Editor’s note: Further city comments have been added to the original version of this story clarifying the number of employees who would work at a new city hall.
New mailers from a nonprofit calling itself Preserve Prairie Village are circulating in the Johnson County suburb, arguing a plan to build a new city hall should be put to a public vote.
The mailers, which multiple readers told the Post have been sent out in the past few weeks, decry the years-long effort to create a plan for a new Prairie Village city hall along Mission Road and encourage residents to “demand input” on the $30 million project, including a say at the ballot box.
It’s the latest bout of tension between residents and city officials, coming on the heels of a years-long fight over zoning and city governance.
It’s unclear who is behind the fliers, how the group is funded or how much is being spent on the effort.
The group’s website and fliers do not include names or contact information, and a Prairie Village woman whose name appears on the group’s incorporation documents with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office declined to comment to the Post.
Still, as with the zoning fight two years ago, the new fliers could tee up another fraught election-year issue in Prairie Village. Voters this November will elect six councilmembers, comprising half the council.
What’s the city hall project?
For years, Prairie Village has been working to address its aging municipal complex — which includes both the 53-year-old city hall and a newer 29-year-old wing housing the police department.
The city says both buildings are overcrowded, with some staff members working in storage rooms or closets. There are also ongoing issues with flooding, lack of insulation, plumbing and electrical problems, according to the city’s website.
After years of exploring options to either renovate the current city hall or start from scratch, the city council moved forward with the idea of building a new city hall while renovating the existing building for expanded police department and municipal court operations. The city capped the project’s cost at $30 million.
The original scope of the plan changed when the Mission Road Bible Church at 7820 Mission Rd., immediately south of the current city hall, was put up for sale.
After some discussion, the city council voted to buy the church property for $4.5 million to use the site as part of a new city hall facility.
Now, the city is moving forward on a plan to build a new $18 million city hall on the site of the former church and do $7.5 million worth of renovations to the current city hall, where the police department and municipal court operations will remain. (Those figures, combined with the $4.5 million purchase of the church property, totals $30 million.)
What are the claims Preserve group makes?
Preserve Prairie Village, which describes itself as “a dedicated coalition of local residents committed to preserving the financial stability and integrity of Prairie Village,” recently alerted some residents about its concerns with the city hall project.
The mailers, images of which have been shared with the Post, paint the new city hall proposal as a “$25 million complex for a mere 25 city employees.”
Paired with an image of an umbrella under stormy skies, the mailers argue that the city hall project will result in “rising property taxes,” “soaring maintenance costs” and “a community washing away.”
“Our village risks becoming an urban core,” the mailers say.
The mailer argues that by financing the city hall project with bond debt, the city will be forced to raise taxes or divert money away from public safety, roads and other essential services in order to pay for it in the future, a contention city officials dispute.
The fliers do not delineate between the construction of a new city hall and renovations for the police department at the current city hall building, seeming to lump the projected costs for both into just the new city hall.
The group says it’s a big enough expenditure that residents should have a say.
“Our group is committed to transparency by ensuring that residents have the power to vote on major budgetary decisions, giving them a direct say in how their tax dollars are spent,” the group says.
The Preserve Prairie Village Foundation was incorporated as a nonprofit in Kansas last month, according to records with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office. Susan Sirridge, a Prairie Village resident, is the named incorporator on state documents. Otherwise, it’s unclear who else is connected to the group.
When reached at her home on Tuesday afternoon, Sirridge declined to speak to a Post reporter for this story.
Such fliers and tensions are not new in Prairie Village.
In recent years, a group of residents known as Prairie Village United (also called Stop Rezoning Prairie Village) vocally opposed the city council’s efforts to discuss possible zoning changes that could have paved the way for more attainable housing options in the city.
That fight over zoning sparked multiple resident-led petitions that aimed, in part, to shrink the size of the city council and remake city government.
In 2023, the city’s fight over zoning and governance was at the center of closely watched Prairie Village city council elections in which several critics of the city’s zoning conversation ultimately won seats. (Read more about that here.)
What has been the city’s response?
The city created a FAQ page dedicated to the city hall project after the Preserve Prairie Village fliers began appearing in mailboxes.
The city says that putting the city hall project up for a public vote is unnecessary due to an ordinance passed by the city council nearly a decade ago.
Charter Ordinance 28 says the city does not have to take bond issuances for city-related improvements to a public vote.
When city leaders approved that ordinance in 2016 it was in connection to a $3.2 million streetlight purchase from Kansas City Power and Light (now Evergy), according to city documents.
Dan Runion, a former city councilmember who voted in support of that ordinance in 2016, told KSHB 41 Action News that the “intent” at the time was for “smaller bond issues.”
“I just think that would be appropriate to involve the people,” Runion told KSHB. “Again, if the benefits are as claimed by the proponents, then the people who are voting on it will see that.”
When reached at his home, Runion declined to comment for this story and said he didn’t know who is behind Preserve Prairie Village.
The city also says it plans to pay off the general obligation bonds used to finance the project with “existing revenue streams” and baking debt repayment into the budget annually.
As for the staff that will use a new city hall, the city’s FAQ says the new building will provide space for “a full-time, regular staff of 118 people” and another 110 seasonal aquatic staff, along with some 100 volunteers who work on city commissions and advisory boards.
City officials clarified that roughly 20 full-time staffers would work out of the new city hall daily, including HR, IT and administrative staffers. (That corresponds to current staff levels listed on the city’s website, which show 23 non-public works and non-police department staff.) In addition, other city workers, including those from public works and the police department would use the building regularly for trainings, the city says.
“We love our police, but we hate government workers”
In an interview with the Post, Councilmember Ian Graves, who supports the city hall and police department project, said it’s not uncommon for the city to issue bonds to pay for infrastructure projects.
He said Prairie Village has issued close to $39 million in bonds for various projects between 2009 and 2019, including street lights, the new public works building and Meadowbrook Park, and none prompted calls for a public vote.
That set a precedent for “bonding without a vote,” he said, adding that he is opposed to taking the city hall project to a vote.
While he believes part of the call for a public vote stems from misinformation about the project causing taxes to go up, Graves said some opposition also comes from people “demeaning and targeting our administrative staff.”
“I view this other part of this opposition as sort of like, ‘We love our police, but we hate government workers that aren’t the police,’” Graves said. “But all of them are necessary. And the city hall is like the glue that keeps it all (running).”
Councilmember Lori Sharp, who has voted against both spending money on additional design work for the city hall project and items related to purchasing the Mission Road Bible Church property, declined to speak with the Post for this story.
Sharp did tell The Sentinel, an online publication linked to the conservative think tank Kansas Policy Institute, that she thinks “it’s ironic” that the city council recently approved sending nearly $23,000 to its Ukrainian sister city “but won’t spend about the same amount to let its own citizens vote on a $30M City Hall.”
