Frank Offutt’s July 22, 1997 lunch with Platte City businessmen concluded not with dessert, but with an invitation to be their candidate for mayor in the April 1998 general election.
After serving 16 years as mayor, and 20 years in elected office, Offutt decided it was time to leave and on June 23 he passed his mayoral title and duties to newly elected mayor, Tony Paolillo. Paolillo takes the reins after serving as president of the Platte City Board of Aldermen.
Paolillo will host a reception to say farewell to Offutt from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 30 at Wells Bank, 1100 Branch Street, Platte City.
Tackling the issue of advancing the city’s capital improvement program and overcoming the concerns of deferred maintenance had been the focus of the meeting between Offutt and local businessmen in 1997.
The CIP at the time was a multi-faceted collection of projects that included extensive street, storm and waste-water projects plus the need to advance and develop a long-term park enhancement program.
Offutt
“These gentlemen felt that prior service as an alderman showed promise and thus were confidant I’d matured into a promising candidate to lead the city in bringing these long needed projects to fruition,” Offutt said. “With a pledge of support for my candidacy and a promise to provide needed resources to address issues as they developed, I accepted the nomination.”
Offutt had the pleasure of living in the area his entire life and as a fifth-generation Platte County resident he has a special affinity for the city and county. He is also the fourth-generation of Offutts to answer the call of public service.
After serving as alderman, Ward II for two terms and excited by the prospect of increasing the quality of life for Platte City community members along with the opportunity to bring long-needed improvements to his hometown, Offutt first ran for the mayor’s seat in the 1998 general election, won, and was re-elected in 2000. However, he failed to win office in the 2002 election.
“Leading up to the April 2008 election, the original group of businessmen joined with community leaders asking that I submit my name once again for mayor, which eventually led to six additional terms in office,” Offutt said.
In the years he served as mayor, Offutt has watched his hometown evolve as a small, rural county seat village into a modern bedroom community. As with all changes, he said this series of events didn’t occur overnight, but across several decades.
“With the need for advances in goods and services, coupled with the expectations of citizens, the opportunity to address the demands placed on a small emerging community has come to fruition,” Offutt said.
And for Offutt, even the challenges he faced were seen by him as truly opportunities.
He took the time to study the facts and build a plan for success made from some innovated models to achieve the goals he sought. Awaiting the right time to introduce agendas required a lot of patience.
“I would say waiting was often the greatest challenge,” Offutt said.
His patience served him well because throughout the challenges the rewarding moments were many as he witnessed the involvement by citizens, community leaders and businesses joining in the mission to make Platte City a great place to live, work and play.
“This reward came from area youth groups, churches, social clubs and individuals who brought their talents forward and shared their time and effort to build on the success achieved year after year,” Offutt said. “I particularly enjoyed working with the students at Platte County R-3 in sharing the importance of being future community leaders and knowledgeable about the role of public service.”
Although he will miss the vibrant daily interaction with those who work each day to make Platte City the best, he will cherish the time he spent working in unity with local residents.
When he made the decision not to run again, he said personal commitments were being faced at the time and he felt the time was right to step away.
Although he has retired from elected office he will continue to serve as the district administrator for the Platte City Special Road District and executive director for Public Water Supply District No. 4, Platte County.
He is confident that the city is in good hands with new mayor Paolillo.
“Mayor Paolillo brings a fresh and promising perspective to advancing the city’s development and enhancing services with the new growth taking place east of the interstate,” Offutt said. “His prior tenure as alderman in Platte City’s Ward II, serving on all city sub-committees and representing his fellow aldermen as board president is a very strong foundation of understanding the opportunities for the mayor’s office.”
Offutt believes Platte City is the perfect model for other cities in many ways including quality of life, sense of community, friendliness, exceptional services, personal safety, low cost of services, committed city staff and as he said, “the list goes on and on.”
But for now, he is looking forward to taking a break from elected office and he and his wife are looking forward to long-awaited travel.
To attend the fond farewell to Offutt, RSVP at 431-3311.