Mario Vasquez has become Kansas City’s 16th city manager after the City Council voted 11-2 to approve Mayor Quinton Lucas’s recommendation on Thursday.

(Councilmembers Ryana Parks-Shaw and Darrell Curls, both representing the 5th district, were the votes against Vasquez.)

The decision came nine weeks after the council suspended — and ultimately fired — former City Manager Brian Platt. The speedy search for Platt’s replacement contrasted with the yearlong national search that led to Platt’s hiring in 2020.

“Several big projects happening in Kansas City,” Lucas said after the vote. “We were blessed with having three outstanding candidates, all with long relationships with Kansas City. And so I am heartened that I think we had a good process, and we’re all proud to work with our new city manager.”

The expedited hiring process was open to outside candidates, but the decision came down to three people with experience working at Kansas City Hall : Kimiko Gilmore, the interim city manager, Vasquez, the director of city planning and development, and Patrick Klein, the former director of aviation who retired in 2023.

After the council fired Platt in March , Lucas said a drawn-out hiring process could create challenges for Kansas City to plan for its future — particularly at a time when he believes the city needs to keep its momentum moving.

Now that Vasquez has been hired as city manager, here’s a look ahead at three immediate priorities he will be tasked with overseeing.

Preparing for the World Cup

Almost three years ago, FIFA World Cup officials announced Kansas City would be one of the host cities for next year’s matches. Lindsey Douglas, the chief operating officer of KC2026, told KCUR she expects around 650,000 visitors to come to Kansas City for those games next summer.

That’s more than Kansas City’s entire population.

Preparations are underway, including modifications to Arrowhead Stadium and the overhaul of Barney Allis Plaza to become a gathering place for fans .

Kansas City also will lease 200 buses for transportation to and from Arrowhead Stadium, hotels, gathering spaces and the airport.

Vasquez expressed concern during his job interview about whether City Hall is ready for 650,000 tourists to descend upon the city next summer.

“We are, I feel, somewhat unprepared,” he said. “We have a liability with respect to that event if we don’t perform as required.”

He said that Kansas City needs to urgently fill two high-level job vacancies — director of the office of emergency management and chief of the fire department.

Public safety and the new Kansas City jail

Kansas City voters approved a sales tax renewal last month that will finance construction of a new municipal jail.

As city manager, Vasquez will be tasked with overseeing the design, construction and operation of the jail.

But more broadly, the new city manager will need to figure out how to make residents safer — concerns ranging from high-profile violent events like last year’s Super Bowl parade shooting , to increases in nonfatal shootings and property crimes in neighborhoods across the city.

Kansas City has limited power over its police department, which is run by a state-appointed board .

But Vasquez said during his job interview that addressing public safety will take more than just policing.

“We need to provide resources to be able to address some of the issues that exist as a result of mental health and which are exacerbated by the fact that there is also a drug use problem in the city,” he said. “It isn’t just traditional policing, but it’s also figuring out how we support all the other things and all the other needs the community has with respect to crime and safety.”

Development amid economic uncertainty

The City Council passed its yearly budget on March 20, two weeks after the council suspended Platt and a week before the council fired him.

During the budget presentation, Kansas City’s Budget Officer Krista Morrison said many cities and counties across the country, including Kansas City, are experiencing a slowdown in revenue growth.

That doesn’t mean the city is anywhere near a budget crisis. But it could mean that cuts to city services may be coming in the future.

If the time comes, Vasquez, as the new city manager, will be tasked with navigating those budget problems and deciding which services may need cuts. He said he will rely on the city’s resident satisfaction survey to figure out which services are the biggest priority for Kansas Citians.

The financial problems could be made worse by federal spending cuts that could impact housing projects or the police department .

Vasquez is also thinking ahead to April 2026, when Kansas City will need to ask voters to renew the city’s earnings tax. If that measure fails, Kansas City would lose 50% of its discretionary spending, which is money that the city is free to use for any purpose, as opposed to money that is earmarked for a specific use.

One way to solve those problems, Vasquez said, is by promoting economic development that would stabilize neighborhoods and bring property tax revenue back to the city and school districts.

Vasquez sees opportunity in more suburban areas of the city, like the Northland, to build up an “engine of growth.”

“Eighty percent of consumers out there want a suburban lifestyle,” he said during his job interview. “Our surrounding community delivers that to them. We need to capture that market share.”

In addition, he said, there are three other development priorities for Kansas City. They include disinvested neighborhoods that need resources for redevelopment, thriving neighborhoods that need to stay that way, and neighborhoods that are on the brink of economic instability and need to be watched carefully.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.