ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Voters have officially decided to retain their current leadership on the Liberal City Commission.
Jeff Parsons ended up the top vote-getter with 969 votes, followed by Janeth Vazquez with 725, and they will serve four-year terms. Matt Landry, who is currently serving as vice mayor, came in third place with 704 votes and will serve a two-year term. Landry was unavailable for comment as of press time.
Parsons and Vazquez said they found out the results of the election rather quickly and said they were both excited about the results.
“I was watching the elections results live show on the Leader & Times Facebook page and got all the results there,” Parsons said. “The Liberal City Commission race was a bit different this year in how the three incumbents ran for the three open seats, which doesn't always happen. I'm gratified to know people had the confidence in us to vote us back in and running the city. I was also the top vote-getter, and I was happy to know the voters saw fit to vote for me in those numbers, and I greatly appreciate that.”
“I was at an election watch party that was being hosted by the Kansas Latino Community Network, and I found out the more official results from the results live show on the Leader & Times Facebook page, which I keep track of every election cycle, and that's how I found out I'd been reelected,” Vazquez said. “I feel incredibly honored and grateful to have earned the community's trust for another term. Liberal is my home, and serving on the Liberal City Commission has been one of the coolest experiences of my life, and this election was a great reminder to keep up with the work we're doing and continuing the progress. I'm very grateful and honored, and I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and the work the commission is doing. I'll continue showing up and advocating for this community, and I'm excited to get back to work.”
Parsons and Vazquez both agreed they were not quite finished with their work on the commission, which led them to want to run again.
“We've still got quite a bit of work that needs done. We've got some big projects on the horizon in terms of downtown development and what to do with Adventure Bay Water Park,” Parsons said. “We've also got projects in the pipeline in terms of economic development. That is all work I want to contribute to, so I decided to run again.”
“A lot of my mindset was basically how we're not done. During my first term as a commissioner, I felt like we were just getting started and cleaning certain aspects up and getting things on the right track so we could get to the real work of actually running the city,” Vazquez said. “Now that things are in order, we can now look forward to new projects and that work, and I definitely don't feel like we're done. Everything that goes through the commission takes a lot of time and work, and I want to be part of that. We've definitely accomplished a lot in terms of housing and fiscal responsibility, including lowering the mill levy multiple times, and there's a lot more work to do there. We also made a lot of general community improvements, and I feel like there's a lot to be done there as well. This commission works so well together, and while we do have some differences in opinion, we come together to do what's best for the city.”
The city has seen some major changes in the past few years, which Parsons and Vazquez said they are proud of.
“I really like how we've managed, as a commission, to remake city staff – the past few years, we've put some great people in some major positions who are doing an outstanding job so far, and I'm proud of that,” Parsons said. “I'm also proud of what we've been able to do with economic development – when we came on the commission, the City of Liberal wasn't part of the Seward County Development Corporation, and we voted to be part of that again, which has been a really good thing.”
“I'm really proud of how we lowered the mill levy three years in a row, and another big accomplishment is the housing boom, which has seen more housing construction than in the past several years,” Vazquez said. “There have also been a lot of community improvements like with the splash pads and the pickleball court and park lighting and all of that work. However, one area we need to keep working on is economic growth, especially when it comes to bringing more retail to Liberal, and I hope we can continue finding investors who want to bring themselves to Liberal. I'm especially proud of the fiscal responsibility improvements we made because I know the price of everything everywhere has gone up, so we want to do what we can to make things affordable for Liberal citizens while also keeping watch on the funds we have available. We've done a great job with that, and I'm also really proud of how we've strengthened community engagement and transparency by making City Hall more open to people.”
Even with all of that, however, Parsons and Vazquez said there is still work to be done.
“We've got the Comprehensive Plan in place now that's been worked on and developed the past couple years, and I'd like to see us go through and begin to implement some of what's included in that. That includes updating city codes and completing long-needed projects, among other work,” Parsons said. “We've also got several issues coming to the forefront when it comes to downtown development and Adventure Bay Water Park, and those discussions will definitely be continuing.”
“This coming term, I want us to focus on economic growth and opportunity, and we're working really hard with potential investors to open new businesses in Liberal,” Vazquez said. “That means making Liberal more open to businesses and creating a welcoming environment and working with state partners and local partners to make that happen. I want to see Liberal thrive and have good jobs for people and opportunities for entrepreneurs.”
Overall, Parsons and Vazquez said, they are excited to continue working for Liberal and its residents.
“We're going to work on everything we've been working on the past few years. We'll continue communicating with the citizens of Liberal through our regular meetings and town hall meetings, and we welcome community input on anything and everything we're doing because as I've said before, we work for the citizens,” Parsons said. “We want to use that input to drive the city forward. There are also some exciting economic development projects we're working on, and I can't wait for those to move forward. I'm grateful and happy to have been reelected, and I was glad to hear Janeth and Matt were also reelected. I feel we all work together really well as a commission, and it's great having that continuity for the community. We all have our own individual thoughts and viewpoints when it comes to certain things, but when it comes to it, we all work together well as one commission to make sure we're doing what's best for the citizens of Liberal, and I'm excited to continue working with everyone.”
“I want to continue working on putting Liberal on the map – I want Liberal to have a seat at the table when decisions are being made at the state level with funding and other matters and make sure Southwest Kansas' voice is heard,” Vazquez said. “Sometimes our region is forgotten about, so I want to do all I can to keep Liberal on the radar and make sure we're included in decisions. We've done a lot of networking already, but there's definitely more we can do. I want to assure everyone my commitment as a commissioner will be to every citizen of Liberal, not just one group or another. The decisions we make as a commission need to be to the benefit of EVERYONE in town, not just certain people or groups. I want to see Liberal continue grow and become a place where businesses thrive, families feel supported, and everyone can succeed.”
