Brad Finkeldei

Attorney and nonprofit board member Brad Finkeldei has filed for election to the Lawrence City Commission.

Finkeldei, a native of Wichita, graduated from the University of Kansas law school and has lived in Lawrence permanently since 2000. Finkeldei, 45, has served on the boards of various local organizations and the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission and said that he wants to take his service a step further.

“I’ve had the pleasure of serving on multiple boards and committees with residents from all over Lawrence over the last 20 years,” Finkeldei said. “And I think I’ve made some impacts while doing so, but I wanted to be able to use those experiences to take the next step and be on the City Commission, and be part of solving some of the important issues.”

Finkeldei is an attorney with Stevens & Brand law firm, where he focuses on litigation, banking and governmental law. He currently serves on the boards of four local organizations: Lawrence Family Promise, Ballard Community Services, St. John’s Catholic Church Finance Committee and the Ethel and Raymond Rice Foundation.

Finkeldei said one of the important issues he would address as a member of the commission is the city’s shortage of affordable housing, and in particular how best to use the city’s new affordable housing funds. Lawrence voters approved a sales tax in 2017 that will provide about $1 million annually to the city’s affordable housing fund for the next 10 years. Funds from the sales tax will start coming in later this year.

Finkeldei served on the Planning Commission from 2006 to 2012, and was the commission’s chair in 2008. He also served a year on the city’s Joint Economic Development Council and was a member of the Lawrence Alcohol Tax Fund Committee from 2005 to 2009.

The seats of commissioners Leslie Soden, Matthew Herbert and Stuart Boley are up for re-election this year. Soden has announced she will not be running for re-election. Finkeldei is the second candidate to file for the 2019 City Commission election, joining veteran and nonprofit board member Dustin Stumblingbear.

City ordinance requires a primary when the number of candidates is more than two times the number of open seats. The filing deadline for the election is noon on June 3, according to Douglas County Deputy Elections Clerk Heather Dill. She said that if a primary is needed, it will be held Aug. 6.