An effort to recall Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson appears to be over.
Residents leading the petition effort say they failed to get the required number of signatures by Monday’s deadline for a recall measure to be considered for the ballot.
The announcement was posted Monday evening to the website of Save Prairie Village, an organization that has hosted a number of events in recent months aimed at gathering signatures for the recall effort.
The recall petition alleged that Mikkelson misused taxpayer funds last summer in coordinating with a city-paid consultant to formulate a message pushing back against a slew of other previously unsuccessful recall attempts.
But the consultant that Mikkelson spoke with regarding media inquiries about those recall efforts says it never billed the city for any of the correspondence in question.
In a texted statement to the Post on Tuesday, Mikkelson said that “in the end, through defamatory lies, truth wins,” adding that good government and civility came out ahead of “sown chaotic division” and “extremism” with the failure of the recall effort.
“Most of all, Prairie Village wins,” Mikkelson said. “A wise super-majority of residents again delivered their resounding message.”
Neither the group Save Prairie Village nor an attorney representing the recall petitioners responded to the Post’s request for comment for this story.
How did we get here?
The recall attempt was the most recent manifestation of a heated debate in Prairie Village that began in the summer of 2022 over the city’s housing and zoning policies.
After months of intense debate over that issue, some residents began calling for Mikkelson’s removal.
Over the last year or so, residents have submitted at least 10 recall petitions against Mikkelson to the office of Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe, a necessary step before they could begin gathering signatures.
In the first nine recall petitions — all of which, Howe rejected — residents made several claims against Mikkelson, including that he had a conflict of interest with a local organization that deals with housing issues and also that he failed to appropriately discipline a now-former Prairie Village police officer for sexual misconduct.
Finally, in late May, Howe found the tenth petition against Mikkelson to have sufficient grounds for approval, clearing the way for petitioners to begin gathering signatures.
It was the first recall petition effort against a Johnson County elected official that had been approved by the district attorney’s office in 15 years.
The approval of that recall petition, filed by three Prairie Village residents, launched a 90-day window for petition supporters to gather roughly 4,000 signatures.
Petitioners brought in dozens of “sponsors,” or people allowed to circulate the petition and gather signatures. The sponsors included other Prairie Village residents as well as out-of-state canvassers who appeared to have been paid for their work.
Multiple times this summer, the activity of canvassers prompted calls to Prairie Village Police.
In response to questions from the Post, Save PV denied any involvement with the paid canvassers.
The petitioners had until Aug. 19 to submit 4,000 signatures
Last week, Johnson County Chief Legal Counsel Peggy Trent released a statement confirming that petitioners had 90 days from May 20 to gather slightly more than 4,000 signatures.
That signature figure was based on a state statute that says recall petitioners must gather signatures equaling at least 40% of the number of votes cast in the last election for the office being recalled. The county gave petitioners until Aug. 19 to submit the requisite number of signatures to the Johnson County Election Office for review.
Election Commissioner Fred Sherman confirmed to the Post via email that no paperwork or petition documents related to the Prairie Village recall effort were submitted to his office by 5 p.m. on Monday.
If signatures had been submitted to the election office, then it would have triggered a 30-day review period. After that, if the election office had deemed the petition and its signatures valid, a recall measure could have appeared on a future ballot.
It is unclear how many signatures were collected
Save PV announced on its website on Monday that it “was unable to meet the required threshold of signatures to take the next step in the petition process.”
The group did not specify how many signatures they ended up collecting, but says “thousands of Prairie Village citizens have participated in multiple petition drives and used the public comment portion of City Council meetings to state their opinions.”
The group also acknowledges the deep divisions that have grown in the city over the past two years.
“It is our hope that the city political leaders will prioritize policies that benefit all citizens of Prairie Village,” the group’s statement reads.
“Time to turn the page”
For months, Mikkelson has steadfastly refuted recall petitioners’ allegations that he misused taxpayer money.
Now that the recall petition is over, Mikkelson told the Post this week that it is “time to turn the page.” He said he will work with anyone who wants to join the city’s “honest, civic process” in “good faith.”
“In that way, our superlative community will continue becoming the best it has ever been,” he said.
This story was originally published in the Johnson County Post.