Candidates running for Douglas County Commission seats largely agreed during a forum Saturday that housing inequality and increasing property taxes are pervasive but shared differing viewpoints on environmentalism and equity strides.

Hosted by the NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County, the forum was held at Watkins Museum of History. Ursula Minor, Lawrence Chapter NAACP president, moderated the discussion, and Wendo Kimori kept time.

The forum focused solely on the candidates who are facing challengers in the Tuesday, Aug. 6 primary election. 

Candidates present Saturday included Shannon Reid and Lisa Larsen, Democrats for District 2; Pam McDermott, Republican for District 3; Gene Dorsey and Mike Kelso, Democrats for District 4; and Erica Anderson, Democrat for District 5. 

Candidates John Landon, Republican for District 3, and Nicholas Matthews, Democrat for District 5, were not present.

Additional candidates running for Douglas County Commission, who are not facing challengers in the primary election, include Democrat and incumbent Karen Willey for District 3; Republican Timothy Bruce and Libertarian Steve Jacob for District 4; and Republican Rich Lorenzo and Libertarian Kirsten Kuhn for District 5.

You can check your voter info at myvoteinfo.voteks.org to make sure you know which commission district you’re in. A lot of districts have changed significantly since the 2020 election and even since 2022.

County climate action plan

Most candidates said they supported, with some exceptions, the county’s new climate action plan. County commissioners in May voted to approve the plan, which is intended to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Reid, the incumbent commissioner for District 2, said she feels the plan prioritizes the effects that flooding, extreme heat, drought and other environmental concerns have on marginalized communities.

“It was rooted in the fact that chronic stressors – like poverty, disability, language and education barriers, poor mental health and systemic oppression, like racism – does, in fact, put folks at higher risk for experiencing the negative or catastrophic effects of what this climate climate crisis looks like here,” Reid said. 

Larsen, currently a Lawrence city commissioner, said she felt similarly to Reid and praised county staff for their outreach work.

Dorsey said the plan “needs a little work, but I think overall, it’s in good shape.” He feels it’ll be important to factor in race and income when considering policies.

Kelso said the plan should represent guidelines as opposed to strict enforcements, and he supports it.

Anderson, who’s running for the newly added District 5, also said she supports the plan but thinks it would’ve been more inclusive to wait for a vote with all districts. Douglas County voters in November 2022 voted to expand the commission to five seats from three.

“I wish this resolution had been passed in January, when we would have two new districts at the table to pass this resolution,” Anderson said.

Candidate Pam McDermott, however, couldn’t say whether or not she supports the plan because she has lingering questions about costs, private property rights and other issues.

Race and equity

Minor asked candidates what, if any, changes they’d make to the county’s webpage on race and equity. 

The page currently gives four areas of focus and lists several statements the county feels are important to consider in race and equity work, and out of the four, Dorsey said he feels the most progress has been made to criminal justice programs and services – namely drug court and behavioral health. He suggested the other three should be worked on.

Kelso said he felt he couldn’t answer the question as a “60-year-old white man that grew up in Johnson County, had a fantastic education, and a very privileged life.” He said he embraces diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and it is paramount to listen to others’ experiences and have conversations that take you outside your comfort zone.

Anderson said information on workgroups’ progress, hyperlinks to specific objectives, goals, budgets, stakeholders and timelines should be included on the website. She said her background in public health gives her knowledge on disseminating and analyzing data.

Reid said the webpage is “explicit” in acknowledging race and equity as part of the work of governmental entities. She said she’s interested in expanding on that work by, for example, expanding land access for people of color who are local farmers or food producers.

Larsen said the language on the county’s webpage is similar to that of the city’s, in her experience as a Lawrence city commissioner. What she’d like to work on, specifically, is mitigating evictions in the county, which she said is an equity issue. She’d like to expand on the Housing Stabilization Collaborative’s work, partnering with tenants and landlords.

McDermott said the webpage should include information about abolitionist history in Lawrence.

“Yes, there have been injustices since 1865,” McDermott said. “And many began to be addressed during the Civil Rights Movement. But we have always been a welcoming city, always a place where freedom matters.”

Property taxes

To conclude the forum, candidates were invited to share other key issues not included in previous questions. Several candidates spoke about a need to lower property taxes.

Reid highlighted the lack of affordable housing options for all. She said although the commission has rolled back the mill levy before, property valuation drives increased property taxes, so she’d like to imagine other solutions. Just more than half of Lawrence residents rent their housing.

“And you heard my opponent (Larsen) mention earlier, 55% of Lawrence is renters,” Reid said. “Those folks aren’t paying property taxes, but they are benefiting from all of the services that are funded by the county commission in addition to all the other taxing authorities.”

Larsen challenged back.

“All due respect, renters do pay property taxes in Kansas,” Larsen said. “I just wanted to point that out.”

Larsen continued, saying all candidates — and current commissioners — should commit to making lowering property taxes a primary mission, as she has. However, the Lawrence City Commission has voted the past few years to approve budgets that increased property taxes for most city residents.

Anderson agreed property taxes are a problem. She said she’s learned by door-knocking in unincorporated areas, where she resides, that folks are refraining from doing home repairs due to fear of their property taxes increasing.

To address rising property taxes and the environment, Kelso suggested existing and new housing and developments should add or include solar paneled roofs.

“If we can do that, and we can incentivize it by coming up with a method where maybe for, say, the first 10 years, the homeowners, if they put solar on the roof, they’re not gonna pay for that extra value that the solar is gonna add to their house,” Kelso said.

Dorsey said he found the cost of implementing solar panels to his house’s roof to be expensive but he plans on going through with it because “I think everybody should do their part.” He also recommended increased transparency around elected officials’ salaries and that hiring in-house legal counsel would be beneficial.

McDermott said she’s one of the founders of Morning Star Church in Lawrence, where she’s currently the full-time community life director. She said she raised her children in Lawrence and that her grandchildren live here, and she wants to ensure the city is affordable and welcoming to young people. That in part means halting tax increases, she said.

The deadline to register to vote in the Aug. 6 primary is Tuesday, July 16. Early voting begins Wednesday, July 17. 

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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