Dan Osman thinks Overland Park provides excellent services to its residents. But he also thinks the city has room for improvement, and he wants to be part of the solution.
Osman is running for the Ward 4 seat on the Overland Park City Council. Ward 4 covers 119th to 151st streets and Antioch to Pflumm. His opponent is Fred Spears, a 16-year veteran of the council. The general election is Nov. 5.
Osman is Jewish and a member of Congregation Beth Shalom. He was born in Overland Park, attended Kehilath Israel Synagogue while growing up and became a Bar Mitzvah there. He attended Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy from kindergarten through eighth grade and then switched to the Shawnee Mission School District. He graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law. He is 42 and has lived most of his life in the Kansas City area.
Before he started his candidacy for the council seat (osmanforop.com), he said, every time he had a question about a city ordinance or a maintenance problem, “I’d call up and get a prompt response.”
“I want to see that continue,” he said. “The staff of Overland Park have been fantastic. The problem comes at the leadership level. The problem is that the Overland Park City Council is not preparing for the future.”
That lack of preparation is tied largely to the council’s approval of public incentives for private developments, he said. The council has granted a total of $417.6 million in public incentives for private developments in the past five years, comprising property tax abatements, community improvement districts, tax increment financing and sales tax exemptions, according to the city’s staff. On Aug. 19, the council approved a $304.9 million budget for fiscal year 2020.
“There isn’t proper oversight of the developments,” Osman said. “We need proper, third-party analysis of developers’ numbers when they come in, that they make sense for residents and the city budget, and we need more requirements on contractual obligations. When they work with Overland Park, they’re seeking a handout.”
Osman supports developments in the city if a developer can find space to build a structure and the project doesn’t increase residents’ tax liabilities or require amended zoning laws, but “if you’re going to carve out exceptions for everyone that asks, then what’s the point of having a master plan in the first place?”
Osman says on his campaign website that the city needs “to support the city workers who make Overland Park run well.”
“Our $300 million budget is stretched thin,” he said. “How do we continue to keep the best staff available and the best services? We can’t just give it away. I’ve walked around 1,000 houses at this point. The reason my family lives here is because we love Overland Park. But I think Overland Park can be better and I want to make it better.”
Osman runs a consulting firm from his home — Osman Consultants LLC — focused on contract and affirmative action compliance. He started the small business five years ago and plans to continue running it whether he wins the council seat or not. He worked for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, Human Relations Department from 2008 to 2013, focused on ensuring proper representation for women and minority subcontractors working on city construction projects.
“I realized there were a lot of people confused about the process (and) ordinances, so I started a consulting company,” he said.
He also was a member of the Hickman Mills School District’s board from 2011 to 2017. His motivation to run for the council seat is rooted in his experience on the district’s board.
“I held monthly meetings where I would talk to people, find out their concerns and then take them back to the board, and then bring it back to the people,” he said. “I was the only person on the board who did that, held monthly meetings. Sometimes it was just me in a coffee shop with a book because no one had any concerns, and other times it was an entire school of teachers.”
Listening to constituents’ concerns and acting on them pertains to his desire to win the council seat, as well. He plans to hold town hall meetings at least monthly if he is elected. Residents of his district have told him of their concerns that the council wasn’t listening to them. Compounding that problem, Osman said, is that the city has no public comment period in meetings, other than at scheduled public hearings as required by law. And committee meetings almost never have public comments.
“I support having (public comment periods) at the start and end of full council and committee meetings,” he said. “That’s the work we need to do to listen to people. I’ve heard that from quite a number of people. Eventually, I realized I needed to run to make a change, to properly represent the people.”
Osman and his wife, Lindsey Osman, have been married almost 12 years. They have two daughters, ages 8 and 5, who attend schools in the Blue Valley School District. His father and mother, Steve and Susan Osman, live in the Kansas City area. His father is a former president of K.I. Osman’s sister, Lauren Raiche, and brother, Andrew Osman, also live in the Kansas City area.
Asked whether Judaism informs his approach to public service, Osman said: “It’s easy: Judaism teaches me that discrimination is wrong. It’s as simple as that. Tikkun olam — repairing the world, makes the world a better place (and) makes sure everybody has the ability to thrive.”
Because he believes in tikkun olam, Osman supports the non-discrimination ordinance (NDO) Overland Park passed last week. The NDO protects residents and employees from being denied housing, employment or services from businesses because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Discrimination is wrong, which is why I’ve always supported passage of the NDO,” he said. “I was in attendance at the committee meeting and it was standing room only because so many people showed up to express support for its passage. I truly believe that made the difference in changing many of the city councilmembers minds on the issue.”
