Goddard residents respond to City Hall upheaval with calls for Mayor Larkin to resign

Goddard citizens got their first chance Monday to air their grievances with the City Council since Hunter Larkin was re-appointed mayor during an upheaval that saw the exit of a longtime City Council member and the firing of the city administrator.

Roughly 75 people gathered at a park pavilion outside City Hall ahead of the meeting to drum up support for a recall vote to remove Larkin, the 24-year-old who previously resigned as mayor last May amid a cloud of ethical concerns about his relationship with local developers.

“It’s a cautionary tale for other municipalities,” For Goddard’s Sake organizer Liz Hamor said at the pre-meeting rally. “We have been unengaged. Larkin was voted in with 189 votes last time.”

With the signatures of a sufficient number of Goddard citizens, organizers can request that a recall vote be held for Larkin and potentially for his allies on the council who facilitated what they see as a coup. The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office would ultimately decide if there are sufficient grounds to hold a vote.

One protest attendee was 19-year-old Allison Anderson, a Goddard High School graduate who said Larkin isn’t a good representation of the city’s young people.

“You’re a disgrace, and I ask you to resign,” she told Larkin during public forum.

During an hour of public comments, citizens overwhelmingly expressed their frustration, anger and embarrassment with the recent spectacle, which captured national headlines and cast the city in a less than desirable light.

“You’re back in the mayor’s office now. Can you tell the people in this room that everyone on the City Council is going to make decisions with our land . . . and the only reason you’re going to do it is for the betterment of our community? Not your connection to the developers,” Goddard citizen Bill Woods asked.

After public comment, Larkin responded to the criticism with a quote from Steve Jobs: “Here’s to the crazy ones . . . the troublemakers . . . The ones that think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

He indicated he has no intention of stepping aside again, and stood by his decision to initiate the termination of City Administrator Brian Silcott, who had been in his position for 19 years.

“I think the consensus was really that this change needed to happen,” Larkin said after the meeting, where a number of audience members held signs calling on him to resign. “And however you unpackage that, the people want a transparent government that is going to be accountable to them.”

During the meeting, Vice Mayor Sarah Leland also defended the decision to remove the city administrator.

“If any one of you fired an employee or were fired, would that business be aired? No it would not, so think about that please,” Leland interjected in response to a comment during public forum.

Former Mayor Larry Zimmerman spent 23 years on the council and was removed as mayor before resigning his seat rather than participate in firing Silcott. Goddard’s assistant city administrator also resigned in the chaos.

“Now we’re left with basically five mini administrators running around that have no idea what city business is all about trying to run our city and do things to help — in my book, the people that are trying to develop in this area and wanting favors,” Zimmerman said at the pre-meeting rally.

The council on Monday approved severance packages for both departed administrators — roughly $70,000 plus several months of health insurance — and began discussing plans to hire their next city administrator.

“One thing for me that matters the most is that when we find candidates, I want every candidate looked at to make sure that no candidate that is considered has any relationship with anybody at all [on the council],” said council member Keaton Fish, who was appointed at the last meeting.

“Personally, I would love to see somebody fresh to Goddard who doesn’t have any relationships with any specific businesses. I think we need somebody to come in with a fresh mind and a fresh start.”

The council considered hiring a headhunter firm to help with the selection of the next administrator but took no binding action Monday.

This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 12:12 AM.