production funding for Ruckus has been provided by gifts from Dave and Jamie Cummings the Fred and Lou Hartwig family Peter and Barbara Gattermeir the Courtney S. Turner charitable trust John H. Mize and Bank of America N. A. co trustees and by viewers like thank you welcome to Ruckus our weekly food for thought fight from left to right and the center over the news of the day in the trends of the times I'm Mike Shanin the Ruckettes join may shortly in addition to roasts and toasts our topics this week the chiefs head to Miami the Lee's Summitschool board heads the Saint Louis to find a new superintendent and Jackson County goes to city hall to find a new administrator and that's where we start with our newsmaker segment and talk about issues in Jackson County government with the chair of the county legislature and joining us now is Theresa Cass Galvin who represents the sixth district and is in the second year of her second term she was elected to serve chair in twenty nineteen Theresa Galvin thanks for joining us congratulations on your new job as chair of the Jackson County legislature let's talk about what's going on and there's a lot to talk about there there's a lot going on I guess the biggest controversy in Jackson County government and there are several is the battle over property tax levels and the sense that may be most people were taxed at too high a rate there are lawsuits that are going on various people looking at the situation you're right there in the center of it what's the status of these tax issues and the tax debate well last year the legislature we passed an ordinance stating that there would have to be physical inspections for anything that was increased for any properties that were increased more than fifteen percent that means you have to physically go to the property there is no >and look at it and see it's really worth the > exactly go knock on the door I'm here you know can you help me > and that wasn't done that was not done this this past reassessment however that will not take into effect until the next you know ah assessment and the peroid that goes on > what about these people who got the large bills and say they can't pay for them weren't they supposed to pay the taxes by the first of the year taxes were due December thirty first are people paying them?

People are paying them some are paying under protest ah some are still going through the appeal process and if you have an appeal I believe you don't have to pay them and that they will you'll get a letter stating you know what your new tax bill is to be and you have thirty days from the point of the tax bill to pay it > so obviously somethinghas to be done about the property tax situation in Jackson County is that fair to say absolutely all right whose responsibility is it I know there are three court cases at least three lawsuits have been filed is it the court's obligation is it the Jackson County legislatures position to get something done or is it the state legislature so it's at the state level the actually the assessor she reports to the county executive so the legislature has no control over how the assessment is done or anything like that except for passing that ordinance so I know the state does have some legislation going through this year that they are looking at capping and the different variations and you know again the physical inspections or something they're bringing up also they're also bringing up whether or not the assessor is to be elected Jackson County and Saint Louis county are the only two counties in Missourui that have an appointed assessor as opposed to elected assessor another huge issue in Jackson County is the jail and that's not new that's gone on for at least several decades I think what's being done about that are there plans to build a new jail I know it's costly absolutely it and it is costly we're looking at probably two hundred million dollars so this isn't something that we're going to do overnight and we formed a working group and the stake holders in the working group are myself the county executive and the sheriff we on December sixteenth of last year December ninth I'm sorry of last year the legislature approved a contract with JC- DC an organization to work as an owner's rep and they have started their first step as far as going through and looking through you know all the reports that we had had done over the past few years they are looking at those reports and they're coming up with their you know, report of their own with their information and they'll be addressing the legislature on the twenty seventh to give us an update of what's going on sounds like her several steps away from a new jail yes yes this it'll be a four year project it'll be four years before we have jail I think you played a key role in the hiring of the former city manager Troy Schulte to become the new County administrator of Jackson County I think it's a wise decision by the way I know he's only been on the job a short time but do you think he's getting a bit of a handle on what's going on and and the starting to see some ways to solve these tremendous problems I think he is a you know if course with any new position there's there's a learning period even though he he was right across the street and he does know all of our issues that are going on you know it's now being actually being in the trenches he's been great to to bridge a gap and he someone that's great to talk to, I can call with anything that comes up and he'll he'll make a phone call he'll do what he can to help if he can help how's your relationship with the County executive Frank White you've had some battles have you not > the legislature's had some battles and the prior legislature had a different relationship with him than the current legislature does I would say that Frank and I have a good relationship as far as if he has an issue or hear's some rumors or gossip or if i hear rumors or gossip will pick up the phone call each other and say Hey is this true or what's going on there's some distrust between the administration as a whole and the legislature as a whole and I think in time you know maybe that a long pass speaking of time ours has ended but it's been a pleasure meeting you and good to talk with you come back and see us another time I will thank you for having me thank you that is Theresa Cass Galvin she is chair of the Jackson County legislature now let's meet the panel and start a Ruckus Annie Presley is an author publisher and GOP fundraiser Jon Stephens is president and CEO of Port KC Jason Grill is founder of J Grill Media a public affairs strategic communications and media relations consulting firm Jason grill approved this introduction and Ron Freeman is a motivational speaker and writer thanks to all of you for joining us good to have you with us good to be back to you with all of you let us begin where we left off talking about the myriad of issues facing Jackson countians and the folks who represent them and the County legislature we tried to cover a lot of territory with ms Galvin and her work as chair of the county legislature let's start with this Annie you watch the interview what's your overall reaction what's your impression of what Theresa Galvin say she's smart and she knows what's going on but I'm I'm having a hard time believing that she's going to be able to overcome this distracted leadership that we've been suffering for so long in Jackson County so she has her hands full but there was nothing that she said that was particularly surprising John ah anything that stood out to you during the conversation yeah I think the mention of Troy Schulte stepping I think that's an important piece of professional management staff management I think that's going to give a little bit of a buffer between I think some of the contentious relationships between some of the elected officials and and maybe put a little more process into some of what I think sometimes it's been maybe emotional reactions knee jerk reactions to things it kind of hopefully puts a little buffer in there I was talking with her a little bit before the interview and we were talking about Troy Schulte and I think the thing about a professional administrator is he can grasp the size of a problem and realize it can be solved otherwise people look at it and say there's nothing we can do it can't be resolved administrators learn how to resolve these issues absolutely and and I think Troy particular with his experience in KCMO in just his overall experience he's had big problems there he's had big problems and I I think one of the advantages that Troy brings to this position in Jackson County is he knows how to break big problems into digestible pieces and advanced things in a in a in a way where you know a two hundred million dollar jail could easily be a three hundred million dollar jail and likely will be and likely will be and and you're gonna have to plan and work hard to do it in the right way because it's a generational decision so Jason you think the public's lost confidence in Jackson County a probably a little bit but I think what John was talking about is probably going to restore it I think most of the public likes Frank White as a human being as a person as a legend in Kansas city that's been my experience with that to so the I I think the Troy Schulte hire was was perfect at this time and place and I think that'll help restore some trust I think back to to the administration > I wonder if he'll have trouble getting people to back him and the County simply because he's new and he came in at a high salary and with a strong reputation you know I don't know about that but I think that a he's gonna command the immediate respect of alot of most of the folks especially those that are have worked in government for awhile because of his experience Ron some of the people we've talked with on Ruckus over the past several weeks of suggested that the whole concept of Jackson County government ought to be reviewed maybe changed completely what do you think well I think we need to grow up a little bit it's too easy to point the finger and say it's the executives fault to legislatures fault let's just come together to make good decisions again Troy Schulte provides an opportunity excuse me and the leadership to get that done but do we have the maturity in the legislature to make it happen County jail has been discussed for as long as I've been in Kansas city and that's in a few years do you get a sense from my discussion with theresa Galvin that there may be some resolution of that issue in the relatively near term it's getting higher on the priority list which is a good thing and um a two hundred million dollar jail sounds small compared to a billion dollar airport that we're dealing with so maybe we're to the point where four or five times the number of prisoners in a single jail is a breaking point and maybe we're there Jon what was your sense of this whole battle about property taxes and what ms Galvin had to say well obviously rightfully people are upset but I think and and what I'm gonna say may not be popular with a lot of people but I think historically Jackson County property values have been under assessed > I think on purpose and that was part of a plan and and the assessments have been inconsistent and I think this was a large increase for a lot of people and rightfully people are upset that being said hopefully in the next cycle things can settle out I do think that the commercial industrial real estate things like that probably need to increase I think neighborhoods need to be looked at more thoughtfully more consistently but the reality is taxing jurisdictions in a lot of these things need real assessments in in real collections in a in a a right priced way if we're going to afford things such as a jail and services and Ron our guest suggested that this property tax problem should be resolved by the state legislature do you have confidence that will be done well I think it who's fault is it that right who's gonna take care of it but I do think the yeah look at it and it woke up the populists right it happened for a long time > people are aware now they're looking after assessments more carefully and they're going to raise questions and I think we'll have an answer before yeah that's a good thing that the public's engaged in the process what a concept people paying attention to its government all right for the Lee's Summit school board the Buck stops there Dr David Buck from near Saint Louis is the new superintendent following weeks of controversy over equity training former superintendent Dennis Carpenter an African American left the district with the three quarters of a million dollar settlement after protracted battles over diversity issues Dr Buck is not a minority comes from a district much smaller than Lee's Summit Buck was chosen after a national search and won't begin work until July the first so Ron I know you follow this closely will this appointment end the battle over equity in Lee's Summit or is it going to continue I don't think it will end the the battle I think it's a public battle and a lot of it has to do with ah I was at a board meeting last year when the current um consultant was hired they asked him if the equity approach that he was gonna use would help close the achievment gap which to me is the goal of education and he said point blank he said that it would be disingenuous and I quote directly for us to say that our work will close the achievement gap which is why people said we don't want to use that guy but after weeks of peppering you know your racist if you don't do this that they capitulated and gave into but no and there's no proof no evidence it is going to make a difference wheree kids live is there equity training at Lee's Summit there is did they go ahead and hire the company and that they did go ahead and hire the company and to make it clear htat you go back to twenty sixteen when the agreement was we're gonna look at an equity plan and it's just that this particular approach hasn't yielded the result that we would like to see what do you think Jon you think this new superintendent the appointment of someone new to that job is going to end this battle well the little bit I've read of the finalists and of the of the selected new superintendent comes from a district that's faced a lot of challenges there's been a lot of a lot of things that he has been able to take head on he is a a teacher focused a superintendent so I think that there's a lot of positives there I think he's stepping into a challenging environment somewhat of a caustic environment and I really do hope for the students that he can do it and and kind of bring that the that the school board and that the the families will stop will will support him in bringing some little bit of healing to that community Annie educate us what is equity training you have any idea well I'm sure you do the best example I saw was there was a study done of what the teachers were actually teaching and how they were teaching it and how they were communicating with the students and they would identify the times when they could have said something more racially sensitive instead of the way they presented it so the whole idea is that you provide all of the information not just some of it Jason who is equity training for are we training teachers or > traing teachers > training students.

training teachers training and training administrators and I brought this today I got a letter from Missouri bar Mike that we're now required as attorneys in Missouri to do one year or excuse me one hour of implicit bias diversity inclusion or cultural competency training every year so this is a this is a so you can't be hostile toward a host of programs protected class it's not going be required of attorneys in the state of Missouri to take similar training well it's Ron shouldn't teachers already have a sense that there were different kinds of students in the classroom and that's not a new concept that there are racial mixtures in schools well one of the glaring realities is you have African American students who are valedictorians who earned scholarships to excuse me Havard to Stanford so people are being educated how's that working instead of looking at the the idea that somehow it's skin color maybe there's some other factors and we know this I mean in terms of parental involvement in terms early childhood education those things are factors that make it that's whre equity is lost we think about equity in general it's an economic term it's with some value based that I bring to the table well excuse me you have kids who come to the table where they didn't have lunch or breakfast where they didn't have two parents at home no one held them accountable academically and how do we solve those problems in terms of moving kids forward and that I think that's where the equity piece misses it is with those issues the former superintendent Mister Carpenter maybe Dr Carpenter I"m not sure has remained in Lee's Summit I believe and formed a consulting company and he feels he's been mistreated he had a public speaking engagement for I think fifteen hundred dollars that was canceled you know about that ah that yeah I've heard about that's really interesting because last summer I was actually scheduled to speak to a new teacher orientation and Carpenter himself vetoed my presence.

He saw you on televison.

Yeah right but wait a minute you did that very how do you make that case but you know what we play in an environment where he I guess he feels like he can get away with it can the equity training its success or failure be measured and if so how the that's a tough one but I do think that that equity training and bias training both implicit bias training and unconscious bias training both racial ethnic you know sexual interaction other things those are important I mean they're they're valuable for educators and the public and in business leaders and everyone to have continual knowledge and presence of understanding of how we treat people respectfully we're going to see this kind of training not just in schools but in as you suggest businesses we have in our organization we we've implemented it and we continue to implement I think it's a valuable thing for for gender racial social equity and understanding of each other there is nothing wrong with understanding people better Annie you agree with all that the implicit bias is probably the most what's the distinction what's implicit bias versus explicit bias whatever you know as an individual you apply to others we your with and and sometimes it's offensive to others and you don't know it and you don't recognize the offense maybe assumptions you make before speaking right so this is what the teacher example like I gave this was the problem that she had she was teaching she was popular but she didn't realize that she was veering off on to an area that others found offensive so it's a pretty tricky.

It's a sticky wicket.

it is truthfully I took the assessment I don't have any biases you guys should know this Harvard but the Harvard bias the whatever implicit bias assessment I'm good so you guys listen to me and you need to listen to me because I'm going to reading from the teleprompter it took five decades half a century for the Kansas City Chiefs to win a second trip to the Superbowl but it happened last Sunday when the chiefs took the AFC championship ending the season of the Tennessee Titans now ruckus is hardly a sports discussion program but it's hard not to talk about what the Chiefs success means to the team and to the region and difficult as it may be for younger panelists to believe some of us were actually around when the Chiefs made their first Super Bowl appearance in nineteen seventy for those of you who were not Jason how does it feel very close Mike feels very good actually I think it's a huge thing for Kansas city it's a huge thing for the team and it's a huge thing for economic development and pride right and civic pride I was out of town last weekend during the game and I was in DC and there was chiefs jerseys all over the place which is really cool to see band I was on the way here today and I was listenin national show and they were talking about Patrick Mahome's brother and his Tic Toc page I mean just all these different things about the Mahomes uh stuff going on with Patrick Mahomes with the city I mean it's through the roof and it just is so many impressions throughout this world that the Chiefs are now doing so will it translate into economic measures I mean more more people come to Kansas city because the Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl I think it will help with that I also thing to help local businesses as someone who owned a co founded a sock business in two thousand fourteen and fifteen it was a very good e-commerce year for us and local sellers sorry you got out aren't you true yeah put crowns on everything I didn't want to explain that asking that question of Jason about being here the last time does not imply I think Annie Jon and Ron were too old to be asked like what this is compared to the excitement Kansas Citians felt when the Royals were on the way to winning the World Series well it certainly does and there's just so much enthusiasm right now for red and I love the idea that we get all this national attention they show that photographs downtown is all lit up and the people are so excited and just think about that celebration of the World Series and all those people in blue and in the mean 800 thousand yes very uplifting and everybody is a Chiefs fan really that's different about it is it's like one or two days right three days of games and then the yeah the Royals was was a full couple weeks I mean it was just continually in our minds is there such a thing the committee called civic pride oh absolutely I mean we're wearing it I think we're seeing it we saw it start I I think there was a ground swell before the Royals twenty fourteen twenty fifteen magical runs but they amplified you know in in economics there's a there's a principle called psychic income and it's it's it's hard to quantify a lot of times but there is a psychic income comes with boosterism of people being proud gaining pride in their city and then there's awareness and for cities like Kansas city there is a proven benefit to when we're a smaller city you have this awareness boost factor and then we can't spend the money that New York Chicago Los Vegas spends to advertise tourism to our city we get this we get this free benefits of all these commercials and all the cuts to this and it does have an impact it has a real and meaningful impact that hopefully we can take advantage of as a community we can build on unlike the four of you I have an ear plugs and I have communications from Eric Mater our producer who hates for me to say something incorrect because then there will be nasty emails about it so I should point out this is the third trip the Chief yes yes the whole yes true second time second time that I recall but the second time the Chiefs are going to win to win the Superbowl so most businesses many businesses benefited from this obviously sports merchandise well there's there's always more restaurants bars and yet the places people going out celebrating but then there's there's the the sales but then there's also the the secondary benefit of the economic development of business is taking a little more interesting Kansas city there's always cities have proven not city that hosts necessarily but the city center participate participate the next twelve to eighteen months you see a slight up tick in tourism visits people are like oh well wait a minute I didn't know about eighteenth and Vine all well they have some pretty neat things there I'll come check it out for a weekend you can't turn on the television without the Chiefs Patrick Mahomes same kind of thing the nineteen seventy six Republican convention did for Kansas City there is a clear Kronkite who was familiar with Kansas city was hankering for CBS apps a final quick question Annie how many more commercials will Pat Mahhomes be seen in?

You know when he first came here his agents said they were gonna do slowly move him into the sponsorships and I thought okay they jumped off the cliff last year because he's you do seem all the times He's hosting Ruckus next season It's come to that.

It's time now for roasts and toasts where the Ruckettes have thirty seconds each to scold uphold or fold let's begin with Annie I'm toasting Lamar hunt his family today in nineteen sixty he got an idea on an airplane about his entrepreneurial as you can get to start a new football league and here we are these so many years later and all in love with red and I also want to make a little shout out to our former chief Ron Freeman who what a privilege and he brought cookies today that's the yeah it's your birthday Mike two days ago happy belated but it's my birthday now Jason well I would love to toasts the Chiefs too but we forget about the Royals right there a they do a lot of stuff to that new managing new ownership but Salvy is a becoming an American citizen this week United States citizen is out he's getting in doing the paperwork getting sworn at fan fest and as a US citizen I want to toast Salvy because these memories of the chiefs are now bring back memories of the Royals two thousand fourteen fifteen run so kudos to Salvy I'd like to toast him on being a US citzen since hi John sure I'd like to give a toast to a local nonprofit called uncover KC their organization that connects willing volunteers with local charities that need a volunteer and support services I believe they have it brought in fifty thousand volunteers and have raised almost two and a half million dollars an impact for four hundred local charities so please check them out and Ron I'm gonna toasts Patrick Mahomes because he's been the catalyst that kinda took us to the next level and just not just a fact on the field off the field just a good person who treats people to walk humbly friendly very engaging guy and I'm proud to call him a Kansas City chief had to do a lot of research to get to that one the I while and finally with the nation facing a budget debt of more than twenty two trillion that's trillion not billion it is fascinating to learn how some of the money is being spent a few examples two million to improve TV programming in Moldova one point two million the study online dating habits ten million to promote green growth in Peru and almost half a million dollars to study the mating calls of frogs in Panama you know which ones those are they're wearing the straw hats did you get that they told me that wouldn't play and that is ruckus for this week we're back next Thursday at seven now for the Ruckettes and the crew Mike Shanin saying thanks for watching and goodnight