My top priorities are as follows:

1) Public Safety: Our sheriff’s department needs more financial help to keep our community safe.

MY PLAN: Our county portfolio of investments are drastically underperforming! Our total county portfolio sits at $213 million, while we only received $4 million in investment income. That’s a yield of only 1.8%! While adhering to the constitutional statute of investing in safe, liquid investments, I could easily increase our current rate of return by investing in bonds and CD’s which are hovering around 4%. That would provide an additional investment income of $5 million to the general revenue, of which I would advocate that $3 or even $4 million of that to go to our county sheriff’s department to get more law enforcement protecting our community.

2) Improving Mental Health Resources for the Children in Our Community: We are seeing staggering rates of increased depression, drug usage, and mental struggles among youth in Boone County.

MY PLAN: We already have an established quarter of 1% sales tax rate that goes to Children’s Services Fund 216 of county appropriations. The sales tax generates roughly $8 to $9 million annually for that fund. I would strongly advocate that we grow our private/public partnership with community partners such as Compass Health Network and Burrell Behavioral Health. In that stronger partnership we strategically provide them with $750,000 or $1 million/annually aimed at providing more mental health resources for the youth in our community. As things stand today, if a young person found themself in a mental health crisis and needed help immediately, they very likely might find themselves going to St. Louis to get those resources. That doesn’t sit right with me, and we need to do better long term for the children of this community.

3) Increasing the Efficiency of Our 911 Dispatch Staff: Currently we struggle greatly to recruit and to retain dispatchers at our 911 Emergency Management Center.

MY PLAN: We need to take a step back and realize what we’re doing is not working, and it’s costing lives. If you have an actual emergency and call the Boone County 911 Emergency Management Center, there are many times it can take several minutes to get a dispatcher on the line because they’re overworked and understaffed. The facility was designed to house 24 dispatchers, but due to the stress of the job and low minimum wage pay, many quickly leave the job. I would strongly see where we need to give these dispatch heroes a $4/hour pay bump. If we can increase our average to around 21 dispatchers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, this would only increase our 911 expense to around $735,000/annually. Currently our 911 Tax Fund 270 is sitting on $36 million and growing! One important caveat is that the county pay scale run on a Job Ledger, which puts our dispatchers on a low rung of the ledger, and thus a low pay ceiling. We would need to recognize this, and through a Commission Order increase their placing on the ledger to thus increase their ceiling. This won’t fix everything but will definitely be a huge step in the right direction.

4) Advocating For Additional Funds: This is NOT a job requirement, but if elected, I would proudly go to Jeff City to advocate for funding for broadband expansion, Mizzou and secondary education or whatever else may be a priority for you! Our county needs a voice in Jeff defending us. I would be that leader, and I would be that voice.

5) Increased Transparency & Oversight: I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to figure out where our county finances are sitting at. If you go online, you have to really dig, send emails, and make calls to get questions answered. It seems like a simple fix, but as Treasurer, I would post monthly financial reports online of where county finances are sitting at, so everyone has an equal opportunity of knowing what’s going on.

NOTICE: None of my plans include increasing the tax rate! I can achieve all of these goals by simply doing better with what we already have! It just takes someone with vision!