Updated: Thursday, Nov. 6
Two new trustees and two returning office holders have been elected to the board that manages Johnson County Community College, according to unofficial election results tabulated Tuesday.
Voters were asked to choose up to four candidates of the eight on the ballot. The top vote getters were Dawn Rattan, 63,725; Lee Cross, 58,919; Chad Carroll, 55,633 and Geoff Holton, 53,081.
All election results are unofficial until the vote canvass is completed at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13. After that, election results will be official.
Rattan and Lee were running for reelection. The other incumbent on the ballot, Mark Hamill, was in fifth place with 40,130 votes.
The seven-member board of trustees are responsible for managing the college and its budget. They are chosen at-large and elected to overlapping four-year terms.
Rattan and Hamill have been board members since 2022. Lee has served since 2013. The election will also fill a vacancy that will be left by Trustee Melody Rayl, who was appointed in 2023 and did not run this year.
Top vote getter Rattan said she was honored and humbled by the results. “Education still transforms lives, and makes lives better,” she said, adding that public education needs to be protected and affordable.
Cross, the longest-serving current member of the board, said the voters’ continued trust “means a lot to me.” He added he is sorry to see Mark Hamill leave, though he and Hamill often disagreed. “He’s a good man, he’s a young man and he will be back,” Cross said.
Carroll works in financial services, according to his webpage. He has also volunteered for local organizations like Friends of Johnson County Developmental Supports and Kansas City Scholars. He said, via a news release, that he is “extremely humbled and honored” to be elected to the JCCC board.
“As a community college graduate myself I understand the value that JCCC brings to our county, the state of Kansas and the Kansas City metropolitan region,” Carroll said via the release. “I am excited to collaborate with the faculty, staff and community to ensure students are successful!”
Holton runs a marketing company, according to his webpage.
Both Holton and Carroll listed maintaining affordability and stewardship of county tax dollars as priorities on their sites.
Other candidates’ unofficial vote totals were: Jerry Charlton, 32,857; Kenneth Stokes, 30,658; and Carlton Abner, 28,324.
The Post reached out to the other winners and will update this story once we hear back.
WaterOne board
Three WaterOne board races were on the ballot this election.
In the only contested race, Jennifer Gunby unseated longtime board member Bob Reese.
Incumbents Kay Heley and Jill Westra earned another term after running unopposed.
The seven-member WaterOne board oversees the utility’s budget, rates and projects. WaterOne provides water for 470,000 customers mostly in Johnson County. All positions are at-large.
Member 3
Vice Chair Kay Heley received 69,451 or 98.9% of the votes in her uncontested race. Heley retired as a Shawnee Mission School District school nurse in 2018.
This will be the third term for Heley who was first elected in 2017.
Member 4
Newcomer Jennifer Gunby defeated incumbent Bob Reese to take the Member 4 seat. Unofficial results show Gunby received 55,973 — or 69.9% of the total votes. Reese received 23,923 votes.
Gunby, who previously served on the Roeland Park City Council, leads policy work for an environmental nonprofit.
Gunby told the Post her main priorities are to:
- “Maintain WaterOne’s commitment to affordable access to drinking water.
- Ensure staff have the support to use science-based approaches to protect water quality.
- Continue long-term, strategic planning guided by a triple-bottom-line sustainability approach.”
Reese joined the WaterOne board in 1993. During his tenure, he served as the board chair and vice chair. Reese retired from Burns & McDonnell where he was an enterprise security analyst.
The Post reached out to Gunby and Reese and will update this story once we hear back.
Member 5
One-term board member Jill Westra ran unopposed. According to unofficial results, she received 68,825 or 99.1% of the votes.
Westra is an environmental scientist. During her first term, Westra founded and served as the chair for the board’s sustainability committee.
Roxie Hammill and Kate Mays contributed reporting to this story.
