Crowded race for Independence mayor as candidates target crime, corruption and ethics
Five candidates will challenge Independence Mayor Eileen Weir in Tuesday’s primary election.
Weir was elected mayor in 2014 and reelected in 2018. She previously served on the city council from 2012 to 2014.
While Weir has touted economic development projects and quality of life improvements during her tenure, her challengers have painted a darker picture of Missouri’s fifth largest city. The five other candidates are calling for major leadership changes, both in elected leadership and in city administration and pushing for new approaches to law enforcement, job creation and governance.
Her challengers are: Colleen Huff, Kenneth Love, Holmes Osborne, Rory Rowland and Brice Stewart. Voters will narrow the mayoral field from six to two candidates in Tuesday’s nonpartisan primary. The two winners will face off in the April 5 general election.
All the candidates have cited crime and public safety as a major priority for Independence. Other campaign issues include the future of the city-owned electric utility, an FBI investigation into city contracts and homelessness and blight in local neighborhoods.
“Our current mayor has had eight years to solve all these same problems that we are still facing,” said Colleen Huff, who runs a social services business. “I mean, year after year it’s the same issues.”
Huff is of no relation to Mike Huff, an at-large city council member, who is seeking reelection. Though the municipal election is nonpartisan, she has heavily touted her Republican affiliation and Christian faith in her campaign.
At a candidate forum on Thursday, Weir touted the creation of the Uptown Market farmers market under her watch and said that crime was on the decline over the past year. She also said the city was experiencing “tremendous economic growth and job creation,” citing expansions at Centerpoint Medical Center, Cargo Largo and Ronson Manufacturing.
“We’ve done this because we have come together, our citizens and our businesses are determined and we have worked together to build something here that is incredibly exciting,” she said. “I’m very proud to be your mayor and I look forward to continuing to make Independence the best place it can be.”
The candidates seem to agree that the city must do a better job of recruiting police officers. Independence has budgeted for 230 officers, but is 38 short, despite new retention and recruitment bonuses.
Candidates have proposed increasing starting pay for sworn officers to $60,000 or $70,000.
But Stewart said the culture at the Independence Police Department must also change.
Stewart, a current council member, is employed in Jackson County’s IT department, but also works part-time as a police officer in Lawson, Mo. He was a perennial candidate for local office before his upset victory in June 2020 over incumbent Curt Dougherty.
“Money will only go so far,” he said at a January 27 candidate forum. “We have to get morale in the department where these officers want to stay...Our police officers are the best recruitment tool.”
The police department is without a chief after Brad Halsey retired in December. The former chief was accused of sexual assault and harassment of an employee; the city ultimately settled a lawsuit for $100,000 over the matter.
The department is under scrutiny again after a whisteblower raised concerns about an inordinate amount of overtime pay one officer took home last year. City Manager Zach Walker on Thursday announced he would hire an outside firm to investigate how the officer made $160,000 in overtime pay in 2021 for reportedly completing construction work at the police building.
Rowland, a Democrat in the Missouri House of Representatives, has focused his campaign on bringing ethics reform to City Hall.
He proposes new campaign contribution limits of $1,000 for city candidates, term limits for the mayor, a new code of ethics for elected officials and a ban on companies and developers who do business with the city making campaign contributions.
Those proposals target some of the controversies of recent years, including Weir’s campaign donations. Just days before voting to spend $1 million to buy a golf course for a solar farm project in 2017, Weir received more than $10,000 from political action committees funded by the company that would go on to operate the project.
“We’ve been paying corruption taxes in Independence for too long,” Rowland said. “And we must change the rules for a level playing field.”
Osborne has touted his experience as a financial planner, saying he would use his expertise to end wasteful spending by city officials. He has promised to bring a new natural gas-fired electrical power plant to the city if he is elected, a costly endeavor but one he believes would bring more stability and revenue to the utility. A member of the Metropolitan Community College board of trustees, he pledged an end to scandals at city hall.
“Everybody wants change,” he said. “That’s why you have six candidates running for mayor.”
On Thursday, Love promised to raise the issue of the city manager’s employment. He, like several other candidates, blames Walker and others for ongoing problems in the police department, wasteful city spending and crime and homelessness.
“I’m not a polished politician,” said Love, who works at UPS and said he owns rental properties. “I’m a blue collar worker. I’m a resident just like y’all sitting out in the audience wondering where, where has our money been wasted? Why has it been wasted?”
In the primary for city council, five candidates will compete for four spots on the general election ballot. They include current council members Karen DeLuccie and Mike Huff along with Marcie Gragg, Jared Fears and Billie Ray Preston.
The four winners will then compete for two at-large openings in the April general election.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Visit the Jackson County Election Board for specific polling locations.
