Editor’s note: The headline of this story has been updated. A previous version incorrectly implied the council took steps to change its policy regarding selecting a council president. The council did not change its policy but rather voted to select a president other than the councilmember the policy dictated should be nominated for the position.
The Prairie Village City Council on Monday went against a nearly decade-old council policy in selecting a new council president.
After a roughly 20-minute discussion, the council voted against electing the most senior councilmember who has yet to serve as president to the role for the next year.
In this case, that would have been been Councilmember Inga Selders. But in a 8-to-3 vote, the council opted against electing Selders council president, and almost immediately after that, the council nominated and elected — in a 7-to-4 vote — Councilmember Dave Robinson to the role.
Councilmember Lauren Wolf was absent.
What does the council president do?
- The main role of the council president is to run the council committee of the whole meetings.
- The president also runs council committee of the whole meetings immediately after the city council if there are any items on the agenda for discussion. No action is taken in committee of the whole meetings, but the president oversees the discussion.
- The council president also presides over the city council meetings should the mayor be absent.
- The council president serves for one year starting with the first February meeting, which this year falls on Feb. 5.
Councilmembers raised concerns about process, tradition
A majority of councilmembers said they wanted to discuss potentially changing the city’s current process of nominating and electing the most senior councilmember.
Newly elected councilmembers Terry O’Toole and Nick Reddell each said on Monday that their concerns had nothing to do with any one person but rather with the process itself.
Others, including Councilmembers Dave Robinson and Lori Sharp, expressed issues with the current process taking away councilmembers’ choice for council president.
Robinson said the city has been through a difficult year — alluding to the housing policy controversy — and he believes “there are reasons to take a step back.”
“Sounds like it’s been in place for a long time, sounds like it worked OK for a long time,” Robinson said. “My concern today is the year we just went through and whether or not we ought to be more thoughtful in picking a council president.”
Councilmember Terrence Gallagher said he wanted to see councilmembers come to their own individual conclusions when casting votes on anything before the agenda. He’d “like to see us take some more ownership of thought that we’re doing this.”
Councilmember Cole Robinson also expressed his uneasiness with the current policy of automatically giving the president role to the most senior councilmember who has not yet had it.
“I just feel like, as we navigate challenging times, I just feel like it should be the right of this council to have an election to put somebody forward to be the council president,” Cole Robinson said. “That could certainly be the same person who it would otherwise be, but I really don’t like that we do this this way.”
Some supported the status quo
Councilmembers Ian Graves and Ron Nelson spoke up in favor of the current council president policy.
Nelson alluded to another Johnson County city council — though he chose not to name it — that previously failed to elect a council president over the course of multiple meetings. Nelson said that created division, chaos and separation on that particular governing body.
“There is wisdom in the policy we have now, there is extreme lack of wisdom in going the other way,” Nelson said.
Nelson’s comments seemed to reference the Shawnee City Council, which in 2020 was deadlocked for months over the council president election process. Ultimately, the city council elected a president via a coin toss.
Graves agreed with Nelson, saying he saw the city council as already having a choice to vote in favor or against electing Selders to the council president position. He added that he thinks it is an important position “but it is also somewhat ceremonial.”
Mayor Eric Mikkelson said he welcomes going against the status quo, but he sees a previous city council putting this policy in place in order to avoid the divisiveness of a contested council president election.
A breakdown of the votes
Councilmember Graves made the motion to elect Councilmember Selders as the 2024 council president. Following discussion, the vote failed 8-to-3. Councilmembers Graves, Nelson and Selders were the only three “yes” votes.
Mayor Mikkelson reminded the city council that if a council president was not elected by the end of the Dec. 18 meeting, then it would put the city behind on appointing councilmembers to various city committees. He encouraged the city council to elect a council president.
Councilmember Reddell nominated Councilmember Dave Robinson for council president.
With no further discussion, the city council elected Councilmember Dave Robinson to serve as council president in a 7-to-4 vote. Councilmembers Graves, Nelson, Selders and Greg Shelton were the “no” votes.
What’s next:
- The city council agreed to take up the current council president policy for discussion at a future council committee of the whole meeting.
Go deeper: Watch the entire discussion online here, starting at 1:06:10.
