jackson County’s population has grown sharply in relation to Kansas City’s – it’s now about 50-50 – there are no more judges in the annex than there were when it opened 40 years ago.
“And the reason for that is we don’t have the courthouse space,” Sanders said.
The county, which has come through several years of reduced tax revenues and staff cuts, has also been setting aside money for the work at the Truman Courthouse and the Courthouse Annex.
“We’re largely going to do the project with cash on hand,” Sanders said.
The county executive also made a pitch for his Kansas City Regional Rapid Rail plan, which would begin to link the metro area through a system of six commuter rail lines meeting in Kansas City and tying into that city’s planned downtown streetcar line. One of the first two commuter rail lines would have a stop in downtown Blue Springs.
“I can’t think of anything that has a more transformative impact that rail transit,” he said.
Sanders has promoted the plan since the fall of 2009, making presentations to thousands of people and, he says, finding nearly universal enthusiasm. Still, he announced last week that the plan won’t go on the ballot in November, as officials had hoped, but instead Sanders and his team are waiting until at least next April as they and the railroads work out a final agreement.
He said those talks are going well but that he also wants taxpayers and riders to have the full picture.
“You’ll know exactly what it will cost ... exactly what you’re voting on,” he said.
After years of enduring increasingly crowded court dockets and cramped quarters for jurors, residents of Eastern Jackson County should see relief in the next couple of years.
“Key component of that: We’re not going to ask for a tax increase. We’re not going to roll up the levy,” Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders said at Thursday’s Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon.
The county is close to settling on a design for the interior renovation of the Truman Courthouse, the 1836 landmark at the center of the Independence Square. Plans call for a tourism center, space for art and some county offices. That could be done in about a year.
That frees up space in the Courthouse Annex, a couple of blocks away at 308 W. Kansas Ave., where judges, jurors and several county offices are cramped. Even though Eastern Jackson County’s population has grown sharply in relation to Kansas City’s – it’s now about 50-50 – there are no more judges in the annex than there were when it opened 40 years ago.
“And the reason for that is we don’t have the courthouse space,” Sanders said.
The county, which has come through several years of reduced tax revenues and staff cuts, has also been setting aside money for the work at the Truman Courthouse and the Courthouse Annex.
“We’re largely going to do the project with cash on hand,” Sanders said.
The county executive also made a pitch for his Kansas City Regional Rapid Rail plan, which would begin to link the metro area through a system of six commuter rail lines meeting in Kansas City and tying into that city’s planned downtown streetcar line. One of the first two commuter rail lines would have a stop in downtown Blue Springs.
“I can’t think of anything that has a more transformative impact that rail transit,” he said.
Sanders has promoted the plan since the fall of 2009, making presentations to thousands of people and, he says, finding nearly universal enthusiasm. Still, he announced last week that the plan won’t go on the ballot in November, as officials had hoped, but instead Sanders and his team are waiting until at least next April as they and the railroads work out a final agreement.
He said those talks are going well but that he also wants taxpayers and riders to have the full picture.
“You’ll know exactly what it will cost ... exactly what you’re voting on,” he said.
He’d even like to see a website – before the system is built – where a person could plug in their morning commute to see what times and costs look like.
“Then you go to the taxpayers and say, ‘Does this make sense?’” he said.
The KCRRR plan relies on commuter rail, rather than light rail, and would use the area’s abundance of unused or underused tracks. For example, the Kansas City Southern line would be used for service to Independence, Blue Springs and Grain Valley. That lowers the cost of building the system, and, officials say, improves the chances of winning federal funding. In the meantime, however, any new round of money from Congress probably isn’t coming until sometime in 2013, Sanders said.
He said the community needs to consider what it will look like 10 or 20 years from now – perhaps in an environment that includes $5 or $6 gasoline that makes driving less feasible for the morning commute.
“The time to be planning for the future,” he said, “is today.”
