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John “Jack” Helin
(Articles are in reverse chronological order)
TAB 5
said. "Even with this increase, you are still second from the bottom rung of the ladder for city
council salaries all over the metro."
The Chieftain (Bonner Springs, KS)
April 15, 2004
Bonner Council Approves Plan to Hire Project Manager
Author: Caroline Boyer
To avoid the problems that have arisen from the city's most recent capital improvement projects,
the Bonner Springs City Council created a new position to control the projects.
In January, city manager John Helin proposed creating a position of project manager to manage
capital projects. The position would also relieve Helin, city clerk Rita Hoag, and economic
development director Marcia Ashford from the stress of overseeing capital improvement
projects. "They've been able to do it, but that's an additional duty to what they're already doing,
so something else gets pushed to the side and waylaid or neglected," Helin said.
Helin said the position would be filled with someone that has the expertise and certification to
watch over the project and shepherd it through. The position would enhance the city's ability to
be able to plan, prepare for, and organize projects.
At a special Council meeting in late February, many Council Members agreed that the problem
right now is that city staff assigned to be project managers are not trained to recognize
engineering problems as they develop. "We've got a city manager and development-marketing
person running the projects, no wonder we've got some troubles," Council member Rory Kuhn,
Ward IV, said at the retreat. "It's not that they're lacking in that, necessarily, but that's not what
we hired them for, that's not what they're trained to do. We're expecting this result, and that's not
what we hired them to do. And it dilutes what they can do."
The Council also discussed creating a city engineer position as opposed to a project manager
position, but came to the conclusion that the city could not afford to pay a professional engineer
at this time. Helin estimated the project manager's salary to be $10,000 to $20,000 less annually
than an engineer's salary. The city will require someone with experience managing projects and
preferably a degree in engineering or construction science. Council and city staff members hope
that this is the first step on a long road to a more complete and professional city staff. "Let's get
the project manager now, and work long-term for putting together a very professional staff who
can handle codes enforcement, the project management, and some of the easement stuff down
the road," Council member Doug Clements, Ward II, said at the February meeting.
At its meeting Monday, the Council approved $40,000 to fund the hiring of a project manager.
The salary will be taken from the city manager's portion of the 2004 General Fund budget, which
includes $156,000 for miscellaneous expenditures. In the future, the position's salary would be
included in the budget.
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