OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Overland Park City Councilwoman Gina Burke has vacated her seat for family reasons.
Burke said she's already moved to Lawrence to give her son a fresh start in a new school system.
Burke narrowly won the seat in 2017 in a hotly contested race against four-term incumbent Terry Goodman.
On Tuesday, her name was included with Councilman Faris Farassati and Councilman Scott Hamblin supporting hazard pay for the city's first responders during the current pandemic shutdown.
Burke has been an ally of those two other council members, who are in the minority criticizing the city’s consistent policy of giving tax credits to businesses.
The three council members also supported reversing pay raise freezes for the city's first responders as Overland Park City Manager Bill Ebel said the city's government faces an estimated $25 million tax revenue shortfall for the city's $138 million operating budget.
The move to bring that reversal up for a vote was shot down at the council's last meeting Monday.
Overland Park Spokesman Sean Reilly said Mayor Carl Gerlach, Council President Fred Spears and Council Finance Committee Chair John Thompson will come up with a process for replacing Burke.
Burke's term was set to expire at the end of 2021.
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