As it approaches the rocky shoals of budget season, the Unified Government will have an experienced hand at the tiller, with assistant county administrator Alan Howze appointed to run the government on an interim basis. At its Thursday, Jul. 2 meeting, the Board of Commissioners appointed Howze, a 10-year veteran of the UG’s executive ranks, handing him the top staff job just as the UG braces for a budget process that will force hard choices on tens of millions of dollars in unmet capital needs and rising staff costs.

Commissioners approved the appointment unanimously, alongside a separation agreement for outgoing County Administrator David Johnston, whose resignation takes effect Jul. 6. Howze’s term begins the same day.

Johnston’s exit formalized

The board approved a memorandum of understanding with Johnston that does not involve any new financial payouts. Under the agreement, Johnston, who helmed the UG staff since March 2023, will continue to receive his existing salary and benefits for nine months, along with a payout for his accrued vacation. The agreement also included a mutual non-disparagement clause.

Johnston’s departure leaves two of the UG’s three top staff posts turning over at once, following the retirement of longtime assistant county administrator Bridgette Cobbins in June. Her interim replacement, former chief legal counsel Casey Meyer, was previously announced.

Howze pledges to work alongside staff

Howze, who joined the UG a decade ago as chief knowledge officer before becoming assistant county administrator, framed his new role around the people he will manage. He thanked the commission for its confidence and said he would “do my utmost to honor that trust.” His pledge to staff, he said, was “to continue to work alongside them, to support them, and to help them be the best that they can be.”

In an interview after the meeting, Watson said Howze was a natural choice, and the commission “feels confident that he will fill in quite nicely.”

Howze said his focus would be “aligning the priorities of the elected officials with the activities in the Unified Government,” from the community survey to what commissioners hear on the campaign trail, and “translating government into real action that they can see and touch in their neighborhoods.” He pointed to a community stretched thin. There is “a lot of deferred maintenance” across many areas, with residents who “struggle to pay their property taxes” even as high-quality services cost real money.

A budget season of hard choices

Howze’s appointment lands in the middle of a budget process that will try to find a course between rising costs, community needs, expiring grants, and resistance to higher taxes. Thursday’s meeting resumed the capital improvement program workshop begun Jun. 24, when department heads laid out six years of needs that far outstrip available money. Staff are due to bring a balanced budget to the board Aug. 6.

Budget Director Reginald Lindsey said seven departments, spanning parks and recreation, police, fire, facilities, technology, emergency management, and public works, brought forward more than $50 million in capital requests. Senior Budget Analyst Adrian Alemifar walked commissioners through the final slides of a presentation that tied those requests back to a March 2026 community survey, showing that residents rated police visibility in neighborhoods, street maintenance, and stormwater management among their highest priorities.

The budget director was blunt about the arithmetic. The more improvements the commission seeks to pay for, he said, the faster the reserve balance dwindles. “We’re not going to be able to fund everything, and there will be some departments that do not get some things funded,” he said. Howze described the choice ahead as “a great set of needs, and a limited set of resources.”

Watson put it plainly after the meeting. “Where are we going to find the money? We got to find the money,” she said. The harder question, she added, is “how can we be more strategic in finding revenue streams that can support the CIP needs?”

The June workshop had spelled out the strain, with budget models projecting the county general fund running about $8.1 million short in 2027 if frozen positions and prior capital levels are restored. Public works has estimated the cost of bringing streets to fair condition at $32 million to $36 million a year for a decade.

Animal services draws a plea

Kump and Bynum both used the workshop to press for animal services funding that falls outside the capital plan. “Animal services are also part of public safety,” Kump said, urging colleagues to ensure the division is adequately funded.

Bynum said the county’s arrangement with the K-State veterinary school, which replaced an earlier contract with a nonprofit, is “showing signs of not being sustainable.” What the shelter needs, she said, is a veterinarian and a vet tech on staff. Those are not capital costs, “but they are desperate needs for our animal services division.” Watson agreed. “I feel the same way about animal services,” she said, recalling strong sentiment at a community meeting about the lack of an in-house vet.

Safety push for fireworks and firearms

Watson proclaimed July as Secure Firearm Storage Awareness Month, recognizing Carla Oppenheimer of Grandparents for Gun Safety, which partners with the health department to hand out free gun locks. Oppenheimer, joined by founder Judy Sherry, said the group has distributed more than 10,000 locks across the metro in seven years and warned that “over seven million children live in a house in the United States with an unlocked and loaded firearm.”

The mayor also flagged holiday safety. The KCK Fire Department relaunched its Bucket Brigade on Jul. 1, offering residents a bucket to soak spent fireworks. The fire department will also host a blood drive with the Community Blood Center on Thursday, Jul. 9, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the City Hall lobby.

Grants and recognitions

Bynum provided a shot of good financial news at the start of the meeting. The UG has been selected for an EPA cleanup grant of $3.7 million, which she said ranks among the ten largest such awards in the country. A letter from the EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization called the UG’s application “outstanding,” and commended that hard work that went into it.

The Finance Department earned the Government Finance Officers Association’s Triple Crown award for its performance in fiscal year 2024, one of only 441 local governments nationwide to do so. The award recognizes excellence in budgeting, financial reporting, and transparency. Chief Financial Officer Shelley Kneuvean and her team were called to the front of the meeting for a round of applause.

Bynum also read a resident’s letter thanking Jeff Miles and the Environmental Services team for securing a safety hazard within a day of it being reported, and for taking time to shake the hand of the writer’s young son, an act the writer called a model of “professionalism, kindness, and a genuine commitment to serving our community.” Finally, UG employees presented a check for $740.85 to the Wyandotte County Parks Foundation, the proceeds of candygram sales during the spring Seven Days of Kindness celebration.

America 250

The new interim county administrator closed the brief commission meeting with an inspirational speech about the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary.

A native Virginian, Howze said what he had come to love about KCK was “learning all the ways that this community has a proud history of contributing to democracy,” and to the principles of freedom and equality. He traced that history from Quindaro and abolitionist John Brown, through the women’s suffrage movement, to the World War I contributions marked by Memorial Hall and the Rosedale Arch.

Howze then recalled the World War II-era production of B-25 bombers and Darby landing craft in Fairfax. He described a recent visit to Normandy, where he walked Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery and felt the connection back to KCK. He also thanked the park staff who helped restoring the county’s Korean and Vietnam War Memorial last year.

“We’ve been on this journey for 250 years to create a more perfect union,” he said.