State, county elected officials talk issues affecting cities at Prairie Village forum

The panelists, from left to right, were: Johnson County Commissioner Becky Fast, Johnson County Comission Chair Ed Eilert, Rep. Stephanie Clayton and Rep. Jerry Stogsdill.

The city of Prairie Village last week held a legislative forum to discuss city issues and interests at the state level ahead of the 2020 legislative session, which begins this week.

Four panelists — Johnson County Commission Chair Ed Eilert, Johnson County District 1 Commissioner Becky Fast, Rep. Stephanie Clayton and Rep. Jerry Stogsdill — answered questions prepared by the city. Mayor Eric Mikkelson said the city’s interests are more pertinent than ever before, and the city council recently passed a 2020 legislative platform.

“The city of Prairie Village has historically done a legislative platform,” Mikkelson said. “We do have interests in Topeka, as do most cities, but particularly over the last few years, some of those have taken on new urgency.”

An audience member asks a question at Prairie Village’s 2020 legislative forum.

Panelists discussed a variety of topics, from top legislative issues at the county and state levels that could have a direct impact on Prairie Village to what the county and state legislature are doing to address the dark story theory. Additionally, audience members posed a range of questions from solar panel issues to gun reform at the end of the forum.

A livestream video, recorded by the Shawnee Mission Post, is available below. Issues discussed and their timestamps on the video are as follows:

At 6:35, the top legislative issues heading into 2020
At 16:37, actions taken to address dark store theory
At 28:24, environmental sustainability policies at the county and state level
At 39:18, the possibility of a non-discrimination ordinance at the county or state level
At 46:34, restoring ad valorum tax revenues to cities
At 49:52, thoughts on tax lid bill, putting property tax increases out to public vote