Wyandotte County will soon have a new mayor.
Now is your chance, as voters, to help decide who that should be.
A year ago, Tyrone Garner, the mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, announced that he would not be seeking reelection, joining David Alvey and Mark Holland as recent one-term mayors.
Six candidates initially emerged to replace him, and four were eliminated after the primary election in August.
That leaves two candidates who will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot: Rose Mulvany Henry and Christal Watson.
Before the primary election in August, The Beacon interviewed Mulvany Henry and Watson about their plans if elected to the mayor and CEO position.
Here’s an overview of three key issues that emerged in those interviews.
Rose Mulvany Henry
Rose Mulvany Henry spent 30 years as an attorney and executive in the telecommunications industry.
More recently, she has served on the Board of Public Utilities since 2019. During her time on the board, she said, she helped usher in a new leadership team that’s focusing on customer care and community engagement.
“I take great pride that we’ve been able to deliver some results at BPU that maybe we haven’t seen in a long time over there,” she said.
Cultural shift at the Unified Government
Now, Mulvany Henry wants to see similar changes at the Unified Government.
“We’re in a political environment where the rhetoric is strong, (almost always) unkind,” she said. “At the core of this community, we’re all Dottes. And I hope that at some point in time we can lower the temperature of some of this because folks are seeing results, and folks are seeing that better opportunities are being presented for them to succeed.”
She wants the Unified Government to adopt a customer service mindset when it comes to taxpayers and community members.
That means taking a closer look at cost effectiveness, speed and community engagement. Mulvany Henry wants to make sure that if taxpayers are paying for services, the services are fast and helpful, and she wants to make sure Unified Government staff members are open to feedback.
Another important piece of that puzzle is the culture among employees at the Unified Government. If employees are happy at their jobs and feel supported by a strong team, she believes they will be able to address problems more effectively and ultimately deliver better results for Wyandotte County residents.
“I’ve been in bad work environments before,” she said. “I know what it’s like. And telling someone that you actually appreciate what they do and you appreciate the difference they made in a day — that can go a long way in righting the ship, where the culture is concerned.”
Property tax relief
Property taxes continue to be an issue for many homeowners, and Mulvany Henry would like to diversify Wyandotte County’s revenue sources to make tax bills more affordable.
She brought up a recent proposal from Commissioner Andrew Davis that would collect taxes from tourists — possibly on hotels or rental cars.
That was in the context of the expected tourism for the upcoming World Cup, she said. But even in normal years, the Kansas Speedway is one of the most visited attractions in Kansas. And with the new Margaritaville Hotel and the planned Mattel Adventure Park, she believes tourism is something Wyandotte County can tap for the benefit of residents.
“I’m not trying to punish folks who want to come here to visit, because we want folks to come visit here,” she said. “But if we can think of ways like that to diversify our revenue, not on the backs of our own residents, boy, wouldn’t that be something?”
Economic development
For Mulvany Henry, the best development projects don’t ask for tax breaks or incentives.
“I’d welcome all development,” she said. “But what I would prioritize is development that is asking us for very little or no incentives at all. … If we’re going to move this community forward for generations to come, to get us stabilized from a budgetary perspective, we’re going to have to be pretty intentional about this.”
She wants development in all corners of Wyandotte County, and she’s eager to look at any vacant corner as an opportunity to bring in something new. She’s also willing to consider ways to streamline the development process.
Christal Watson
Christal Watson is the executive director of the Kansas City, Kansas, School Foundation for Excellence.
She worked under former Mayor David Alvey as the deputy chief of staff for neighborhood and small-business development, and she also served on the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education from 2011 until 2015.
She’s been in the nonprofit world for more than two decades. Before that, she spent 17 years working for Sprint.
“Sprint taught me to be very results-driven,” she said. “Being in the nonprofit (sector) has taught me … to really be in tune with your community, to have some empathy for what people are struggling with that you may not be struggling with — and vice versa, for that matter — and just to really be able to help.”
The cycle of poverty
Having worked for some time at United Way, Watson said she learned a lot about the gaps in Wyandotte County’s safety net.
“One of the biggest gaps,” she said, “is the cycle of poverty that we live under in Wyandotte County. … I mean, 85% of our student population are on the free and reduced lunch program. … Yet we still have some of the highest taxes in the metropolitan area.”
That’s not sustainable, she said.
With all of the growth in western Wyandotte County, Watson believes that neighborhoods east of Interstate 635 have been left behind.
As mayor, Watson wants to bring some focus to what residents are lacking and how to fill those gaps.
One option is to find development deals that give back to the community.
“We really have so much potential when it comes to economic development,” she said. “But we’ve got to make sure that when we’re making these deals for development that there’s some type of giveback that benefits the people, that helps make life easier for them to afford.”
She’s eager for any development opportunities east of Interstate 635, but she especially wants to activate Land Bank properties and vacant land that is, at best, not generating any tax revenue and, at worst, blighting neighborhoods.
Public safety
To address safety issues, Watson would continue to work with the police department and sheriff’s office, with expanded community policing initiatives.
Beyond that, Watson wants to expand youth violence prevention programs.
“We’ve got to start early,” she said, “teaching kids how to live in their own communities and how to respect their communities.”
For example, she pointed to Lowriding 2 Success, which rewards at-risk teenagers for good grades and behavior with bicycle parts. By the end of the program, the kids will have received the parts to build their own $2,000 bicycle.
“Prevention really is about awareness and getting information to someone in a manner that makes them think twice about the decisions that they make,” she said.
Welcoming immigrants
Another major component of public safety, Watson said, is making sure that immigrant communities feel safe amid raids and deportations.
The Unified Government passed an ordinance in 2022 declaring the county a sanctuary for immigrants, which was promptly undone by the Kansas Legislature later that year.
Expanded translation and interpretation services would help build trust with immigrant communities, she said.
Watson plans to host quarterly meetings with residents in a “study circle” format, to get to know their issues and figure out how to solve them. And she wants those meetings to be available for not only English and Spanish speakers, but also members of Wyandotte County’s growing Burmese and Hmong populations.
