A familiar face has returned to the Kansas City Council to replace outgoing council member Andrea Bough.
The City Council voted to appoint former council member Kevin McManus to the vacant 6th District at-large position by a vote of 11-0 on Thursday after he was nominated by Mayor Quinton Lucas. Council member Melissa Robinson was absent.
Bough had served on the council for seven years when she abruptly departed on Aug. 26 to become the interim president and CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City, or EDCKC. Lucas appointed her to her new role.
The EDCKC oversees several tax incentive, entrepreneurship and homeowner assistance programs.
Now, McManus is returning to the City Council to finish Bough’s term, which will expire in a little less than a year. He has pledged not to run for reelection.
“Kevin McManus has spent his career serving Kansas City,” Lucas said in a statement, “and I’m confident he’s the right person to represent the voices of South Kansas City as we build a safer, more vibrant and more accessible community for families and neighborhoods in a vital part of our city.”
The man making a return to City Hall
Under the Kansas City charter, Lucas is responsible for nominating Bough’s replacement on the council.
He told KCUR’s Up to Date that he was not looking to put any “flamethrowers” on the council. He said he wanted someone with a history in government, who might live in far south Kansas City.
McManus fits that description.
He worked closely with both Bough and Lucas during his time on the council. Lucas and McManus were elected to their first terms on the City Council at the same time in 2015. Back then, Lucas represented the 3rd District at-large for one four-year term before he ran for mayor.
Once Lucas was elected mayor in 2019, he selected McManus to be his mayor pro tem, the second most powerful position on the council.
The two of them, along with outgoing City Manager Troy Schulte, led the hiring committee that ultimately selected Brian Platt as Schulte’s replacement.
Before his time on the City Council, McManus also represented south Kansas City in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected in 2010, 2012 and 2014 in the 36th District, mostly between 99th and 119th streets.
As he serves out the remaining 11 months of what would have been Bough’s term, McManus said his priorities are infrastructure, public safety and development. But above all, he wants to hold a steady ship for constituent services until the next council is sworn in on Aug. 1, 2027.
“I appreciate the confidence and the trust that colleagues, council and the mayor have given me,” McManus told The Beacon shortly after he was appointed. “Councilwoman Bough, I’ve worked with for a long time. I have a lot of respect for her and her work. But at the same time, all of this, coming in, I’m going to have to be an independent voice and do what I think is right.”
Shakeup at the development agency
Lucas announced the leadership shuffle in an Aug. 26 news release, but didn’t give much of a reason for the change.
In the release, Lucas wrote that Tracey Lewis, who had served as president and CEO of the EDCKC since 2022, would be departing his role and would be replaced immediately by Bough.
But he didn’t give much of a reason for Lewis’ departure.
“I thank him for his service and wish him well,” Lucas said in the release.
An email obtained by The Kansas City Star suggests that Lewis may have been ousted. In the email, The Star reports, Lucas told the City Council that the EDCKC’s board considered firing Lewis “for cause” but ultimately found an “amicable resolution” with a nondisparagement agreement and severance package.
Perhaps coincidentally, Lewis departed from the EDCKC as the agency finalized details for a proposed tax increment financing, or TIF, deal with the Royals for a new ballpark in Crown Center.
The Royals stadium had originally been on the agenda for a vote by the TIF Commission on Aug. 12. But it was delayed for two weeks until Aug. 26, and then again delayed until Sept. 9.
All through that time, rumors swirled about Lewis’ future at the EDCKC. Fox4 first reported on Aug. 10 that he might be removed, two days before the TIF commission was originally supposed to vote on the Royals stadium.
Some observers speculated that members of EDCKC leadership, which could include Lewis, were asking “too many questions” about the proposed $600 million subsidy for the stadium, which will be paid for with redirected taxes from a large portion of downtown.
For her part, Bough is a supporter of the Royals deal, having just voted to approve it on the City Council on Aug. 20. For the past three years, Bough has chaired the council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee, and she oversaw the tense committee hearing during which a stadium opponent was arrested.
Looming City Council elections in the spring
As city leadership reshuffles, the Kansas City Council primary election is mere months away, with the first round of voting taking place in April 2027.
During that election, most of the City Council will turn over, with at most five members sticking around for the next term.
Assuming that McManus keeps his promise not to run for reelection, the 6th District at-large will be an open race among three candidates with no incumbent.
The three candidates who have filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission so far are Wade Freeman, Chad Grittman and Tiffany Moore.
This story was first published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
