By Roberta Pardo
Longtime Overland Park, Kansas, resident Tom Carignan is continuing his lifelong service to his community.
His latest position of service is with the Overland Park City Council.
Elected to the council in 2019, Carignan was officially sworn in only a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. That meant all the work moved online.
“It wasn’t exactly how I had seen (the first year at the council) coming,” he said.
Virtual work added a challenge to getting to know and meet with residents, Carignan said. Still, he has made it a point to be available via email or phone.
“It’s certainly been nice in the last month or two to be able to go back in person and really connect in person,” Carignan said.
The pandemic has brought economic challenges to the city. Carignan is proudest of the work the council did to get some COVID relief money to small businesses in Overland Park.
A third-generation Hispanic, Carignan was always helping and volunteering, whether as an altar boy at church or as member of boards in the Kansas City area. Being a council member is “an extension of that,” he said.
“(Being a council person) is about connecting your government to the individual person, the individual resident,” Carignan said. “To be that conduit and to be able to really facilitate and serve people is wonderful. Challenging but wonderful.”
Carignan still has two more years to serve on the council. Among the big decisions to take as a council during his remaining term include hiring a new city manager and examining infrastructure.
“We want to make sure, as we look into the future, we are not only just fixing things, but are there things that we need to rebuild or redo or reinvest in to keep our city growing,” he said.
Carignan wants to help anyone interested in running for office and emphasized the trend in the last local elections that saw a growing number of Latinos running for office in the area, including Melanie Arroyo, who won a seat on the Lenexa (Kansas) City Council.
“That’s a positive trend and I really encourage people to stay engaged and ask questions,” he said. “I want to bring more Latinos, more Hispanics into the civic process, so I’m happy to help anybody.”
Carignan can be reached via email at tom.carignan@opkansas.org.
Cómo mejorar su salud financiera
Con un nuevo año en marcha, muchas personas están tratando de cumplir sus propósitos de año nuevo. Muchas de esas resoluciones se refieren a la salud financiera.
Si se ha planteado resoluciones relacionadas con las finanzas, aquí hay algunos consejos que lo ayudarán a lograr un estilo de vida financiero saludable:
*Desarolle un presupuesto: una vez que tenga un presupuesto, puede planificar los gastos, reducir o eliminar gastos, ahorrar para el futuro o emergencias y gastar sabiamente.
*Administre sus gastos: Los especialistas en finanzas señalan que, si tiene más dinero, gastará más. Si le dan una promoción y gana más dinero, probablemente sienta la necesidad de gastar más dinero. Para evitar la trampa del gasto excesivo, priorice las cosas que desea y necesita. Esto le ayudará a gastar sabiamente.
*Ahorre para su jubilación: muchos especialistas financieros aconsejan ahorrar para la jubilación. Cuanto antes empiece a ahorrar dinero, mejor. Si tiene algo de dinero asignado para su jubilación, busque asesoramiento profesional para invertirlo y generar más dinero a largo plazo.
*Desarolle un fondo de emergencia: las emergencias van desde problemas médicos hasta reparaciones del hogar y del automóvil. Si tiene un fondo de emergencia, no se sentirá estresado cuando deba pagar esos gastos.
