Overland Park City Council candidates discuss housing, crime, taxes and more at Post forum

Candidates vying for four contested Overland Park City Council seats covered several topics during a forum last week hosted by the Johnson County Post.

The candidates discussed, among other things, affordable housing, crime and advocating for parks and pools in their ward of the city.

This forum came on the ninth of 12 scheduled nights of local candidate forums that the Post is hosting across Johnson County ahead of the Nov. 4 election, some of which are being co-sponsored by Johnson County Library.

All candidates in these four races attended and took questions.

Who is running?

This forum featured candidates in four contested city council races, including:

Ward 2

• Melissa Cheatham (incumbent)
• Sydney Marsden

Ward 3

• Tom Carignan
• Amy Scrivner

Ward 4

• Amy Antrim
• Scott Mosher (incumbent)

Ward 5

• Andrew Payne
• Alexandria Washington

In addition, there are two candidates running unopposed, who were not invited to the Post’s event.

They include current Ward 1 Councilmember Logan Heley and Ward 6 candidate Josh Beck, who is running for an open seat.

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 Overland Park city council forum on the Post’s new YouTube channel, where it should be preserved into the future.

*NOTE: The power was unexpectedly cut off from the livestream about 25 minutes into the forum. After a pause, we picked the forum back up, so there are two separate videos.

The full forum videos are also embedded below:

Video 1

Questions

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

The Post also asked a number of questions directly from the audience, submitted via index card during 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 [1:04]
2. Top 3 issues for OP: This was asked in the previous mayoral forum, and I think it’s a good question to start this forum. “What are the top three issues for you? And how would you address them if elected?” [10:20]

   

   

3. Housing: What is the most urgent housing need in your ward, and how do you address it? [23:32] *The video cuts off at 24:10 of the first video about :30 seconds into Alexandria Washington’s answer. The forum resumes on this same question in Part 2 below. Since Washington’s initial response was cut off, we came back to her at the end of this question, which you can view in the next video.*

1. Housing (continued) picks up with Ward 2 Councilmember Melissa Cheatham at 1:23.
2. Crime: This comes from the audience, this person asking: “Crime has continued to increase,” this person says. They note particularly break-ins and cars being stolen. They ask, “What are you doing to keep current residents safe?” [10:53]

   

   

3. Pools: Another question from the audience, this person noting with the closing of Bluejacket Pool that neighborhood is losing a key public gathering space. This will impact your ward differently, but this person asks, “What will you do to advocate for amenities like parks, pools and trails, in your ward?” [20:40]

   

   

4. Property taxes: We have a question from the audience that asks specifically what you will do to limit property tax increases particularly for fixed-income seniors. They also ask if you’re willing to reach out to state and county leaders since this is a multi-jurisdictional issue. [30:50]
5. Communicating with constituents: A person from the audience asks, “What will you do to maintain relationships with constituents and be transparent and let them know what is happening in the city?” [41:50]

   

   

6. Qualifications: Treat this like a closing statement. What is your distinguishing characteristic that qualifies you for this job? Why should voters vote for you? [52:09]