Kansas City forces out another official who was named in whistleblower lawsuit
Former Kansas City Manager Brian Platt’s closest aide during most of his four years in the role is now also out of a job.
More than 10 weeks after he was fired, Melissa Kozakiewicz has been forced out of the assistant city manager position that paid her $190,000 a year. The circumstances of her termination were not announced. The city’s press secretary, Sherae Honeycutt, said she cannot comment on personnel matters.
But as a central figure in the Chris Hernandez whistleblower lawsuit that recently cost city taxpayers $1.4 million and damaged city government’s reputation for transparency in sharing truthful information with the public, some in city government were calling for Kozakiewicz’s ouster behind the scenes.
She declined comment.
“I want to inform you that Assistant City Manager Melissa Kozakiewicz is no longer with the organization, effective immediately,” City Manager Mario Vasquez said in a message to employees on Monday afternoon. “We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Key confidante
Platt hired her in May 2021, five months after he became city manager. She worked for him in a similar role while he was the top administrator in Jersey City, New Jersey. In Kansas City, Kozakiewicz was who Platt often turned to for promoting his key initiatives and honing the city’s messaging. Among her passions was expanding the city’s composting program.
After the City Council fired Platt in late March, Kozakiewicz continued working for interim city manager Kimiko Black Gilmore and then Vasquez, who until the council picked him to lead city government was her peer as an assistant city manager.
Among her duties was overseeing the city’s communications operations, which Vasquez has promised to reform in response to flaws and abuses that were alleged in the Hernandez lawsuit.
Witnesses testified at trial in February that Platt suggested it was ok for city staffers to lie to the news media, while others said Kozakiewicz put a priority on feel-good public relations over providing raw information out of context.
Awaiting audit findings
One of her former peers in the city manager’s office, Kerrie Tyndall, testified that she was offended by a chart in Kozakiewicz’s office that read “PR, NOT Public Information,” which Tyndall surmised was what Kozakiewicz and Platt believed should be the aim of the city’s communications staff.
Tyndall, who is suing the city for discrimination, snapped a photo of the chart on the same day that Hernandez was demoted and Kozakiewicz took his place, she said.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Star on Friday, Vasquez hinted that a change in leadership in the city’s communications office was coming, but did not mention Kozakiewicz by name.
“In general, I’m just going to tell you that I am working on the structure of this office, and just want to figure out what the roles and responsibilities for different staff members will be,” he said. “So I think that we’ll need to determine and decide where the communications role fits best, and who is in charge of it.”
He is awaiting the findings of a city audit of the communications office and its transparency with local media before announcing final plans.
This story was originally published June 9, 2025 at 5:29 PM.
