Why I am running:
As a lifelong resident I am committed to working for our community. I am motivated by the responsibility to carry the torch for my hometown’s founding spirit with pride and progress. Pride in what makes Shawnee a unique and exceptional small town feeling place to live, work, and play and progress toward an even brighter future.
It has been a great privilege to serve the residents and businesses these past few years and together, with an open exchange of ideas, we have been focused on open government - increasing transparency, communication, and relationships ten-fold; public safety - increasing staffing in both police and fire, a new fire station, police body cameras and other additional tools; infrastructure - public works has improved more roads and storm water pipes than ever before setting new records; quality of life - with new parks, trails, quieting of train horns, sidewalks, sustainability, and more; and economic development - with over a thousand new businesses and thousands of new jobs, and I am committed to continue working together and putting resources where the needs are greatest.
With my vision for ‘One Shawnee’, we will continue our momentum to build a Shawnee that works for all. It is essential to safeguard the community in ways that reflect the wants and needs of the people who live, work, and visit Shawnee.
Shawnee has a special balance of tradition and innovation and despite differences in age, background, or circumstances, Shawnee is home to all of us. A community for everyone.
It has been my experience that city government works best when citizens participate. I firmly believe that by working together, and with an open exchange of ideas we can accomplish a lot, and we have! Every decision, from the hiring of our new city manager to the potential community center has included public engagement.
I am forever invested in this city for the long run and do not view my public service here as a stepping stone. There is no place I will ever call home or love more than Shawnee, and I am excited about its future.
Every resident and business in Shawnee deserves to be involved with and build from the prosperity of this great city. We need a collaborative vision for the community's future. Mayors come and go, we need to not think alike but think together.
What we have already accomplished since my 2015 goals:
Aside from the obvious priorities of maintaining quality police, fire and rescue services, streets, and fiscal responsibility, our city needs to be guided by its citizens. What I would like to accomplish first is improving citizen engagement.
Our city needs to be guided by its citizens and business leaders - the people who live here and invest in our success. I would like to see more citizen input to help inform important decisions, such as how the city should approach economic development. What type of development do Shawnee citizens want? Letting elected representatives know their answers to that question is one way citizens need to be involved.
Oftentimes people think it is "us vs them" (government vs the residents). Elected officials need to listen to the residents. We make very important decisions, and I always want to know what the citizens want before I cast my votes. The goal is not to think alike, but to think TOGETHER.
We need to be representative of the people of Shawnee and respectful to the public. We need to remember we are here to serve the community.
I want to continue to work for open government. Open government is understandable government. If the citizens feel confused about city processes or government speak, we have to work together to fix that. We are so much better but there is still some work that can be done.
I would also like to examine how Shawnee regulations and policies help or hinder growth through improved communications with existing local and new businesses. It is necessary to partner with them in assessing our processes because they have intimate knowledge of any barriers. I would like to see in addition to our wonderful business liaison, an easy to navigate online presence with necessary information.
Additionally:
Recent Development Updates/Business Expansions:
I believe this term has supported our priorities as a community that Shawnee citizens and businesses value.
Safe Community
Effective Mobility and Reliable Infrastructure
Environmentally Sustainable and Well-Planned Community
Economic Growth and Vitality
Attractive, Health and Well-Maintained Community
Quality Cultural and Recreational Opportunities
Good Governance
My goal as your mayor is to connect the dots between our hopes for the future of Shawnee and good planning and market demand. Vision can come from many places, but smart communities realize that engaging its citizens in the city-making process leads to better answers and a deeper pubic ownership of our future.
I’m often asked what this really means and how it can be implemented. My answer: it’s our job to figure that out. Rather than looking to other municipalities for ideas, practices and policies that work, to "compete", why not become the innovator?
My vision is to make Shawnee a unique city everyone’s talking about – so others will look to us for best practices, innovation and inspiration. Rather than working toward benchmarks, we are the benchmark.
Implementing this vision falls on the shoulders of the individuals working within the city organization, as well as our governing body. For example, how is each police officer making Shawnee the safest city in the country?
Shawnee residents and business owners share a sense of community pride and a determination that the city’s vision of making Shawnee the best city to live, work, and play is not just a slogan, but a reality.
The future of our city is bright. Shawnee will become a model of excellence, one that truly puts our citizens first, and engages them in their collective future as often as possible. Our skilled and motivated employees will be known for providing quality and value in all areas of service. We will be a platform for vital economic activity that gives Shawnee a competitive edge in the marketplace. We will partner with citizens and businesses to make this a community of choice for living, working and leisure activities.
Leadership is a collective, imperfect, and ongoing process that provides the strength and courage to follow our dreams by working with others to make them come true. Our residents are amazing, smart, and compassionate, but we live in an environment that builds roadblocks to engagements. By working together to identify and eliminate these obstacles, we create a community where anything is possible.
It's not about thinking alike, it's about thinking together.
2023 State of the City
2022 State of the City
2021 State of the City
2020 State of the City
How can you help?
As a lifelong resident I am committed to working for our community. I am motivated by the responsibility to carry the torch for my hometown’s founding spirit with pride and progress. Pride in what makes Shawnee a unique and exceptional small town feeling place to live, work, and play and progress toward an even brighter future.
It has been a great privilege to serve the residents and businesses these past few years and together, with an open exchange of ideas, we have been focused on open government - increasing transparency, communication, and relationships ten-fold; public safety - increasing staffing in both police and fire, a new fire station, police body cameras and other additional tools; infrastructure - public works has improved more roads and storm water pipes than ever before setting new records; quality of life - with new parks, trails, quieting of train horns, sidewalks, sustainability, and more; and economic development - with over a thousand new businesses and thousands of new jobs, and I am committed to continue working together and putting resources where the needs are greatest.
With my vision for ‘One Shawnee’, we will continue our momentum to build a Shawnee that works for all. It is essential to safeguard the community in ways that reflect the wants and needs of the people who live, work, and visit Shawnee.
Shawnee has a special balance of tradition and innovation and despite differences in age, background, or circumstances, Shawnee is home to all of us. A community for everyone.
It has been my experience that city government works best when citizens participate. I firmly believe that by working together, and with an open exchange of ideas we can accomplish a lot, and we have! Every decision, from the hiring of our new city manager to the potential community center has included public engagement.
I am forever invested in this city for the long run and do not view my public service here as a stepping stone. There is no place I will ever call home or love more than Shawnee, and I am excited about its future.
Every resident and business in Shawnee deserves to be involved with and build from the prosperity of this great city. We need a collaborative vision for the community's future. Mayors come and go, we need to not think alike but think together.
What we have already accomplished since my 2015 goals:
Aside from the obvious priorities of maintaining quality police, fire and rescue services, streets, and fiscal responsibility, our city needs to be guided by its citizens. What I would like to accomplish first is improving citizen engagement.
- Increased staffing in both police and fire
- A new fire station to better serve the northwestern area of the city
- Police body cameras and traffic accident tools
- Fiscal responsibility in everything we do, every day
- Sustainability - while we are a leader in this area we are reviewing current processes for what we can do better and have already implemented new processes
- More citizen engagement and decisions guided by our citizens included but not limited to the hiring of our new city manager, potential community center, and community strategic plan
- After the Franchise Fee and Stormwater Utility Fee was imposed on residents,
I championed rebating those taxes for our Senior Citizens and Lower Income residents - Broke fundraising records for Special Olympics, Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund, and Sister City program
- Created partnership between Hidden Heroes, Shawnee VFW Post 10552, and the City of Shawnee
- Shawnee, Kanas is proud to support military and veteran caregivers, our community’s hidden heroes as an Elizabeth Dole Foundation Hidden Heroes City. Founded by Senator Elizabeth Dole in 2012, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and it’s Hidden Heroes Campaign brings vital attention to the untold stories of military caregivers and provides a network for military caregivers to connect with their peers and access carefully vetted resources. If you are a military or veteran caregiver, please visit hiddenheroes.org to discover hundreds of carefully vetted resources and an online peer support community exclusively for caregivers.
- Removed the pit bull ban and instead focused on individual dangerous animals vs breed specificity
- Improved citizen engagement by:
- Increasing transparency, communication, and relationships including but not limited to:
- Third Thursday Coffees
- Quarterly Q&As
- Meetings with HOA's, scouts, schools, churches, city, chamber, and special events
Worked tirelessly (1700-2000 hours a year) to interact with residents and businesses - Taken city hall to the neighborhoods
- Recognizing good customer service, actions, and other moments with a 'You've Been Spotted by the Mayor' card with a handwritten note thanking them for providing great customer service in Shawnee so that people choose to do business here rather than elsewhere.
- Recognizing exceptional feats with a 'Good Starts With You' mayor challenge coin.
- Guest councilmember program for 3rd-7th graders
- Mayor for a Day contest for 7th graders
- Nominate your neighbor for the 'Good Neighbor Award'
- Created the Good Starts with You Award
- Handwritten notes and surprise visits for good things in Shawnee, a major accomplishment, anniversary, birthday, award, recognition, etc.
- Hand signed thank you letters to recognize volunteers and those who donate to the Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund (more money raised than ever for great causes!)
- Opened the State of the City up so that anyone can attend
- Changed the City Council meeting format so that discussion, including public input, is had before motions are accepted
- Changed the process for council vacancy and motion nomination
- Responded to every call/email received during my tenure
- Created a focus to stop the Shawnee east/west divide. We are One Shawnee!
- Started the Shawnee KS Rocks! with Beth Kornegay to get residents and visitors out and about at parks and businesses throughout the city
- Actively involved and volunteer with the CPAAA and CERT members
- Department visits to learn and understand first hand the things they do and share those stories with the residents
- Started 'Good News Starts Here' so we can recognize all the good happening in Shawnee
- Initiated Project Status Timeline Platform so there is visibility for residents and businesses to have visibility into major projects
- 2017 Citizen Satisfaction Survey showed 96% of residents ranked Shawnee as a place they are happy to live. There was a significant increase in satisfaction in many areas since the last time the City conducted the survey in 2015. We are always striving to make things better!
- Educating and preparing as many residents/businesses/churches on emergency preparedness and basic first aid and CPR
- Adopt-A-Spot
- Neighbors Helping Neighbors
- Created a 750 fact based question Shawnee trivia game
- Increasing transparency, communication, and relationships including but not limited to:
Our city needs to be guided by its citizens and business leaders - the people who live here and invest in our success. I would like to see more citizen input to help inform important decisions, such as how the city should approach economic development. What type of development do Shawnee citizens want? Letting elected representatives know their answers to that question is one way citizens need to be involved.
- Created questionnaire and new process for board appointments
- Strategic plan kickoff and will set a common and public understanding of the vision for Shawnee's future and guide decisions on how to best spend resources
- Open and good government with accountable decision making that is data driven with public involvement
- Responsible growth and meaningful development that adds value for our residents and in which incentives are only used strategically
Oftentimes people think it is "us vs them" (government vs the residents). Elected officials need to listen to the residents. We make very important decisions, and I always want to know what the citizens want before I cast my votes. The goal is not to think alike, but to think TOGETHER.
- Survey sent out to the entire city
- Increased communication and transparency - I've taken city hall to the neighborhoods
- Guest speakers at every Third Thursday includes someone from staff explaining their role and it's importance
- Board appointments of 'critics'. I believe we learn the most from our 'critics' and I seek to balance our resident input in a way that guards against 'group think'. The more a group is monolithic, the more they tend to think the same and be trapped in inertia. We as a city benefit from a more diverse team.
We need to be representative of the people of Shawnee and respectful to the public. We need to remember we are here to serve the community.
- Every resident/business concern is researched and responded to
- Communication is opened up at meetings to give residents the opportunity to talk about any subject
I want to continue to work for open government. Open government is understandable government. If the citizens feel confused about city processes or government speak, we have to work together to fix that. We are so much better but there is still some work that can be done.
- Created an environment where our communications with the public, via any medium, is factually based and easy to understand vs 'government speak'
- Softened the language to be more friendly in code violation letters
- Created TIF video for an easier explanation of how the incentive works
I would also like to examine how Shawnee regulations and policies help or hinder growth through improved communications with existing local and new businesses. It is necessary to partner with them in assessing our processes because they have intimate knowledge of any barriers. I would like to see in addition to our wonderful business liaison, an easy to navigate online presence with necessary information.
- Handwritten notes personally welcoming every new business to Shawnee
- Regular business visits and interviews to discuss any obstacles and what we can do to help them in their success and learning about and networking a multitude of businesses throughout the city
- Improved new business policies from business owner feedback to make it easier to do business in Shawnee with positive feedback from new businesses
- Always 'selling' Shawnee in regular meetings with developers and business owners
- Met with JOCO Wastewater and other utilities to overcome some obstacles for development
- Meetings with business leaders looking to bring their business to Shawnee, PBI Gordon is a great success story for us!
- Almost perfect attendance at chamber events to be accessible and listen for any business concerns as well as learn about their businesses to help promote and network Shawnee businesses
- Worked with chamber board and advised on project approach for better acceptance
- $441+ million of new investment in Shawnee
- Over 1600 new business licenses bringing thousands of new jobs
- 4x growth in business and jobs since 2016
- Over 869 new residential building permits and growing
- Three recurring concerns at doors in 2015 was the vacancy of the Aztec Theater, Westbrooke Shopping Center, and Perceptive Software. Perceptive Software building has been renewed and occupied by PBI Gordon, Aztec Theater is scheduled to open soon, and Westbrook is scheduled for demolition/construction this year!
Additionally:
- Over $7 million in outside funding for capital improvement projects in 2018
- 2019 budget includes $6.9 million for street resurfacing, sidewalk, curb and gutter repair
- 2019 budget includes $9.8 million for stormwater pipe repairs
- City Hall R5 Certification - sustainability initiative
- Bronze SolSmart Award - sustainability initiative
- Tree City USA Award
- GFOA Distinguished Budget Award
- AA1 Bond Rating
- Accredited Public Works Department
- Accredited Fire Department
- Accredited Police Department
- Fire Station 74
- Increased funding for public safety for additional firefighters, firetruck and equipment; police officers and equipment; technology upgrades
- Full-time mental health co-responder
- Land Management software
- Over 6000 hours of volunteer work
- Faith/Community Partnership
- Citizen Police Academy increased to two classes a year with waitlist participation levels
- New Citizen Fire Academy
- Strategic Plan Kickoff
- Parks & Recreation Master Plan
Recent Development Updates/Business Expansions:
- 2018 proved $57 million in Capital Investment with 992 jobs and $48 million in new payroll
- 2019 currently has 47 active projects with $657 million in Capital Investment that includes 3912 jobs and $90 million in payroll
- 268,000 Visitors
- PBI Gordon Headquarters
- Nazdar Expansion
- ServiceMaster DSI
- Koller Enterprises
- VA Clinic
- Nick and Jake's
- Dairy Queen
- Federated Rural Insurance Cooperative
- Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy
- The Other Place
- Servaes & Transport Breweries
- Amazon - continued Westlink expansion
- Stag's Creek - 100% occupied
- Andy's Frozen Custard
- Raising Cane's
- New QT
- Beautification to the overall gateway entrance to Shawnee
- Investment in downtown Shawnee
- Partnership with WaterOne on the new water tower
- 1.6 million square feet proposed industrial/logistics center K-7/43rd street
- Two new hotels - Comfort Inn/Fairfield Inn
- B&B Theater - Grand screen, play screen, 4D, Live Theater
- Pinnacle Gymnastics
- Dance Expressions
- Kenneth Smith Estates residential development
- Prairie Pines residential development
- Calamar Project - The Seasons and Reflections 55+ community
- Sears Outlet
- Kiene Dental Group
- Cafe Equinox
- Paciugo Gelato Cafe
- Datafile Technologies
- St. Lukes Community Hospital
- Mclain's Market
- Haywards BBQ
- Schier Products
- Primrose School
- Fairfield Inn
- Under Construction:
- Calamar Senior Living
- Reflections Senior LIving
- and so many more small businesses, boutiques, etc
I believe this term has supported our priorities as a community that Shawnee citizens and businesses value.
Safe Community
Effective Mobility and Reliable Infrastructure
Environmentally Sustainable and Well-Planned Community
Economic Growth and Vitality
Attractive, Health and Well-Maintained Community
Quality Cultural and Recreational Opportunities
Good Governance
My goal as your mayor is to connect the dots between our hopes for the future of Shawnee and good planning and market demand. Vision can come from many places, but smart communities realize that engaging its citizens in the city-making process leads to better answers and a deeper pubic ownership of our future.
I’m often asked what this really means and how it can be implemented. My answer: it’s our job to figure that out. Rather than looking to other municipalities for ideas, practices and policies that work, to "compete", why not become the innovator?
My vision is to make Shawnee a unique city everyone’s talking about – so others will look to us for best practices, innovation and inspiration. Rather than working toward benchmarks, we are the benchmark.
Implementing this vision falls on the shoulders of the individuals working within the city organization, as well as our governing body. For example, how is each police officer making Shawnee the safest city in the country?
Shawnee residents and business owners share a sense of community pride and a determination that the city’s vision of making Shawnee the best city to live, work, and play is not just a slogan, but a reality.
The future of our city is bright. Shawnee will become a model of excellence, one that truly puts our citizens first, and engages them in their collective future as often as possible. Our skilled and motivated employees will be known for providing quality and value in all areas of service. We will be a platform for vital economic activity that gives Shawnee a competitive edge in the marketplace. We will partner with citizens and businesses to make this a community of choice for living, working and leisure activities.
Leadership is a collective, imperfect, and ongoing process that provides the strength and courage to follow our dreams by working with others to make them come true. Our residents are amazing, smart, and compassionate, but we live in an environment that builds roadblocks to engagements. By working together to identify and eliminate these obstacles, we create a community where anything is possible.
It's not about thinking alike, it's about thinking together.
2023 State of the City
2022 State of the City
2021 State of the City
2020 State of the City
How can you help?
