Fellow Residents:
I hope you all had wonderful Easters, Passovers and weekends. Spring continues to unfold in Mission Hills and I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful flowers, trees and green space amid the current challenge.
Four updates for you this evening:
1) The Council held its first-ever, fully-virtual meeting last night. There were two dominant topics of discussion:
- Public Safety – Police Chief Schwartzkopf and Fire Chief Lopez both presented their monthly reports, as well as overviews of their teams’ Emergency Plan operations.
I am pleased to report that both departments are executing well. Calls overall to both departments are down. I will emphasize again the need to lock your cars. There were 6 vehicles broken into in March, and five were unlocked.
- Financial Situation – I am pleased to report that the City’s financial situation is very sound. Going back to Mayor David Fromm’s tenure, the Council and staff have approached the City’s finances very conservatively, ensuring flexibility in urgent times.
Staff has prepared, and the Council reviewed, three potential scenarios for the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the City’s finances. The brief answer is that the City has ample reserves and encumbrances to navigate this challenge. Kudos to staff for the analysis and Council its strategic approach.
2) Governor Kelly reiterated the importance of wearing a cloth face covering in public settings where social distancing cannot be maintained. The KDHE guidance is here:
https://www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus/toolkit/Kansas_Homemade_Mask_Guidance.pdf
3) As a reminder, the Governor previously pushed back the income tax filing deadline to July 15th from April 15th to align with Federal guidance. There is no interest or penalty for filing by July 15th. The full order can be found here:
https://governor.kansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/EO-20-13-Executed.pdf
4) Mayor Lucas publically stated today that the Stay-at-Home Order for the metro will be extended (Governor Kelly’s office has hinted similarly for the State of Kansas). I have no formal first-hand knowledge, but please do not be surprised if the deadline is extended until mid-May.
Thank you for your continued feedback. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call City Hall at 913-362-9620 or info@missionhillsks.gov, or email me directly at mayor@missionhillsks.gov.
Be safe and stay healthy. Thank you.