By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Things we learned while reading what the City Council members told The Star about their first year in office:

-- Sharon Sanders Brooks didn't know when she ran for office in early 2007 that the city had such incredible financial problems. Huh?

Here's just one excerpt from many columns I have written in recent years about the city's financial ills. This was from February of 2007 -- during the height of the 2007 city elections:

"Take a closer look at the budget put together by City Manager Wayne Cauthen, and the warning signs are flashing. The city’s debt payments have exploded. The amount of taxes diverted to private economic development projects has zoomed higher. And the city still isn’t providing top-notch basic services."

-- Ed Ford really hates Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

Can't say I blame him given the mayor's decision to remove him as the transportation committee's chairman. But I'd stick to substantive criticism of the mayor rather than attack his wife. And Ford is at least doing that with his pointed comments on the need to pursue a starter light-rail line, not the mayor's regional system.

-- Cindy Circo says she wants a housing department up and running soon. Good luck, Cindy. City Manager Wayne Cauthen blew that agency apart several years ago and has never put it back together again. The previous and current councils have not held him accountable for that failure.

-- Jan Marcason praises the work the city has done on funding sewer repairs. I agree; the city is making progress although Kansas Citians are still waiting for a funding solution to this problem.

-- Russ Johnson and Circo worked on a plan to pass the 1-cent sales tax last November. Mission accomplished.

Yet what does Funkhouser -- the mayor who states "better council relations" are his No. 1 priority -- have to say about it?

"To me, that's not a legislative accomplishment."

No wonder Funkhouser and many members of the council don't get along.