GLADSTONE — The Gladstone City Commission unanimously approved the 2022 North Bluff Infrastructure Improvement Project at its regular meeting Monday night. The commission conducted the required public hearing for Resolution No. 2022-11 Special Assessment District (SAD)-04, which laid out how the approximate cost of $249,907 for the project was to be divvied amongst the affected property owners.

The meeting began with a quick disclaimer regarding the Gladstone Citizens Council Inc. (GCC), a registered domestic non-profit organization, for which Mike O’Connor, a former Gladstone city commissioner, is the registered agent and one of the incorporators. Kim Berry, Gladstone city clerk, publicly stated at the meeting that GCC Inc. is not affiliated with the city of Gladstone or the city commission.

O’Connor had been circulating special assessment protest forms throughout the City of Gladstone prior to Monday’s public hearing. These forms, some of which were filled out and returned to Berry, stated that GCC Inc. “opposes all Special Assessments to repair roads which should be paid for with property tax dollars.” This statement, according to Eric Buckman, city manager, is false.

Buckamn clarified that nearly all of the money that comes in from property taxes are used to fund public safety, recreation, and city hall. Money for roads, on the other hand, are almost entirely provided by the state government, which does not distribute enough money to fund every roadwork project in the area.

“We do get road money, but the road money covers snow plowing and basic maintenance, and that is about all it will fund,” Joe Thompson, mayor of Gladstone, said. “The state just doesn’t give us enough to fund road replacements.”

The city of Gladstone has a history with O’Connor, who has filed a number of lawsuits against the city and its officials over the past six years. These lawsuits, all of which were ruled against O’Connor and his claims, have cost the city over a half a million dollars.

“[O’Connor] makes his pastime suing the city and passing out misinformation to the people of this community,” Buckman told meeting attendees. “He is going to do it again, and he will use you and just leave you at the end.”

The North Bluff Infrastructure Improvement Project is set to reconstruct several roads, including Parkway Drive, Gladstone Avenue, Park Avenue, and North Bluff Drive, within the special assessment district. This reconstruction process includes paving, reshaping, and culvert replacement, amongst several other improvement measures.

The assessment of property in affected areas was conducted according to frontage, meaning that the footage of the boundary existing between a plot of land and the affected road was charged at a set rate. For this project, property owners are being charged $18.25 per foot of frontage they own. Property owners are expected to burden just over 60% of the project’s estimated cost, with the total cost of road improvements reaching $408,000.

The commission was met with protest Monday night, as property owners affected by the special assessment voiced their opinions during the public hearing. Individuals expressed several concerns, most notably the commission’s method of using frontage to allocate costs.

“This is the third time I think we have done a special assessment in the last three years, and for the most part there is some people that pay and some people that pay a little more, but everybody is paying something,” Brad Mantela, mayor pro-tem, said. “This is the method. It is not always palatable to everybody … but it is the most fair way to do it.”

After receiving the completed special assessment roll at the commission’s June 13 meeting, Jim Fox, one of the affected property owners, took up issue with how the project’s costs were being distributed.

“Frontage just doesn’t make any sense to me. My neighbor … is being charged almost $6,400, which is about two and a half times the average amount that anyone is being assessed,” Fox said. “I think using a frontage model is just inequitable, and I would highly encourage you guys move to something more equitable like assessed value of the property.”

Other concerns regarding the North Bluff Infrastructure Improvement Project include the project’s timeline. While some property owners felt blindsided by the project’s quick start, which is set to begin after the 4th of July, commissioner’s assured them that the planning and budgeting process for the project was open to the public and began just after the Christmas holiday in 2021. It was also noted that pulverization of the pre-existing roads is set to begin in August, but the paving process is not scheduled until late September. This will leave drivers to travel on gravel roads for a period of time.

In other business, the commission approved moving delinquent utility bills and miscellaneous invoices to the summer 2022 tax roll.