After 28 years on the Lenexa City Council, Ward 2 representative Tom Nolte will not seek reelection.
Nolte did not file to run for new term by the June 1 deadline and, in a recent city council meeting, addressed his decision.
“I drove by about 11:30, the election [office]. I had forms in the car, just kept driving, so I am not running obviously,” he said. “Looking forward to closing out well, and seeing how well the next group does.”
His final regularly scheduled city council meeting as a member will be Dec. 19. Jermaine Jamison and Mark Charlton will face off in the November election for Nolte’s Ward 2 seat.
Nolte did not reply to the Post’s request for comment for this story.
Nolte was first elected in 1995
- Over his seven terms, he estimates he’s attended something like 1,000 city council meetings.
- In his most recent reelection bid in 2019, Nolte ran unopposed.
- Before he was elected, Nolte served on the Lenexa Planning Commission, the Lenexa Safety Commission and the Johnson County Transportation Commission.
- He’s also been a past Lenexa Rotary Club President, according to his council profile online.
- Nolte has lived in Lenexa since 1983.
He’s helped Lenexa plan for the future
Nolte was on the council in the late 1990s that established Lenexa’s strategic plan Vision 2020, which led to the creation of City Center.
During his last campaign four years ago, he said he wanted to stick around a little longer to see more of the City Center district come to life.
He has also previously praised the city’s proactivity with infrastructure and quality of life issues.
“We build bridges before they’re needed. We build roadways. We build parks long before they’re needed so we can get out ahead of the development curve,” he said in 2019.
Nolte watched Lenexa “grow up”
- During Nolte’s time on the council, City Hall moved to City Center.
- The city also opened the Lenexa Rec Center, embarked on the new Lenexa Justice Center on Prairie Star Parkway and took steps to reinvest in Old Town.
- In 2019, Nolte supported Lenexa’s passage of a nondiscrimination ordinance, which offers protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as a hate crime ordinance.
- He also voted for the Climate Action KC Playbook, a metro-wide effort Lenexa signed off on in 2020.
- And, a few years ago, he was on the city council that completed Lenexa’s new strategic plan, Vision 2040, which is expected to guide the city’s direction into the future.
- “I can say I’ve learned a lot and really got to see Lenexa grow up,” he said during the early June council meeting where he announced he was not running again. “We were able to come together and work on getting things done that were far greater than any one individual I think could comprehend.”
Other JoCo leaders are also stepping back
- In Lenexa, the city’s longest-serving mayor Mike Boehm is not seeking another term. Two city councilmembers — Julie Sayers and Joe Karlin — are vying to replace him.
- After 25 years, Leawood’s Mayor Peggy Dunn will also step aside, and two candidates are facing off for her open seat in that city.
- In Shawnee, Mayor Michelle Distler is not running for a third term. Councilmember Mike Kemmling and Mickey Sandifer, a former councilmember, are running to succeed her.
Related news: Johnson County elections 2023 — See who will be on your ballots
