KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, City Manager Brian Platt “represented to the Council that he will withdraw his name from any current pursuits for appointment to any other governmental executive position upon passage of this ordinance,” according to an ordinance the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council passed Thursday.
Councilwoman Andrea Bough provided KSHB 41 a draft copy of the ordinance, which passed Thursday evening after the council returned from a closed session.
The KCMO City Clerk’s Office said it did not have a final copy of the ordinance to provide.
Platt was named a finalist for the city manager job in Austin, Texas, earlier in the week.
Despite the Kansas City Council ordinance, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said Friday that Platt has not withdrawn from consideration for its job, according to a report from Austin-based NBC affiliate KXAN.
Watson told KXAN that city officials “have been in contact with Mr. Platt through our search firm. He has not withdrawn from consideration for the Austin job.”
A spokesperson with Platt’s office said she didn’t know if he had withdrawn from consideration for the Austin job.
Platt’s office said he was out of town and could not confirm or deny whether he had agreed to withdraw from consideration for the Austin job upon passage of the ordinance, noting that “whereas” clauses in a city ordinance — like the one in Kansas City’s ordinance — are not binding.
Earlier Friday, Platt’s office released a statement, but it did not address whether he remained in consideration for the Austin job.
“Thursday night, the Kansas City Council voted for the Mayor to negotiate a new contract for City Manager Brian Platt,” the statement read. “No terms are agreed upon. No contract is signed.”
Platt is under contract with Kansas City through the end of the year. A source told KSHB 41 that the ordinance passed Thursday authorized Mayor Quinton Lucas to negotiate an “Amended Employment Agreement” through Aug. 1, 2027.
Platt's office said he was not at Thursday's council meeting.
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