DesotoExplorer.com / Communication should improve with Hayden on Johnson County Commission

Archive for Wednesday, November 19, 2008

November 19, 2008

After years of feeling neglected by the Johnson County commissioners during which a common refrain was the rest of the county viewed De Soto as part of Douglas County, De Soto will have one of its own on the board in Olathe. With his election to the 6th District Johnson County Commission seat, Calvin Hayden will be the first resident of the community on the board in more than half a century.

If nothing else, Hayden’s election should improve communications between city and county governments. To understand better communications is a good thing, one needs look no further than this week’s De Soto City Council agenda and its consideration of the County Arterial Road Network Plan for the Kill Creek Road/95th Street intersection. The county commission approved realignment of the road to the west to a Homestead Road alignment earlier this decade and its representatives recently gave a convincing argument to the De Soto City Council for why that realignment was made. Future congestion would be prevented, they argued, should the new arterial be moved to a new roadway without the many driveways that already exist on Kill Creek Road.

But commissioners made the decision to realign the road, which necessitated another realignment of the Kill Creek Road/95th Street intersection within De Soto, alone and despite expressed reservations from the city. Although the county is now asking the city join in that decision, it’s not likely to happen because the city doesn’t have the money to preserve the right-of-way at the intersection.

Simple communication could have avoided this issue and perhaps prevented the county from spending money on an environmental assessment for the new alignment it may be forced to give up.

De Soto will now be represented by a commissioner attentive to its issues, as will — we think — the rest of the district.