ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Liberal City Commission has new yet familiar leadership after the commission selected a new mayor and vice mayor Tuesday evening.
Jeff Parsons and Janeth Vazquez were ultimately unanimously voted as mayor and vice mayor, respectively, and both said they are excited to get to work.
“I feel really good. The responsibilities of the mayor really aren’t too much different from a commissioner,” Parsons said. “I’m excited about being able to continue being part of this commission and working with everyone.”
“I absolutely agree with Jeff – yes, we have the official titles, but at the end of the day, I feel like each of us commissioners contributes in our own unique way,” Vazquez added. “I feel like we’re a really strong team all together, and we were able to accomplish a lot in 2025, so I’m looking forward to continuing the great work we have on the agenda for 2026. Our commission is definitely headed in the right direction.”
Parsons and Vazquez agreed there is much work to be done in 2026.
“We’ve got a few projects and plans that got passed last year, and there are more on the horizon for this year that will require a lot of work,” Parsons said. “It won’t all get done at once, but we can start chipping away at that to-do list. Personally, I’m excited about what we have going on in economic development, and I’m looking forward to continuing that progress. There’s a lot of infrastructure work that will be going on, and the City of Liberal staff does a great job taking care of our streets and water and everything else. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work the staff does that doesn’t get seen, and I hope people in town get to see them in action with some of these projects we’ll have going on.”
“We have a lot of moving parts and a lot of different projects and a lot of different departments working on everything, and like Jeff said, I want us to focus more on economic development stuff,” Vazquez added. “I would love to see Liberal attract more investors and more retail stores to the community. That’s something we’ve been continuously working on already, but I’d like to see us have more success in that area. And, of course, there’s the quality of life aspect. There are several of those projects we’ve been able to keep under budget, and there are a lot of projects we’ve been able to implement that are free for the community’s use so they don’t have to travel out of town. I’d love to see us get more creative and continue implementing similar projects. One project I’d like to see somewhere at some point in the future is indoor soccer courts, which I heard about at a training in October, and I know there’s grant money available to help with that for rural communities. Creativity is definitely important.”
With 2026 still rather new, Vazquez and Parsons said there is a lot to be excited about.
“I would like to continue improving our communication work – we’ve done a complete 180 compared to when I started in terms of doing radio interviews and hosting the town hall meetings and all of those, but I think we can continue doing better,” Vazquez said. “We need to continue getting information out to the community so we can continue spreading the word about all the great things going on in town. There’s so much that doesn’t get published, and there are projects that take a lot of time and don’t get quite the attention they deserve, so I’d like to see us continue improving the communication aspect of everything. I have to thank the City of Liberal staff and crews, they’re the ones with boots on the ground who are doing all the day-to-day work, and they all do a wonderful job.”
“I absolutely agree with Janeth about all of that, we want to continue improving on our communication and transparency and be open to the community,” Parsons said. “We also want to be open to community suggestions for potential future projects – a big project for later this year will be Adventure Bay Water Park, and we would like to hear from the community any suggestions they have. We’ve also got work going on with economic development, housing and other facets of the community, so I’m looking forward to working with Seward County, USD 480, Seward County Community College and the Seward County Development Corporation to help make all of those projects happen. It takes all of us to help move Liberal forward.”
Overall, Vazquez and Parsons agreed they are excited to work in their new roles.
“I want us to continue sharing the message of how we’re here for the community and our doors are always open,” Vazquez said. “I feel like all of us commissioners are willing to work with anyone and everyone and have conversations about projects and ideas and any issues going on in town. I want everyone to know we’re here for them, and if there are any questions or concerns or anything, they are more than welcome to reach out to any of us. I’m really excited with the direction of this commission and I’m very thankful for all of the City of Liberal staff.”
“I’m really excited about continuing working with this commission,” Parsons added. “We’ve all been together a few years now, and I think we’ve got a great foundation going and we all work really well together. I think that enables us to work together and get things done faster for the community. We might not always agree on everything, but we ultimately always end up coming together for a solution for the community.”
In new business, the commission approved the Leader & Times as the official newspaper of the city and Sunflower Bank as the official bank of record for all primary banking services for the 2026 Fiscal Year. The commission also unanimously approved changes to the Financial Policies & Procedures Manual and the Employee Policy Manual.
