Johnson County Commission

As they seek the job of chairing the Johnson County Commission, a current commissioner for Johnson County's District 3 and the mayor of Roeland Park bring different agendas to the campaign trail.

The Johnson County Commission chairperson is the only member of the commission elected by the entire county. They will be responsible for setting the agenda for the next four years.

The Johnson County Commission governs the county budget, public health and dozens of county departments. More than half of the commissioners are up for election this year.

While the Johnson County Commission chair’s office is nonpartisan, Kelly and O’Hara are far apart ideologically on key issues.

As a Johnson County Commissioner in 2020, Mike Brown made a motion to accept election assistance from a nonprofit funded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Earlier this year, Brown used a Facebook post to falsely claim Secretary of State Scott Schwab accepted the grant money.

Johnson County commissioners rejected solar farm rules from the planning commission that had been criticized as some of the most restrictive in the country. The new regulations open the door to a large project planned for Johnson and part of Douglas County.

County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to break away from a 2014 agreement with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

An energy company is interested in building a huge array of solar panels in western Johnson County and eastern Douglas County. But regulations passed last year by the Johnson County Commission have been criticized as being so unfriendly that they would discourage solar development entirely.

Younger students in Johnson County will have to continue masking for at least another month. The board of commissioners, however, rejected a motion to extend that order to all students K-12.

This week, the Johnson County board of county commissioners is set to discuss whether to end a countywide public health order that requires masking in all schools serving up to and including 6th grade.

The Johnson County Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a set of regulations governing utility-scale solar farms. Supporters of a proposed solar farm project outside Gardner say the new regulations are too restrictive, while opponents of the project are angry any allowances have been given at all.

A letter sent to Johnson County commissioners and signed by 26 local elected officials urges the board to end the county's current public health order requiring universal masking in schools that serve students up to and including 6th grade.