Kevin King hopes Independence will ‘look at a different direction’ for mayor
As the city of Independence prepares to face a year of rapid industrial development and several significant leadership turnovers, lifelong resident Kevin King hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the city’s top office.
King will face current City Councilmember Bridget McCandless in the city’s upcoming municipal election on April 7. Two City Council seats are also up for grabs.
King said that he first considered a run for Independence mayor more than a decade ago. Deep family ties to the city, along with a mounting frustration with the relationship between city leaders and residents, inspired him to launch his campaign this year.
“I’m born and raised here,” King said. “My wife’s from here. My kids are from here. I’ve coached here for years. I’m a scout leader, I’m a father, I’m a grandfather. I just love this city, and it’s been disappointing to watch how this city has just changed.”
King, a union roofer by trade, was the business manager for Roofers Union Local 20 in Independence for 14 years. He’s also worked as a political organizer, he said, and has coached multiple youth sports teams around Independence.
Now, he’s hoping to step into civic leadership and open up City Hall to what he describes as more consistent engagement, advocacy and feedback from his neighbors.
“I’m going to work hard,” King told The Star. “I’m going to listen to you, and I’m going to work with you, and we’re going to move this city forward.”
‘Common-sense’ leadership
King describes himself as a “common-sense” candidate with a direct communication style. Keeping close contact with constituents is at the center of his plans.
“I’m seeing a disengagement between the citizens and residents here with what’s been happening with City Council, and, quite frankly, a lack of trust in their decisions,” King said. “That’s been going on for a little while, and I think it’s time that we look at a different direction.”
King pointed to the upcoming FIFA World Cup as an instance where he feels poor city communication has inhibited tourism planning efforts. The World Cup is a good chance to showcase the city, he said, but could lead to chaos if Independence’s small emergency preparedness team becomes overwhelmed.
“I don’t think the city is prepared for what’s going to happen here,” King said. “They’ve had quite a while to do that, and I don’t think that they’ve spent the time that they need to get ready for anything that could happen here.”
Attracting and keeping residents, businesses
King’s ideal vision for the future of Independence includes accommodating an aging population through increased social services, as well as establishing stronger transportation options to connect Independence residents with the Kansas City region.
As the city’s average resident continues to age into retirement and beyond, he said, Independence must focus on revitalizing downtown and residential neighborhoods in order to attract young families to move in.
“The city is shrinking,” King said.
King believes that keeping young people in Independence will rely heavily on neighborhood cleanup efforts. He hopes to use an Independence School District program as the model for a citywide volunteer effort to help older residents maintain and revitalize their homes, and to demand stronger accountability from owners of dilapidated properties – potentially by using tax abatements to incentivize renovations.
Meanwhile, King said, Independence is already at risk of losing its small businesses to nearby Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs. He hopes to pass ordinances to streamline the licensing process for small businesses, including food trucks, to keep them in the city.
“We need to get these building owners to come together and say, ‘Yes, I want to help grow this city,’” King said.
Like his opponent Bridget McCandless, King emphasizes that Independence’s rich history is a major source of civic pride for residents, and thus historical preservation efforts are a focus of his campaign.
“I know there’s been some talk about a historical tax,” King said. “ I think it’s extremely important to look at that and see what we can and can’t do, but we do have to preserve the history here.”
Focus on labor groups
King ran a labor-focused campaign and was endorsed by several unions across Independence, including the Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades Council, Insulators Local 27, IBEW Local 124 and Plumbers Local 8.
He hopes to advocate for several ordinances, partnerships and programs that will create better protections for Independence construction workers while prioritizing local labor on city projects.
He was involved in developing Independence’s responsible bidding ordinance several years ago, he said. If elected mayor, he plans to enact labor harmony agreements – contracts between laborers and managers that guard against strikes but also prevent employer retaliation during union actions.
King is associated with the Missouri Works Initiative, an organization administering multiweek workforce training programs for skilled trades and manufacturing.
Funding law enforcement
King also hopes to take a law-and-order approach to minimizing crime in residential areas of Independence, which would involve prioritizing more funding and technology upgrades for Independence’s police and fire departments. King referred to staffing shortages in both departments, as well as among the city’s 911 dispatchers, as a major issue plaguing the city right now.
King recently participated in a ride-along with an IPD officer, he said, and was inspired by the department’s “camaraderie and how they work together.”
“The respect that (the officer) showed to the people here… some of them were not the nicest people to deal with, but they kept their composure,” King said.
The Independence Police Department is currently weighing restrictions that would limit police car chases to only pursuing people suspected of committing violent felonies. King said he supports the new chase policy, and that officers and their supervisors need both additional training and new tools to reduce crashes related to pursuits.
“We don’t have the StarChase GPS,” King said. “ We don’t have the grappler system. Those are things that are important.”
Data center futures
If elected mayor, King will not only inherit a city government stocked with several newcomers in high-profile roles, but also a large-scale — and seemingly broadly unpopular — development project in the form of an incoming artificial intelligence data center.
Nebius, a Dutch company specializing in AI services, will break ground this year on its flagship U.S. location, a $150 billion data center twice the size of Arrowhead Stadium. The City of Independence has described it as the largest private development project in city history and recently passed a series of tax breaks worth more than $6 billion.
While the company will benefit from 90-98% discounts on taxes, the city’s schools, libraries and other taxing jurisdictions will receive about $650 million in PILOT fees (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) over the next 20 years.
King came out in support of the data center shortly after the tax breaks passed. However, he criticized the City Council for what he described as lacking communication about the project’s progress with residents and said that he would have advocated for weaker tax breaks if he had been party to the vote.
If elected, King has committed to holding Nebius accountable to respecting city ordinances around noise, light pollution and environmental concerns. He also said he will advocate against potential tax hikes associated with the redevelopment of the Blue Valley Power Plant, which will open at nine times its former capacity to fuel the data center.
“I’m not happy with the tax abatements,” King said. “I think there’s some things that we could have put in there to benefit our city and our residents.
… I’ve got to look at this as, what can I do coming in as mayor to help these people? And the biggest thing is communication with them and letting them know exactly what’s going on.”
