This week, Nick and Jason start looking ahead to November's special election for the 8th District seat in the Missouri Senate. The Lee's Summit Town Hall co-hosts sat down with Democratic candidate and Lee's Summit resident, Hillary Shields to talk to her about her candidacy and dig into a few state issues with specific impacts on our local community. Note: Link 2 Lee's Summit has reached out to Republican candidate Mike Cierpiot and Independent candidate Jacob Turk in order to bring you first-hand perspectives on all the candidates for this race.

Jason and Nick take a little time to recap last week's District 1 town hall meeting with Council members Diane Forte and Rob Binney, hitting on a couple of topics they wish they'd had more time for. And, they give a little credit to both council members for how they took responsibility for their parts in the soap opera-style drama of the past 18 months.

Click here to listen to the full town hall meeting held Sept. 28 at the Gamber Community Center.

It looks like the voter mandated ethics code will soon be headed to the full Council for discussion and, eventually, a vote. The code was one of 12 amendments to the City of Lee's Summit's Charter which voters approved in April.

In this week's final segment, Nick had an opportunity to meet with Lee's Summit West senior Ben Hume. Hume recently entered a documentary film contest through KCPT. As on of the winners, Hume was invited to attend the premiere of a new documentary, Vietnam, produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. The two talked about Hume's film and the chance to meet the famous film maker.

At the six-month mark, we decided to try our hand at recording in front of a live audience. On Thursday, Sept. 28 at Lee's Summit's Gamber Community Center, Lee's Summit Town Hall hosts Nick Parker and Jason Norbury held a town hall conversation with District 1 Council members Diane Forte and Rob Binney.

The hour-long conversation covered a variety of topics including: downtown development, infrastructure, residential development, public incentives policies and the various drama we've seen at the Council dais over the past 18 months. An audience of approximately 40 people were invited to submit questions as well.

Lee's Summit Town Hall hosts Jason Norbury and Nick Parker take some time to look ahead to November's special election for the District 8 State Senate seat, the 2018 municipal elections, and more importantly, the 2017 Summit Art Fest.

Festival director Teresa Keene joins the show to preview the annual festival set for October 6-8 in downtown Lee's Summit. 2017 is the 10th anniversary for the 3-day festival which features local and regional artists, music and activities for all ages.

Mayor Randy Rhoads gave the his final State of the City address last week. Jason and Nick thought his comments served as a good launching pad into questions and discussions for the upcoming municipal election and for how we, as residents, envision the future of our community.... and we preview this weekend's Oktoberfest, too.

If you want to be more engaged in your local government processes, September is shaping up to be a pretty good month. Jason and Nick take a few moments to talk about their upcoming live District 1 Town Hall meeting with Council members Rob Binney and Diane Forte, as well as Thursday's State of the City address from Mayor Randy Rhoads and a unique public panel sponsored by the Lee's Summit Chamber. The Chamber's Matt Baird joins the show to talk about their upcoming forum for anyone considering running for City Council, Mayor or the Lee's Summit R-7 School Board. The panel will offer some insight into what it takes to file, campaign, and ultimately serve constituents as an elected official. Additionally, he said the panel should offer voters a chance to better know what expectations they should have from candidates and elected representatives. The Chamber's panel is slated for 6 p.m., Tuesday Sept. 26 at the Gamber Community Center.

After another contentious City Council meeting two weeks ago, Jason and Nick thought it would be prudent to check on the Council's rules committee as it discussed its draft for a new Charter-mandated ethics policy, as well as the ethics of introducing motions not made available to the public prior to Council meetings. The topic may sound mundane, but the Lee's Summit Town Hall hosts explain why it's important and how it could affect your decisions in next spring's municipal elections.

And Mike Maksin, a neighborhood publisher for N2 Publishing, stops by the show to talk about his unique publications serving the Lakewood and Winterset neighborhoods and his grassroots efforts to showcase local businesses and encourage community involvement.

Last week, Jason and Nick felt a need to vent and rant about the tone and tenor of debate and (lack of) appropriate discussion from members of the Lee's Summit City Council. This week, a little pre-emptive talk as the City has made a call for citizen input as it looks at drafting ordinances concerning the regulation of short-term rentals within city limits. The issue was brought to the forefront in recent weeks when a local homeowner sought zoning changes for home he was listing as a short term rental property.

Have you met Brandon Simpson? For this local entrepreneur, paying it forward is part of his business plan. The owner of Jazzy B's Diner, on Colburn Road, joins the show to talk about his restaurant's one-year anniversary celebration which will benefit seven local not-for-profit organizations.

Well, here they go again. For those thinking the last local election would end drama from the dais or force Lee's Summit City Council members to change their tone, think again. A very simple and seemingly innocuous motion was made during last week's Lee's Summit's City Council meeting. The problem was, the actual content of the motion to add a fourth voting member of the Council's rules committee was the last thing being talked about on the record. Lee's Summit Town Hall hosts Jason Norbury and Nick Parker take a moment to dig into why this debate should've bothered you and how its just another in a long trend of distractions from good governance by people you elected to help run the City we all call home.

But don't you fret, none. Jason and Nick offer a chance for you to feel better in the end. Episode 25 of our now six-month-old podcast introduces you to Hillcrest Transitional Housing director Cotton Sivils. Sivils joined the conversation to not only shed a little light on this community service organization but to also talk about portion of our community in need and the vast network of resources he works with to provide a multi-generational solution to people facing homelessness and financial crisis.

Lee's Summit Chamber President Tim Arbeiter joins hosts Nick Parker and Jason Norbury to talk about his organization and the people who help make it a piece of the community landscape.