mcre Media .......[Henry McClure Publisher]

Commissioner Cook: You are a lawyer. You are an officer of the court. You sit on JEDO with a vote. That is not a hobby. That is a higher duty than the rest of the room, and you have spent years reminding people that you know the rules better than they do. So let’s talk about the rule you applied to me. You came at me personally over a hot dog. Electioneering, you said. A frank in a bun. Mustard. Onions. You treated that like I had stuffed the ballot box. Fine. You set the temperature. Live at that temperature. Now apply it. On May 6, 2024, Molly Howey sent me GO Topeka’s own list of “grants/contributions/sponsorships/scholarships” for 2022 and 2023. I published it. The line includes church dinners, ministry retreats, Juneteenth festivals, an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet, YWCA awards tables, Peace and Justice sponsorships, and a $10,000 night called For the Culture KS. The civic/banquet/church/festival slice that no honest person can call a factory is $93,235. The whole d...

Commissioner Cook Councilmember Hiller You both vote on JEDO. One of you is my county commissioner. One of you is my city councilmember. That is why this is going to both of you and not into another staff graveyard. On May 6, 2024, Molly Howey sent me GO Topeka’s own list of what they booked as “grants/contributions/sponsorships/scholarships” for 2022 and 2023. I published it. It is still sitting there. Read it as JEDO voting members, not as guests at their podium. What they called economic development included Juneteenth celebrations, church dinners and back-to-school events, an NAACP banquet, YWCA banquets and scholarships, peace-and-justice sponsorships, Alvin Ailey camp, a Brown Foundation anniversary, “For the Culture KS,” Mana De Topeka, New Mount Zion, Bring Back the Blvd, Oakland Garden, Living the Dream, Women of Excellence, Kansas Chamber conference tickets, Discovery Center kindergarten, and pitch-contest prize checks dressed up as development. That is not a...

Commissioner Cook Councilmember Hiller You both vote on JEDO. One of you is my county commissioner. One of you is my city councilmember. That is why this is going to both of you and not into another staff graveyard. On May 6, 2024, Molly Howey sent me GO Topeka’s own list of what they booked as “grants/contributions/sponsorships/scholarships” for 2022 and 2023. I published it. It is still sitting there. Read it as JEDO voting members, not as guests at their podium. What they called economic development included Juneteenth celebrations, church dinners and back-to-school events, an NAACP banquet, YWCA banquets and scholarships, peace-and-justice sponsorships, Alvin Ailey camp, a Brown Foundation anniversary, “For the Culture KS,” Mana De Topeka, New Mount Zion, Bring Back the Blvd, Oakland Garden, Living the Dream, Women of Excellence, Kansas Chamber conference tickets, Discovery Center kindergarten, and pitch-contest prize checks dressed up as development. That is not a jobs program. T...

  The URL is a WP Engine staging site for ARCO Construction Company , not a separate firm. The live brand is arcoconstruction.com , with the national affiliate ARCO National Construction at arconational.com . Same company family, same pitch, same project library. Who they are ARCO is a St. Louis–based design-build general contractor founded in 1992 by Dick Arnoldy and Jeff Cook . Cook is still listed as co-founder and CEO. Year one was about $9.5 million in revenue. Today the enterprise is a national affiliate network: local offices plus a national delivery machine. Published scale (numbers vary slightly by page and year): Claim Source on site / filings Founded 1992, St. Louis Offices ~47 nationwide (some ARCO pages say 45+ / 51 incl. Canada) Projects completed ~7,500 design-build jobs Cities built in ~500 U.S. cities Annual revenue ~$5.2B–$6.5B (Forbes / company pages) Headcount ~1,300–1,800 Repeat-customer revenue ~75% Employees (...