How fast do Kansas City Council members respond to constituents? Here’s what they say

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The Northland resident was fed up.

A section of road in his neighborhood had just been resurfaced — but his own street, which he said had seen no improvements in decades, was ignored.

Frustrated with the oversight, on Aug. 22 he wrote to his City Council member, Kevin O’Neill, who represents Kansas City’s 1st District-at-Large.

“We have been here since 2003 and our street has not been resurfaced,” the resident wrote in an email. “There is also repaving going on in subdivisions that have been put in after we moved here.”

But his frustrations didn’t end there: Despite following up twice, he didn’t hear back from O’Neill’s office until 35 days after he initially reached out.

On Tuesday, Sept. 26, O’Neill responded personally, apologizing for the delay and stating that he had shared the resident’s email with the city’s Public Works department. “Will get back to you,” he wrote at the end of the message.

The Northland man’s experience raised a question: How long should a Kansas City resident expect to wait before hearing back from their council member?

To answer that question, The Star reached out to each council member’s office to learn about their policies on responding to constituent calls, emails and other messages.

Kansas City’s 13-member city council provides a direct link between neighborhoods and city government. But that link depends on open communication — something that can be difficult in a city of over 500,000 people.

Each council member provides contact information on their page of the Kansas City government website. Most council members provide both a contact phone number and an email address.

Mayor Quinton Lucas, the 13th member of the City Council, links to a contact form on his city webpage rather than providing an email or phone number.

So when can you expect to hear back from your city council member? Here’s what each one’s office told The Star about their communication policies.

Mayor Quinton Lucas

“We’ve got a goal of responding to inquiries within one full business day,” said Morgan Said, the mayor’s chief of staff. “Luckily we’ve got several dedicated mayor’s office staff members the community knows well who each day process constituent requests like special actions, proclamations, meeting requests (and) general questions.”

She added that, since Lucas frequently gives out his personal phone number, dozens of residents also text him directly each day.

Contact the Mayor’s office by calling 311 and asking for the Mayor’s Office, or by emailing mayorq@kcmo.org.

Kevin O’Neill, 1st District-at-Large

O’Neill’s aide, Diana Radzevich, declined to comment on the Northland resident’s 35-day wait for a reply from O’Neill’s office.

She said her response time to constituents depends on the complexity of the issue and what type of help is needed.

“We do our best to return calls as quickly as possible,” she told The Star. “It depends on the issue. It depends on how much research I need to do to respond, or how many people I need to engage in order to get an answer.”

“I don’t know of any scenarios where we haven’t returned a call,” she said.

Contact O’Neill’s office by calling 816-513-6503 or emailing kevin.oneill@kcmo.org.

Nathan Willett, 1st District

Councilman Nathan Willett, who represents the 1st District, told The Star that his office usually responds to constituent calls and emails within 24 to 48 hours.

“If we can’t answer the entirety of the request due to gathering information from a department, we notify our constituent(s) and let them know when they should hear from us,” he said.

“When it comes to voting on ordinances or policy positions, our office makes note of what our constituents express.”

Contact Willett’s office by calling 816-513-6505 or emailing annie.williamson@kcmo.org.

Lindsay French, 2nd District-at-Large

A legislative aide for Councilwoman Lindsay French, who represents the 2nd District-at-Large, said French does not have a policy that sets out a specific time frame for responding to residents’ messages.

“We don’t have a set policy, per se, about constituent responses,” legislative aide Lisa Minardi told The Star. “In general I try to (respond) within the day they call.”

Minardi added that days when the City Council convenes are usually busy, and the office may not be able to respond to constituents immediately.

The office also doesn’t respond personally to identical form letters sent by constituents.

Contact French’s office by calling 816-513-6507 or emailing lisa.minardi@kcmo.org.

Wes Rogers, 2nd District

Councilman Wes Rogers, who represents the 2nd District, told The Star that, with some rare exceptions, his office responds to personal constituent calls and emails the same day they are received.

While he said that he no longer writes personal responses to form emails, he does take the positions they raise into account if they come from residents of his district.

“We don’t have a set policy in place, but we don’t really need one because when (someone) calls, unless we’re in a meeting or on a phone call, it goes to the top of the list,” he said. “It’s just not that hard to be available when you’re a local elected official.”

Contact Rogers’ office by calling 816-513-6509 or emailing amy.justis@kcmo.org.

Melissa Patterson Hazley, 3rd District-at-Large

Third District-at-Large Councilwoman Patterson Hazley’s office declined to share information about its response times to constituents.

“Councilwoman Patterson Hazley appreciates your inquiry but does not have any comment at this time,” legislative aide Erin Royals wrote in an email to The Star Friday.

Contact Patterson Hazley’s office by calling 816-513-6511 or emailing erin.royals@kcmo.org.

Melissa Robinson, 3rd District

Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who represents the 3rd District, told The Star that while the volume of emails her office receives makes it difficult to reply to every one, she has recently added an intern to her team to help with responses.

“We do not respond to every form letter email. (But) we do quantify form emails, research their issues and our policy decisions are influenced by their communication and guidance,” Robinson said.

Her office does not have a set time frame for constituent responses.

Contact Robinson’s office by calling 816-513-6513 or emailing melissa.robinson@kcmo.org or lisa.ross@kcmo.org.

Crispin Rea, 4th District-at-Large

Araceli Magaña, a legislative aide for Councilman Cripin Rea, who represents the 4th District-at-Large, told The Star that she tries to respond to all constituent calls and emails — including form emails — within 24 hours.

Contact Rea’s office by calling 816-513-6515 or emailing araceli.magana@kcmo.org.

Eric Bunch, 4th District

Marissa Iden, a legislative aide for Councilman Eric Bunch, who represents the 4th District, told the Star:

“Councilman Bunch and I have set goals to answer messages sent to our office as soon as our schedules allow. Typically, this is within a day or two depending on our schedules throughout the week.”

Iden added that most of her day is spent responding to constituents and connecting them to city services.

She recommended reaching back out to Bunch’s office after a week if you haven’t yet received a reply, as some messages can get missed.

Contact Bunch’s office by calling 816-513-6517 or emailing eric.bunch@kcmo.org.

Darrell Curls, 5th District-at-Large

Councilman Darrell Curls, who represents the 5th District-at-Large, told The Star that while he has only been on the job for around two months, his office tries to respond promptly to the many messages it receives.

“My goal is to, and will be to, respond to as many as possible, if not all,” he said. “Moving forward, I hope to establish a good process to respond because I believe in responding as quickly as possible.”

Contact Curls’ office by calling 816-513-6519 or emailing rita.berry@kcmo.org.

Ryana Parks-Shaw, 5th District and Mayor Pro Tem

Longtime legislative aide Keema McCoy, who works in the office of 5th District Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw, said her approach to constituent responses is backed by years of success.

Not only does she respond to messages within 24 to 48 hours — she also told The Star that she has calls routed directly to her cellphone, which she will often continue to answer until 7:00 or 8:00 p.m.

She also responds personally to most emails — although identical form emails may receive an automatically generated reply to help the office stay on top of its significant influx of messages. Parks-Shaw currently doesn’t list an email address on her city website page, but McCoy told The Star that this is an error she is trying to get fixed.

“When you do this job, you pretty much do it because you want to do it,” McCoy said. “It’s not about the money, it’s about making sure that your constituents are taken care of and their needs are met.”

Contact Parks-Shaw’s office by calling 816-513-6521 or emailing keema.mccoy@kcmo.org.

Andrea Bough, 6th District-at-Large

Katrina Foster, a legislative aide to Councilwoman Andrea Bough, who represents the 6th District-at-Large, said she tries to respond to constituent messages within 24 to 48 hours.

She added that the city’s highly sensitive email filter occasionally flags constituent messages as “junk,” but she tries to check that folder once or twice a week to retrieve wrongly flagged emails.

For form letters and scripted calls, Bough decides on a case by case basis how to reply. Some form emails may be held for a future response once legislation comes before the council, while others might merit a group reply.

Contact Bough’s office by calling 816-513-6523 or emailing katrina.foster@kcmo.org.

Johnathan Duncan, 6th District

Madison Hays, a legislative aide to Councilman Johnathan Duncan, who represents the 6th District, said Duncan is new to the City Council and hasn’t yet established an official policy, but his office tries to reply to all requests and concerns from constituents as quickly as possible — usually within a few days.

“Councilman Duncan — and each of the council people — only have one staff member for all 80,000 constituents, so it can be a little difficult,” she said. “We don’t have a strict timeline that we follow, but it’s just as soon as we can.”

Contact Duncan’s office by calling 816-513-6525 or emailing madison.hays@kcmo.org.

Do you have more questions about government accountability in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.