Volume 164, No. 52 covering the 2nd Session of the 115th Congress (2017 - 2018) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“IN RECOGNITION OF MR. GEOFFREY WILSON JOLLEY FOR HIS DEDICATED CAREER OF PUBLIC SERVICE” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E373-E374 on March 26, 2018.
More than half of the Agency's employees are engineers, scientists and protection specialists. The Climate Reality Project, a global climate activist organization, accused Agency leadership in the last five years of undermining its main mission.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN RECOGNITION OF MR. GEOFFREY WILSON JOLLEY FOR HIS DEDICATED CAREER
OF PUBLIC SERVICE
______
HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER
of missouri
in the house of representatives
Monday, March 26, 2018
Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of our own. On Friday, March 30, 2018, Mr. Geoffrey (Geoff) Jolley will bid farewell as my District Director and General Counsel, having overseen my District operations since my first day, on January 3, 2005, as a Member of Congress in these hallowed halls. For more than 13 years, Geoff has dedicated his life to serving our community. He has quietly juggled two careers in public service, working for the people of Missouri's Fifth Congressional District and as a Kansas City Firefighter/EMT.
Geoff is a Kansas City native and lifelong resident. After graduating high school, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics with a minor in African-American Studies from Emory University in Atlanta. He then earned his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law in 2002.
Prior to serving nearly six months in 2004 as the Campaign Coordinator on my inaugural campaign, Geoff worked for my predecessor, Congresswoman Karen McCarthy. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Geoff joined a volunteer fire department and a FEMA urban search and rescue team while still enrolled in law school. After graduation, he spent six months as a Lieutenant with the Antarctic Fire Department at McMurdo Station, Antarctica before returning to Missouri and ultimately joining the Kansas City Fire Department.
Over the years, Geoff has helped me build my district offices from the ground up, from our beginnings at the Federal Courthouse in Kansas City to the openings of my satellite offices in Independence and Higginsville. It was not unusual to see my District Director working on the floor in his suit, wiring and configuring computers in the Kansas City Office, physically laying the hardwood floor in my Independence Office, or hanging photos he had taken around the District in the Higginsville Office.
From working with me to establish the foundation in my office to implementing my vision for district projects, Geoff has served as a sounding board for many of my creative projects, providing legal, practical, and political insight. Once we identified a path forward, he spearheaded many of my major district successes. He has maintained an expansive portfolio over the years, including speaking on my behalf at Chamber and community meetings, overseeing our monthly finances and assisting with personnel matters, helping coordinate constituent services and town halls, and addressing issues impacting residents of the Fifth District, such as the federal budget and appropriations, transportation and infrastructure, energy and the environment, among others.
Having been Mayor of Kansas City during devastating floods, one of my early priorities included protecting the lives and livelihoods of constituents living in flood-prone areas. Geoff worked quietly with the Army Corps of Engineers and stakeholders along Turkey Creek, Brush Creek, and the Blue River by attending stakeholder meetings and advocating for federal resources for these flood control efforts. He also worked with the City of Kansas City, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Justice on the City's ever-challenging Overflow Control Plan, by successfully pushing for the inclusion of green infrastructure and an extended implementation period. At the time, Kansas City was granted the longest implementation period of any municipality in the country, and more recently, we have been working to extend it even further to bring needed financial relief to our taxpayers.
Geoff led the staff in planning, developing and implementing a multi-
pronged effort that included both public and private organizations and entities in order to maximize the use of 2008 Economic Stimulus Act and 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) resources in the District for the good of our entire community. This inclusive effort yielded grants, partnerships and alliances that brought needed resources and opportunities for job creation, economic development, public transportation, housing improvements, utility and infrastructure projects, health and social programs, as well as educational and veterans programs that will have enduring positive impacts on the recipients.
Perhaps the largest and most ambitious of those efforts included the Green Impact Zone (GIZMO). GIZMO consisted of 150 blocks in Kansas City's urban core where Geoff supervised our effort to bring various stakeholders, including neighborhoods, the Mid-America Regional Council, the City of Kansas City, State of Missouri, and dozens of corporations, non-profits, developers, and other entities together to concentrate efforts in a targeted fashion to weatherize homes, install a smart electrical grid, demolish vacant properties, rehab abandoned buildings, and create job opportunities for residents in the area. We accomplished this by helping to bring over $160 Million in ARRA and other federal funds to the area. The Green Impact Zone aimed at transforming an oft-ignored part of our community into one of the environmentally greenest pieces of urban geography in the world. GIZMO was regularly highlighted nationally as a model for regional collaboration in the sustainable community efforts.
Among the ARRA grants received for GIZMO included a $50 Million TIGER grant, a $48 Million SmartGrid grant, and a $20 Million EECBG grant. Geoff coordinated dozens of meetings with stakeholders and staff to help craft grants that would be impactful and then ensured strong fiscal management, accountability, and oversight during the implementation stages. The TIGER grant helped bring much-needed curbs and sidewalks to neighborhoods in the urban core, provided funding for a new Troost Bridge and pedestrian crossing at Brush Creek, improved streetscaping and corridor installations along transit routes, and more. Geoff's staff work and collaboration with Kansas City Power & Light aided in the development and federal funding of KCP&L's SmartGrid Innovation Park. SmartGrid put the Kansas City area in front of the line when it came to the energy efficiency revolution. The park features a 1 MW storage battery, a solar array, and educational kiosks to illustrate how power is delivered to the customers.
In 2012, Geoff also played an integral role in helping to bring ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system, to our region. I had initially viewed the success of this program in Washington, DC and was determined to institute a pilot project in Kansas City. Geoff worked with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and U.S. Department of Transportation to use existing federal funding to install ShotSpotter technology along the Troost BRT route. In its first couple years, it helped reduce gunfire by 26 percent in the areas where the technology was installed. The Kansas City Police Department continues to fund this technology today to support their proactive policing strategies and deployments, in their ongoing commitment to improve the safety, security and quality of life for our residents.
Over two decades ago, I fought for the revitalization of Liberty Memorial, an historic and majestic monument built nearly a century ago by Kansas Citians and dedicated to all our nation's veterans of World War I. It stands as a constant reminder of our veterans' sacrifice, but also as a tribute to peace and liberty. During my service in Congress, my respect and commitment for our veterans has remained a priority and Geoff has worked on numerous efforts to raise awareness of World War I. In 2006, he joined me at the opening of the WWI Museum, built below Liberty Memorial, and worked closely with me and our Washington staff to help get the entire site officially designated as the National WWI Museum and Memorial. Geoff has served as my representative to the Board of Trustees for the National WWI Museum and Memorial and became an integral part of Board, helping to secure legislation and funding from the State and serving on the Host Committee for their annual Night at the Tower.
For the past twelve years, Geoff led our staff as we worked with a bi-partisan, bi-cameral delegation, including Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill, along with my colleagues, Congressmen Ted Poe, Doug Lamborn, Sam Graves, and Kevin Yoder to create the U.S. WWI Centennial Commission. Geoff has served as my liaison at dozens of meetings and events alongside the Commission. As April 6, 2017 marked the Centennial of the United States' entry into World War I, Geoff was asked to serve on the WWI Commission's Management team to help coordinate our nation's official ceremony, a major international gathering in Kansas City to commemorate this historic moment. On that day, thousands of people came to the National World War I Museum and Memorial to pay respect and to give honor to those who fought to keep our world safe. Geoff worked directly with the Centennial Commission to ensure the celebration would go off without a hitch. Over 250 foreign dignitaries were in attendance from nearly 30 countries. In addition to working with WWI Commissioners, Museum and Commission staff, event planners, dozens of representatives of federal, state, and local agencies, including those from the Defense Department, State Department, and National Archives, among others, he volunteered as the staff lead on committees, including the security and aviation committees. Geoff's service on the latter committee resulted in him being asked to officially welcome the French Air Force's premiere demonstration team, Patrouille de France, to Kansas City's Downtown Airport upon their arrival for the event. Even after such a successful event on April 6th, Geoff has continued to work diligently to promote additional funding, educational outreach and national programming for this worthy cause.
These are but a sampling of the many projects, events, and initiatives that Geoff has worked on during his tenure in my office. However, as my colleagues in this Chamber know, we are regularly pulled in many directions as we try to represent the nearly 750,000 constituents in our Districts. Oftentimes, it is our staff, serving behind the scenes, helping to ensure those constituents and stakeholders get prompt attention as they maneuver through the bureaucratic hurdles that regrettably get in the way. There is not a member of this esteemed body who wouldn't be proud to have Geoff Jolley on their team, and his service has certainly been a blessing for me. On a personal note, nine years ago, I had the pleasure of officiating the wedding of Geoff and his wife, Kimberly, and know him to be a loving husband and a devoted father of two beautiful young girls, Sophia and Maggie. I will miss the girls' cheerfulness, playfulness, and relentless energy, on display every time they stopped by the office or community events.
Mr. Speaker, Geoff is a loyal, caring, and compassionate individual whose selflessness, empathy, and unflappable personality will be sorely missed. As he transitions into other areas of public service, I encourage my colleagues to join me in recognizing his lifetime of dedication to our community and country and wishing him continued success. The people of Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, including me, are better off because of Geoffrey Jolley.
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