2025 Manhattan City Commission Candidates – Indivisible Manhattan Kansas

Manhattan City Commission

Indivisible MHK sent a questionnaire to all Manhattan City Commission candidates asking for their perspective on housing costs, social services and community health, economic development, intergovernmental cooperation, and advisory boards and diversity.

Click the candidate name to see their response to the IMHK candidate questionnaire.

Larry D Fox

Scott Seel

Amber Starling

Martha Sweeney

The following candidates have yet to respond.

Larry D Fox – Candidate for Manhattan City Commission

Housing Costs in Manhattan

As you see it, what role should city government play in making housing available and/or affordable to families, seniors, students, and soldiers in the Manhattan community?
It is not the responsibility of government to make housing available and affordable for people. Those factors are controlled by the free market. Government policies can certainly have an impact on the availability of housing, but it’s not the responsibility of government/property taxpayers to make sure that everyone has affordable housing.

What are your thoughts on neighborhood preservation?
Neighborhoods should certainly be preserved if it’s in the best interest of the residents in those neighborhoods to preserve them and they support preservation.

How would you ensure that Manhattan neighborhoods are safe, stable and well maintained?
Support the RCPD, the Manhattan Fire Department and the city’s code enforcement and public works departments.

What are your thoughts on the infrastructure needs in Manhattan?
We need to concentrate our efforts on repairing and upgrading the streets and water and sewer lines, as well as continuing our efforts to reduce flooding in the community through the installation of upgraded storm sewer lines and pumping stations.

How could our roads be improved?
By continuing the special sales tax initiatives that supply funding for street repairs and replacement. The gas tax also needs to be increased to provide additional funding for road repairs and enhancements, but that is a state decision, not a local decision.

Social Services and Community Health

As the federal government intends to increasingly shun emergency relief, public health, and other commitments to states and localities, how should Manhattan respond?
We need to work with our state leaders and local social service agencies and community foundation(s) to take up the slack from the loss of federal dollars.

What kinds of strategic planning should we initiate to address the loss of revenue streams?
We need to work with our social services agencies, local churches and our community foundation(s) to raise additional philanthropic dollars to support these needs. It is not the responsibility of property taxpayers to meet these needs.

Without searching the internet for an answer, to your knowledge, what percentage of Manhattan’s population lives below the poverty line?
Probably 30-40% or more.

What do you see as the role of local government in providing social services to local people?
Local government should facilitate partnerships between our social service agencies, the community’s churches and community foundations, but as I previously stated, it is not the responsibility of property taxpayers to meet these needs.

What do you know about childcare needs in our community?
I know we always need more childcare facilities. However, providing childcare is always a balance between providing low-cost quality care for parents that can’t afford a lot for childcare with providing adequate compensation to those individuals that provide the care and covering the other necessary expenses of the care.

What about health care needs? What are your thoughts about medical services, mental health services and dental services available in Manhattan?
Manhattan is blessed to have a variety of these services. We offer more of these types of services than many smaller communities in the state, but on the flip side, probably even more of these services are offered in larger communities.

What do you see as the role of local government in protection and the health and safety of the public?
It is certainly the local government’s responsibility to look out for the health and safety of its citizens. That is one of the reasons for government to begin with. How we do that is multi-faceted. We support the RCPD, the Manhattan Fire Department, the Riley County Health Department and the city code enforcement and public works departments. A majority of taxpayer dollars goes towards that effort.

Economic Development

What role should city government play in economic development?
The city should help facilitate economic development through the proper use of special sales tax initiatives approved for the purpose of economic development and through reasonable, not overbearing development regulations. Like social service agencies, economic development funding should not be forced upon local property taxpayers. Over 30% of our assessed valuation is made up of commercial properties, and commercial properties pay twice as much in real estate taxes as residential properties for similarly valued properties, so the higher the mill levy goes, the more taxes businesses are required to pay and the less incentive they have to do business within our city limits.

What would you describe as good economic development? Bad economic development? Can you give examples?
Good economic development is when you attract or help grow businesses that stay around and provide employment, goods and services to the community after the tax incentives run out. Bad economic development is when you attract or help grow businesses that leave town when the incentives run out. The development of Manko Windows was good economic development. The development of the call centers that were formerly in Manhattan was bad economic development.

How would you create a “favorable business climate” in Manhattan?
Reduce the regulatory burden that businesses face in trying to construct facilities in Manhattan and reduce the property taxes that all property owners are forced to pay in our community.

What are your thoughts on wage standards applying to corporations that benefit from subsidies, including tax abatements and/or start-up funds?
If businesses receive tax subsidies of any kind to enhance them to do business in Manhattan, then they should be required to pay a fair wage to their employees.

As city commissioner, how would you work to prepare the City of Manhattan for the potential impacts of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” – much of which will begin to take effect in the second year of your term?
That is a good question that I cannot provide any detailed answers to. I understand the overall theme of the bill is reduced federal spending and we have many federally supported agencies in the city, so we will most certainly feel the effects of reduced federal spending. With that in mind, what we have to be prepared to do is reduce local government spending. We need to be resistant to adding more debt burden to our ledgers and we need to be prepared to downsize city staff if higher levels of staff are no longer sustainable. We must also be resistant to increasing the real estate tax burden on property owners in the city.

Intergovernmental Cooperation

Under what circumstances and on what types of issues should the city and the school district cooperate? For example, there has been much discussion about an indoor aquatic center. Please give examples.
They need to cooperate on all of the recreational facilities in town, including the proposed aquatics center, the ball fields and the recreation centers. Those facilities are ultimately paid for by the citizens of Manhattan and the surrounding area. I have no specific details to suggest at this time.

What are the key areas of cooperation between Manhattan government and county governments?
We need cooperation between the city and county governments on the same issues as those for the school district. All three entities are trying to serve the needs of the citizens and businesses in the area and they all need to work together to accomplish that mission. Many of the services provided by each agency overlap (ie. recreation, health and safety, and housing), so they need to get along and work together.

Advisory Boards and Diversity

As you may be mayor one day, describe how you would ensure that advisory boards reflect the entire Manhattan community?
The boards need to be made up of citizens from all areas of the city, and of citizens that are truly interested in the matters addressed by the various advisory boards.

How would you avoid discrimination and conflict of interest?
The background of those individuals seeking to be on advisory boards would need to be thoroughly vetted to ensure that no one is appointed to an advisory board that has ulterior motives for being on the board.

Which Advisory Board are you looking forward to working with and why?
I don’t have any in particular. I look forward to working with them all.

What have you taken away from attending the City Commission meetings?
A lot of frustration, some hope, a sense of a need for more voices on the commission for the property taxpayers of the city and the need for more questions to be asked by city staff and commissioners on projects that are brought before the commission requesting taxpayer support.

Scott Seel – Candidate for Manhattan City Commission

Housing Costs in Manhattan

As you see it, what role should city government play in making housing available and/or affordable to families, seniors, students, and soldiers in the Manhattan community?
It is my opinion that City Commission plays a vital role in increasing the availability of workforce housing in our community. I was appointed by the Mayor to serve on the Workforce Housing Study, the Workforce Housing Sales Tax as well as the Downtown Tomorrow Plan. Additionally, I serve on the board of Habitat for Humanity of the Northern Flint Hills, the Manhattan Area Resettlement Team (where I am in charge of housing) and as Board Chair and co-founder of HousingMHK, a non-proﬁt which owns and develops low-income housing and senior housing in the community. Additionally, I’ve been a Realtor in Manhattan for 12 years.

I believe the City can help address this dire need in our community by strategically leveraging state and federal funding and other funding sources to provide incentives for projects which would not be otherwise viable.

If elected, I will also continue to advocate for the use of things such as community land trusts and shared equity cooperatives.

Lastly, I believe we need to continue to encourage city staﬀ to adopt a “yes, if…” mentality rather than a “no, because…” mentality. We should be asking “should” something happen, rather than “can” something happen. Let’s determine whether something is a good idea ﬁrst, THEN ﬁgure out how.

What are your thoughts on neighborhood preservation?
I am a history and architecture nerd. Pat O’Brien’s book on the architecture of Manhattan is one of my prized possessions. I have owned multiple properties designed by famed Manhattan architect Henry Winter and am a big believer in historic preservation and rehabilitation. In my role as board chair of HousingMHK, I worked diligently to ensure that the Sunﬂower Flats low income senior housing building be designed and built to honor the architectural and aesthetic features of the Wareham Hotel. Additionally, as a founding board member of MART, I was elated to be able to help the organization acquire the historic Runyan House at 4th & Osage as its headquarters.

That being said, I also believe in responsible inﬁll development. In many cases, it’s just not possible to have no change ever. What I believe in is the concept promoted by Strong Towns – allow gradual change everywhere to prevent radical change anywhere. I also think both inﬁll and rehab projects in neighborhoods should focus on revitalization without gentriﬁcation.

How would you ensure that Manhattan neighborhoods are safe, stable and well maintained?
In general, I believe we do a pretty good job of keeping all of our neighborhoods safe. That doesn’t mean there aren’t areas of concern or places that could be safer, but I grew up in Topeka and there are no neighborhoods in Manhattan where no one wants to be caught after dark. So, I think on that particular issue I would say continue doing what we’re doing and always look for ways to improve.

As far as maintenance and stability, this again is where I think the city should do what it can to foster an environment where home owners, developers and non-proﬁts can work together and in concert with each other to responsibly revitalize neighborhoods while still respecting historic aspects of our community as well as our “charm” as a college town. Those things need not be mutually exclusive.

What are your thoughts on the infrastructure needs in Manhattan?
It’s no secret that after the last few winters of major snow storms our roads are in dire condition. We also know that climate change means this could very well be the new normal. We need to prioritize road maintenance and also address the dismal conditions of our sidewalks and alleyways in the older parts of the community.

How could our roads be improved?
First and foremost we need to ﬁx the issues that are already there.

But I don’t want to *just* ﬁx them. I want to not have this problem again in the future. I don’t pretend to have the silver bullet answer to this question, but I know we need a new approach. I will work with City staﬀ to ﬁnd creative solutions and outside the box thinking.

There are other things we can do, too, though. We can continue to invest in public transportation and improve and expand ATA Bus. We can focus on improving and revitalizing housing and commercial buildings within our existing footprint rather than adding more roads and more lane miles to service sprawl on the fringes of the city which cost more money to maintain the infrastructure than they generate in taxes.

It’s a big problem, and it’s going to require lots of diﬀerent solutions rather than just one solution. But we have to start with just ﬁxing what we’ve got.

Social Services and Community Health

As the federal government intends to increasingly shun emergency relief, public health, and other commitments to states and localities, how should Manhattan respond?
In my capacity as a board member for MART and Sunﬂower Children’s Collective (CASA), I have seen ﬁrst-hand how the political and funding environment at the federal level has adversely aﬀected social services in our community. I think the City needs to, at the very least, maintain its use of the Social Services Fund to help our non-proﬁts keep providing the critical services to the most vulnerable members of our community. Additionally, as someone who served on Special Alcohol when it was a separate board, I believe the City Commission should honor the service and deliberation of the appointed board members and not micromanage fund allocations except in extreme circumstances.

What kinds of strategic planning should we initiate to address the loss of revenue streams?
Part of the budget problem we’re in is we used COVID relief money as bandaid to help pay for ongoing expenses without a plan to replace those dollars when they ran out.

Well, they’ve run out. So now we are all faced with the choice of cutting vital services or exploring ways to increase revenue. Unfortunately, one of those ways is to increase property taxes, which are already a burden on many families. Nobody takes the idea of raising taxes lightly, and I will do everything in my power to avoid it whenever possible.

The best way though the City can replace these funding streams without cutting services or raising taxes is to increase the property tax base through economic development and by making it easier to add more housing stock.

Without searching the internet for an answer, to your knowledge, what percentage of Manhattan’s population lives below the poverty line?
Approximately 30%, one of the highest in the state of Kansas and one of the longest counties to continuously be so high. It is often dismissed because those numbers tend to include students, which is true, but it is still a very signiﬁcant problem.

Also, I’m a past board member of Konza United Way, where we worked with ALICE (“Asset-limited, Income-Constrained, Employed”) surveys. The data indicates 48% of families in our community qualify for ALICE.

Our community is also seeing a growing number of unhoused people and people experiencing house instability. To start with, I am a strong advocate Housing First. But I also want to continue to support the wonderful work being done in the non-proﬁt world by Be Able, Manhattan Emergency Shelter, the Crisis Center and Center for Hope Ministries to be able to ﬁnd ways for our neighbors in these situations to ﬁnd places to safely exist. This is not a problem we can arrest our way out of, and there isn’t room for them in the Riley County Jail anyway.

What do you see as the role of local government in providing social services to local people?
As mentioned above, I think the City needs to, at the very least, maintain the current level of commitment to social services and in most cases honor the decisions of the CSFAB and not meddle in how they choose to allocate those funds.

I also think City Commissioners have a role as thought leaders in the Community advocating for social services and protecting the vulnerable members of our community. The Greater Manhattan Community Foundation does a lot of good things, but I think City Commissioners could use their position as an advocate for more support to the daily operations of the non-proﬁts who are in the trenches doing the work.

What do you know about childcare needs in our community?
Child care is a very important issue to me. Katie is a former preschool teacher and currently the Executive Director of Wonder Workshop Children’s Museum. The Childcare Accelerator is a wonderful facility oﬀering much-needed support and education to workers in the ﬁeld, but there are still needs. The City should do everything it can to help facilitate the success of this program.

What about health care needs? What are your thoughts about medical services, mental health services and dental services available in Manhattan?
All are lacking. There are many non-proﬁts in the community doing excellent work and they need to be lifted up and supported in any way possible. Konza Community Health has been a tremendous resource for our clients at MART providing basic medical, dental and behavioral health services.

What do you see as the role of local government in protection and the health and safety of the public?
Same as the above, continue using part of the City budget to help fund social services, let the boards do their work without political interference and work as a leader and an advocate for community programs that create positive change.

Economic Development

What role should city government play in economic development?
I support the current arrangement where the economic development tax dollars are allocated to the Chamber of Commerce to be administered. This is not a blank check and absolutely should be subjected to continued oversight by city staﬀ and ultimately the Commission and performance metrics need to continue to be met and re-evaluated on a regular basis to make sure the community is getting results.

What would you describe as good economic development? Bad economic development? Can you give examples?
I’ve been around long enough to remember when the community was rug-pulled by Alorica and wasted valuable economic development funds. We need to make sure we’re not just giving out incentives to say we had wins but that we’re actually bringing in people and organizations who will beneﬁt the community. We need diverse types of businesses and organizations who pay wages that allow their employees to stay in Manhattan.

How would you create a “favorable business climate” in Manhattan?
It seems counter-intuitive to some, but in my opinion the best way to create a “favorable business climate” in Manhattan is to cultivate a community where people want to live. You can give a business all the incentives in the world, but if it’s not a community where their employees want to live and work, they’re not coming. This means things like adequate and safe housing, great schools and a high quality of life. Focus on those things, and the businesses will continue to come.

I also believe we need to continue to focus not just on what I call “big game hunting” (eg Scorpius) but also on fostering local innovation and growth. For much of the past 20 years, three of the major drivers of private sector job growth in Manhattan were companies started here (Manko, GTM, CivicPlus). We should as a community focus not just on recruiting people to bring their business here, but also providing resources for people to start a business and for people who want to grow from 5 employees to 20 employees, 20 employees to 50 employees and so on.

What are your thoughts on wage standards applying to corporations that benefit from subsidies, including tax abatements and/or start-up funds?
I believe in a carrot rather than a stick on this issue. In a perfect world, no business would come here that pays less than a living wage. However, in most instances businesses won’t even look at a community that has it as a hard and fast requirement. I think we will get better overall results if we pro-rate the incentive based on the number of jobs over a certain wage. If there are 50 jobs and 48 of them are over the living wage and 2 are slightly below, that to me is better than zero new jobs at all.

As city commissioner, how would you work to prepare the City of Manhattan for the potential impacts of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” – much of which will begin to take effect in the second year of your term?
It’s so hard to plan for things like this because it seems like every day we get a new or diﬀerent understanding of what is or is not aﬀected, how it’s aﬀected, if it will hold up in court, etc. We just have to do everything we can to remain nimble and look for creative solutions to issues as they come up.

Intergovernmental Cooperation

Under what circumstances and on what types of issues should the city and the school district cooperate? For example, there has been much discussion about an indoor aquatic center. Please give examples.
I think one of the largest problems facing our community over the last 20 years is the major disconnect between the three local governing bodies (city, county, school). My observation is that these three groups spend more time playing budgetary hot potato than they do just trying to ﬁgure out the best way forward. All three organizations (four if you include Kansas State University) need to sit down like grownups and work for a solution that beneﬁts everyone rather than worrying about whose budget something is going to end up on or trying to assign blame and credit.

As for the Indoor Aquatic Center, it is my belief that any project is made better the more cooperation and collaboration there is between local, regional, state and federal levels of government.

What are the key areas of cooperation between Manhattan government and county governments?
The two biggest examples are the Riley County Police Department and CiCo Park, and frankly neither has been a good relationship of late. Both entities need to get back to focusing on solutions and not worry about whose idea it was.

Advisory Boards and Diversity

As you may be mayor one day, describe how you would ensure that advisory boards reflect the entire Manhattan community?
This is a diﬃcult issue logistically, as oftentimes there are more open seats on advisory boards than there are people expressing interest in ﬁlling them. The City should continue to do everything it can to try and educate all areas of the public on these boards, what they do and why people should be interested in ﬁlling them. We must do everything we can to make sure that this education reaches all areas of the community so that these boards can reﬂect the diversity of our community. True diversity across all lines – racially, ethnically, religiously, socio-economically, sexual orientation/gender identity and just general life experiences and everything else. Everyone brings their own unique perspective to issues and the more of that perspective that is represented on these boards, the better the community will be because of it.

How would you avoid discrimination and conflict of interest?
My belief is that if I ever ﬁnd myself wondering if I should recuse myself because of a conﬂict of interest, that’s probably a pretty good sign I need to recuse myself. In those instances, I would work with the City Attorney’s oﬃce and do whatever I can do to avoid even the perception of a conﬂict.

As for discrimination, I don’t think there’s one thing you can point to and say “If I do this, we won’t have discrimination.” All I can do is say it’s an issue that is important to me and I will do everything I can to make sure that people in our community don’t feel discriminated against, and when cases of discrimination are brought to my attention, I will do what I can to rectify the situation and make sure it’s avoided in the future.

Which Advisory Board are you looking forward to working with and why?
From a personal nerd-out perspective, I’m most fascinated by the airport. Other than that, I wouldn’t say there is one that I’m more interested in than another from a policy perspective. Having served on Special Alcohol and three diﬀerent temporary steering committees, I know how important these citizen advisory boards are.

Manhattan has a significant international population, including students, researchers, professionals, and families. What specific policies or safeguards – if any – do you believe should be implemented to ensure these community members feel welcomed, protected, and able to fully participate in our city and school system?
As a founding board member of MART, this is an area of personal importance to me. Working with city staﬀ, RCPD and the school district to make sure that when these members of our community do interact with city government and school employees, those interactions are trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive and genuinely helpful for the members of our community is of utmost importance. One negative interaction, especially early in someone’s experience, could create a chilling eﬀect moving forward and cause people and their families to not have access to critical information and services.

What have you taken away from attending the City Commission meetings?
We need to have more of a focus on solving problems rather than focusing on the problem itself. I’m running for City Commission to get stuﬀ done. Housing is a perfect example of an issue we’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars now on two diﬀerent studies in the past 25 years that say the exact same thing. And the reason is nothing was done in the ensuing 20 years. If we continue to focus on the problem rather than the solution, we’ll spend a bunch of money on a housing study in 2043 that says the same thing.

Amber Starling – Candidate for Manhattan City Commission

Housing Costs in Manhattan

As you see it, what role should city government play in making housing available and/or affordable to families, seniors, students, and soldiers in the Manhattan community?
After discussions with multiple stakeholders in the Manhattan housing market, I have found that there is a point at which developers can’t profitably build without government subsidy. That point is about 115% of the annual median income. This includes the vast majority of workforce housing (80-120% of annual median income) and everything below it. City government should apply the special sales tax we collect for workforce housing to workforce housing. I can see a strong argument for these projects to also receive property tax and sales tax abatements. I cannot see us continuing to bestow property and sales tax abatements on projects above this threshold.

What are your thoughts on neighborhood preservation?
Effective neighborhood preservation can be achieved in a couple different ways.

First, I have been coordinating with the Manhattan Preservation Alliance to build a proactive strategy for preserving historic homes before they come into the crosshairs of a developer. This strategy involves educating first-time home buyers about annual state income tax write-offs for the maintenance and repairs of these homes. These write-offs are substantial: 40% of the costs of big-ticket repairs like roofing, HVAC, and foundation work can make historic home ownership more accessible. It also involves educating Realtors and the Realtor’s Association on these benefits as a unique and compelling selling point. Providing signage to Realtors, aiding the homeowner in registering the home with the historic registry, and workshops can also be successfully leveraged.

Another option that I am working with the Preservation Alliance on is putting historical properties into a community land trust, so that they will never come under the shadow of a bulldozer again.

How would you ensure that Manhattan neighborhoods are safe, stable and well maintained?
I do not see a substantial current issue with the safety, stability and maintenance of our neighborhoods. Most single-family homes and multi-family complexes are safe and well maintained.

There are definitely unsafe and poorly-maintained rental units at the bottom of the bell curve that have not been addressed—and will never be under the current structure. As it stands, Risk Reduction (formerly code enforcement) has to play by vampire rules: they can only enter premises with the owner’s or tenant’s permission. Slumlords aren’t going to allow them to enter, and tenants rightfully fear retribution when the landlord definitively knows that they let Risk Reduction in.

There are a couple possibilities here that could get bi-partisan support.

Solution one, an inspection that landlords can opt into, which comes with a prestigious, 24-month seal of approval. This could be a major selling point for landlords looking to attract military families and K-State families who want a safe and comfortable place to live. Landlords who are already in compliance would readily adopt this certification, putting pressure on the supply side of our housing market to maintain and prove high standards.

Another solution could be giving Risk Reduction a longer leash when it comes to issues that are an immediate threat to the safety of the resident—like structural issues, plumbing or electrical issues, black mold, and lack of heat in winter. We could give Risk Reduction permission to enter, inspect, and cite only those issues which are an immediate danger based on an anonymous complaint and without tenant or owner invitation. This would protect the identity of the informant, protect the tenant from retaliation, maintain the tax value of the property, and gain support from proponents of private property liberties by only regulating issues of immediate concern. It’s not a perfect solution for any side, but a compromise that moves all stakeholders in a positive direction.

What are your thoughts on the infrastructure needs in Manhattan?
We have quite a bit of costly infrastructure needs. Director of Public Works Brian Johnson and City Manager Danielle Dulin are working hard to triage improvement and maintenance projects to fit into the taxpayers’ budget, starting with the most urgent. However, they are working with a budget that has, for decades, been balanced on deferred maintenance. For example, we need $25 million in upgrades to our water treatment plant and have a $2 million annual funding gap in roads maintenance. In total, City Manager Danielle Dulin estimates another $2 million in needed repairs of city owned buildings and fleet vehicles that are sitting on a waiting list.

In the face of these challenges though, there is hope. Not all problems have to be solved with capital— many can be addressed through cooperation. I have already garnered interest from K-State’s engineering program to partner students with the City’s engineers and am working towards partnerships with Manhattan Area Technical College for fleet vehicle maintenance and construction projects. Another compelling idea from a local retired landscape architect is called green scaping, where planting native flowers and grasses prevent erosion and reduce the need for expensive scaling-up of stormwater pipes.

How could our roads be improved?
With funding, unfortunately. Our Department of Public Works does a lot with a little. We get $3 million a year from a special sales tax designed for the roads. However, we are still left with a $2 million a year gap in funding. There are a lot of misconceptions about choosing the cheapest asphalt and concrete— while that has certainly been an issue in the past, Director of Public Works, Brian Johnson does an excellent job selecting quality materials and contractors and saves money by doing smaller repairs in-house. He also works tirelessly to get grants from the Kansas Department of Transportation for larger projects.

Social Services and Community Health

As the federal government intends to increasingly shun emergency relief, public health, and other commitments to states and localities, how should Manhattan respond?
Residents’ needs will not dry up just because funding does. Losses at the federal level will result in states and cities carrying a heavier load. Unfortunately, there is not enough money at the state or local level to make up for the losses. We will have to be strategic in applying our limited resources to this seemingly unlimited problem, which brings us to the next question.

What kinds of strategic planning should we initiate to address the loss of revenue streams?
To be strategic, we need a full understanding of which agencies were affected, by how much, what the current demand is, and where the holes in the safety net will be. Many have tried to quantify these losses, but those efforts have fallen short of a comprehensive database. Audra, a colleague of mine, and I are already working on quantifying these issues through a survey and interview series of social services organizations, so the community can get a bird’s eye view and build a strategy from there.

Without searching the internet for an answer, to your knowledge, what percentage of Manhattan’s population lives below the poverty line?
Over 20% for over 30 years.

What do you see as the role of local government in providing social services to local people?
I believe “promote the general welfare” gives us not only the moral responsibility but the constitutional duty to give our residents a hand up when they are in need. Each year we direct only 1% of the $45 million a year that goes through our general fund to social services. This is then split amongst 19 agencies. These agencies represent a diverse ecosystem of aid that is not reliant on contracting fees from the City, but benefit greatly nonetheless. The donations and grants that make up a majority of their funding are hit-or-miss: the stable funding the city provides creates a strong foundation for these services to continue their work.

What do you know about childcare needs in our community?
There is significantly more demand than supply, and the supply that does exist is astronomically expensive. Infant care is often $1500 a month or more and that’s if you can get a spot. When daycares close for illnesses or holidays, you still pay the same amount, even while paying for an alternative or missing work. It’s insane. Our community could definitely benefit from a mechanism to help residents start and maintain licensed in-home daycares, but that’s a little outside the scope of a Commissioner.

What about health care needs? What are your thoughts about medical services, mental health services and dental services available in Manhattan?
This is unfortunately another area in which Commissioners have little control. We are in a nationwide shortage of healthcare and especially mental healthcare providers. We provide funding through the general fund and through the alcohol special sales tax to some organizations that attempt to address this gap. We are fortunate that many of our veteran residents have above-average access to care through the VA. We are fortunate that the Fairy Godmothers provide grants to residents trying to get their CNA license. We are fortunate that K-State provides health services to our student residents. For all these advantages, there is still not a magic wand that a local government could wield to solve this.

What do you see as the role of local government in protection and the health and safety of the public?
We help to fund health organizations, like the Flint Hills Wellness Coalition, the Flint Hills Community Clinic, Homecare & Hospice, and Pawnee Mental Health. We fund public safety—fire, police, EMS, and Risk Reduction (formerly code enforcement).

Economic Development

What role should city government play in economic development?
We already play a role by funding the Chamber of Commerce as a contractor for economic development, but the role can’t stop there. The Chamber receives over $2 million each year for various economic development roles. Recently the City has been moving to a pay-for-performance funding model for property tax abatements, a process that is rebuilding trust with the public, ensuring the taxpayers get what they paid for, and giving developers a clear understanding of the Commission’s expectations and goals. They have not yet achieved this level of structure with the Chamber, which I believe is a great disservice to the organization.

Last year, the Commission requested that the Chamber make up its own grading rubric for performance. The Chamber promptly proposed a broad list of areas it could be graded on, but neither the Chamber nor Commission narrowed it down to what metrics they would like to use as key performance indicators (KPIs). As a result, the Chamber has been unable for almost three consecutive quarters to produce these metrics year-to-date.

The Chamber deserves transparent, concrete, consistent, and realistic performance targets from the Commission, which would provide them with vision, direction, and structure.

What would you describe as good economic development? Bad economic development? Can you give examples?
The Commissioners cannot regulate all of the development that happens in city limits, so my personal opinions are of very limited relevance in terms of my candidacy. Within the list of things Commissioners can influence:

An example of good economic development that already exists in part is a collaborative partnership between a developer/landlord, a manufacturer, and the technical college. Developer Blake Brenner bought the land, built the building, and attracted PTMW, a manufacturer in need of welders. PTMW then partnered with Manhattan Area Technical College to create a pipeline for their welding students to pursue employment with PTMW. The last piece of this puzzle would be a workforce housing component because…
An example of bad economic development is workforce job creation without the addition of workforce housing. This would be a major loss to the businesses that invested heavily in our market, for the simple fact that people can’t work here if they can’t live here.

How would you create a “favorable business climate” in Manhattan?
As a City Commissioner, there is not a whole lot I can do to affect the business climate of Manhattan. What we can do, I already discussed in question 9.

One of the things we can all do is vote with our dollars. It sounds cliché, but unless we are consistently choosing to keep our money in local hands by prioritizing local and regional businesses, our entire economy will be weakened by retail giants hoovering up all our cash into far-away bank accounts and stockholders’ pockets, never to be seen again. It is much better for us all for our dollars to be spent with local businesses who often pay better and retain employees longer than national corporations. The owners and employees spend their money with other locals— rinse, wash, repeat, and our community becomes wealthier as a result.

What are your thoughts on wage standards applying to corporations that benefit from subsidies, including tax abatements and/or start-up funds?
Although the Unger Complex redevelopment is not popular with the neighbors, one of the things I discovered in researching the developer is that he earns good reviews from his team members, and that all current hiring ads are at or above a living wage in the team member’s county and include an excellent benefits package. That earned some extra points in my book.

The Commission could definitely adjust the grading rubric for property tax abatement, sales tax abatement, and workforce housing subsidies to award extra points to companies that pay all or a significant percentage of their employees a living wage.

Intergovernmental Cooperation

Under what circumstances and on what types of issues should the city and the school district cooperate? For example, there has been much discussion about an indoor aquatic center. Please give examples.
We need to focus on needs before addressing wants. I would like to see us table the aquatics and riverfront conversation to first address housing. We recently had an RHID housing project fall through: while the City and USD383 wanted the project, the county objected because the property would be a non-taxable entity. With over 40% of the property in city limits being tax-exempt, the County did not want to add to that percentage and exercised their veto power.

I feel that more proactive communication and negotiation would have solved this, as compromises do exist. For example, many tax-exempt properties make an annual PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) to cover public safety expenses like fire, police, and emergency medical services. The Manhattan Housing Authority is the only entity that pays a PILOT in Manhattan, paying the City $30,000 a year in fees. This could have been an excellent compromise, but it came down to an all-or-nothing vote which closed the door to the opportunity of negotiating obstacles together.

What are the key areas of cooperation between Manhattan government and county governments?
Answered in question above.

Advisory Boards and Diversity

As you may be mayor one day, describe how you would ensure that advisory boards reflect the entire Manhattan community?
I think that right now, we only really address this issue through the Board, the Mayor, and whether or not the nominee is approved via a majority vote. That’s reactive, and I have never found reactive processes to be particularly effective.

In my opinion, reflecting the community actually starts with recruitment, which doesn’t take a Mayor to do. It’s three simple steps: 1. Be aware of the Boards, their scope of work, their current vacancies, and the skills they need to round out their team, 2. Be active in underrepresented communities, and 3. Identify experts in those communities and encourage them to apply.

How would you avoid discrimination and conflict of interest?
I would start with the bare minimum of recusing myself— not only from votes, but also discussions— in which I have a conflict of interest. Last autumn, the Commissioners discussed Source of Income protections for tenants. This measure would not have required landlords to accept tenants with section 8 vouchers, rental assistance, HUD-VASH assistance for veterans, and disability benefits. All it would have done was to require landlords to count this legally-obtained non-wage income as income. 23 states and over 120 cities already have Source of Income protections.

During this discussion, two Commissioners— who are landlords— advocated for educating and financially incentivizing landlords to accept these incomes without even disclosing the conflict of interest, much less recusing themselves from the conversation.

Which Advisory Board are you looking forward to working with and why?
Having grown up largely on a subsistence farm that provided my family with fresh, healthy food, I would have to say the Food and Farm Council. I’ve studied our food system for years and have found that many practices are unsustainable. That’s not just a buzzword— specifically, it means that at some point in the future, we will have to find a solution that doesn’t involve shipping produce from farm to a table hundreds or thousands of miles away. There aren’t enough CDL drivers, there isn’t enough fuel, and sustainable energy and transportation alternatives are not ready to carry that baton. The most straightforward solution is to reduce the number of miles between farm and table. The team we have are absolute powerhouses, and I am so excited to engage with their work.

Manhattan has a significant international population, including students, researchers, professionals, and families. What specific policies or safeguards – if any – do you believe should be implemented to ensure these community members feel welcomed, protected, and able to fully participate in our city and school system?
The Law Board’s unique legal structure is allowed to limit the ways in which RCPD cooperates with ICE, which would safeguard community members in the international student and Afghani community and may be a financial necessity as well. Even with a large budget, RCPD runs relatively lean, and cannot afford to divert officers to harass our international community.

Director Brian Peete has been very careful in his budgeting, even cutting back in areas. Specifically, he has cut specialty teams and training from his roster that are not core to law enforcement. He uses the “Law Enforcement Nexus” as a litmus test for operations— heavily prioritizing operations and expenses that prevent or address crime and being willing to cut those that are too far away from the nexus.

What have you taken away from attending the City Commission meetings?
I have definitely found a need for Commissioners and Commission candidates to do their homework. It is very obvious when a Commissioner is invested in a topic and has researched and asked questions of the City Manager before the meeting; it’s also apparent when the Commissioners are first hearing about them in real time. Local decisions often affect people’s day-to-day lives more than state and federal votes: it is a Commissioner’s responsibility to the public to study even the least-spicy items. Many times, I have spent hours researching, scheduling meetings, conducting interviews with stakeholders, and corresponding with City staff. As a small business owner with no kids at home, I have the time to do this. As a retired journalist, I never tire of it.

And that segues into the most important part: there is a real need for public education. It may not be the Commission’s fault that residents aren’t up to date on issues or government function, but it’s definitely our responsibility. Putting these issues into plain English, where they are accessible to families, in approachable chunks is a journey I have already embarked on, because it is an investment in our community for generations to come.

Martha Sweeney – Candidate for Manhattan City Commission

Housing Costs in Manhattan

As you see it, what role should city government play in making housing available and/or affordable to families, seniors, students, and soldiers in the Manhattan community?
I believe strongly that affordable housing for those on a limited, fixed income – particularly those at or below a fairly assessed “poverty threshold” (ie, an assessment based on actual living costs in a specific area, as opposed to solely relying on the generalized Federal Poverty Level) should be a priority for city government. Safe housing, along with safe environment and equal access to quality K-12 public education, is, I believe, a civic right. A city comprising ALL its residents and workers cannot expect to thrive – with healthy population, healthy local business, healthy civic identity – unless those basic rights are respected and supported. City government plays a significant role in making housing available/affordable by implementing various strategies, in particular: land-use/zoning, financial incentivizing/financing, public/private partnering, innovative construction designing. Which strategies are used must be responsibly determined on a case by case, project by project basis, taking into account the cost/benefit for the community.

What are your thoughts on neighborhood preservation?
I put high value on historic preservation. The historic character of a neighborhood is not only important to the neighborhood residents themselves, but it also contributes, along with that of other neighborhoods, to the collective historical/cultural interest and pride of a city. Serious consideration should always be given to how any civic project might impact on the character of a neighborhood. Innovative design and construction methods should be explored that would allow needed infrastructure, housing or other projects to benefit the community without detracting from the historical and cherished character of a particular neighborhood.

How would you ensure that Manhattan neighborhoods are safe, stable and well maintained?
I would like to see more effective communication between community members and the city. For instance, when a business owner or resident submits an observation of road damage to the “Report It!” app, they should receive a timely response and a way to follow up on the report. Yes, priorities must be made, not all issues can or should be addressed equally. However, community members should feel confident that their city representatives and staff are hearing and responding to their needs and doing the best they can for them. I believe the city can also play a part in encouraging and facilitating community members themselves to organize as stewards (so to speak) of their own neighborhoods – obviously not to replace or reduce the city’s responsibilities, but to act in conjunction with city services. Caring for one’s neighbors and environs in small yet practical ways can enhance the quality of living for all in the neighborhood. By promoting this concept, the city can benefit from greater community awareness, engagement and well-being.

What are your thoughts on the infrastructure needs in Manhattan?
Road maintenance and repair issues have been of great concern to most Manhattanites in recent years. Midwest weather certainly plays a big part in the integrity and durability of our streets. However, I would like to see road repair issues be addressed in a timelier manner, rather than waiting until a problem becomes bigger and more expensive to fix. Again, I would like to see public concerns be addressed more thoroughly and transparently, in particular by means of the already established “Report It!” app. I would like to see the city promote more ATA bus routes. This would benefit downtown businesses as well as make it more practical to increase the number of mixed-use and medium-density housing in the greater downtown area – of which I am a proponent. Another infrastructure issue of particular concern to me is that of flood mitigation. I would want to explore the practicability of using permeable hardscapes where possible – certainly with new construction projects – to allow stormwater to be absorbed where it falls, as opposed to running off and repeatedly flooding the same areas. If we just keep concreting over everything as we continue to build, the flooding issue will only get worse.

How could our roads be improved?
Particular road improvements I’d advocate for: continuing implementation of smart traffic light synchronization (to reduce congestion, enhance safety and minimize idling); improving/adding designated bike lanes; continuing to add roundabouts where appropriate (for increased safety!)

Social Services and Community Health

As the federal government intends to increasingly shun emergency relief, public health, and other commitments to states and localities, how should Manhattan respond?
Tougher times for all are ahead. For those already struggling to meet their basic expenses the current and impending cuts may be catastrophic. The city of Manhattan must respond by being very mindful of spending tax dollars in such a way that the needs of our community are prioritized over the wants. A number of fantastic, future-focused plans have been produced for our city. They are worthy projects. However, we must wait to implement those beautiful plans when we can afford them, not at this time when the community’s basic needs must be supported and we must get our spending under control.

What kinds of strategic planning should we initiate to address the loss of revenue streams?
My focus is on values-based fiscal responsibility, ie, smart spending for the greatest good. During an economic downturn such as we find ourselves in, a situation which is likely to get worse before it gets better, a stricter attitude must be taken in terms of how tax dollars are allocated for public works and services. We need to prioritize that which serves to reach the greatest number of our citizens in the most helpful ways.

Without searching the internet for an answer, to your knowledge, what percentage of Manhattan’s population lives below the poverty line?
I have heard that the percentage that live below the poverty line is around 20 percent. That shocked me. I assume that statistic is at least partially skewed to reflect the lower-wage K-State students, many of whom work part-time to supplement their income while in college, a situation that employers take advantage of to pay all workers less. The City needs to do more to encourage fair, living wages for our workforce. There are way too many non-students in our community that are living paycheck to paycheck – or worse, living without a job at all, and dreading what unexpected expense might suddenly arise. It is my understanding that significant numbers of children in our community do not get enough to eat on a regular basis. That is a shame for our community. We must do better.

What do you see as the role of local government in providing social services to local people?
I believe that a city’s budget reflects a city’s values. The social services a local government provides, especially during times of increased economic stress, is critical in supporting the lifeblood of a community – it’s people. Programs such as, for example, the Manhattan Emergency Shelter’s Homeless Rental Assistance Program focuses on addressing the needs of people as they attempt to transition from homelessness to stable housing. Private landlords are often reluctant to take the risk of leasing to a homeless individual or family when more fiscally sound renters are available. Without government-sponsored programs such as MESI to help people stay stably housed, communities as a whole would experience additional stresses, while individuals and families in need would risk “falling through the cracks” before they even have the opportunity to achieve a more secure living status.

What do you know about childcare needs in our community?
As is true most everywhere in the country, childcare costs are prohibitive for many families. A parent who wants/needs to get out into the workforce must first calculate whether they would make enough money to cover their childcare, or whether staying home makes more sense economically. Many households with only one wage earner find it extremely difficult to ever “get ahead,” especially given the general problem of wages that do not keep up with the cost of living.

What about health care needs? What are your thoughts about medical services, mental health services and dental services available in Manhattan?
In my experience the medical, mental health and dental services in Manhattan are very good – as long as you have decent healthcare insurance. I am aware that there is a general shortage of medical professionals in Manhattan. In particular there is a need for additional mental health services. As a non-profit, Pawnee Mental Health Center does its best to meet the needs of our greater community, as well as complement and lend support to the RCPD in handling mental health-related issues. However, Pawnee’s resources are limited and they are overstretched due to high demand, chronic understaffing, and management problems. One can expect that mental health needs will only increase as life becomes more challenging once the negative effects of the Federal Government’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” are truly realized.

What do you see as the role of local government in protection and the health and safety of the public?
Regarding protection, health and safety, the first role of local government is to listen to the concerns of its constituents. That is the only way to truly understand what is going on in specific areas of our community and how residents and business owners are being affected. As a Commissioner I would want to be regularly updated on the concerns of law enforcement “on the ground.” I would propose that the Commissioners and the City Manager discuss the possibility of creating a new staff position.

Economic Development

What role should city government play in economic development?
City government should first and foremost understand the needs of both the local business community and the general community comprising residents, students, and workers. Having said that, the two segments of the community are inextricably interconnected. I believe the City’s focus should always be to facilitate the coming together of business owners and community-based services and representatives to explore and advise how City-subsidized, -sponsored, -financed (etc) programs and projects can mutually benefit local businesses and the community as a whole.

What would you describe as good economic development? Bad economic development? Can you give examples?
Good economic development is anything that serves to help a community thrive and sustain itself: programs/policies that help to bolster:

healthy workforce – training, affordable housing, fair living wages, access to healthcare;
thriving local economy – incentives for business owners to locate within the community, so they can be profitable, help grow the economy, enhance quality of life for residents and visitors, and in turn give back to their community;
safe and dependable infrastructure – well-maintained roads, well-planned traffic-flow structures/devices, sustainable and environmentally sound energy, water, public transportation, etc policies and projects,
community-building – promotion/sponsoring of events and programs that serve to bring community together and foster a sense of civic pride and identity.

Bad economic development allows reckless spending, continual increase in the public debt, cronyism, short-sighted vanity projects…

How would you create a “favorable business climate” in Manhattan?
Implement fair and predictable taxation systems; promote and encourage a skilled and educated workforce; support that workforce by providing adequate and affordable housing and dependable infrastructure and social services; incentivize the establishment and expansion of business interests in exchange for designing and implementing environmentally-responsible commercial structures and business practices; promote a vibrant/engaged community by encouraging/supporting our city’s art, history, education, recreation/entertainment; encourage civic identity and pride in our diversity and core values as concerned citizens, caring neighbors and responsible community members.

What are your thoughts on wage standards applying to corporations that benefit from subsidies, including tax abatements and/or start-up funds?
I am absolutely in favor of wage standards applying to businesses, especially larger corporations, that benefit from financial incentives to do business in the community. That is an example of the best kind of “win-win”.

As city commissioner, how would you work to prepare the City of Manhattan for the potential impacts of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” – much of which will begin to take effect in the second year of your term?
As the anticipated effects of that bill become reality, our city and community must be prepared to address the needs of those who are already struggling. These are members of our community – our neighbors – who will suffer the most due to the bill’s reduction and dismantling of the social/economic programs on which they depended just to get by. I believe it’s the City’s responsibility to communicate that we as a community must not be dismissive or in any way demeaning to those who find themselves struggling the most. We truly are all in this together. We need to be strong and supportive together. We need to care for each other, giving tangible, emotional and spiritual aid where we can. The City, along with community leaders, must stand for and with the people that make this the special place that it is. We know there are challenges looming, and for many these challenges will likely get worse before they get better.

Intergovernmental Cooperation

Under what circumstances and on what types of issues should the city and the school district cooperate? For example, there has been much discussion about an indoor aquatic center. Please give examples.
I believe that there is much room for improvement when it comes to intergovernmental cooperation and communication. So much time, effort and resources are wasted when the government entities don’t coordinate their research and planning for things that affect each other and the community as a whole. Though each has very specific governing responsibilities, they are also interconnected generally, beyond simply the sharing of tax revenue. “We’re all in this together” should be the guiding principle of our governing bodies, for the good of all. Speaking specifically on the subject of an indoor aquatic center: I am bewildered by the fact that this has been an unresolved issue for as long as I’ve lived in Manhattan – 22+ years! I agree with those that say a community like Manhattan should have a basic, well-maintained indoor pool facility for all to benefit from. However, I also agree with those that argue it’s not the time to commit to putting limited resources towards a multi-million dollar project like that given our limited revenue stream and the economic challenges that will likely only be exacerbated in the near future. We cannot just keep raising property taxes and/or the public debt. That would be both punitive to Manhattanites and simply irresponsible. I will say, the history of the indoor aquatic center debate is an example of government not working together for the betterment of the community.

What are the key areas of cooperation between Manhattan government and county governments?
The primary areas of cooperation between city and county governments are the support of workforce (particularly affordable housing, job training, childcare), social services, public safety (including infrastructure and law enforcement) and economic development.

Advisory Boards and Diversity

As you may be mayor one day, describe how you would ensure that advisory boards reflect the entire Manhattan community?
I would make a good faith effort to appoint a cross-section of our city’s population, within the parameters of the Advisory Boards’ eligibility requirements.

How would you avoid discrimination and conflict of interest?
Advisory Board members are required to comply with the city’s Code of Ethics and volunteer policies, which include provisions for addressing conflicts of interest. As a Commissioner I would want there to be sufficient transparency and oversight to ensure best practices are followed. Any potential cases of discrimination should be investigated and resolved in a timely manner so as to avoid unnecessary festering of bad feelings and resentments.

Which Advisory Board are you looking forward to working with and why?
I am particularly interested in working with the Community Support Funds Advisory Board. I would like to be involved in helping to support community-based efforts to lift up and improve the lives of Manhattanites that are struggling, especially in these times when social safety net programs such as Medicaid and SNAP are being reduced or eliminated by the Federal Government.

Manhattan has a significant international population, including students, researchers, professionals, and families. What specific policies or safeguards – if any – do you believe should be implemented to ensure these community members feel welcomed, protected, and able to fully participate in our city and school system?
Our international population should be a source of pride and interest for our City. I would propose that we encourage multi-cultural events that are welcoming to all and that promote learning about the various cultures represented here, including the diverse food, art, history, contributions to society, etc. The more we learn about our neighbors of different cultures, the more we are personally enriched and the more we collectively promote understanding, appreciation and respect. We are all more secure when we know and care about each other, regardless of whatever superficial or cultural differences may exist.

What have you taken away from attending the City Commission meetings?
For the most part I am impressed by the commitment of Commissioners to understand the complexities of the issues presented to them. It is apparent that many if not most city issues include complicating factors, and there are often important differences in perspective brought by community members that must be taken into account when contemplating any single issue. While I may not agree with how certain decisions are arrived at, I respect the process and believe that all involved – Commissioners to city staff – are doing their best to serve the interests of the city and community.