Wichita mayor pushed to give public funds to a local nonprofit despite close ties

Wichita Mayor Lily Wu pushed to give $25,000 in federal funding to an organization where she is a board member, a move that tests the boundaries of the city’s ethics ordinance.

Wu said she doesn’t think she violated the city’s conflict of interest rules. The city’s law department gave council members the go-ahead to award public money to organizations they’re tied to, as long as the council members don’t benefit financially, she said.

“I take the City’s ethics ordinance seriously, and do not believe my participation violated it,” Wu said in a written statement. “I’ve been advised by the Law Department that volunteer service on a nonprofit board, absent any financial interest or personal gain, does not require recusal from discussion or voting.”

It’s the latest instance of an elected official toeing near the blurry legal line that separates officials’ government positions and their service on nonprofit boards, many of which receive money from the very government agencies their board members control.

At issue is the city’s financial support for the Greater Wichita YMCA’s After School Middle School program, a partnership with Wichita Public Schools that provides services in schools after the final bell rings. Wu is a board member for the Steve Clark branch YMCA, one of several branches in the Wichita area.

A City Council-appointed grant review committee recommended discontinuing funding to the Y program, citing the committee’s desire to boost federal Community Development Block Grant funding to smaller organizations instead of bolstering the Y, which had revenue of nearly $74 million in 2024.

Wu advocated to overrule the committee and allocate $25,000 to the Y, which had received support through the city’s community development grant for 30 years. The council rejected it, in large part because Wu’s proposal to fund the Y also would have required a local homeless service provider — United Methodist Open Door — to move its operations from Second and Topeka to the city-backed Second Light facility to receive the funding.

Wu said she supports funding the Y’s program because it helps with several of the city’s initiatives.

“Programs like these provide safe and affordable environments for students after school, help keep kids active and engaged, support working families, and create mentorship and employment pathways for young people,” Wu said.

It wasn’t until after Wu’s proposal failed and nearly two hours of contentious debate that she disclosed her ties to the YMCA.

“Yes, out of full disclosure, I am a board member of the YMCA,” Wu said during the May 5 meeting. “I have no benefit – financial benefit – from the YMCA. As a matter of fact, I give money to the YMCA.”

Wu later clarified to The Eagle that she is not a board member of the larger local YMCA organization but of a branch within it.

“To be clear, I am not a board member for the Greater Wichita YMCA,” Wu said in an email response to questions. “For transparency, I disclosed from the bench that I serve as a volunteer advisory board member for one YMCA branch location, which is publicly available information. I receive no compensation, financial benefit, or personal gain from the YMCA or from any action taken by the City Council related to YMCA funding. The City Law Department has advised recusal is not required when there is no financial interest involved.”

The council’s ethics ordinance makes no such distinction between financial interest and other kinds that could give the appearance of impropriety, directing city officials to “avoid conflicts of interest by refraining from participating in decisions or being involved in transactions in which officials . . . have an interest.”

The ordinance also bans “assisting or representing the private interests of another before any commission or board of the City” and “unduly influencing City staff on projects benefiting private parties.” It also requires officials to “remain impartial in their consideration of the City’s business, including the approval of public policies and awarding of contracts.”

The city’s ethics officer, Kathy Sexton, did not respond to questions for this story.

Wu said the city’s law department issued a memo to council members on May 7, after The Eagle asked about Wu’s actions at the May 5 meeting, related to council members influencing city decisions on funding for nonprofit organizations whose boards they serve on. It cautioned council members to “consider the public perception of actions and/or advocacy for certain entities, individuals or interests,” according to a snippet of the memo provided by Wu.

“Many of you serve on boards of nonprofits,” the legal memo continued. “Simply serving as a board member of a nonprofit is not a conflict. However, Council Members should be aware of public perception of how you advocate for the entities that you serve and how you disclose your affiliation with such nonprofits.”

Wu’s longtime ties to the Greater Wichita YMCA are no secret. They became a campaign issue in 2023 when former Mayor Brandon Whipple questioned Wu’s ethics as a television news reporter at KAKE and KWCH, where she covered stories on donations to the Steve Clark YMCA without disclosing to viewers that the donor, Steve Clark, is her boyfriend’s father and that she is a member of that YMCA branch’s advisory board.

That board membership is included on Wu’s page on the city’s website, but it was not listed in her statement of substantial Interest disclosure, where candidates for office are required by state law to report board appointments.

State law prohibits local elected officials from participating in contracts with businesses in which they have a substantial interest. Nonprofit organizations such as the Y are exempt. A separate state law requires officeholders to disclose all board memberships on a statement of substantial interests for local officers, including unpaid volunteer positions. But the state rarely enforces it, and the typical punishment is having to file updated forms.

Violators include four out of five Sedgwick County commissioners in 2021, who, like Wu, failed to disclose their nonprofit board memberships, and former Mayor Jeff Longwell, who in 2018 and 2019 failed to disclose gifts from for-profit companies that were bidding on the city’s water treatment plant while he steered the contract in their favor without disclosing the relationship.

Wu told The Eagle that she was unaware of the requirement and that she updated and refiled her disclosure statement on May 8. It was not available on the Sedgwick County Election Office’s website as of Thursday, May 14. Three other council members — Dalton Glasscock, Joseph Shepard and Mike Hoheisel — also filed updated disclosure forms listing their affiliations with nonprofit organizations after the city’s law department sent out its memo.

“This would not have changed my participation in Tuesday’s discussion or vote,” Wu said of the disclosure requirement.

It’s unclear what effect, if any, the city’s decision to cut funding to the YMCA will have on the after school program.

“We were disappointed to hear about the council’s decision to end the 30-year partnership with the YMCA and Wichita Public Schools serving thousands of middle schoolers through the Middle School After School Program,” the Greater Wichita YMCA said in a statement. “This free program is community supported so we are still evaluating the impacts and are actively searching for new partners and donors.”