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| Year in Review #1: Shreckengaust in as mayor |
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| News | |||
| Written by Aaron Cedeño | |||
| Wednesday, 30 December 2009 09:00 | |||
Well, nobody can say it hasn’t been an interesting — and busy — year for Curt Shreckengaust.  The first-year Louisburg mayor formally took office April 20, unseating incumbent Arlen Thompson on a 369-228 vote in local elections. The mayoral race was the subject of much discussion. Shreckengaust was vocal in his criticisms of the former administration, citing a need for greater transparency in government as one of his primary concerns. “My Number One goal is work for the city of Louisburg and keep going to work as hard as I can to make improvements where we need improvements and be able to continue to provide services,” he told the Louisburg Herald. The climate from the campaign carried over into the first Louisburg City Council meeting over which Shreckengaust presided, on April 20, when he faced criticism from Planning Commissioner Corrina Hauer-Sullivan and Council Member Glena Windisch. During her report that night, Windisch claimed Shreckengaust had distributed misinformation through a questionnaire published in the Herald. Things settled down, of course, as Shreckengaust and the council worked together to find ways of traversing the difficult financial waters facing municipalities nationwide. In mid-November, for example, the council approved the sale of alcohol on Sundays in Louisburg, and Shreckengaust looked at the move as an opportunity to help breathe new life into some local businesses. “When you look at the map, Johnson County, the state of Missouri and Paola right around us offer Sunday sales to their community,” he noted at the Nov. 16 council meeting. “And so I think it is fitting for us at this time to pass this ordinance.” Next up? A quarter-cent sales tax increase that will appear before Louisburg voters in April. If passed, the increase would generate an expected $1.5 million during its 10-year lifespan. The funds would be earmarked primarily for infrastructure improvements for which the city might not otherwise have the money, including street and storm-water projects, pedestrian route improvements and the formation of a professional downtown redevelopment plan.
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