Kelly Power won the Republican nomination for presiding commissioner of Stone County in the Aug. 4 primary. With no Democratic opposition in the November general election, the position is decided - Power will be sworn into office in January 2027.
Power's win in the three-way race unseats incumbent Gordon Weathers, who was appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe in September 2025 after Mark Maples resigned that July. Power took 2,643 votes to Weathers' 2,460. Doug Minton finished third with 1,819, leaving Power the winner with about 38 percent.
Power's 183-vote margin arrives in a county that split nearly as closely in April, when voters were asked "Shall county Planning and Zoning be continued?" Stone County decided yes, by 78 votes, out of 8,168 cast.
The April vote kept Planning and Zoning in place, it did not settle the argument over how the department operates... and that argument now belongs to Power. "I don't believe the concept of Planning and Zoning is broken," Power, who responded to questions in writing, said. "I believe the relationship between Planning & Zoning and a large portion of the public has been broken."
"More than anything, people told me they wanted to be heard. I heard frustration with Planning & Zoning, but it went beyond Planning & Zoning. People want better communication from their county government. They want to understand why decisions are being made, they want answers when they have questions and they want to feel like the people making those decisions are listening to them."
When asked what he owes to the 62 percent of votes that didn’t fall his way, Power answered, "The exact same thing I owe the people who voted for me. I’m not the commissioner for the 38 percent who voted for Kelly Power. My responsibility is to everybody in Stone County." In February, the commission engaged the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments to guide a review of the county's zoning ordinances and gather public feedback. SMCOG is a regional planning commission serving ten southwest Missouri counties, administered through Missouri State University's Center for Resource Planning and Management. Stone County is a member; Northern District Commissioner Wayne Blades serves on its board.
Days after the April vote, Weathers announced a six-month plan built on that work: reviewing regulations against the public feedback, filling five vacant seats on the Planning and Zoning board, hiring a new department director, training staff and streamlining building permits and lot-split procedures. A public survey remains open at StoneCountyListens.org.
Much of that work will still be underway when Power takes office. Asked whether he would continue the plan or start over, he said he saw no reason to discard it. "I’m not interested in throwing away good work just so I can put my name on something," Power said. "SMCOG can be a resource. Consultants can be resources. Staff can be resources. Citizens absolutely have to be part of the process. But ultimately the decisions about Stone County need to be made here in Stone County."
He credited Weathers with recognizing the department needed attention and beginning the public input process. "If something is working, we’re going to keep doing it," he said. "If a program is good for Stone County, I don’t care whose idea it was." His own priorities for the department largely match what is already on the list: an updated comprehensive plan and a review of regulations, permitting, lot splits and how the department communicates with property owners.
The friction Power inherits is not abstract. KSMU reported in March that, according to Casenet, Missouri’s online court records system, there have been more than 150 lawsuits involving the Planning and Zoning department since 2023. Asked what is driving that number, Power declined to assign blame before reviewing the cases himself, but said the volume itself is a signal. "Anytime government and citizens repeatedly end up in court, that’s something leadership should examine," he said. He listed the questions he intends to ask: whether the regulations are clear, whether they are applied consistently, whether similar properties are treated the same way and whether disputes have any real path to resolution before they reach a courtroom. "A property owner shouldn’t have to hire an attorney just to figure out what the county expects from them," Power said.
Power said governing a department that survived abolition by 78 votes requires humility. "That is not something you brush aside," he said. Asked whether there is a point at which he would support putting Planning and Zoning back on the ballot, he said the voters answered that question in April and his job is now to make the department work.
Asked what residents will actually notice first when he takes office in January, Power’s answer was communication.
"People shouldn’t have to hear through the grapevine what their county government is doing," he said. "I want residents to be able to see what issues we’re working on, what decisions are coming, what decisions have been made and why."
He said he will also immediately begin sitting down with every county office and department to review finances, problems and priorities. "There are some things that will take months or years. Better communication doesn’t have to."
On the budget, Power declined to name a line item he would cut, saying he promised a full review and would not single out a department "simply because it makes a good newspaper quote." He said he will look for duplicated services, unnecessary outside consulting and recurring expenses that are not producing results and that he wants to strengthen the commission’s administrative support.
On the county’s Road and Bridge Fund, he said he first wants a complete picture of infrastructure conditions and needs over the next one, five and ten years. He would not rule out asking voters for money, but said, "asking taxpayers for more money should not be the first answer."
The comprehensive plan is the closest thing Power offered to a signature priority and he tied it directly to development pressure around Table Rock Lake.
"Saying government should regulate everything is wrong and saying there should be absolutely no rules isn’t realistic in one of the fastest-developing tourism areas of the county," he said. "Property rights matter to me. If somebody owns property, government should have a very good reason before telling that person what they can or cannot do with it. But your property rights also exist next to your neighbor’s property rights."
On short-term rentals, Power named the specific impacts he believes the county should regulate: septic capacity, parking, emergency vehicle access, occupancy, safety and effects on neighboring property owners. He said lakefront development calls for the same approach - encouraging responsible growth while protecting water quality and what he called the natural character of Stone County.
"We shouldn’t make these decisions one development at a time with no long-term vision," he said. "Stone County is going to grow whether we prepare for it or not." Power takes office in January 2027, with the SMCOG review still underway and a Planning and Zoning director yet to be hired.
"I haven’t even been given the opportunity to make the changes I campaigned on yet," he said. "Give us the opportunity to fix it first. Hold me accountable for the results."
