Despite some objections, Kansas City Council approves contract for new city manager
Kansas City will have a new city manager starting Monday, despite consternation from some City Council members who said he hasn’t been communicating with them.
Council members voted 9-4 to authorize an employment agreement with the new hire, Brian Platt. Like the vote they took to approve Mayor Quinton Lucas’ recommendation in October, it broke along racial lines.
As city manager, Platt will earn $265,000 a year and be provided a car.
The council nearly voted to delay the decision a week because of the concerns about limited communication between Platt and council members since October.
Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, 4th District at-large, said she encouraged Platt to build relationships with council members and was “really distressed” he was setting up meetings with community leaders and civic groups instead.
“And unfortunately since that day while he has made some rather perfunctory calls, I think, to people — two or three minutes or less in length — he hasn’t really done that,” said Shields, who made a motion to hold the legislation, which failed on a narrow 6-7 vote. Shields ultimately voted for the employment agreement.
Platt is leaving his current job as business administrator in Jersey City, New Jersey. The business administrator is the top unelected job there, but unlike Kansas City’s city manager, Platt reports to the mayor rather than the mayor and council. Shields expressed concern that Platt did not recognize that arrangement. She said she wondered if the council needed to send him a copy of the Kansas City Charter to help familiarize him.
In a statement, Platt said he has already had introductory interactions with every council member.
“And I look forward to speaking with and learning from each of them about the needs of their districts and how I can best play a role in supporting them, as we work to build a better Kansas City for all,” he said.
Platt was chosen from a group of four finalists that also included Milton Dohoney, of Phoenix; Kevin Jackson, of Long Beach, California; and Janice Allen Jackson, of Augusta, Georgia. He was the only white candidate, and he had the least time in local government of the group.
The council’s four Black members voted against his appointment, noting that he was the only white candidate. They also were concerned that they learned of Lucas’ recommendation from a blog in New Jersey, which later took down the article.
“There is a saying in the African American community — you have to be twice as prepared to get half as much,” Councilwoman Melissa Robinson said at the time.
Robinson agreed with Shields Thursday.
“This council over and over and over again has said that you support us advancing racial equity, racial reconciliation, but when we had an opportunity to make a statement regarding that, we just turned the other way,” Robinson said.
Lucas said Platt came highly recommended, including by Black council members in Jersey City. Until Platt accepts the employment agreement, Lucas noted, he still works for Jersey City.
“So he’s trying to work some sort of balance,” Lucas said, adding he wasn’t sure what a one-week hold would provide the council.
Platt replaces acting City Manager Earnest Rouse, who took over when long-time city manager Troy Schulte stepped down. Schulte is now an administrator for Jackson County.
Robinson, Shields and fellow council members Brandon Ellington, Lee Barnes, Ryana Parks-Shaw and Andrea Bough voted for the unsuccessful motion to hold the legislation.
Robinson, Ellington, Barnes and Parks-Shaw voted against the employment agreement.
