Recapping the April 2 election in South Kansas City

By Tyler Schneider and Don Bradley

Stadium Question

In the highest profile vote of the day, Jackson County voters made their voices heard in denying a special election question which would have extended a 3/8th-cent sales tax for the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals stadium projects through 2044. 

In the end, just under 58%, or 30,791 voters, opposed the measure, while 42% (22,399) supported it. The plan would have funded a new downtown ballpark for the Royals as well as renovations at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs. 

After the results became official, Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas took to social media to offer his reaction. Lucas campaigned in support of the measure ahead of the April 2 election.

“The people of Kansas City and Jackson County love the Chiefs and the Royals. Today, they rejected plans and processes they found inadequate. Over the months ahead, I look forward to working with the Chiefs and Royals to build a stronger, more open, and collaborative process that will ensure the teams, their events and investments remain in Kansas City for generations to come,” Lucas wrote. 

Grandview Alderman Ward 2

Hickman Mills School Board co-president Irene Kendrick garnered 444 votes (56%) ahead of legacy incumbent Joe Runions’ 285 (36%) to earn her first term on the city’s Board of Aldermen. A third candidate, Bud Day, had dropped out of the race due to health issues, but did so too late to be removed from the ballot and subsequently took 64 votes in the final results.

Center School Board

Three district parents who were all prospective newcomers to the Center School Board entered this race with hopes of becoming more involved in their local district. When the final numbers were tallied, Mariah Roady took the top spot with 3,441 votes to runner-up Michael Sarver’s 2,007. Both earned a seat on the board ahead of third place finisher Da’Jion Lymore (1,373 votes). Another 105 voters opted for a write-in candidate.

Hickman Mills School Board

In a school district trying to regain full state accreditation, Hickman Mills voters on Tuesday kept one incumbent, ousted another and returned two former members to the board.

Current board co-president Ann Coleman and former member Bonnaye Mims won full 3-year terms while longtime community activist Alvin Brooks returns to the board to fill an unexpired one-year term.

Coleman, a retired educator, led the way with 36 percent of the vote with Mims, a former Missouri House member, coming in second with 30 percent.

Newcomer Ron Pearson finished third with 23 percent.

Cynthia Corn-Wattree, who earlier announced she was no longer seeking the office, got 11 percent of the vote. A fifth candidate, Clifford Ragan III, had been disqualified from running by the Kansas City Election Board.

For the one-year unexpired term, Brooks easily defeated three-term incumbent Carol Graves 63 percent to 37 percent.

Grandview Schools Ballot Question

There were 2,048 voters who approved a $50 million, no-tax increase bond for the Grandview School District, with just 790 voting against. 

The funds will be used to increase safety and security at district facilities, upgrade the district’s HVAC equipment and facilitate additional improvements including “renovations to the athletic facilities such as the baseball/softball field, weight room, athletic storage facility, parking lots, library and fine arts areas,” according to the ballot language. 

The district will also use the funding to complete renovations at its elementary and middle school facilities, including a plan “to correct foundation issues at the middle school.” Elsewhere, the district also plans to “construct, equip, and furnish a new warehouse and cold storage facility.”

Loch Lloyd Sales Tax

In Loch Lloyd, a pair of historic ballot measures sought to establish a 1% local sales tax on qualifying items sold within the village and a 1% local use tax applied to online purchases.

The former, which appeared on the ballot as Question 2, passed by 79.82%, or 443 votes to 112. 

The latter, Question 3, also passed with 72% in support, with 395 votes for and 153 against. 

Question 3 also established a policy through which the village would adjust the local use tax at the same rate as the local sales tax in the event that voters reduce or raise the latter through a future ballot measure.