Fort Scott City Commissioner Pete Allen resigned at the March 15 city meeting.
On March 16, during a special meeting at city hall, the rest of the commissioners voted to accept his resignation, except for Mayor Kevin Allen.
In an interview with fortscott.biz, Allen said “I’m done. Mission accomplished. I am 82 years old and I have other things I want to do.”
“I feel like I’ve given it my all…I worked tirelessly seven days a week since I was elected,” he said.
Allen took office in January 2020 and because he was the leader in the amount of votes he received, he won a four-year term, he said. His term ends in January 2024.
“We’ve accomplished a lot,” he said. “I’m not taking credit for all the things we got done, it takes at least three people on the commission. I was part of a team.”
At the regular city meeting on March 15, Allen said he “wasn’t happy with the reception I got….they didn’t want to work with me on a policy on how we use our funds.”
Allen listed all of the commission’s accomplishments on his Facebook page:
“I feel during the past 2 ¼ years we have made tremendous strides toward the movement of the improvement of our infrastructure.
We have hired an engineering firm and just think, we have more than doubled the funding for our streets as well as our sewers.
We have stopped the transferring of funds from our sewer utilities, and we now have sanitary sewer projects and a storm sewer project either under contract or awaiting contracts.
We also have three water line extension/replacements in the design stage with applications for grants being applied for.
We have undertaken the puzzle of the KDOT Connecting Link Agreement and stopped the proposed mill and overlay on Highway 54 (Wall Street) that was to be done fully at the city taxpayer’s expense under the previous administration. We are in the process of applying for a grant from KDOT that will fund that program at a 90/10 split, thereby saving the taxpayer’s nearly $160,000.
We have replaced a $200,000 per year out-of-town city attorney with a $48,000 local attorney, thereby saving the taxpayer’s another $152,000.
We have placed our insurance coverage through a local agency, keeping those funds in town.
A few short years ago we had to borrow $600,000 (each year over 4 years) to fund our street department and the budget this year is nearly $2 million, including the paying back of some of those funds we borrowed ($194,000). And these funds have come with no additional taxes.
We have done this and more, and we have not cut any “quality of life” funding. In fact, we have increased our parks budget by around $62,000. Our golf course is well on the way to becoming self-funded.
We have raised nearly $500,000 through the sale of lake lots (thanks to Mayor Allen’s expertise and guidance). Those funds are dedicated to improvements at the lake. More lots are scheduled to be sold soon with fund usage to be determined.
When I became a commissioner our street department consisted of two workers. Through the efforts of our newly hired human resources director, we now have three crews of three workers each, all being funded within the budget for 2022.
For our sewers, we have funded a new cleaning/camera machine so we can clean/camera/rate our aged sewers with our crews. We have also funded the inspection/rating of all our sewer manholes and our engineers are working toward providing a sanitary sewer master plan.
Our engineers have studied and made recommendations for alterations/replacements of our main pumping station (Davis) that overflows into Buck Run regularly with each major rain event. with cost estimates of $1.5 million to $2.0 million. The commission has authorized rate increases designed to fund these programs. Maybe you have noticed your water bill has gone up.”
Community involvement in city projects has also increased in the last few years, he said.
“Look at the 200 volunteers for parks cleanup under the leadership of Seth Needam, the 200 volunteers for the downtown spring cleanup led by Bailey Lions, and the 40 volunteers to repair cracks and resurface the Woodland Hills Tennis Courts (along with donations from others for purchasing materials).
Certainly, there are more improvements/changes I would like to achieve, but I feel I am leaving the commission, and the city, in a much better condition than when I started, and that I can be proud of! Again, thank you for allowing me to represent you in this endeavor.”
Those Interested May Apply For the Vacancy
People interested in applying to fill the position vacated by Commissioner Pete Allen are asked to submit a letter of interest to: City Clerk, Diane Clay at 123 S. Main, Fort Scott, Kansas 66701 or by email at [email protected] according to a press release from the city.
These letters of interest must be received by the clerk by noon on Monday, March 28th, 2022.
The individuals must live inside Fort Scott city limits.
Once the appointment has been made, it will become effective at the April 5th, 2022 City Commission meeting and the term will expire in December of 2024.
Thank you, Pete, for all you did and tried to do for Ft Scott.