In December of 2018 Dan McNally was chosen by the Pittsburg City Commission to replace Jeremy Johnson after he was elected to the Crawford County Commission in November of last year. Dan is one of six candidates running for three seats on the Pittsburg City Commission. The two top vote receivers will serve 4-year terms, while the candidate with the 3rd most amount of votes will serve  2-years. Pittsburg residents can vote for up to three different candidates in this election. 

Dan is a lifelong Kansas resident who earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from KU and a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Pittsburg State. He’s spent a career working in mental health services in Southeast Kansas and is currently employed at Spring River Mental Health and Wellness Inc. located in Riverton, Kansas. He also has 14 years of experience working at the Family Resource Center in Pittsburg. According to Dan, he has built a career in problem solving and helping people and he believes that this experience and decision making make him well qualified to be elected to the Pittsburg City Commission. 

During a recent candidate meet-up hosted by the Pittsburg Area Young Professionals when asked what he thought the two most important topics in Pittsburg were Dan identified retaining Pittsburg State students post-graduation and affordable childcare.  He points to the cities roughly 1% percent annual growth in population and believes Pittsburg is “missing out” once students complete their education and move. Also, he believes that childcare should be more accessible to families in Pittsburg. Dan cites possible city incentives to “expand capacity through employer based care” and a Childcare Task Force in Pittsburg that meets to assess the needs of parents and their kids. 

On the topic of whether Pittsburg should break away from Evergy and create its own public utility Dan says that he has a list of boxes that must be checked. The first includes whether the new locally owned power company would provide lower rates for consumers. Other concerns include how much the company would cost to acquire, how it would be regulated and how would outages be handled. Ultimately, Dan believes that a decision of this magnitude that could shape the city for decades to come should be decided by residents of Pittsburg who are going to pay the bill. 

To learn more about Dan and his campaign visit his Facebook page by clicking this link. You can also email him at dan.mcnally@pittks.org