WATCH: At Post forum, Westwood City Council candidates share views on taxes, disputed park’s future

Candidates vying for three at-large seats on the Westwood City Council shared their views on a number of topics at a forum Wednesday night hosted by the Johnson County Post, including property taxes, city spending and the future of a much-discussed park.

The Westwood forum took place on the first of 12 scheduled nights of local candidate forums that the Post is hosting across Johnson County ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

A standing-room-only crowd turned out for Wednesday’s forum, hosted in the library at Westwood View Elementary in Westwood.

All six candidates who have filed to run attended. The top three vote-getters in November will win seats on the city council.

Who is running?

• Stephanie Becker
• Spencer Day
• Jeff Harris (incumbent)
• Greg Hirleman
• James Spies
• Jennifer Westlake

How to watch the Post’s forum

The Post livestreamed Wednesday’s event on our Facebook page. A recording of the forum can be viewed there, though it is now Facebook’s policy to erase live videos 30 days after they are produced.

You can also watch the full Westwood forum on the Post’s new YouTube channel, where it should be preserved into the future.

The full forum video is also embedded below:

Questions

The candidates gave opening statements and answered a series of questions based on reader feedback and suggestions received by the Post before the event.

Timestamps are included at the end of each question to help you navigate through the forum video if you’d like to jump around to issues that matter most to you.

1. Opening statements [3:28]
2. Priorities: What in your opinion is the biggest issue or challenge facing Westwood over the next four years and how do you plan to tackle it on the city council? [10:47]

   

3. Budget and CIP shortfall: The city projects a looming deficit for its five-year capital improvements program. (This is the long-range plan that charts out major infrastructure projects in the city, most notably upgrades to neighborhood streets.) If nothing is done, the city says that by 2028 Westwood’s CIP would be in the red by more than $5 million. In a recent message to residents, Mayor David Waters said the city has the options of delaying or canceling capital projects, cutting spending or raising revenues, that is taxes. How do you suggest Westwood contend with this issue? What approach would you support? [19:40]
4. Property taxes: Due in large part to the projected CIP deficit, the city of Westwood is considering a mill levy, or property tax rate, increase next year. Both a two-mill and four-mill increase have been put on the table to add to the city’s current mill rate of 21.99, which has stayed relatively flat over the past 10 years. A final decision will be made, in fact, TOMORROW night (Thursday) at the city council’s public budget hearing. Do you support a property tax increase? Why or why not? [28:30]

   

5. Future of Joe D. Dennis Park and surrounding properties: One of the biggest topics in Westwood over the past year or two has been the future of Joe D. Dennis Park on the corner of Rainbow Boulevard and 50th Street. Voters last year rejected a plan to sell the park to make way for an office-and-retail development that also included an accompanying plan to turn the old Westwood View Elementary site into a new park. Residents opposed to the sale of Dennis Park have continued fundraising to redevelop the park and the neighboring greenspace at 5050 Rainbow. And recent surveys have shown most residents want the city to prioritize parks. Where do you stand on what should happen to Joe D. Dennis Park? More broadly, what should the city’s approach to parks and green space be? [34:44]

   

6. Stance on now-defunct Karbank project: Two groups of citizens sprung up amid the debate over Dennis Park. One, the “Save the Park” group intent on preserving Dennis Park largely as it is, the other “Build Our Park” which supported selling Dennis Park to make way for the Karbank project and the new public park at the old Westwood View. Does your campaign align itself with either of these groups or get financial support from them? More generally, where did you fall on the Karbank project? [45:20]

   

7. World Cup prep: With the World Cup coming to KC, we will see a big influx of tourism and people looking for temporary housing here in Johnson County. Should cities like Westwood consider lifting restrictions they’ve put on short-term rentals such as AirBnbs? If so, some residents may be concerned with how these rentals might impact their neighborhoods, even temporarily next summer. On the other hand, some residents might welcome the chance to rent out their home for a month for some extra income. Where would you stand on this? What’s Fairway’s role, if any, in this issue? [49:54]

   

8. Street safety: A couple of you have mentioned street and traffic safety, and I believe the city council has also been talking about scooters and bikes and young kids. The questions: do you see street safety as a big issue? How should the city address it? [55:09]

   

9. Why you’re the best candidate: What is one thing that distinguishes you from the other candidates? What makes you the best candidate for city council? [1:02:00]