Your Shawnee Mayor and City Council election primer

Early voting in Johnson County is in full swing and Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7, is upon us.

As Johnson County residents head to the polls and mail in ballots, we’ve put together election primers for each of the local races in the Post’s coverage area to give readers and residents in those communities an easy way to find out more about the candidates and where they stand on the issues important to you.

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No other news outlet devotes as much attention to giving Shawnee Mission area voters a way to find out where candidates running for local office stand on the issues facing our community. If you value having a news outlet provide this kind of coverage, we hope you’ll consider becoming a subscriber if you aren’t already. Your first month of full access is just $1.

See who the candidates are

Mayor

• Dentist and current Councilmember Mike Kemmling
• Former councilmember Mickey Sandifer

Ward 1

• Incumbent Councilmember Tammy Thomas
• Lab technician Sierra Whitted

Ward 2

• Incumbent Councilmember Eric Jenkins
• Minister Jeanie Murphy

Ward 4

• Jewish Family Services marketing director Laurel Burchfield
• Commercial real estate appraiser Megan Warner

Read what candidates say on key issues

• Property taxes
• “Missing middle” housing/affordability
• City Hall staffing and turnover
• Multifamily development
• SEED grant funding

Watch the Post’s candidate forums

The Post hosted back-to-back forums for Shawnee mayoral and city council candidates on Tuesday, Oct. 10, at the Town Hall at Shawnee Town 1929.

You can watch the forums in their entirety in the embedded videos below.OK

Immediately following each embedded video are the questions that candidates answered during each forum. Timestamps are included in bold to help navigate through the forum video.

Mayoral forum

1. Candidate’s opening statements. [4:35]
2. If elected, what would be your biggest priorities immediately coming into office? [6:43]
3. Should the city consider cutting its mill rate even more? If yes, what would you be willing to cut from the budget if needed to account for any lost revenue? If not, what do you justify as increased revenue for the city? [10:35]
   
4. Do you advocate for cutting the mill levy all the way down to the revenue neutral rate?  [13:18]
5. What should be Shawnee’s approach to multifamily developments?  [15:48]
   
6. Do you still support Achieve Shawnee? [20:26]
   
7. How do you balance the concerns of many residents who voice opposition to development projects and those who feel like Shawnee may be falling behind its neighboring cities? [25:03]
8. How should the city maintain a highly-qualified, professional staff amid this exodus of talent leaving to other cities or do you see this as a problem at all? [25:29]
9. What is the future of the Wonderscope site? [29:17]
   
10. How do you feel about city council blocking the current mayor, Michelle Distler, from appointing volunteers to committees? [30:15]
11. What will you do to promote business in Shawnee? [33:58]
    
12. What is your position on the use of Tax Increment Financing and Community Improvement Districts both for multi-use projects and business? [35:30]
13. How do you want to see the city combat rising housing costs in the next four years. Do you want to see the city take more steps to encourage more missing middle housing? [38:10]
14. How do you feel about regulating short term rentals? [40:20]
15. How would political ideology influence your decisions for the city? [42:05]
16. Closing statements. [43:48]

Shawnee City Council forum

1. Candidate opening statements. [3:59]
   
2. If elected, what do you see as your biggest priority going into office? [11:09]
3. What is the balance for you between cutting the mill levy and fully funding city services ? [22:30]
   
4. What should be Shawnee’s approach to multifamily developments? [33:05]
5. How can we make sure that we keep good city staff after the recent loss of high-level departures ? [43:09]
6. What do you think is the tone and tenor of current city council meetings? [53:17]
   
7. How do you want to see the city combat rising housing costs in the next four years. Do you want to see the city take more steps to encourage more missing middle housing?[1:00:31]
   
8. Closing statements. [1:09:24]