The following position statement has been provided to NeighborhoodNet by Charlotte O'Hara, who is running for Chair of the Johnson County Commissioners in Johnson County, Kansas. More information on Ms. O'Hara's candidacy can be found on her campaign website, http://www.oharaforchair.com/.

Ms. O'Hara can be contacted at charlotte@oharaforchair.com

Here is her statement:

From: Charlotte O’Hara

10-23-06

The good news is that the sport of soccer is alive and well in Johnson County. Therefore the need for additional soccer fields to accommodate the ever increasing popularity of this sport for our youth is undisputable. I support the concept of additional soccer fields. However, is the current $75 million proposal the best way to address these needs?

The unfortunate part of this proposal is that it did not go through a thorough public vetting process. The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) failed the public by not requiring this issue to be discussed and constructed in a completely transparent public venue. After public discussion the BOCC, following a vote of the board, should have forwarded their recommendation to the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Board for formal action. If it had, many of the questionable aspects of this proposal would have been ferreted out and a good, solid, no questions left unanswered soccer field proposal would have emerged.

The BOCC in conjunction with Johnson County Parks and Recreation could have looked at the private/public model that we have successfully implemented in providing eighteen fields at the Heritage Park Soccer Complex. This complex was built on existing parkland at no additional cost to county taxpayers. Now that is a win/win partnership!

Or we could have studied the James W. Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines, Iowa which recently hosted the 2006 US Youth Soccer National Championships. This twelve field complex opened in 1998 at a cost of $5.6 million dollars. Recent renovations cost $1.5 million so total costs of just over $7 million, one tenth the cost of our proposal on the November 7th ballot. (Adjusted for inflation $8.44 million per Department of Labor CPI index)

In addition Dave Lindstrom (a strong proponent) and Wayne Flaherty (an equally strong opponent) and both good friends of mine, could have worked together to insure the process would never appear hijacked by “back room politics” or influenced too greatly by big business interests.

Should we go back to the drawing board, have the BOCC truly study this issue as a committee of the whole in an open, transparent process? I think so, but it is the voters of Johnson County who will answer that question on November 7th.