Donna Gordon is a Lee’s Summit resident, wife, mom and business owner who loves living in Lee’s Summit, and has been here 27 years. Despite being new to politics, Donna has been involved in numerous community and civic projects that has kept her informed of the issues.
As a self-employed business analyst, she is hired by businesses and organizations to bring new information to the table – and to look at issues with a fresh set of eyes. Donna has spent 3 decades working in teams, leading volunteer groups, and participating in events where there are multiple perspectives, agendas and personalities. Donna’s three priorities are: fiscal responsibility, smart growth, and community engagement.
The Council we elect on April 3 will need to oversee a difficult budget situation. Do we need to look at overall revenue trends (online is now 9% of retail and growing) to ensure that we have funds to maintain the service levels we have come to expect? Some revenues have grown, while others have declined as technology changes. Is there an opportunity to trim expenditures? Absolutely!
We need to look at expenditure growth carefully as well. Is there an opportunity to improve efficiencies– yes – we need to find ways to use technology to increase efficiency and tap into city employee’s expertise in order to do that. We need to understand the tradeoffs – There are essential services, and then there are ‘nice to haves’. Voters need to decide if we want to keep the ‘nice to haves’ and be willing to pay for them, or we look at cuts in order to balance the budget. If elected, Donna is committed to prioritizing the budget process to ensure that our hard working employees are compensated fairly, and recognizing that this is going to include some tough decisions.
Can we ‘grow our way out of this’? Only if the growth proposed pays for itself – demands on public safety, city services and infrastructure increase with growth – so does this growth produce tax revenue that covers this increased demand for services? When we look at new developments, we must ask ourselves that question. Cities that are not growing face decline, but with less developable land than we had a few decades ago, we need to ensure the right mix of development.
How do we prioritize the right mix of development? By listening to our voters and engaging our broader community in the discussion. We have a wonderful community of people who volunteer for many organizations, schools, and churches, and support a wide variety of efforts that help make Lee’s Summit a great place to live. However, only 16% of District 4 voters participated in the last municipal election. Do you want 16% of the population to speak for you? Or do you want to have a voice in the future of Lee’s Summit? Donna would like to hear from you about your priorities for
Lee’s Summit (http://dgordon4ls.com/). But also please consider exercising your right to vote, and vote Donna Gordon on April 3.
