Sealed bids will be accepted by the City of Parkville, Missouri, 8880 Clark Avenue, Parkville Missouri, 64152, Attn: Alysen Abel, Public Works Director until 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, July 11, 2018. Deliveries shall be made to the reception desk at City Hall in a sealed envelope labeled “ON-CALL TREE TRIMMING & REMOVAL SERVICES”. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at approximately 10:05 a.m. in the Public Works Conference Room of City Hall. The work generally includes pruning tree limbs and branches and complete tree and/or stump removal on an emergency and/or non-emergency basis.

Bid Documents (PDF link)

With assistance from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) through its Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) grant program, the City of Parkville completed its plan to remove several dead, dying, broken and/or diseased Silver Maple trees and a large ash tree in English Landing Park. The City also planted 12 new flood tolerant trees around the playground to compensate for the trimming and removal of several of the major trees in the park.

To make the project possible, the City was awarded a $6,101 TRIM grant from the MDC. Parkville was one of 35 communities to receive a grant in 2017. With these grant funds, the City is able to provide a clean and safe park and yield the growth of new young trees that will establish a shady resting area, improve air quality and above all continue to provide beauty and comfort in the parks.

The TRIM grant program is a competitive cost-share tree care program administered by the MDC and the Missouri Community Forest Council. The program provides assistance for government agencies, public schools and non-profit groups with the management, improvement or conservation of trees on public lands. Projects eligible for TRIM grants include tree inventory and hazardous tree removal or pruning.

Mayor Nan Johnston said, “Because City staff continues to pursue grants, we are able to maintain the health of our tree stock as a top priority in our more than 200 acres of parks and over 100 acres of nature sanctuaries. We appreciate the assistance provided by the TRIM Program through the Missouri Department of Conservation.”

Parkville, designated as Tree City USA again in 2018 for the 28^th consecutive year, was awarded the TRIM grant last fall and greatly appreciates the support of the MDC who helped significantly offset project costs to make this plan possible.

The City of Parkville is pleased to announce that the partnership with Park University is growing. The University has teamed up with the City to use the sand volleyball courts in English Landing Park as their home court for their new collegiate beach volleyball team, beginning in early 2019.

Earlier this year, Park University Volleyball Coach Mike Talamantes approached the City about entering into a maintenance and use agreement for the three sand volleyball courts located in English Landing Park. As part of the agreement, the University will update the courts in exchange for use of the courts for practice and intercollegiate competition. The courts will be improved to certified beach volleyball standards, including replacing and increasing the depth of the sand, new poles and net systems and installing court volleyball lines. 

The beach volleyball season runs from January to May. The public may use the courts during times not reserved by Park University. The agreement will provide Park University with access to an improved beach volleyball facility in the picturesque English Landing Park, which sits on the Missouri River. The partnership will help the City with maintenance of the sand volleyball courts and the public will have access to official college beach volleyball courts for recreational play.  

The City hopes that the sport will bring more patrons to English Landing Park and downtown Parkville. Mayor Johnston said, “The City is looking forward to expanding our partnership with Park University through their new beach volleyball program. We are happy our parks provide a place where the university can play its new sport while helping us improve our parks.”

The University plans to start improvements this fall. They will be completed before the 2019 season.

For more information, contact Assistant to the City Administrator Anna Mitchell at (816) 741-7676.

The City of Parkville is pleased to announce that the Riss Lake Community Association recently adopted a 1.165 mile section of Highway 45 through the Missouri Adopt-A-Highway program. They join the more than 5,200 groups and 50,000 volunteers who focus on making Missouri’s roadways cleaner and more attractive.

Parkville Police Chief Kevin Chrisman started the process following the association’s annual meeting. He communicated with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to set up initial conversations with the Riss Lake Community Association. An application was submitted to and approved by MoDOT for the association to adopt the section of Highway 45 from Klamm Road on the east to Route 9 on the west. The team’s lead for the volunteers is Cem Yildirim. The developer of Riss Lake is Don Julian.

The Missouri Adopt-A-Highway program began in 1987. More than 385,000 acres of right-of-way along 33,700 state highway miles are maintained by MoDOT. Adopters can pick up litter, mow, beautify the roadside through landscaping or grow native wildflowers and grasses along the roadside. The Riss Lake Community Association plans to pick up litter in their adopted section. As required in the agreement, one of the cleanups will be during the No MOre Trash! Bash in April.

Signs will be posted with the association’s name at each end of the adopted section. MoDOT will provide trash bags and will pick up and dispose of the bags of collected litter.

Volunteer cleanup work began on Saturday, May 5^th with a small group of Riss Lake residents who helped start the cleanup process. Residents included Judy and Randy Timmerman; Amy and Kent Barr; Frances Duffy; and NevAda, Banu and Cem Yildirim. The group will continue to meet and help keep the section of Highway 45 clean throughout the year.

Mayor Johnston said “Thank you to the Timmerman’s, Barr’s, Frances Duffy and the Yildirim’s. Their hard work helps make Parkville a more beautiful place to live, work and play. Volunteers are what make a good community great!”

The City of Parkville will host the 2^nd Annual Northland Law Enforcement Appreciation Day event on Saturday, May 19, 2018, in English Landing Park in downtown Parkville. The event is free and open to everyone!

Over 30 law enforcement agencies from the northland will participate in the event that will start at 11:00 a.m. with an honor guard flag parade, including police ATV’s, bicycles and bagpipes. The parade will begin on Main and McAfee streets and end at the stage in English Landing Park.

The event will also include the Fallen Officer Memorial, police car row, demonstrations, special operations and tactical vehicles and personnel from both land and water, and many kid-friendly events. Children can participate in a road course in a Parkville power car and driving-aged teenagers and adults can participate in a “Drunk Buster” course simulating impaired driving.

For more information about the event, contact the Parkville Police Department at (816) 741-4454.

The City of Parkville will provide residents several opportunities this spring and summer to get rid of unwanted materials, yard waste, household hazardous waste and other recyclable materials through events hosted by the City and in partnership with other entities.

On Saturday, April 21 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the City will hold a spring cleanup event at the Damon Pursell lot at 6105 NW River Park Drive. Items collected include small limbs, leaves and grass (no plastic bags), used batteries, scrap metal, water heaters, auto parts, metal products, air conditioners without compressor, washers and dryers without motor, tires, furniture and household debris. Items not collected include paint, air conditioner compressors, washer/dryer motors and household hazardous waste (HHW) items, but residents have the opportunity to dispose of HHW items through the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) HHW program. Proof of residency is required.

On Saturday, June 23, 2017, from 8 a.m. until noon, the first Household Hazardous Waste Collection mobile event near Parkville will be held at Happy Rock Park in Gladstone. Visit http://www.recyclespot.org/ for more information. Parkville and Platte County are members of the MARC Solid Waste Management District HHW program for disposal of items such as paint, automotive products, antifreeze, batteries, CFL light bulbs, fertilizers, hazardous cleaners, household cleaners, pool chemicals, used oil and thinners. The HHW program conducts mobile collection events at various locations through the metro area.

Parkville residents can also deliver HHW accepted items on Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the year to the Household Hazardous Waste Center at 4707 Deramus Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. Proof of residency is required.

From Monday, April 23 through Friday, May 11, Parkville residents can drop off yard waste at no charge at 6105 NW River Park Drive any time Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Yard waste does not have to be bagged. Proof of residency is required.

Additional yard waste disposal is available to Parkville residents throughout the year at the Regional Brush/Yard Waste Recycle Facility in the Gladstone Public Works building located at 4000 NE 76th Street. The program is available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to residential customers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yard waste must be bagged and there is a charge per bag, truck and/or trailer. Proof of residency is required. The City of Parkville participates with Gladstone, Pleasant Valley, Liberty and Lake Waukomis to give residents the opportunity to drop off yard waste and brush year-round.

Throughout the spring and summer, the City partners with the Midwest Recycling Center to collect essentially anything with a cord or battery (working or not) during electronics recycling events in the parking lot at City Hall. The electronic recycling events are open to anyone, not just Parkville residents – anyone can get rid of freezers, cell phones, or other electronic items for free but there is a charge to recycle some items. The events are held on the second Tuesday of even months from February to October from 2:30 p.m. through 5:30 p.m. or until the truck is full. A list of fees is available online at http://mrcrecycling.net/recycling-fees.

In conjunction with the electronics recycling events, the City partners with Midwest Shredding Service to provide secure on-site document shredding services from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. This service is available to Parkville residents only and proof of residency is required.

Residents are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle waste whenever possible. The average person in the Kansas City metro still throws out about seven pounds of waste per day. To learn more, visit RecycleSpot.org: greater Kansas City’s one-stop shop for recycling information. The website features a tool to allow visitors to search for instructions to recycle popular items based on zip code.

Visit http://parkvillemo.gov/residents/waste-disposal-opportunities/ for more information about all the waste disposal events available to Parkville residents.

On Saturday, April 21, 2018, the Parkville Nature Sanctuary will celebrate Earth Day by hosting two events sponsored by Friends of Parkville Nature Sanctuary. Adults and teens can participate in the first annual BioBlitz and individuals, groups and families with small children can take part in the annual Garlic Mustard Pull Extravaganza. Both events will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

BioBlitz is a science-based event that records as many living organisms in an area in a given time period. The event will be led by plant and wildlife experts who will assist with the inventory. For those planning to participate in the BioBlitz, please download the iNaturalist app to a smart phone and play with it before the event. This fascinating tool will help with identifications and data compilations.

The Garlic Mustard Pull Extravaganza is an annual event held at the sanctuary. Individuals, groups and families with young children can pull and bag Garlic Mustard which is one of the most destructive and invasive species in Missouri today.

Groups across the country are celebrating Earth Day. Parkville Nature Sanctuary Director Joe Ryan said, “Earth Day is a wonderful opportunity to help educate people on the great benefits of the environment. The Parkville Nature Sanctuary celebrates Earth Day by bringing people and nature together.”

To register for these events, contact Parkville Nature Sanctuary Director Joe Ryan at (816) 741-7676.

In January 2018, the City of Parkville named the trail system at the Parkville Nature Sanctuary “The Jim Reed Trail System” in honor of former director Jim Reed who helped establish the original trails. The Parkville Nature Sanctuary honored Reed at a meeting on March 27^th with a framed picture of the resolution issued by the City alongside the new map of the trail system.

The main function of the Parkville Nature Sanctuary is to provide safe, well-maintained hiking trails for visitors to enjoy and to protect the flora and fauna. During Jim’s tenure, the initial trails were established and later expanded with the acquisition of the White Alloe Creek conservation area by lease agreement with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Jim’s leadership provided the blueprint to utilize volunteers and to establish the trails as year-round hiking paths. The model of using a core group of adult volunteers, securing help from local youth groups and providing opportunities for Eagle Scouts to complete special projects are still followed by the current director Joe Ryan.

The Friends of Parkville Nature Sanctuary, a non-profit organization created to supplement existing government support for the sanctuary, looks for opportunities to recognize and honor significant contributions to the nature sanctuary. To show their appreciation to Jim, who charted the course of the Parkville Nature Sanctuary, they felt that naming the most important feature of the sanctuary “The Jim Reed Trail System” acknowledged his contributions to the sanctuary.

Mayor Johnston said “The City was proud to honor the first director of the Parkville Nature Sanctuary for all his hard work by naming the trail system after him. The sanctuary is a great place for visitors to enjoy nature year-round and Jim played a large role in helping the nature sanctuary become what it is today.”

For more information about the Parkville Nature Sanctuary, contact Director Joe Ryan at (816) 741-7676.

On March 13, 2018, Mayor Nan Johnston met with six fourth grade scouts from Webelos II Den 5 at the St. Therese School to share her experience as mayor and help them earn the “Building a Better World” badge.

To earn the badge, the scouts need to complete five adventures and one of the requirements is for scouts to meet with a local government leader to learn about his/her role in the community and discuss important issues facing our community.

Mayor Johnston talked about what prepared her for the position of mayor, why she wanted to become a government leader and how citizens help her help the community. The Mayor said, “I enjoyed sharing my experience as mayor and teaching them about my role in local government. As an example of citizens helping our community, I spoke about the Eagle Scout project completed in 2015 that replaced the walking bridge in the Parkville Nature Sanctuary. I look forward to seeing what these scouts accomplish today and in the future.”

Webelos II Den 5 Leader Joe Janasz Jr. said, “We would like to thank Mayor Johnston for her visit to our den. Her discussions with the scouts not only gave them some knowledge of her duties as mayor, but they also learned about some of the issues facing the community and how everyone can help in addressing these issues. She inspired this group of scouts to start thinking of projects they could do to help the community be a better place.”

For more information about the visit, contact Mayor Johnston at (816) 741-7676.

Left to right: Adam Whitbeck, Andrew Ampon, Justin Janasz, Mayor Johnston,
Landon Birks and Connor Crosby

This spring, the City of Parkville will place recycle bins in six areas throughout English Landing and Platte Landing parks to collect plastic bottles, paper and aluminum cans from park users. The City was awarded a grant by the Mid-America Regional Council’s (MARC) Solid Waste Management District to collect recycled materials and help keep trash out of the landfill.

The MARC Solid Waste Management District awarded the City a $1,980 grant in October 2017 for six recycle bins to be placed in several areas of the parks. Five bins will be placed in English Landing Park and one bin will be placed in Platte Landing Park. Each bin will hold 33 gallons of aluminum cans, paper and plastic products. Standardized labels from “Recycle Across America” will be attached to each bin to show park users which recycled products are accepted. The City will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the bins.

The MARC Solid Waste Management District offers grants to city and county governments, businesses, schools, non-profit organizations and other interested parties within the district for various programs including education, waste reduction, re-use, recycling, composting, collection and processing, research and development and market development for products made with diverted materials. The District represents Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte and Ray counties in Missouri.

Mayor Nan Johnston said, “We are pleased to offer recycling services in our parks. Visitors will have the option to recycle in the park, just like they do at home. Recycling helps reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, prevents pollution and helps preserve natural resources. The City is excited to expand this service to our park visitors.”

For more information about the recycle bins contact Public Works Director Alysen Abel at (816) 741-7676.