There is no doubt Jackson County has some monumental, vexing problems.
The county jail is in desperate need of being replaced. The downtown courthouse needs to be renovated after flooding earlier this year. And the property reassessment process is a mess, with appeals that will stretch into 2020.
Riding in to apparently try and fix all of this is Troy Schulte, who in September announced he was stepping down as Kansas City's city manager after a decade on the job. The county legislature will discuss a proposed contract with him on Monday.
“This is the perfect time for him to come in," Legislature Chair Theresa Galvin said. “I think he’ll help us get past a lot of issues that we’ve had.”
And it's not just the projects that people can see that Galvin hopes Schulte can fix.
“It’s no secret that there’s been issues in the past between the Legislature and the executive side," she said. "That we have trust issues and we’ve been working on trying to get past those.”
According to the proposed contract, the county would pay him $220,000 a year. That's what he made working for Kansas City. He would also get a county car.
Schulte wasn't available for comment Friday. In a Facebook Live interview with the Kansas City Star, he said he could help “bridge the gap between the executive and the legislature.”
Schulte is likely to talk at Monday's meeting, according to a tweet from Legislator Crystal Williams.
He will be speaking with the legislature about the job and expectations will be exchanged.
— Crystal Williams (@crystalpolicy) November 15, 2019
Schult's contract with the city ends on Feb. 29, 2020.
Sam Zeff is KCUR's metro reporter. You can follow Sam on Twitter: @samzeff.
