Mario Vasquez is Kansas City’s new city manager. He was appointed to the role Thursday following a 11-2 vote by the city council.
The vote came a little more than two months after former City Manager Brian Platt was suspended and later fired when the city lost a whistleblower lawsuit that cost it nearly $1 million.
The role of city manager is one of the most powerful jobs in Kansas City. Vasquez will need to focus on repairing the city’s image and making it more transparent after Platt was fired.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said he and the city council admired his tenure with the city and his focus on economic development and employee morale inside City Hall. Lucas said he wants Vasquez to prioritize the budget and rightsize spending to make sure the city can stay afloat amid incoming economic challenges.
“There are everyday issues Kansas Citians have to deal with,” Lucas said. “We have issues that relate to infrastructure, building more housing, making sure that we're doing more work long term in Kansas City. I always think the basic services are step one. I think that's going to be a big focus of Mr. Vasquez, and that's what I expect him to do over the years ahead.”
According to a trial for the whistleblower lawsuit, the city consolidated its communications with reporters and the public under Platt’s leadership, prioritizing the city’s image over basic information. Vasquez will now oversee an audit of the city’s communications office and make any recommendations necessary to make sure the office will “reflect the City’s core values of transparency and accessibility.”
Vasquez will also need to quickly take charge of the city’s negotiations with the Royals over a downtown stadium, continue World Cup preparations, prioritize equitable development and infrastructure projects around the city and help guide the city’s public safety policies and its dealings with the state-controlled Kansas City Police Department.
The vote is a stark contrast to Platt’s appointment, which divided the city council along racial lines. In 2020, every Black city council member besides Lucas voted against hiring Platt, who was the only white candidate for the job.
In Thursday's vote, 5th District council members Ryana Parks-Shaw and Darrell Curls voted against Vasquez's appointment.
Vasquez will make $265,000 each year in the role, which is what Platt earned when he first started. At the time he left the city, Platt made $308,000 for the position.
Vasquez is the first Latino person to hold the role of city manager. Before being hired, he was the assistant city manager and director of city planning and development. He’s worked for the city since 1997.
After the city council voted on his appointment, Vasquez said he’s humbled to be chosen for the job.
“I would say I'm ready to roll my sleeves, but my sleeves are already rolled up, so I'm ready to go forward,” Vasquez said. “I've established a lot of relationships over time. I know how to get what things need to get moving and not move. It gives me a broader perspective on the depth of work that we need to do and so I'm prepared to do that.”
While in that role, the city’s planning and development department expanded its project services, reduced plan review timelines, increased staff in the permitting division and reduced inspection delays in an effort to meet the demand for more investment in the city.
At his public interview, Vasquez said he wants to prioritize economic development in all parts of the city and make the city’s development agencies more competitive to attract big projects.
But that doesn’t mean the city will ignore smaller projects. Vasquez said he wants to reinvest in parts of the city that have historically been neglected by prioritizing home improvements and street resurfacing, and eliminating illegal dumping.
Vasquez said the city is “somewhat unprepared” for the World Cup. He would prioritize getting the city ready to receive, transport and host visitors. Once confirmed as city manager, he said that getting the city ready for the games is his biggest fear.
He also wants to begin a campaign to renew the city’s 1% earnings tax next year. Voters have renewed the tax since 1963. But with economic uncertainty on the horizon, Vasquez believes the city will have to run a major campaign to renew the tax, which provides about half of the city’s discretionary spending.
In a statement, 1st District council member Nathan Willett said he was proud to vote for Vasquez.
“With over 28 years of service to the City, Mr. Vasquez brings deep institutional knowledge, steady leadership, and a clear commitment to public service,” Willett said. “Born in Bolivia and raised in Wisconsin, he began his career in Kansas City as an entry-level planner in 1997 and has since led some of the City’s most complex and high-impact initiatives. Mario’s path to city manager is the definition of the American Dream.”
Vasquez also said he will approach the job like “a coach. You need to guide, you need to encourage, motivate and provide corrective action.” He moved from Bolivia to the United States in the 1980s and said he’s made Kansas City “my life and my family.” He wants to make sure he is remembered as a city manager that paid attention to the whole city, not just a few areas.
“I've always viewed the city as a whole: north, south, east, west, and there's so much going on in the downtown area,” Vasquez said. “I want to be able to make sure that my influence, my work is spread out throughout the community. I want to make a difference in every corner of the community.”
