4th District to choose Maloney or Townsend in Legislator primary

Grandview Ward 3 Alderman John Maloney and Hickman Mills School Board member Byron Townsend are Jackson County’s sole Democratic candidates for the 4th District Legislator race. The winner of the Aug. 4 Democratic primary race will face unopposed Republican candidate Lon McDonald, a district board member and Jackson County Councilman to the University of Missouri Extension, in the Nov. 3 general election.

John Maloney

Maloney is a public assistance administrator and Grandview native who has been serving on the Board of Alderman since 2011. He also ran unsuccessfully in the Missouri House of Representatives District 46 Democratic primary race in 2010 and for the 4th District Legislator seat unsuccessfully in 2018. 

Maloney got a business degree from College of the Ozarks in 2008 and went into the nonprofit sector. Since 2019, he has been Executive Director of the Grandview Assistance Program, helping to provide programs and emergency assistance to community members in need.

Maloney is running because of “huge” turnover in the Jackson County government: he notes seven of the county’s 10 elected officials are not seeking reelection in 2026. Maloney wants the seat so he can help replace the institutional knowledge that is leaving Jackson County, Maloney said. 

“They need people who at least know how to govern, and that’s one thing I know,” Maloney said. “You just need someone that knows how to actually make laws, how to govern and how to keep department heads accountable for their finances.” 

Maloney is running on fiscal responsibility and clarity in property assessments in the aftermath of the recent Jackson County property tax debacle. He is glad Jackson County plans remediation with the recently-passed Tax Credit Program, but he criticized its “unknowns.” For example, Maloney said the county has not indicated what a three-year tax credit amounts to in percentage or dollar amounts. This means neither taxpayers nor taxing jurisdictions like school districts and libraries have firm data to plan their finances accordingly, he said.

He also pointed out the program can’t provide tax credits to homeowners for homes that have since been sold. He wants to provide more clarity to taxpayers on what credits are coming, when they will come, and the form they will come in.

Maloney also wants to prioritize problem-solving infrastructure projects in the county. He mentioned Blue River Road: a long-closed and once-popular city road that runs adjacent to county land. Now a hotspot for blight and safety issues, Maloney proposes a county-led partnership with Kansas City to clean up the area and open Blue River Road back up as a regular route or pedestrian trail.

Byron Townsend

Running against Maloney on the Democratic primary ballot is retired postal worker and Hickman Mills School Board member Byron Townsend. Townsend said he developed an ear for the community’s problems as a letter carrier and says he can help solve some of them. He is also a former president and vice president of the school board, having run successfully in each of his school board bids since 2020. 

Townsend is running for the 4th District Legislator seat because the county government is no longer working for the people, he said. He said it’s a result of “sky-high” taxes and the community’s inability to communicate with the county government. He wants to fix that severed line of communication by encouraging citizen engagement with the county government.  

Most money collected for property taxes in Jackson County goes toward taxing jurisdictions like public school districts and libraries. That’s why Townsend also criticized Jackson County’s recently-passed Tax Credit Program for its potential effect on public education. He said the county needs an alternate solution that doesn’t hurt young people. He proposes property tax assistance grants funded by a three-eighths-cent sales tax instead of tax credits.

Infrastructure and urban development in the 4th District are also priorities for Townsend. Another potential use of a three-eighths-cent sales tax would be to fund tear-down incentives for developers. The county would use the money to pay for the demolition of a blighted property, providing a clean site for the developer. Townsend said this method could be used on an absentee-landlord property such as Robandee Shopping Center.

Townsend also believes the county currently operates on “gut feelings” when making development decisions. As Legislator, Townsend would instead create an Urban Development Committee to consult the county. “I think we ought to have a department giving us advice on what to look for, what actually is a good fit, and what could self-sustain in an urban area,” Townsend said of such a committee. 

Townsend proposed a joint solution to revitalize Blue River Road similar to Maloney’s, but specifically said the route should be reopened to regular traffic. This would open the entire area up to revitalization, he said. Townsend added that continued deferred maintenance of Blue River Road will only make the blight worse.