WATCH: The Post’s candidate forum for Prairie Village City Council

Housing and resident-led petitions dominated the discussion at a candidate forum hosted by the Post on Tuesday evening at Meadowbrook Park.

Nearly 150 people attended the forum inside the clubhouse at the park off 91st Street and Nall Avenue.

The forum featured nine of the 10 candidates running in active campaigns for six seats on the Prairie Village City Council. Lori Sharp, who will appear on the ballot in Ward 3, did not attend.

Who are the Prairie Village City Council candidates in contested races?

Ward 1

• Terry O’Toole

Ward 2

• Write-in candidate Ed Boersma
• Incumbent Inga Selders
• Mark Samuel (will appear on the ballot, but is not running an active campaign)

Ward 3

• Incumbent Bonnie Limbird
• Lori Sharp

Ward 4

• Tyler Agniel
• Incumbent Piper Reimer

Ward 5

• Ciara Chaney
• Nick Reddell

Ward 6

• Incumbent Ian Graves
• Kelly Wymer

How to watch the forum

• The Post’s recording of the forum is embedded below.
• Immediately following the video are the questions each candidate answered during the forum Tuesday evening.
• Timestamps are included in bold at the end of each question to help navigate through the forum video.
• Find more of the Post’s 2023 election coverage here.

1. Opening statements [5:24]

   

2. If elected in November, what will be your biggest priority or priorities over the next four years? [16:40]

   

3. For the past year, Prairie Village has been involved in a spirited — at times contentious — debate over housing. Much of it centered around a set of housing recommendations issued last summer by an ad hoc housing committee that aimed to begin a conversation about how to address the rising cost of housing. The Post hears frequently from readers who say that the skyrocketing cost of housing in Prairie Village is the single biggest issue this election season. According to Zillow, the average price for a home on the market in Prairie Village is now roughly $417,000. Regardless of where readers fall politically, they all seem to agree that they are feeling priced out of the community they call home. If elected, how do you want Prairie Village to continue to address rising housing costs? What specific measures, policies or action steps will you advocate for? [30:34]

   

4. Though they will not appear on the Nov. 7 ballot, a group of residents did put forward three petitions this summer, two of which proposed making substantial changes to city government, including abandoning the current form of government and adopting a new form of government with a city council half the size of the current 12-member body. A third aimed to limit rezoning in single-family neighborhoods. A judge threw out that rezoning petition and the governance one related to adopting a new form of government. If elected, would you support continuing to explore these proposed changes, both regarding governance and rezoning? [54:10]

   

5. We have a few questions about Village Vision, that was kind of the antecedent to the housing recommendations so we have several [audience] questions regarding Village Vision: People raising concerns about the process of Village Vision, of course this is four or five years at this point, but of course, being during the pandemic it limited input, not enough people took the survey. In general, all of this leading to the question — Should Village Vision 2.0 be revisited? [1:15:33]

   

6. We’ve heard a similar tension from different groups of readers when it comes to spending and budgeting. This audience member asked how can Prairie Village best provide city services while lowering the mill levy? There is that tension of wanting to reduce property tax burden, even if it’s not a lot at the municipal level, but also providing a robust set of city services maybe that Prairie Village has been known for. Where do you fall on the spectrum of wanting to cut taxes but also making sure Prairie Village is fully and adequately funded? [1:25:32]

   

7. The city is moving forward with exploring the idea for a new city-run community center on the site of the aging Paul Henson YMCA near 79th and Mission. Total cost estimates and exact plan designs remain up in the air at this point. Do you support the idea of a new city-run community center? Why or why not? [1:38:02]

   

8. Closing statements [1:45:29]