THE ONLY INCUMBENT IN RACE IS DEFEATED
In the only countywide election on Tuesday’s local ballot, voters across the county elected three from a field of eight candidates for positions on the Platte County Health Department Board of Trustees.
Winners were Michael Shafe, Susan Cole and Kim Swaney. They were the three candidates who had been backed by the Platte County Republican Central Committee. Also running were three candidates backed by the Platte County Federated Democratic Women’s Club: Paula Willmarth, Steven Hoeger and Karen Payne. Also on the ballot were Marygold Fry and Brandi Moritz.
Vote totals:
Shafe 4,747
Cole 4,091
Swaney 3,830
Payne 3,010
Willmarth 2,412
Hoeger 2,375
Moritz 1,302
Fry 1,252
Voter turnout countywide on Tuesday was 14.73 percent, officials with the Platte County Board of Elections said. Chris Hershey, a director with the board of elections, had correctly predicted a turnout percentage of 14 percent in last week’s Landmark.
Shafe, who has been board certified in emergency medicine since 1995, has served as an academic emergency physician training medical students and residents and fellow colleagues the value of applying research and science to help patients. He says he has opened multiple urgent care facilities.
Reached for reaction after results were in on Tuesday night, Shafe said he considered the news “a privilege, not a victory.” He added:
“It has never been about me…this is an opportunity for us to continue our journey to have the best health department.”
He recently said “We need to have trustees that will seek out the needs of our local community and listen to all perspectives and voices as we seek the best possible solutions. We need guidelines, protocols and policies that are current and most appropriate, yet flexible to new and sometimes unpopular data and science. We need policies that better prepare us for unthinkable and difficult health challenges that may occur in the future.”
Cole late Tuesday night told The Landmark: “I’m just very honored that I’ve won and very proud to serve the citizens of Platte County.”
Swaney could not be reached for comment by deadline.
Willmarth was the only incumbent who was in the race. She has lived in Platte County since 2014, moving back to the Kansas City area after 40 years in Jefferson City. She formerly worked for the Missouri Department of Social Services and the Department of Mental Health for a combined 30 years. She served as the director of the Division of Family Services for four years. Willmarth had been targeted for replacement by some members of the Platte County Commission, with presiding commissioner Scott Fricker during a recent county commission administrative session openly urging people to vote against the incumbent on the ballot.
Cole has worked in nursing for 40 years. She said she has worked in the hospital environment in cardiology, ICU, infection control, employee health and nursing management. She has been a school nurse in the Park Hill School District almost 16 years.
Swaney has had a career in nursing for more than 20 years, during which time she has worked for Liberty Hospital, the Platte County Health Department, St. Luke’s, Kanas City Veterans Affairs and more.
Payne is a registered nurse with 40-plus years of experience in the hospital setting, office nursing, school nursing and public health.
She worked at the Platte County Health Department from 1994 to 2004 as the communicable disease coordinator and later became a supervisor there.
Hoeger, who is also a Platte City alderman, has worked in health care for 35 years, 30 of them as a paramedic. He worked at the University of Kansas Hospital from 2012-19 as the Kansas Metro Healthcare Coalition coordinator. In 2019 he returned to Truman Medical Center, now University Health, as the corporate director of safety and emergency management.
Fry worked in public health early in her career, with the Kansas City Health Department. She said over the past 25 years she has been involved in and held executive positions in the Association of Professionals in Infection Control (APIC), North Kansas City Business Council, and Northland Business Women’s Breakfast Club.
Brandi Moritz was on the ballot but had not been openly campaigning for the position. She did not attend multiple candidate forums.