Shawnee County District 1 Commissioner Bill Riphahn announces re-election bid
Shawnee County commissioner Bill Riphahn has formally announced he will run for re-election in the 2022 election. Riphahn announced his first bid in 2018. He won the election and was sworn in in January of 2019.
The election primary is August 2, and voter registration is due three weeks before that date. Election day is November 8.
Riphahn’s four years representing District 1 were marked by what he calls two “lost years” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, Commissioner Riphahn is proud of some of the projects he has been a part of, particularly the Stormont Vail Events Center renovations.
“It brought that building up to speed with a new sound system, new lighting, heating and air conditioning,” he said. “You don’t have to climb those stairs anymore to get up to the main arena.”
Riphahn says he feels these were “really good improvements.”
Other projects he’s helped drive forward include big projects done on 29th and 45th streets. He was also very pleased with work done on the Deer Creek Trail, which is being extended further south. Riphahn hopes the section being worked on should be finished by mid summer.
If his bid for re-election is successful, Riphahn says he looks forward to making up for lost time, while also looking at the future of Shawnee County.
“We’re kind of on the edge of having wind and solar energy in our county,” he said. “And we need to be ready for that by getting some zoning in place that up.
Riphahn would also like to work to extend the bike trails even further. His ultimate goal would be to get trails that circle Lake Shawnee, get on the Deer Creek Trail and take it to the Big Shunga trail finally ending up on the other side of town.
Other projects he will hope to work on if re-elected include further refinements of Topeka Boulevard and an expansion of kid sports in the city and county.
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County commission elections are held on even numbered years, and of the three members on the board only Riphahn is up for re-election. The other two, chairman Aaron Mays and commissioner Kevin Cook, will be up for re-election in two years.
So far, Riphahn is the only person to announce an election bid, but others may soon follow. The deadline for candidates to register is June 1.
Because Riphahn has just announced his bid for re-election, there is no active website where people can find more information on him. Last time he ran, Riphahn set up a small website and said he will likely get one up and running soon.
“I haven’t set anything up yet,” he said. “But I’ll probably post something out there that people can go to.”
Alex Edwards is the local politics reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached via email at aedwards@gannett.com, or via twitter @AMEdwards21