Mayor's October Newsletter

Dear Mission Woods Residents - 
 
Thanks to everyone who has come out to meetings recently to share their thoughts. The only way to keep a small community like ours vital is for people to get involved - either by serving on one of our boards, or by simply showing up with an opinion. Speaking of which:

November Elections Approaching
Election Day is less than a month away, on Tuesday, November 7. We had four residents file as candidates, whose names will appear on the ballot: Robert Tietze as Mayor, and Carrol Thomas, Erica Hartley and me as City Council members. We would like to start 2024 with a full set of five Council members, so that means we need write-in candidates. If you are interested, please let fellow residents know to write your name on the ballot as they vote.
 
Mission Woods Terrace Safety
At the October 3 City Council meeting, we had a good preliminary discussion about ongoing safety issues at the intersection of Mission Woods Terrace and Shawnee Mission Parkway. Thanks to residents who joined to give their perspectives on past incidents and what might be changed to improve the situation. We heard from Dan Miller of Lamp Rynearson, traffic engineer Lee Baer and Police Chief Curtis Mansell that two factors make implementing immediate changes challenging: first is that Shawnee Mission Parkway is a state highway, which makes coordinating with the Kansas Department of Transportation necessary. Second, the ongoing project to consider changes to Rainbow Boulevard may well impact what we'd do at the intersection. That said, the Council did approve moving ahead to see what simple shorter-term fixes we might implement. such as lights, reflectors and signs.
 
Leaf Pickup Dates
We've contracted with Heinen Landscaping to do leaf pickup again this year. We're going to try pushing out the dates slightly, as the first scheduled pickup last year came before we had many leaves on the ground. This year, crews will come by the following weekends: 

  • 10/27 – 10/30
  • 11/17 – 11/20
  • 12/8 – 12/11
While the crews do their best to remove the leaves, we're reminded that you should make your piles on top of the curb, rather than in the street, where they tend to get smashed down. Also, given that the last dates are into December, crews may be challenged by freezing precipitation.

State Line Repaving
As you might have noticed, the Cities of Mission Hills and Kansas City are coordinating to repave State Line Road from Shawnee Mission Parkway to 71st Street. Work started Monday and will continue for three weeks or so, during which time travel along State Line may be challenging. Mission Woods will pay for our section of pavement, which will come in at about $3800.

Other City Council Meeting Business

  • We gave Police Chief Mansell a budget to put toward extra patrols in Mission Woods. Officers will be able to volunteer to use their off-duty hours to give us additional police presence during random times each month.
  • The City Council voted to in favor of a resolution to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.
  • The Council asked the City Attorney to look at the language surrounding cities use for trash and recycling bins, so that we can update our city code appropriately.
 
The next Council meeting is Tuesday, November 14 at 7 p.m. Please feel free to attend.

Best,

Keith

Keith Mays
Mayor, Mission Woods
913-232-0355
mwmayor@missionwoods-ks.org