Get to know your Ward 2 Grandview Aldermen candidates

By Tyler Schneider

The race for Ward 2 pits one of Grandview’s most experienced politicians, Joe Runions, against one of its rising stars, Hickman Mills Board of Directors Co-President Irene Kendrick. Runions has served as an alderman from 2005 to 2012 and again from 2020 through present. He also served as a state representative from 2013 to 2020. Kendrick is also active as a Grandview Parks and Recreation Commissioner and sits on the Grandview Historical Society. This race will be competitive, but would have been even more so had a third candidate stayed in the running. Bud Day, a previous candidate for this seat who lost to the incumbent Runions by just four votes in 2021, stayed, recently discovered a previously unforeseen health condition that led him to decide not to run again. His name is still on the ballot, however.

Irene Kendrick

The first time Irene Kendrick ran for a seat on Grandview’s Board of Aldermen, she was just one year removed from being elected to her first public office as a member of the Hickman Mills Board of Directors. The year was 2021, and she would go on to lose to Dan Hartman, an incumbent who took 51% of the vote to her 39% in a three-way race. 

Since then, Kendrick has continued to bolster her resume. She was reelected to the school board last year, earning 26.79% of the vote for the top spot. In an unprecedented move last September, she became a co-president of that board alongside Ann Coleman.

All the while, she’s kept an eye out for her opportunity to give it another go in Grandview.

In 2021, one of the issues Kendrick campaigned on was bringing in more affordable housing units, particularly for seniors. A proposal that filled that very need — a 62-unit mixed-income project known as Libertad — failed on a 3-2 vote later that year.

“It’s unfortunate that that didn’t pass, because I think it would have been a great project for something we really need here,” Kendrick said. 

The funding for Libertad has since expired, but Kendrick said she’d encourage and support similar projects in the future. 

In other areas, she shares some goals with her opponent, incumbent Joe Runions. 

They both want to oversee the long awaited Blue Ridge Boulevard expansion, which earned a $4.6 federal grant in 2022. The only remaining obstacle is a K.C. Southern Railroad overpass or trestle, which the city has yet to expand to fully accommodate that road work. 

“It’ll involve working with the railroad company. I think — and would hope — that it will be completed in less than five years,” she said. 

If elected, Kendrick said she wants to continue to bring in new businesses. She also advocates towards adopting a citywide waste management company.

Kendrick added that she’s generally supportive of the direction the city is heading under its current leadership. She just wants to be a part of it.

“There are lots of big things happening here right now,” she said. “Having seen the highs and lows of Grandview, I can say that this is the most we’ve done in a long time.”

Joe Runions

Joe Runions’ first stint as a member of Grandview’s Board of Aldermen began in 2005 and lasted through his election to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2012. After hitting his term limit in 2020, Runions took a few weeks off before he campaigned to regain his former seat in Grandview. 

At the time, Runions said he wanted to finish the work he’d started in his first run as an Alderman. He was especially concerned about the city’s roads, and also wanted to see the K.C. Southern Railroad trestle finally expanded to accommodate work on Blue Ridge Boulevard that’s already been partially funded through a $4.6 federal grant awarded in 2022.

Another term has passed, but the city still hasn’t reached a concrete agreement on funding for the trestle project between itself, the railroad and MODOT. Until that’s done, the work on Blue Ridge can’t be fully realized, Runions said. 

“I was planning on not running again, but those things didn’t get done,” Runions said. “We also have no plans to maintain all our roads in the future. We can’t wait on a bond issue or some grant to start addressing that.”

For these reasons, Runions said he decided to seek another term. And, while he’s still in the game, he cited some other issues he’d seek to address, including a staffing shortage in the ranks of the city’s police and fire departments. 

“I know the fire department is at least 10 short,” he said, adding that it’s more difficult to determine just how many more officers Grandview should have at the ready, though he knows it’s currently not enough.  

Another persistent issue is the shooting range that opened in 2019 on the site of a former softball field, near the city’s west end on Main Street and Arrington Road. The development continues to plague area residents with excessive noise, despite regular efforts to improve it. 

If he is elected for another term, Runions said these concerns could be addressed through an atmosphere of greater collaboration between the Alderman and the city administration.

“We need to have our Aldermen and Alderwomen more involved in what’s going on. Right now, we have no real input,” Runions said. “Sometimes, we’ll get the ordinances on a Friday night, and then we’re supposed to be able to vote on them the next Tuesday. Well, that gives you very little time for research. We have the knowledge, we just need to be in the discussion.”

Bud Day

Bud Day is on the ballot but has unofficially withdrawn due to health matters.