KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. Share your story idea with Charlie.
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For the first time, people in Kansas were able to voice their opinions directly to state lawmakers on how a new Kansas City Chiefs stadium and the land it would occupy will impact their sales tax dollars.
The last major hurdle to bring the stadium project to fruition is for the state to create a group to oversee it. Tuesday, taxpayers and stakeholders told lawmakers how they feel about a proposal to create a stadium authority board.
"This allows the project to move from agreement to action," said Korb Maxwell, an attorney for the Chiefs.
Most everyone agreed a board is needed. Tuesday's debate centered on who serves on it. The proposal appoints nine voting members, plus the mayors of Olathe and Kansas City, Kansas, in a non-voting capacity.
The Chiefs will build a headquarters and training facility in Olathe.
KCK Mayor Christal Watson pushed back on that arrangement.
"Representation is not valid if you have no vote," Watson testified.
Watson and Unified Government Administrator David Johnston both asked the state to give them voting power on the board, arguing it would safeguard tax dollars from Wyandotte County.
"If you're a member, you have the same rights as everybody else to voice your opinion, vote on important things that come before the board," Johnston said. “The types of events that come in will have a lot of traffic, will cause possible issues that need to addressed with the UG government directly. What better person to have there than the mayor of those communities?”
State Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, is sponsoring the bill. He seemed open to giving KCK voting authority — on a condition.
He would like KCK to change a law it passed last month so that Kansas can collect increased sales tax dollars from more of Wyandotte County to pay off the stadium, instead of from a district around the stadium.
"The resolution in Kansas City probably needs to change because when they passed it, they limited [the state's] district to the little teeny area that they drew for themselves," Tarwater said.
Rachael Willis, director of legislative affairs for the Department of Commerce, told lawmakers her agency supports giving mayors voting power on the board.
"We believe it's reasonable," she said.
Maxwell, the Chiefs' lawyer, did not oppose giving the mayors voting privileges.
Some residents took the opportunity Tuesday to share their displeasure with the current deal to bring the Chiefs to KCK.
"I don't mind the Chiefs coming here, I think it'd be fun. After the testimony I've heard, I'm getting kind of excited. This oughta be a lot of fun. But on the other hand, I don't want to pay for it," Joseph Taylor said.
Johnston left the Capitol Tuesday with optimism for KCK.
"Everything is up for negotiations," Johnston said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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