I am excited to announce that I was elected as your new Mayor on November 2, 2021. I am humbled to have so many put their trust in me to lead our City for the next four years. We have two new Council members, Amy Ryder and Jacob Laha joining us and two returning Council members, Chris Hands and David Neal. This will leave us one Council member short. The new Council will advertise my Ward 4 vacancy and take applications. We will then vote for someone from Ward 4 to become a Council member for two years. It will be exciting to work with the new Council as we strive to make Merriam even better. The governing body needs your help to know what is important to you. Please reach out to either myself or your Council representative and give us your thoughts.

A Record of Accomplishment

During my FIRST four Years, I worked with city Council and staff to implement several new programs to improve our city:  

We started an “Adopt a Street Island” program where a citizen can become the designer and caregiver of a street island for one year. We have nineteen islands in our City. Many of these islands have fallen into disrepair. The City will reimburse up to $500 each year for the care and upkeep of that island. Working together, we keep Merriam beautiful.

We implemented an exterior home grant that will provide up to 20% reimbursement up to $2,500 for anything dealing with the exterior of your home. We allocated $50,000 to the program this year and it was distributed on a first-come basis. This grant is important to keep property values from declining. Everyone wins when houses are well maintained and beautiful!

We started a neighborhood block party grant that will reimburse residents up to $200 for food and drink to throw a party for your neighborhood. There is no better way to get to know your neighbors than breaking bread with them.

We began offering twice a year, a large item pick-up where residents can put out large items like furniture, appliances, lawnmowers and other large items that you cannot put out in your trash can.  This gives you the opportunity to get rid of unwanted items without having to pay someone to haul it off. All you have to do is get it to the curb on the designated pick-up day. The City will then remove it.

We offer free tree limb pick-up in the spring. We are fortunate to have large lots with many trees. Unfortunately, storms often bring down limbs. You can’t just put this out with your trash for pick-up. However, if you can get it to the curb on the designated date, the City will haul it off for you. Even after some severe storms, the City will sometimes open up a site at Public Works where residents can drop off limbs. These occasions will be advertised when they are available.

Every one of these ideas came from residents.

Your city council listened.

And I voted to support every one of these initiatives.

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2020 November 05 - Mayoral Announcement
I am excited to announce that it is my intention to run for Mayor of the City of Merriam.

Many of you know that this has been a long-time goal of mine. Every since I retired from the Fire Department in 2014, I have been interested in serving in this capacity. However, I would not run against our current Mayor Ken Sissom. I think he has done an excellent job of leading our City during the past eleven years. He has announced that he does not plan to run for another term when it expires next year. As the current Council President, I have been working with him closely to set agenda items and to learn the duties of Mayor. Since being elected as the Ward 4 City Councilmember in 2015, I served four years as the Vice-President of the Council and was elected last year as the President. I have always been a goal oriented individual and have prepared myself to reach those goals. I guess I always knew that my Master’s Degree in Public Administration would enable me to lead our Community for many years.

Merriam has been my home since 1966. I grew up in this Community and have seen it transform into the wonderful City we have today. We are the envy of many in both Johnson County and throughout the State of Kansas. We are able to provide top quality services in a fiscally responsible manner. We have just the right mix of business and residential. Our sales tax generation provides over 50% of our revenue. Even during our recent pandemic, which forced many business to close for extended periods of time; we only experienced a 4% decline in sales tax. We may actually completely recover by the end of the year and go into next year with a greater fund balance than we anticipated.

If elected, I would like to share my vision of Merriam and the goals that I believe our Community would benefit from. They are as follows:

• Provide excellent Fire, Police and EMS services that will keep our community safe.

• Not only refrain from raising taxes, but look at ways to provide tax relief; especially to our senior citizens who are on fixed incomes.

• Maintain our infrastructure of streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, street lights and storm drains.

• Address flooding concerns in various locations throughout the city.

• Encourage and seek out a grocery store chain that will locate in Merriam. This will not only provide a necessary service that we all need; it will keep sales tax generation here.

• Improve walk-ability and bike-ability throughout the City.

• Address resident’s concerns about speeding in our neighborhoods. This may require a redesign of our streets when they are scheduled for overlay or repair.

• Increase the energy efficiency of our street lights and city structures and provide grants to our residents that encourages them to do the same.

• Explore ways in which we can assist our senior citizens to stay in their homes or provide affordable housing for them and our lower income population.

• Assist in the redevelopment of the old K-Mart property and the development of the Shawnee Mission corridor from Antioch to I-35.

• Plant more trees as we continue to do our part to reduce carbon emissions.

• Install an electric vehicle charging station at our Community center.

• Improve communication between City government and our citizens.

I am also interested in hearing from you. Please let me know what you think is important and what your goals would be for Merriam doing the next four years. Together, we can make Merriam even better.

2020 JANUARY 27 - Chosen for Council President
I am humbled and excited to report that I have been selected as the Merriam City Council President for the next two years. It will give me the opportunity to work closely with Mayor Sissom and to learn more about setting agendas and providing direction for our City. Congratulations also go to fellow Councilmember Scott Diebold, who was selected as Vice President. I look forward to serving our Community in my new capacity.

Education. Dedication. Experience.

I have been a public servant for Merriam for over 45 years. I’ve been part of the Merriam Community for over 55 years. I served the Merriam Fire Department for over 38 years ascending the ranks to retire as the Merriam Fire Chief/Fire Marshal in 2014.

In 2015, my neighbors elected me to serve as Ward 4 Council-member. In 2019, my neighbors chose to keep me at city hall! I’m excited to continue representing my neighbors on city council and to serve as your Mayor.

I am proud to call Merriam my home.

I have lived here for over 55 years and plan to live here many more. I want all Citizens to know that they made the right choice in locating in Merriam. The City has changed a lot since I moved to Merriam in 1965. Antioch used to be a two-lane road with ditches on both sides. There were no curbs, nor gutters.  There were very few sidewalks and storm sewers. Our Fire Department only had 3 paid firefighters and the rest was comprised of Volunteers.

I started my Career in Merriam as a Volunteer Firefighter

in 1976 and became a paid firefighter in 1977. I served my entire career in Merriam. I worked my way through the ranks and retired in 2014 as your Fire Chief/Fire Marshal after serving 38 years. During this time frame, I learned how to serve the public. That deep desire has never gone away. I ran for City Council in 2015 and became your Ward 4 representative. It has been a pleasure serving you in that capacity and in 2019 my neighbors were happy enough with the job I’ve done to keep me on city council with a re-election!  I want to continue serving this Community. We have done a lot to make Merriam better, but the task is not done. We can never stop trying to improve.

I believe that I have prepared

to serve you my entire life. My education was dedicated to learning what it takes to run a City. I received my Associate Degree from JCCC. I then went to KU to get my Bachelor degree with a major in Personnel Administration. I continued my education at KU and received my Master’s Degree in Public Administration. This is the same degree that our City Administrator achieved. I was fortunate to use this knowledge to benefit Merriam for over 30 years. I bring to the table both education and experience.

I understand the importance

of keeping our taxes down. Many in our community are senior citizens who are on fixed incomes. We also have younger families who have to work two jobs, just to make ends meet.  This is why it is important to bring in new business and retain current business. The sales revenue generated from commercial enterprise allows us to keep personal property taxes down. We have what is referred to as a 4 to 1 pull factor. For every Merriam resident paying sales tax, we have four people outside our community paying sales tax. This is how the majority of our new Community Center is being funded. We have not raised the mill levy for over 10 years. Let’s keep that tradition going.

I am excited that our new Community Center

and Aquatic Center has been built and is now open. It is over 66,000 square feet. I would encourage all residents to check it out and become members. It has something for all ages. It has state of the art work out stations and an indoor walking track. It has a large basketball gym where you can also play pickleball. It has an indoor pool with lap lanes, slides, a lazy river and a therapeutic heated pool. It has an outdoor pool with low-level diving boards and a zero-depth entrance. There is a large gymnasium, art gallery and meeting rooms. There is something for everyone.

In Closing

Merriam has seen continuous improvement for four years.  All of us on city council take our City motto “Merriam – Just Right” very seriously and I’m proud to be part of the team.

Bob Pape

Your Merriam Councilmember, and Council President – Ward 4