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Attempt to call for new council president election fails in Roeland Park; mayor’s ability to break tie vote called into question

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Roeland Park Councilor Ryan Kellerman asked for a new vote for city council president.
Roeland Park Councilor Ryan Kellerman asked for a new vote for city council president.

An attempt to negate the a recent election of the Roeland Park City Council president did not succeed Monday.

The council had split 4-4 at its May 16 meeting on the vote for council president between Erin Thompson and Tim Janssen. Mayor Joel Marquardt cast a vote for Thompson to break the tie.

Presiding over her first city council workshop as president, Thompson faced a move to have her election declared invalid and a new vote taken at the next city council meeting. Councilor Ryan Kellerman suggested the new vote, contending that the mayor did not have the right to break the tie or participate in the council’s election of its president. “What’s at stake is really the validity of the election,” Kellerman said.

City Attorney Neil Shortlidge, however, told Kellerman that his interpretation of the city ordinance and state statutes was incorrect. Both state law and the city’s own rules give the mayor the right to break a tie “on all questions,” Shortlidge said.

Before the council discussion, which was placed on the agenda by Kellerman, Michael Rhoades and Becky Fast, Roeland Park resident Linda Mau spoke to the council, also contending that the mayor’s vote violated city ordinances.

In May, Kellerman, Rhoades and Sheri McNeil had voted for Janssen while Teresa Kelly, Fast and Michael Poppa had voted for Thompson.

“This is nothing against you,” Kellerman told Thompson, before asking for the new vote. He also asked for a state attorney general opinion on the issue.

McNeil, though, said the council should go by the city attorney’s opinion “to let the election stand.”

“We did it correctly,” McNeil said. “I don’t see that we have a big argument.”

Before Shortlidge gave his opinion, Fast had said she thought it was clear the president should be elected by the council. She later asked that the process be clarified before the next election. Rhoades was late to the meeting and did not participate in the discussion. Janssen said he would like to see the process “tightened up.”

Thompson asked that the councilors who created the action item for the discussion bring a plan forward that they would like to introduce.

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