KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council approved a resolution to make Brian Platt the next city manager despite heated debate about the selection process.
Platt, who Mayor Quinton Lucas formally recommended for the job Wednesday, currently serves as the city manager in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The Jersey City Times posted a since-deleted article Tuesday evening, which indicated Platt had been offered the job.
That leak rankled council members, including Heather Hall, because the full council had yet to vote on its top choice for the job.
“I have a real conflict brewing in me about starting a relationship with a new leader of our city in this manner,” Hall said during Thursday’s KCMO City Council meeting.
Fellow council members Brandon Ellington and Melissa Robinson took issue with the lack of transparency in the selection process.
Ultimately, Platt’s hiring was approved on a 9-4 vote. Hall came around to join Lucas in voting for Platt, but Ellington, Robinson, Lee Barnes Jr. and Ryana Parks-Shaw — the city council’s four Black members other than Lucas — voted against the resolution.
Platt was one of four finalists for the city manager job, which has been open since Troy Schulte’s resignation in December 2019.
The other finalists were Phoenix Assistant City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr.; Janice Jackson, a local government consultant based in Georgia; and Long Beach, California, Deputy City Manager Kevin Jackson.
Assistant City Manager Earnest Rouse, who has served as acting city manager, was not a candidate for the position and didn't apply for the position.
The candidates interviewed in Kansas City late last month.
