My legislative career had just begun when I
encountered MoDOT. It was not a warm and fuzzy experience. Through a
tip from an Independence City Hall worker, I discovered that they were
going to construct concrete barriers down the center of the highway
from 291 Highway going east to Blue Mills Road. A business owner also
had word of this and through him I became involved.
CLICK HERE for the Examiner Article:
"MoDOT makes case for US24 medians"
MoDOT spends tax money "researching" accident rates
for this stretch of highway and instead of just paving the existing
road, they decide to make major revisions at a major cost.
CLICK HERE for the Examiner Article:
"Looking to Future of US24--Medians in East Independence,
revival at west entrance revealed"
The meeting with the City of Independence did not go
as well as MoDOT would have liked. They wrote back and called their
project "flawed". Remember this is strong wording from the City
Bureaucrats.
The City of Independence opposed the barriers.
The Fire Department opposed the barriers.
ALL Businesses opposed the barriers.
Neighborhood Associations opposed the barriers.
Local residents opposed the barriers.
So what does MoDOT do? THEY HAVE A PUBLIC MEETING!
Of course this was to gather input, but they scheduled
it at 4:30 in the afternoon so people who work and business owners
would have to go to great lengths to attend this meeting.
CLICK HERE FOR
MEETING NOTICE
Well, I had other ideas! I thought it would be nice to
pack the house at their meeting and let the public say what they
really thought. I then drafted and sent a letter to as many interested
parties as I could find. What I found was a vast number of people did
not know what was being planned and were very pleased to voice their
opinion on the matter. The public packed the church meeting called by
MoDOT and it was quite obvious that they felt they had a problem.
The meeting started at 4:30 pm and MoDOT had several
presenters. Much of their presentation was so unbelievable that many
people in the crowd were becoming visibly angered. I was allowed to
speak at the end of the meeting and by then I was not very happy with
the bogus information that was laid out. Pointing out major problems
with the plan, not to mention an agency that is to serve the people
blatantly ignoring them. I said all the things that the crowd was only
thinking. This motivated the crowd and nearly caused a riot.
CLICK HERE FOR CURT'S LETTER TO MoDOT
The quickest way to the bureaucrat's heart is through
their budget. I then sent a letter to Representative Jason Crowell
(now Senator Crowell) a good political friend of mine who sat as
chairman of MoDOT's budget in the House of Representatives. One well
placed letter again to MoDOT.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY LETTER TO REP CROWELL
Senator Victor Callahan hosted a meeting in his office
which included myself, City Council members Will Swoffer and Renee
Paluka, a City Fire department representative, and from MoDOT was Mr.
Kevin Keith-Chief Engineer, and Mr. Jay Wunderlich-Governmental
Affairs Director. Senator Callahan and myself made our position very
clear.
CLICK HERE TO SEE REP. CROWELL'S LETTER TO MoDOT
During this meeting the MoDOT Directors saw it our
way. No more barriers and they would send me a letter stating
this.
CLICK HERE TO
SEE THE LETTER FROM MoDOT
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY
LETTER TO RESIDENTS
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY
LETTER TO BUSINESSES
Now that the barriers were out of the project, there
had to be a cost savings of not having to install them. Karen DeLuccie,
who is active in the district, suggested that a walking area be added
to the shoulder of the road to enhance the project. This was a great
idea. She contacted MoDOT and they quickly told her no - typical
MoDOT.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LETTER FROM MoDOT
On a roll, Senator Callahan and I went to work on the
politics of getting our way. It was not long before MoDOT agreed with
our vision.
This
change of heart happened right after Will Swoffer and I personally met
with the new State Director of MoDOT, Mr. Pete Rahn, who assured me
that MoDOT would respond to the elected officials, as they should have
done in the first place.
The project is ready to start and here are the
schedules as they were sent by e-mail to me:
CLICK
HERE FOR COPIES
SCHEDULE of WORK:
The bids for re-paving were let on Feb 18, 2005
Public bid opening was held March 25, 2005
The Highway Commission met to approve low bidder in
April 6, 2005
Notice to proceed on May 4, 2005
The contractor is Freeman Contractors of Shawnee, KS
The contract price was $4,985,798.49
Completion date is October 15th, 2005
It has been a pleasure to help the district with this
project and I will update this information as I get it.
-Representative Curt Dougherty
24 Highway re-pavement project
