Jackson County Executive candidates debate policy, path back to public trust ahead of Nov. election
Stacy Lake and Alan Rohlfing at the candidate forum, Oct. 8, 2026. // Photo by River Louraine
The recent history of Jackson County executives has been turbulent, to say the least. One of the newer entries in this record was Frank White, Jr., who was recalled in Sept. of last year with a whopping 89% in favor of removing him from office. Those against White accused his administration of failing to resolve issues from the 2023 tax assessment cycle and of causing a months-long budget crisis last year.
The interim county executive, Phil LeVota, signed an executive order in July of this year approving property tax credits for thousands of Jackson County homeowners who overpaid in 2023 and 2024 after their property assessments rose by 15% or more. However, one month later, after only 10 months in office, LeVota was indicted on federal bribery charges. LeVota allegedly offered jobs in county government in exchange for his opponents dropping out of the race. The Jackson County executive position, with two other elected officials federally indicted recently, seems to have an inescapable tie to corruption. With the position back on the ballot in November, Jackson County residents need someone they can trust and who can prove they deserve it.
Last night, Trinity Community Development Corporation hosted “Jackson County: The Road Ahead,” a non-partisan forum for Jackson County executive candidates that brought Stacy Lake (Democrat) and Alan Rohlfing (Republican) to the community to answer important questions we all have.
The forum’s goal was to help the audience fully understand how each candidate would approach the county’s responsibilities, and Lake did not waver in her responses. With her background as an attorney specializing in civil litigation, Lake was clear and concise about what she would do for the county if elected. This will not be Lake’s first endeavor for the position; she had run for county executive against White in the 2022 Democratic primary. Despite being a newcomer to this political scene, she came within four points of beating the longtime incumbent.
“In my opinion, our prior county executives have been more akin to mascots rather than managers,” Lake said at the forum about the turmoil of the past. “There hasn’t really been a focus on fixing systemic issues that have been plaguing Jackson County for decades.” Lake would weave in examples to explain her stance, such as the fact that many county buildings are crumbling and not ADA-compliant, meaning many residents cannot access them.
Rohlfing, with more than 30 years of experience in the United States Army, held his own with the questions, but stumbled through them all the same.
In regard to what a homeowner in 2027 should expect in the assessment cycle, Rohlfing said, “A lot of us in these county races have reforming the assessment and the taxation process as part of our want-to-do list, our platform. To me, those are two separate processes; the county executive only has so much control over what your final property tax bill looks like. But in my view, reforming the assessment is making those systems more accurate, consistent, transparent, more predictable, easier to challenge when there are errors.” He said it’s a bit of modernization and that he would like to see certain changes happen without directly naming them.
Lake disagreed with Rohlfing, saying the county executive has significant control over the assessment department. This position appoints the assessor and is responsible for the proper administration of Jackson County government. She made it clear that this role has been vacant for a year and that the new appointee will inherit the system in 2027. The county also does not currently have a director of collections, finance and purchasing, HR, or recorder of deeds. The people who should administer the aforementioned tax credits program are not in place.
“What I’m going to do with auditing the Jackson County government is make sure that the assessment is complying with Missouri law. One of the big reasons why the 2019, 2023, and 2025 property tax crises occurred was because we weren’t complying with Missouri statute 137.115, which gives the law on how an assessment should be properly conducted.”
Lake was able to respond to every question given to her, giving multiple instances of how the past county governments have failed and what she would do to fix the issues they left behind: “The last audit we had was a partial audit in 2017 and 2018. When we got the report back on the issues that we needed to fix in Jackson County, you know what the government did? They didn’t do anything.” She firmly stated that she wants to be held accountable for any shortcomings, but remained determined and confident that she can and will provide answers and relief to all Jackson County residents, including those in the quieter, unincorporated areas.
Rohlfing agreed with many of the statements Lake had made when she spoke first, and was humble in admitting he didn’t have the right answer immediately. Rohlfing recognized he needed to do more research on the long- and short-term plan for the school budget, as well as the literacy crisis facing kids in the county.
“That’s a good question, and I need to do some more research. I need to be smarter on that,” he said. With the election less than a month away, hopefully that research will come soon.
The two candidates gave an enlightening conversation on how they would approach the county government, accountability and transparency, infrastructure, and restoring public trust. At the end of the forum, the moderator, Gary Jones, reminded us that our vote will affect the county’s children. He left us hopeful that, when we gather again in four years for the next election, we’ll be able to say, “The kids are well.”
The County Executive will be on the ballot on Nov. 3. Make sure you’re registered to vote and find your voting location here for Kansas City and here for other areas of Jackson County.
