[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 52 (Monday, March 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E373-E374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 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.

[[Page E374]]

  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.

                          ____________________