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John “Jack” Helin
(Articles are in reverse chronological order)
TAB 5
Kansas City Kansan (Kansas City, KS)
March 1, 2006
Wyandotte County is together in endeavors
Reardon meets with Mayor Smith, Bonner Springs
Author: CARMEN CARDINAL
It has been a week of unity for Wyandotte County. On Monday night, Unified Government
Mayor-CEO Joe Reardon and the UG county commissioners met with Bonner Springs Mayor
Clausie Smith and the Bonner Springs county commissioners to discuss issues that are important
to all municipalities in the county.
On Tuesday morning, Reardon met with officials of Edwardsville and presented a check for
$146,000, the first payment from the Countywide Initiative for Funding Infrastructure (CIFI),
which was implemented in the 2006 Unified Government budget. CIFI is an initiative that
advances the goal of countywide cooperation and gives every resident of Wyandotte County the
opportunity to decide on infrastructure improvements in their local communities.
The CIFI program creates a county fund that allows Bonner Springs, Edwardsville and KCK to
address infrastructure needs at the local level without incurring debt or increasing taxes. Bonner
Springs will receive a comparable amount once it applies for the funds. Patrick Isenhour,
Edwardsville council president, and John Broman, Edwardsville council member, accepted the
check on behalf of the city. Mayor Stephanie Eickhoff was detained out of town. It is expected
that the funds will be used for a Woodend Road project that will lead to a boat ramp being
constructed in Edwardsville. On Monday, some of the issues that were discussed included
keeping the Verizon Amphitheatre competitive. With the creation of the Sprint Arena in
downtown Kansas City, Mo., Verizon could be in a position of having to compete for top
concerts coming to the area.
Bonner Springs City Manager Jack Helin said Verizon is important to Bonner Springs and the
Unified Government. “Verizon has to be a state of the art facility with future enhancements to
keep it competitive to draw large events,” Helin said.
The county also faces challenges in dealing with WaterOne, which will be acquiring land for
water treatment and pipelines for Johnson County water users. “Construction will create a lot of
commotion,” said Dennis Hayes, UG City Administrator. He said that Johnson County will put a
large easement through Wyandotte County because it believes it has an inalienable right to
water.
“WaterOne has assured that it will create the least amount of disruption,” Hayes said. WaterOne
also plans to build a second pipeline in about 20 to 30 years. Similar projects in the past ended up
in the Kansas Supreme Court. Hayes said WaterOne would like to avoid the same fate and has
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