TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! KCFD AMBULANCE BILLING SERVICE PETITION STAYS WINNING AND DELIVERS 10K SIGNATURES TO SMACKDOWN KANSAS CITY MAYOR SLY OUTSOURCING EFFORT!!!

Mayor Sly James has been met with a stern rebuke from grassroots activists who have gathered an army of voters signing on to a petition to stop an effort to outsource Kansas City Fire Department ambulance billing services.

Yesterday, petitioners turned in 617 pages of signatures which totaled more than 5,000 i(10k+ total) in order to stop an effort to outsource this important city service.

On July 29th these petitioners delivered over 5,600 signatures. The group needs 7,143 signatures to put their effort on the ballot. In their first try, 4,112 signatures were counted as valid by the City Clerk, giving the group around a 74% clearance rate. Consider that this last batch of petitions was gathered during the Aug. 5th primary election and most understand that the community effort to stop the KCFD outsourcing has been successful in capturing a great deal of support.

Overall, the group has more than 10k signatures on hand which is more than "Save The Plaza" protestors earned to stop Polsinelli's high rise office building plan. Organizers believe their signature gathering efforts might be a recent record when it comes to engaging voters via citizen initiative petition.



Now, the City Council can either repeal the ordinance to outsource ambulance billing OR risk losing an embarrassing vote to an electorate that already seems convinced about the dangers of this deal.

One Kansas City Insider notes . . .

"This is a terrible contract, and we shouldn’t be so naïve that we are fooled by empty promises of millions of dollars in increased collections when Intermedix refuses to put such requirements in the contract.

"Plus, there are enough readily known instances of cities, counties and other governmental agencies dropping Advanced Data Processing, Inc./Intermedix as their EMS billing contractor to raise serious concerns about proceeding with this contract at this time."

However . . . For TKC, one thing about this petition effort is clear . . .

THIS IS YET ANOTHER EPIC SMACKDOWN OF MAYOR SLY'S POLICY AND POLITICS BY GRASSROOTS ORGANIZERS!!!



Nobody understands why Mayor Sly kept pushing this doomed plan that was defeated in committee but then reintroduced and rammed through by the increasingly stubborn Mayor who seems to be earning his reputation for playing "win at all costs" politics.

However . . .

THESE GRASSROOTS PETITIONERS REALIZE THAT BULLIES ONLY UNDERSTAND DIRECT CONFRONTATION AND ONCE AGAIN IT'S REVEALED THAT MAYOR SLY'S POLICIES SIMPLY DO NOT RESONATE IN KANSAS CITY'S URBAN CORE!!!

Jobs for Justice and more than a few union groups took this petition to local churches and election stations and they were met with a obviously warm reception. The reality of KCMO Ambulance billing outsourcing is that it could very well impose heavy fees and other risks on the community.

There has been fear about patient data and privacy along with other concerns about higher KCMO ambulance costs.

Accordingly,  the strong response to defeat the measure is understandable.

Now . . .

MAYOR SLY IS CONFRONTED WITH 10K VOTERS WHO DISAGREE WITH HIS STRONG-ARM POLITICAL TACTICS IN RAMMING THROUGH THIS EFFORT!!!

And while nobody can be sure about Mayor Sly's motivation for pushing through the bad deal, what's clear is the community rejection of Mayor Sly's plan is once again overwhelming and decisive.

Developing . . .