BonnerSprings.com

The 2008 national elections have ended, but in Edwardsville, the outlines of the 2009 mayoral race are already emerging.

Stephanie Eickhoff, mayor of the city from 2003 to 2007, filed Monday in the Wyandotte County Elections Office for the April 7 general election. She is the only candidate filed for either Edwardsville or Bonner Springs as of Wednesday.

“I did this at the urging of many residents and the blessings of my family,” Eickhoff said in an e-mail statement.

She also said in a telephone interview that current Mayor Heinz Rodgers had told her he wouldn’t be running again and had always planned to be a one-term mayor and return to his seat on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

Those plans were news to Rodgers when he heard of them Tuesday, he said.

“That’s interesting,” Rodgers said. “It would have been nice if she’d have called. I don’t recall saying that; I never think that far ahead of time.”

Rodgers said he still hadn’t decided on whether he would run for a second term and would wait until after Christmas to file if he decides to run.

The deadline for filing is noon Jan. 27.

Yet a third potential candidate for the mayor’s race lists the pay and performance of City Administrator Mike Webb as one of the reasons he might run.

John Broman, a former council member and candidate for mayor in 2007, said he would definitely file for either a council seat or for mayor.

“We’re paying that guy too much,” Broman said.

“We’ve got the highest-paid city manager in the state of Kansas for a city of the third class,” which he said he found by calling similar cities around Kansas. That was before the council approved changing the city’s status to second class.

The Chieftain was unable to verify Broman’s claim about Webb’s salary in relation to other city administrators in Kansas.

“He’s done nothing for the city, he’s not brought one industry,” Broman said. “They complained about (former city administrator Doug) Spangler but at least he brought in industry.”

In reaction to Broman’s comments, Webb said he didn’t want to be involved in any political campaigns but he defended his record and said the economy’s downturn had made attracting new industries to town more difficult.

“I don’t know what his definition is of not bringing anything to the community,” Webb said. “I’ve been working on a number of projects … some you can’t talk about until they’re public. Obviously, I spent a great deal of time working on the casino application. I think we fared very well in that process.”

As for when he’ll decide whether to run for council or mayor, Broman said, “I will know definitely after Christmas.”

Whichever seat he goes for, Broman said, “we’ve got to get people interested, do it as a group, so we can run together and get it going. We’ve definitely got to get on track.”

Comments

1. 

   triedntru (anonymous) says…

   Broman is quoted as saying: “They complained about (former city administrator Doug) Spangler but at least he brought in industry.”

   Perhaps that is a misquote, because Truesdale is known for shoddy reporting,

   If the quote is accurate, though, I find it interesting because Broman uses the word "they." I was there the day that he and the rest of the council voted unanimously to fire Spangler.

   It seems that Broman either didn't remember that or has trouble standing for his vote.

   November 24, 2008 at 9:39 a.m.

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