Kansas City Manager Brian Platt fired in unanimous council vote after whistleblower suit
Kansas City Manager Brian Platt is out.
The City Council voted unanimously Thursday morning to fire Platt, 39, after four years in the job.
Mayor Quinton Lucas teed up the 13-0 vote after a 90-minute closed session by reciting a list of reasons why Platt was being ousted. Topping the list was the testimony and jury verdict of the lawsuit that former city communications director Chris Hernandez brought against the city.
Hernandez alleged that Platt demoted him in 2022 after Hernandez resisted Platt’s suggestion that it would be acceptable to lie to the news media about the city’s activities and accomplishments. Two other former members of the communications staff backed up Hernandez’s account with their testimony during the eight-day trial.
Lucas suspended Platt on March 6, the day after the Jackson County jury awarded Hernandez nearly $930,000 in his whistleblower suit.
Platt denied suggesting that city officials lie to the public. But in his remarks on Thursday, Lucas said the jury ruling had damaged the city’s reputation.
Without naming the plaintiffs, Lucas also cited several other “high-level lawsuits” now pending in which former management-level employees have accused Platt of demoting or firing them for what they allege was retaliation for objecting to what they perceived to be unethical actions on his part.
Next, Lucas cited without explanation what he claimed was Platt’s “failure to effectively establish goals and visions for departments and divisions and a failure to adapt to evolving risks” and to “implement risk mitigation strategies.”
“The next point, and it’s a substantial one,” Lucas said, “is the loss of confidence in leadership abilities, both from staff and from the elected official level. “
He went on to claim that Platt’s “messaging to city employees on values important to the city... is an area that we have found wanting.”
Platt defends his record
Platt was not present. But in interviews and other correspondence with the news media in recent days, Platt has defended his record of accomplishments and pushed back against criticism of his management style.
“I’m extremely proud of the work we have done over the last four years to elevate the quality of life for all Kansas Citians,” he said in a written statement issued on Wednesday. “City government is more responsive and more inclusive, and we have unquestionably improved delivery city services, including: record amount of street resurfacing, an exponentially more aggressive snow removal plan, billions of dollars of new development breaking ground across the city...”
He also cited launching the Vision Zero program to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries on our streets by 2030, improving the city’s financial standing, innovating the city’s trash removal process, launching a municipal composting program and initiating work on building a large solar array at Kansas City International Airport.
“Most importantly, we have assembled the most diverse leadership team in our City’s history and found ways to support so many marginalized communities that have been left behind,” Platt said. “Being city manager for Kansas City has been an incredible honor and privilege and I poured my heart into helping as many people as possible here each and every day.”
Platt and his supporters have alleged that race played a role in his ouster. On Wednesday, his attorney shared with reporters a 2020 email exchange in which Councilwoman Melissa Robinson complained that Lucas had picked Platt as his preferred candidate for the city manager’s job over a woman of color.
“What happened to your commitment to seeing a Black female City Manager — That was a public commitment and there was no reflection of that commitment. . . Going from that statement to choosing a White male is unconscionable,” Robinson wrote.
Attorney Joanna Trachtenberg said in an email to members of the news media that Robinson and other members of the council “have continued since the beginning of his tenure with Kansas City to attack, harass, bully, and publicly defame my client…”
She accused Robinson of sharing “confidential personnel information” about Platt during an online meeting of the Urban Summit, a Black civil rights group that she said has “shown repeated racial hostility toward my client.”
Members of the Urban Summit had called for Platt’s firing, alleging that he had been unfair and discriminatory toward some Black city employees and “fostered a toxic and racially hostile workplace” that had cost taxpayers millions of dollars in settling discrimination lawsuits.
At last Friday’s Urban Summit meeting on Zoom, Robinson told those attending that she didn’t have the necessary votes at a March 20 closed-door council meeting to terminate Platt. The council, instead, voted in open session to uphold Platt’s suspension and allow him time to request a public hearing, if he desired one, as guaranteed by the city charter.
No hearing was held. Under Platt’s contract, he would be entitled to a year’s salary as severance, unless the council could show he was being removed for cause. It was unclear whether the reasons cited for Platt’s dismissal amounted to cause in the legal sense. Lucas made no mention Thursday of severance or any negotiations of a separation agreement.
Later, the mayor’s office declined to comment on that issue, calling it “an ongoing personnel matter.”
Neither Platt nor his lawyer immediately responded to The Star’s request for comment. Platt’s contract was renewed a year ago and was set to expire in August 2027. He made $308,000 annually.
Assistant City Manager Kimiko Gilmore will remain acting city manager for now, Lucas said. A year passed between when former City Manager Troy Schulte’s retired and Platt was hired as his permanent replacement in late 2020.
This is a developing story and will be updated and news develops.
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 11:11 AM.
