Group of Black KC leaders petition to rescind city manager’s new contract, alleging racism

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Black community leaders critical of Kansas City Manager Brian Platt’s record on racial and civil rights matters are circulating a petition calling on the City Council to either rescind Platt’s recent pay raise and contract extension, or put it up to a citywide referendum this August.

By filing notice with the city clerk, Urban League of Greater Kansas City President Gwendolyn Grant and four other petitioners are attempting to put Platt’s 16% pay raise and contract extension on hold until after May 7 at the earliest.

That’s the deadline for the petitioners to submit the required number of verified signatures – equal to at least 10% of those who voted in the last mayoral election – which the petitioners believe would force the council to reconsider the ordinance it passed on March 28 authorizing Mayor Quinton Lucas to finalize an amended employment agreement with Platt.

If the council would then affirm Platt’s three-year contract extension, that would trigger a citywide vote on the next available election date, which would be the Aug. 6 primary.

But according to the city’s legal department, that normal process for overturning a new city ordinance would not apply in this case. They believe Platt’s contract cannot be challenged via referendum.

“It was an administrative ordinance…not a legislative ordinance,” Lucas’ chief of staff, Morgan Said, said. “Therefore it is not subject to referendum. That’s straight from the city’s lawyers.”

But the petitioners’ legal advisor, Clinton Adams Jr., disputes that interpretation of the city charter, which states in Section 710 that “any ordinance passed by the Council, except ordinances with an accelerated effective date or emergency measures, shall be subject to referendum of the electors.”

Adams said that the ordinance passed has neither of those exceptions.

“We followed the charter,” he said, and thus the regular process should move forward.

Because turnout was so low in last June’s city election, petitioners would need to collect only 4,137 valid signatures, according to the letter of certification signed by City Clerk Marilyn Sanders on Sunday, the same day that Platt’s contract was signed and executed.

About 180 names are on the 22-page notice of intent to circulate the referendum petition; 100 were all that were necessary for certification. The names were all collected April 4-6.

Among those who signed were three members of the Jackson County Legislature – DaRon McGee, Venessa Huskey and Donna Peyton – as well as the wife of county legislator Manny Abarca.

But at least one person who signed the petition said that he did so without knowing that its purpose was, as he put it, “a ploy to have the city manager removed by a public vote,” according to a letter to Platt that The Star obtained through an open records request

Council broke process

The council voted 11-1 in favor of the extension three weeks after news broke that Platt was a finalist for the city manager’s job in Austin, Texas.

At the time, the council was in the midst of Platt’s performance review, but it had not been completed, as his current contract doesn’t expire until the end of this year.

Councilwoman Melissa Robinson opposed the ordinance extending Platt’s contract before completing that process. She and some other Black leaders in Kansas City have been critical of Platt’s record on racial equity issues.

Grant raised similar concerns as well as Platt’s relations with union city workers, many of whom are Black, as reasons for the petition protest during a brief telephone interview on Wednesday.

“We believe that keeping Brian Platt in his position sustains deeply embedded systemic racist practices we’ve seen in terms of his leadership,” Grant said of the reason for initiating the petition.

“Mr. Platt has a record of discrimination and harassment. There’s a lot of discontent amongst the Local 500 workers at City Hall. So we’re gonna put this out here and see. We filed this petition, and once those signatures are certified, we will continue our effort and we’re acting in what we consider to be in the best interest of the community.”

Under Platt’s amended contract, Platt’s salary would increase from $265,000 a year currently to $308,000, and he’d be eligible for annual raises like other city employees. His salary has not increased since he was hired three years ago.

Concerns and alleged racism

Platt has been city manager since December 2020, having previously held a similar position as administrative head of city government in Jersey City, New Jersey.

His hiring was controversial, as he was the least experienced and only white finalist for the job. Of the five Black members on the city council at the time, Mayor Quinton Lucas was alone in voting for his hiring and has been a staunch supporter ever since.

After the vote to extend Platt’s contract, Lucas praised him effusively. Among Platt’s accomplishments, he said in a written statement, were better street repairs, new trash and recycling carts and improved snow removal.

“City Manager Platt, who has built the most diverse leadership team in the City’s history, has also provided pay raises for all 4,500 Kansas City government employees, ensuring we have a strong workforce to continue delivering these vital services well into the future. I thank Brian and his team for their hard work, and I look forward to continuing our progress,” Lucas said.

But leaders in the Black community have concerns about Platt’s treatment of non-white employees, including some in executive positions.

Last May, civil rights leaders gathered outside the council chamber and called on Platt to resign after Andrea Dorch, the city’s director of the civil rights and equal opportunity department, resigned for allegedly violating the residency requirement for city employees.

Dorch claimed she was forced out because she had insisted that construction contractors comply with minority hiring requirements on the Meta development project in the Northland. She and Platt differed on her aggressive approach and what those requirements should be, she said.

Dorch recently filed a discrimination suit against Platt and the city.

While declining at the time to respond to the specifics allegations in the lawsuit, Lucas defended the city’s record on the Meta project, as well as Platt’s commitment to equitable treatment of women and minority contractors.

“Kansas City government continues its work with Meta to ensure the more than $1 billion project meets all goals set by the City Council throughout all phases of construction,” he said. “We are proud of our City staff and all efforts to ensure equitable inclusion both inside of City Hall and in the workforce on all public projects.”

Grant said the Urban League and other civil rights organizations continue to have concerns about Platt and objected to his contract being extended without a proper review of his record.

She claims that Platt has not fully implemented a consultant’s recommendations at combatting discrimination within the Kansas City Fire Department that was documented by The Kansas City Star. The series was published the same month Platt became city manager.

At his first council meeting, Platt promised to correct those issues, but problems remain. As of last August, The Star reported that the fire department was still being investigated by the federal justice department.