City annexes Barton property

City of Grain Valley Board of Aldermen Meeting – July 23, 2012

• Neighbor Rosalind Schlomann takes a conciliatory attitude if only one house is built on the Barton's 12 acre property.
• Some citizens feel that City Administrator Alexa Barton is in breach of her contract by living in Blue Springs instead of Grain Valley.
• Chuck Johnston:  "Aldermen have not disclosed the city's cost for annexing the Barton property."
• "How does the city benefit from the Barton annexation?" he asks.
• "What promise exists that both now and in the feature only one house will be built on the Barton property?"
• Dennis Romines asks, "What guaranty there is on the part of the Bartons to only put up one house and, for the future, that there will only be one house on the twelve acres that the Bartons have petitioned to annex?"
• Annexation ordinance is adopted by a vote of 5 to 1.
• Alderman Yolanda West votes against the annexation.
• "Only one fact about the annexation has been presented," she says.
• The one fact, according to West, is the legal description of the twelve-acre property.
• "How costly is the city's liability for this annexation?  $10,000?  $100,000?"
• She wants a due diligence report, an accounting of the expenses by the city, and a demonstration of how this annexation benefits the city.
• Alderman Scott Shafer comments:  "Has anyone asked City Administer Alexa Barton why she is living in Blue Springs?"
• Can Alderman Shafer answer this question?  Would he?  So far, not publicly.
• City Attorney Jim Cook reads a legal letter of opposition into the minutes of this meeting.
• City Administrator Barton didn't not want this letter read – "It's a personal issue," she claims.

°  Coming – Listen to my report - 11 minutes