Prairie Village Councilmember Lori Sharp abruptly resigned from her position on Thursday, halfway through her first four-year term.
Sharp announced her resignation in a Thursday afternoon newsletter to constituents, citing “pressing family matters.” She had missed the last three city council meetings, most recently Monday’s, all coming after the Nov. 4 election in which all six of Sharp’s preferred council candidates lost.
Sharp wrote in her newsletter that she needs to spend more time and attention on her “out-of-state parents,” which takes her away from “effectively representing” Ward 3 residents.
Sharp first ran for the city council in 2023 on a platform that emphasized opposition to the city’s housing recommendations — the same ones that split the city for the better part of the past three years.
She was involved with Prairie Village United, a citizen group that spearheaded the opposition to the housing recommendations and any effort to discuss tweaks to the city’s zoning codes.
Her involvement with PV United included circulating petitions that sought to limit rezoning in Prairie Village and completely remake the city’s government. Voters rejected one of those governmental overhaul petitions that appeared on the 2025 general election ballot.
Now, following her abrupt resignation, the city is seeking Ward 3 residents to apply to fill her seat for the remainder of her term, which ends in 2027.
Sharp missed three straight city council meetings
Sharp cited family and professional matters as the reason for her absence from the last three city council meetings, on Nov. 17, Dec. 1 and Dec. 15.
“Family and work commitments have grown and I prioritized those commitments,” Sharp said in a text statement to the Post on Thursday afternoon.
Some residents speculated on social media Thursday that the 2025 election results played a factor in Sharp’s recent absences and her resignation. When asked if that was the case, Sharp said she didn’t want to comment or “get caught up with or spend any energy on speculation and gossip.”
Sharp pushed for a public vote on the upcoming $30 million city hall project during her time on the city council and endorsed six candidates who also opposed the project. But Prairie Village voters chose six new candidates who all voiced support for moving forward with the project without a public vote.
Sharp also helped circulate a petition that called for “abandoning” the city’s current form of government back in 2023, which eventually made it on to the Nov. 4 ballot. Voters also overwhelmingly rejected that question in this year’s election.
“Grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me”
Minutes after announcing her resignation to residents with her newsletter, Sharp alerted City Administrator Wes Jordan of her resignation “effective immediately,” according to an email exchange obtained by the Post via a records request.
In her resignation announcement, Sharp wrote to residents that she is “grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me” and for the friendships she’s fostered during her time on the city council.
Sharp wrote that in her two years on the city council, she “focused on the residents and their needs,” adding that she believes that various perspectives and “healthy debate” are good for government and that she tried to advocate for that as a councilmember.
“A go-along, get-along, rubber-stamp approach leads to stagnation, a lack of creativity, and less accountability,” Sharp wrote.
Read her entire newsletter in the screenshot below.
The city will now fill Sharp’s vacancy
In a Friday morning statement sent via text, Mayor Eric Mikkelson told the Post that Sharp “had an impact” in her time on the dais.
“Folks sometimes don’t realize the personal toll often extracted by unpaid local elected office,” Mikkelson said. “I wish her and her family peace and healing.”
In order to fill the vacancy created by Sharp’s resignation, the city plans to follow a similar councilmember replacement process that it has conducted in the past, Jordan told the Post via email on Thursday.
When the city council appointed Chi Nguyen to a Ward 3 vacancy in April 2024, the city advertised the opening, and the mayor and city staff interviewed all of the applicants.
The city council then approved the mayor’s recommended appointment of Nguyen for the role.
Mikkelson echoed Jordan’s comments in his statement to the Post on Friday, adding that he hopes to have an appointment for the city council to consider at the first meeting in February.
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