The De Soto City Council is seeking applicants for a vacancy on the governing body after a city councilmember stepped down mid-term.
De Soto City Council member Victoria McMoran is stepping down two years into her term.
McMoran announced her decision to step down at Thursday night’s city council meeting, citing a job opportunity for her husband in southeastern Kansas. Soon, Mayor Rick Walker will appoint someone to fill the seat for the remainder of the term, which expires December 2027. He didn’t specify a timeline.
“It was a hard decision,” McMoran said. “I’ve spent all my life in De Soto. I grew up here, so it was not an easy decision, but it was the best decision for my family.”
McMoran’s last city council meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 19.
“In our city codes, it is a mayoral appointment with advice and consent of the city council,” Walker said.
Walker said he’s unsure of a timeline, but any decisions will be made in public session.
City Council member Rhonda Patterson was the last appointment, made in June 2025. She filled a seat left by Courtney Tripp. It took about a month to fill Tripp’s seat.
“Now that she’s (McMoran) officially made the announcement, I’ll go ahead and start working on getting some sort of notice out to people who might be interested,” Walker said. “Having just gone through it recently with Courtney leaving, I still have a stack of interested people, and I might follow up with any of those to see who might be interested as well.”
De Soto residents interested in applying can contact the mayor at rwalker@desotoks.us.
The city government is composed of a five member at-large city council and a mayor, who each serve four year terms. The city council meetings twice a month, at 7 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays, to review and approve matters pertaining to the city, such as finances, developments and infrastructure.
