The adage “you get out what you put in” usually is attached to manual labor or building a business. It’s also applicable to elected officials, both novices and veterans, as they carry out the duties of their public roles. Kansans will go to the polls Nov. 7 to vote for their choices for city government, school boards and community college boards. These elections typically draw fewer voters than those for state and national offices, but the disruptions of the pandemic shifted the context of their roles. This year’s vote represents a return to normalcy of sorts. No longer do city councils and school boards find themselves at the center of pandemic-related debates over such topics as mask ordinances and in-person school attendance. But the divides over those issues linger, as does the lesson that local officials – many of whom are paid little, if anything, for their service – aren’t immune from the consequences of being in the eye of a storm.
Source: KLC Journal
