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Former Tonganoxie City Council member receives certificate for municipal courses

By Shawn Linenberger - | Feb 9, 2016

Bill Peak stays busy these days.

The Tonganoxie Community Historical Society soup and chili feed — one of the organization’s main fundraisers — is Feb. 18 and Peak is out and about selling $6 advance tickets for the meal ($7 at the door).

Peak, the retired U.S. Postal Service official, is a TCHS member and on committees for the Tonganoxie Sesquicentennial and Gallagher Park Task Force.

Originally from Paola, Peak thrives on community involvement. A graduate of the Southern Leavenworth County Leadership Development class, Peak has enjoyed being involved in the community.

He served on the Tonganoxie Planning Commission for two years before being appointed to the Tonganoxie City Council to serve the unexpired term of former Council Member Tom Puthoff.

He successfully ran for re-election in 2011 and then opted to run against incumbent Jason Ward in the mayoral race last year. He lost by 33 votes.

During his time on the City Council, Peak also took various courses through the League of Kansas Municipalities.

The courses, open to city employees and elected officials across the state, covered topics such as grant writing, urban planning, emergency preparedness, economic development, ethics, budget planning, personnel management and financing.

Last year, he completed the first level of coursework by completing 40 hours. He received a certificate last May for his work.

“I think it’s imperative that people in office try to improve themselves as far as knowing what the system is like,” Peak said. “I think it’s important to learn as much as you can.

“You don’t ever want to be in a position when you think you know it all.”

And when the certificate came in the mail, Peak was pleasantly surprised.

“I was stunned when I received it,” Peak said. “It was in a nice frame.”

The former council member, who recently turned 64, earned a degree in American history from Kansas University and lived at Lake Dabinawa before he and his wife, Kathy, moved to Tonganoxie.

During his time on the city council, Peak also served as the governing body’s representative on the Retail Commercial Development Committee, which established way-finding signs throughout the city, brought banners to downtown light poles, created various brochures promoting the town and spearheaded the downtown pocket park and new murals.

“Tonganoxie is a place where everybody volunteers, which is a good thing,” Peak said. “But you always want to be improving yourself. My philosophy is to try to learn something every day, several things every day.”

And, he stresses that people get to know more about government and how it affects citizens.

“It’s imperative people know how their government works,” Peak said. “You don’t have to know all the idiosyncrasies.”