Five Unified Government Commission seats are on the ballot Nov. 2, with five incumbents running for re-election.
The candidates were invited to answer questions at a forum held Oct. 20 on Zoom by Business West and KCKCC.
UG Commissioner, at large District 2
Incumbent Tom Burroughs is seeking re-election as UG Commissioner, at large District 2. He is challenged by Claudine Sanders, candidate for UG Commission, at large District 2.
Burroughs, a state representative for 26 years, cited his experience and ability to communicate with the community on budget and economic development issues. A native of Wyandotte County, he is retired from Colgate-Palmolive. He served as House minority leader in the 2015 session. He also served many years on the legislative post-audit committee. He said he thought of himself as more of a community servant than a politician.
“We may have our challenges, but together, collectively, we are effective in what we’re able to accomplish, provided our hearts and heads are in the right place,” he said.
He added he has extensive experience in being able to read budgets, analyze budgets and hold those who utilize the budgets accountable through the auditing process.
Claudine Sanders, running for UG Commissioner at large District 2, has lived in Wyandotte County 30 years, and has worked 25 years at CSTK, a refrigerated trucking sales and service center in Armourdale. She worked in several roles there and is now the administrative manager. She is the vice president of the Armourdale Renewal Association and a member of the Stony Point Hunters Glen Neighborhood Association.
She decided to run for office last summer after Armourdale experienced gun violence. She helped bring residents together who were concerned about safety. She is for more community involvement, and advocates for more town hall meetings. She is not in favor of low-wage distribution warehouses locating here without paying taxes.
In answer to a question from J.D. Rios at the Oct. 20 forum, Burroughs said the UG charter provides very little opportunity for the UG commissioners to hold the administrator accountable, and the only way it can be addressed is if the mayor is willing to bring the issue forward. Burroughs does not believe there is support on the commission presently to do this. Burroughs did not say he would want to change administrators. The last two years have been very challenging for anyone in that position, and it would be easy to criticize individuals under these circumstances, he said. Burroughs said he would be forthright and transparent with the administrator, colleagues on the commission and with the people.
Sanders said she thinks the UG charter needs to be reviewed to see if any changes need to be made, since it is over 20 years old. Any article of incorporation needs to be looked at and reviewed on a regular basis to see if any changes need to be made to continue the business in a profitable and feasible way, she said. It’s a problem that the charter has not been looked at, she believes. She did not say she would want to change administrators. Some residents may have issues with the administrator, but she has no problem with the administrator, she said. She thinks the scope of the job needs to be looked at.
UG Commissioner, District 1
Incumbent Commissioner Gayle Townsend, first elected in 2013, is seeking re-election to District 1. She is challenged by Melvin Williams.
Townsend said she has taken a stance against crime, has encouraged funding for minority and women owned businesses and supported improvements to parks and recreation in District 1. She also supported improvements to code enforcement compliance, including more personnel. She supported emergency home improvement grants. She also supported initiatives from the district attorney in case reviews to promote justice and equity in the legal system. She supported transparency, education and fairness in the tax sale process, she said.
Townsend is an attorney with a federal agency. She is a graduate of Sumner High School, and has a bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School of Economics, in accounting. She has a law degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Melvin Williams, a native of Wyandotte County, has been in real estate for nine years. He said he would like to rebuild the northeast area and help the most vulnerable, the senior citizens, to stay in their homes by avoiding tax sales. Williams has five children, including some in college.
Townsend, who on Tuesday made the motion to postpone the delinquent real estate tax sales until April, answered a question about it from Elnora Jefferson last week. A moratorium on taxes is not the kind of thing to take without due consideration to what is the basis for the city and county being able to provide services, she said. What you do for one, you do for all, she said. There would be questions about how to provide infrastructure and public safety. She voted for the postponement of the tax sales until April, to give people time to make arrangements.
She said she is on the record for using federal ARPA funds to fight homelessness, directing funds to the United Way and agencies best able to disseminate it. She said she agrees it needs to be done more timely.
Townsend also said this is the opportunity to say yes to several projects, including a grocery store at the 18th and Quindaro area. As regards to the UG Land Bank, the moratorium has not been in effect for a while, and people who are purchasing vacant lots are mostly people who live next door or nearby. There are some developers who want to build homes, which draws the attention of other developers, she said. There are some developers who would like to put in $200,000 to $250,000 homes, she said. There are plans for redevelopment in some parts of the northeast area, including plans for a health clinic.
Williams said what is missing is something for the long-term residents who stayed in the northeast area.
“Not only do they deserve something down there, they have not even gotten the respect from the Unified Government to be asked for what they need, or what they really want,” he said.
The people in the 1st District are not asked for input, they just get demanded, he said. He suggested two property tax sales – one for Wyandotte County residents only and the other for outside investors.
“Wyandotte County is getting beat at our own game,” he said. He gets calls every day about properties for rent, and there are not many.
“We build it up in Piper, and we tear down in the northeast area,” Williams said. “What we really need to be doing is forming mixed-income communities.”
That will attract bigger investors to come in, including investors in grocery stores, he said. His vision for the northeast is to put in $200,000 to $300,000 homes there, while fixing up existing homes, he said.
UG Commissioner, 5th District
Incumbent Commissioner Mike Kane, 5th District, is challenged by Eleanor Morales Clark.
Kane was first elected in 2005, and is the senior elected official on the commission. He grew up near Central Avenue, and has lived in the Piper area since 1990. He is the public affairs director for Laborers Local 1290 AFL-CIO, and retired from General Motors after 35 years, where he served on the plant safety board. He formerly coached junior varsity soccer for four years in Piper. He is a member of the Kansas Human Rights Commission.
“I am by far the most vocal, and I think the district wants someone who will speak up for the people,” Kane said. “For the past 16 years, I have voted the way the district has said so. It’s not my vote, it’s their vote.”
Eleanor Morales Clark is making her first run for public office, although she has been active in politics previously. A native of Wyandotte County, she grew up in Armourdale, is a lifelong resident of Kansas City, Kansas, and currently lives in western Wyandotte County. She attended Wyandotte High School, and has worked several years as a receptionist at Kansas City, Kansas, code enforcement. She also has worked as secretary for the chief of fire prevention at the Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department.
She is standing up against the high property taxes and utility taxes that are pushing widows, widowers and the elderly out of their lifetime homes in Wyandotte County, she said.
She said there are more areas where the Unified Government could work more efficiently to reduce spending to provide some relief from the crushing property tax and utility tax that drive seniors out of their homes.
Regarding his position on the proposed safe and welcoming ordinance, which has been previously discussed at UG Commission meetings, Kane said the people who are supporting this ordinance should start a “go fund me” account so they could educate people all across the community on it by going to neighborhood and school board meetings, sharing the information with everyone.
“What might work on one side of town might not work on the other,” he said.
It’s important to get information from all over Wyandotte County, and then bring a vote to the citizens, Kane said.
On the question of whether she supports the proposed safe and welcoming ordinance, Clark said she respects the value of all people, including the unborn.
As a citizen of Kansas and the United States, she also supports the laws of the state and the county, she said. If safe and welcoming means to be treated with dignity and respect, and to follow the laws of the state and country, she believes in safe and welcoming.
“If by safe and welcoming, you meant ignore the laws of the state and trample the U.S. Constitution, I don’t agree with that,” Clark said. “I am the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants that came to this country legally.”
They followed the legal process, she said. As an elected official,, she would be compassionate to all, but would be required by her oath of office to follow the law, and neither she nor any other elected officials has the authority to do otherwise.
UG Commission, 7th District
Incumbent Commissioner Jim Walters, 7th District, is challenged by Chuck Stites.
Walters, a lifelong Wyandotte County resident, has been a commissioner for the past eight years. He was recently elected to the Bonner Springs High School Hall of Fame and was named a distinguished alumnus of the University of Kansas School of Architecture.
He said when he ran for office, he wanted to create new and sustainable development in Wyandotte County. His career is in that field, creating development in cities throughout the country. He wanted to create jobs in the community, and wanted to make Wyandotte County a more attractive place to live.
“I think we’re making progress in all of those goals in the years I’ve been in progress,” he said. There are new investments in all these areas, and the population of the county is growing, he said.
He said he is proud of the cooperation among Kansas City, Kansas, Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. The cities have cooperated on several things, including the K-32 corridor study and the implementation of the Union Pacific quiet zone.
He said he has consistently advocated for lower taxes. This summer, he could not get enough support on the commission to prevail.
Whenever there is an 8 percent increase in residential assessments with an inflation rate of 2 or 3 percent, it should automatically trigger a review of the mill levy, but other people feel differently, he said. This will be a continuing effort of his to provide tax relief to all residents, he added.
Chuck Stites, a city council member from Edwardsville, is a retired police officer in Kansas City, Kansas.
He is a lifelong resident of Wyandotte County, attending Bonner Springs High School and Kansas City Kansas Community College. He is a past president of Kiwanis West and Business West.
Edwardsville has reduced its mill levy six years in a row without cutting services, he said. He also is committed to rebuilding infrastructure, he said.
“As commissioner, I would strive to bring innovative development and jobs without the tax burden being placed on the already overtaxed citizens of District 7,” Stites said.
In answer to a question, Walters said he supports the proposed safe and welcoming ordinance. He has met with the ACLU to ask questions about it, and he has committed his support to it, he said. Part of the proposed ordinance includes a municipal ID provision and it also says that local law enforcement should not share information with federal immigration officers.
“I believe we can work out whatever differences we have related to the wording about helping federal officials,” Walters said. “That’s not a significant departure. A lot of people are using that as a reason to not be for this proposal. But I supported it, and I always have.”
Stites said as a police officer who has worked diligently to protect people’s rights and to do the right thing in working with outside agencies, whether federal, state or local agencies, it is of the utmost importance that they work very well with them.
Whatever information that can be provided, they should be open with the information, to make sure they are doing the right things for the citizens of Wyandotte County, Stites said.
UG Commission, 8th District
Incumbent Commissioner Jane Winkler Philbrook, District 8, is challenged by Andrew Davis.
Dr. Philbrook is a third-generation optometrist in Kansas City, Kansas, as well as a small business owner with over 20 years experience and a lifelong Wyandotte County resident. She also is a past president of Business West.
She said she wants to create a vision of Wyandotte County, a viable community through addressing issues with roads, parks, safe, attainable housing, and health opportunities. They also are creating jobs and careers with more than livable wages by collaborating with partners in education, workforce partnership and businesses. Being part of the justice and equity coalition has been a wonderful boon for Wyandotte County, she said.
“These are all part of a comprehensive perception that we are building into reality for our home called Wyandotte County,” she said.
Andrew Davis, a native of Chicago, moved to Wyandotte County last year with his wife, who is a Sumner Academy graduate. He is a graduate student at the University of Kansas and expects to receive his master’s in public administration in May.
He said he began watching UG government meetings, and it was apparent the county needed new leadership. He has served as a mentor for the Learning Clubs and has served as a judge for KCK Young Entrepreneurs.
Besides taxes and utility fees, he said he wanted to address youth and elderly issues, and the inability of some people to age in place because of rising costs and taxes. He would advocate community benefit agreements, so that neighborhoods could partner with developers.
When asked if the UG Commission would approve health orders in the future, Dr. Philbrook said she wished she had a crystal ball.
“We have to listen to what the professionals have with their data, and take their lead,” she said. “Listen, read and learn, and then make those decisions about what we think will be the safest for our community. That’s my bottom line, is safety for our community.”
Davis said “I would hope not” in regard to having to use mandatory health orders in the future. While it is not enjoyable to wear masks, there’s room to keep growing and add on to efforts the Health Department has laid out, he said. He added he was pleased that the community had reached a 50 percent vaccination rate for one dose.
While it’s not his field, he said he would hope they would use every effort to make sure the community doesn’t go backward, but goes forward.
“For our economy, for our schools, for our families, I’m hoping we go forward,” he said.
To see the candidates’ positions on other issues, visit the forum online at https://www.youtube.com/user/KCECable.
For more stories about Election 2021, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/category/election-2021/.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, in Wyandotte County. Advance voting also is taking place. For information about voting times and places, visit www.wycovotes.org.