There’s a new city council representative for District 1, an area that includes Wichita State and the surrounding neighborhoods. Joseph Shepard, former WSU student body president, was sworn into office Monday evening, alongside incumbent council members Mike Hoheisel (District 3) and Maggie Ballard (District 6).
“It is only by coming together,” Shepard said, “that we can restore trust and confidence in local government and make progress on the kitchen-table issues. And that is what I intend to do as your District 1 representative on the Wichita City Council.”
Former District 1 council member Brandon Johnson, who reached his term limit and could not run for reelection, endorsed Shepard as his replacement. In a mostly full council chamber in City Hall, Johnson reflected on his eight years in office.
“Those who put their trust in me, I’m forever grateful. You’ve given me the honor of a lifetime,” Johnson said. “We did some real good work together. There’s still much more to do. Wichita finds itself at a crossroads of possibilities.”
Shepard said he is excited to begin work on several initiatives.
“One of the things that I really want to do is activate our young professionals and our young people, not for political propaganda, but for real,” he said. “I’m going to be working with council member (Dalton) Glasscock to introduce an ordinance that will make sure that young people have a voice on many city boards, and that they have a vote on those boards. Right now, that’s not the case, and so I want to make sure that that happens.”
Shepard said people can reach him by cell phone at 316-226-0974. Contact information for all council members is available here.
