Rebecca Hollister
Rebecca Hollister is a newcomer to elected office but has been active in the Leavenworth community and is a 2017 graduate of Leavenworth High School where she was a member of the National Honor Society. She went on to graduate from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. in 2021. Returning to Leavenworth, Hollister immediately went to work for USD 207 as she worked towards earning her MBA from the University of Kansas in 2024.
“After I graduated in 2021, I immediately started working at USD 207 as the treasurer,” Hollister said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of challenges through them and it’s a great place to work,” Hollister said.
She is currently the HR coordinator for USD 207.
Hollister said her experience working for the school district is related to city government in that the schools, public works and safety are ultimately connected.
“It’s important as a city commissioner to be able to help coordinate all of those things for the citizens and really help them understand the issues of their concerns,” Hollister said. “You have to have a very wide stretch of knowledge. It’s super important for a city commissioner to have the ability to be that first contact even if it’s not something that is directly related to the city commission.”
Hollister said that the four years working back in Leavenworth meant investing in building a life here, something she hopes will influence other young people to do.
“A huge reason I’m running is to keep young people attracted to Leavenworth,” Hollister said. “I want people to realize that being in Leavenworth is actually a prosperous, powerful choice they can make to start businesses or raise a family.”
“With the National Honor Society, there was a certain requirement where you get to see what you’re actually accomplishing and you get to meet a lot of people that make you realize ‘Hey, there’s a lot I can do.’”
Becoming actively involved in Leavenworth has led Hollister to maintain her roots here, where she presently works for USD 207 and volunteers for several organizations, such as LV Arts, CASA and the Leavenworth County Humane Society.
“I think social media sometimes makes us feel so powerless, seeing everything going on nationally and in the world,” Hollister said. “It’s almost too overwhelming and so people retreat of the idea they can’t control the things are going. But I realized through joining organizations I’m involved with, there is a lot we can do right here at home.”
She pointed to her work at CASA as one of the rewarding ways to get involved with the community to make a difference.
“Once young people realize it, they can turn their community service into a real passion for making a difference,” Hollister said.
Addressing young people in the community, Hollister emphasized the importance of getting involved in community decision-making.
“This is a generation that is well into the workforce and the last few of this generation is graduating from high school – and we’re going to become a huge portion of Leavenworth’s population,” Hollister said. It’s important to not just be represented in the sense that there’s demands my generation has but in the sense that we can demonstrate that we can become members of our community that are impactful and that can do things.”
As former treasurer for USD 207, Hollister said that there are correlations to navigating city budget issues.
“Finances play out in USD 207 in a way in which you’re not running a business, so to speak but it’s kind of similar to the city. You have the general fund, the capital improvements, capital outlay and just funding sources and there’s not a whole lot you can do about funding sources. It’s not like we’re selling goods. The MBA addresses managing a business budget, managing people, negotiations and deals.
In college I also majored in political economy, so I have a background in economics and particularly how they apply to politics.”
Hollister said the combination of educational experience in finance and experience with USD 207 spurred her to want to bring these skillsets to the city commission.
“I think I can use of all that for sure to look at these budgets, see what’s best for us in the long term and in the short term,” Hollister said. “Because a lot of what the city is facing is year of king of kicking the can down the road for certain improvement projects and it’s all sort of coming to a head at not a great time. It’s a crisis in that we need people from all different industries and different perspectives to be able to handle it one hundred percent.”
Hollister said that she grew up in a military family and understands the importance of having ties with Fort Leavenworth and those who have served in the military.
“The military community is so important because we’re trying to make this not just a great duty station for them, but a place where they might think about settling down for their entire lives,” Hollister said.
With a new mix of city commissioners likely in this election cycle, Hollister talked about her interpersonal skills on a commission with diverse opinions.
“We all want to make the city a better place,” Hollister said. “We just sometimes have different ideas about what the means and how to do it. But division is the greatest barrier to progress that have in the twenty-first century. I’m not interested in who they voted for president. I’m interested in how they think that they can make Leavenworth a better place and how we can all help each other with that goal.
As for issues she feels are high priority, Hollister was quick to name the first on her list.
“Economic development is number one in the problems category for me,” Hollister said. “That’s two pillars, two big things: revitalizing our downtown and widening our revenue base is going to be the long-term solution. The business and technology park that has sat empty for seven years – to be fair, COVID really threw a wrench in things because everything was interrupted. We either need to target a smaller industry that is okay with starting the electrical infrastructure that needs to be there for larger industry – because that’s part of the problem – so we either need to do that better through LCDC or Port Authority or bring it in internally. I have a lot of concerns about bringing it internal so that not my first choice. Regardless, we do need to bring a business in there or we need to say, this isn’t working, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to work in the next 10 years we need to make it housing or something like that. But it can’t sit empty another 10 years.”
Hollister said the second pillar of priority is affordable housing.
“We have not had any real significant developments for at least the past year,” Hollister said. “I’m a renter. I’m in the stage that a lot of people are where I’d really like to buy my first house and nothing is looking great for that price range of when you’re getting ready to buy your first home. It’s hard to say if I’m pro or anti RHID because it really just depends on where they are. They’re all so different on where they are and what the terms are.
We need to look at renters, first-time homeowners, forever homeowners and seniors and make sure that all those groups have affordable options.”
Hollister’s third pillar is public safety.
“This encompasses everything,” Hollister said. “It encompasses roads and sidewalks – are they safe? How bad are they? How fast can we fix them? It encompasses the police department. Is there a money fix for that department? Our stormwater system – people don’t see them so it’s tough to have a balance between wanting these and – when the city is in crisis mode – every little thing counts. Those little changes add up.
If we look long term, then at those goals, then as a city, we can work together and say let’s work toward the point where we can add a luxury. That’s how to be responsible fiscally.”
Hollister has appeared at several town halls, including the League of Women Voters, the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce candidate forum and a forum hosted by United Kansas.
You can watch her comments at this link to the Leavenworth-Lansing Chamber of Commerce YouTube link. Please feel free to use the slider to scroll through the video at your own pace.
https://youtu.be/L8aZx9kP4Vg?si=iJ4iEFTMCWvljbmP
Further information is at http://www.VoteHollister.com Hollister can be reached via email at votehollister@gmail.com Phone number 913240-5961 and via Facebook at Rebecca Hollister for Leavenworth City Commission.