Kansas City Area Transportation Authority Board of Commissioners (Dec. 17, 2025)
By Luz Ortiz Martinez, Kansas City Documenter
These notes were produced through Kansas City Documenters, which trains and pays community members to take fact-checked notes at public meetings, strengthening transparency and accountability in local government.
Summary
- The KCATA Board met in a closed executive session for three hours at the start of the meeting, where they decided to not renew KCATA CEO Frank White III’s contract, which expires Jan. 24, 2026. The contract decision was not announced during the public session. Read more from KCUR.
- The board approved a two-month extension of the IRIS ride share service for November and December 2025, with costs not to exceed $500,000 per month.
- The 2026 budget, which will be presented at the January board meeting and later posted online, anticipates major changes, including the resumption of passenger fares, a loss of the majority of COVID-19 funding and a reduction of paratransit trips.
- The board officer nomination process was a point of lengthy discussion. Some floor nominations are expected the day of the voting during the next board meeting on Jan. 28, 2026.
Top Quote
- “The committee voted to start over again so that we could have a slate that was built on integrity and transparency,” said Tyjaun Lee, chair of the board officer nominating committee, explaining that the restart followed a tie in the first round of nominations. (18:36)
Notes
Members in Attendance:
- Frank White III – KCATA CEO
- Reginald Townsend, Chair, Cass County, Missouri: Facilitating the meeting
- Eric Bunch, City of Kansas City, Missouri: Present
- Mike Stieben, Leavenworth County, Kansas: Present
- Tyjaun Lee, Platte County, Missouri: Present Virtually
- Deb Hermann, Clay County, Missouri: Present
- Bridgette Williams, Co-chair, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas: Present
- Julie Lorenz, Johnson County, Kansas: Present
- Tom Burroughs, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas: Present
- Daniel Silva, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas: Not present
- Mindy Rocha: Present
- Note: Rocha is in the process of replacing Silva. That process is not complete, so she abstained from all voting.
- Byron Craddolph, Jackson County, Missouri: Not present.
I. Call to Order and Determination of Quorum
II. Approval of Agenda
III. Adjourn to Executive Session: The closed executive session ran for almost three hours. When I arrived at 12:40 p.m., a woman was present hoping to give public comments about bus stop locations. She was later frustrated to learn the board was still in the executive session after two hours. KCATA staff arranged transportation for her to return home, explaining that executive session timing can be changed at the last minute under the Sunshine Law, which may affect when public comment occurs…