Gerlach re-elected Overland Park mayor

Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach survived an energetic challenge by Charlotte O’Hara and was re-elected to a fourth term Tuesday.

In unofficial final results, Gerlach had 63 percent of the vote to 37 percent for O’Hara.

This was Gerlach’s first opponent since he first ran for mayor in 2005. He had run unopposed for a second and third term but O’Hara took him on this time. O’Hara previously served one appointed term in the Kansas House and had run unsuccessfully for Johnson County commission chair and several other offices. Her biggest criticism in the mayoral campaign was that Overland Park has been too generous with developer incentives while being less attentive to small businesses and regular residents.

Perhaps Gerlach’s biggest selling point was that the city routinely ranks on national lists of best cities in the country to raise a family.

Six other Johnson County cities also had contested mayor’s seats. In Gardner and De Soto, challengers unseated incumbents. Unless otherwise noted, these are four-year terms.

▪ De Soto, mayor: Rick Walker

▪ Edgerton, mayor: Donald Roberts (Incumbent)

▪ Fairway, mayor: Melanie Hepperly

▪ Gardner, mayor: Steve Shute

▪ Lake Quivira, mayor (two-year term): Ben C. Kalny

▪ Merriam, mayor: Ken Sissom (Incumbent)

▪ Mission, mayor: Ron Appletoft

▪ Mission Hills, mayor: David Dickey

▪ Mission Woods, mayor, (two-year term): Robert A. Tietze

▪ Roeland Park, mayor: Mike Kelly

▪ Spring Hill, mayor: Steven M. Ellis (Incumbent)

▪ Westwood Hills, mayor (two-year term): Paula Schwach (Incumbent)

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Gerlach re-elected Overland Park mayor."