Billy Croan (Merriam Mayor, Kansas, candidate 2025)

Billy Croan (Libertarian Party) is running for election to Merriam Mayor in Kansas on November 4, 2025.^[1]

Elections

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

Billy Croan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Croan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m Billy Croan, and I’m running for Mayor of Merriam Kansas because our city deserves open, honest leadership that listens to the people. I was born here 39 years ago. I’ve lived in the metro all my life, and bought my Merriam home in 2014. Since then I’ve served my neighborhood and the city in countless capacities over the course of a decade. I’ve given my time as an election worker as well to support the democratic process we hold dear. I show up. I take notes. And I get things done. I’m ready to begin my first term as Mayor of Merriam KS, January 2025 with your approval between now and November 4th!

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I’m proud of our city’s small town feel and I’ll protect that at every opportunity, not pack in more apartment buildings shoulder to shoulder.
It’s time for change. #MerriamDeservesBetter leadership, and I will bring that, November 4th.
Our city must transparently focus on communication, collaboration, and cooperation with other local agencies and end the decade of turf wars that have set our city back for a decade.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Lowering City Property Tax, every year Ending Corporate Welfare Locally sourcing staff, projects, and materials Transparent Open Government, by default

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Communication, Collaboration, and Cooperation!

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Listening, Patience, Cautious spending, Representation, Dignity, and Fairness.

A mayor is a leader in his or her city. What does that mean to you?

Being a leader means being open, accessible, honest, and listening to the people of the city. All of them. Standing up for my Neighbors and our city’s business community, and facilitating continual improvement from the staff. I am ready to be yelled at for what our government does or doesn’t do, and listen and help our staff grow to better serve the community.

If the mayor in your city is a member of the city council and there's a city manager appointed to handle the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe should be the mayor's top priority in office?

Presence, Observation, and Supervision of the city administrator and department heads to keep them focused in a positive direction, and their departments operating efficiently.

If the mayor in your city is not a member of the city council and oversees the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor and city council?

N/A

What do you love most about your city?

I love the small town feel and distance from (and closeness to) busier cities in our area. Our location is Just Right.

What do you perceive to be your city's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Our greatest challenges will be to improve efficiency and reduce property taxes. Too long they have risen drastically each year and that has to stop before more people lose their homes. We must resist the government’s tendency to expand and grow its administrative empire.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the state government?

This wording of this question strikes at a fundamental oversight I notice often and it’s is worth some pause. Does “your city” mean “your city government” or “the people and communities of your city”? To me. “The city” should be “the people”, and the “city government” works for and is subordinate to “the people of the city”

To answer your question then, depending on what your definition is, I can tell you: OUR CITY GOVERNMENT is subordinate to the people of our city, and subordinate to the state of Kansas. Our city government, and its paid staff while clocked in, should not attempt to control state government. That would exceed their authority, because the state government is meant to listen to the individual people who pay taxes and vote. City governments do neither. THE PEOPLE OF OUR CITY have collective ownership over the state government, and should assert that ownership regularly by voting and telling their elected representatives clearly what they need to do in Topeka. Our city government should make space available in non-partisan ways, for our state representatives and the people they serve to meet.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the federal government?

OUR CITY GOVERNMENT is subordinate to the people of our city, and loosely subordinate to the federal government. Our city police should neither obstruct, nor assist in federal matters (contemporarily, ICE). City staff should comply with federal law when such law is not genuinely contested by the federal or state court systems, but should remain separate from federal law enforcement and stay out of their way.

THE PEOPLE OF OUR CITY have collective ownership over the federal government, and should assert that ownership regularly by voting and telling their elected representatives clearly what they need to do in Washington. Our city government should make space available in non-partisan ways, for our federal representatives and the people they serve to meet.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor's office and law enforcement?

The Mayor must oversee the policies and procedures of the city’s police department; and regularly supervise and meet with the Chief to direct enforcement in areas that maximally protect the community, reducing waste, and preserving maximum freedom and liberty for the people of Merriam.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I first worked as a Clinical Systems Analyst for Saint Luke’s Shawnee Mission health system. I enjoyed maintaining the departmental IT needs of clinical diagnostic and treatment hardware for several departments on the Plaza location and several others around KC.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I was in 10th grade when 9/11 happened. I remember watching it at school. We still changed rooms when the bell rang, but nobody was teaching, we were just glued to the TV and I wondered if Kansas City would be next. In the following weeks and months, I paid attention as politicians took advantage of our fear to attack the dignity of minorities and the freedom of all people in America, by escalating surveillance of the people, wire taps, drag-net surveillance…. I still remember how efficient the KC airport was before 9/11. It was wonderful. I will never forget, not just the lives lost that day, but the sense of freedom taken away by our government in the years following. America lost that attack in more than just the casualties of that day. We lost first responders in the days that followed, and some of our sense of freedom and individuality.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Locally, Ward 4 Councilman David Neal was an inspiration to serve. David was my councilman in Ward 4 for many years, and I proudly watched David’s dedication to our community. The time he spent engaging with and supporting the community left some awfully big shoes to fill.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Politicians should focus less on their own legacy and more on their community.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Marriage is a commitment that requires care and work and listening and compromise. I don’t regret ours for a moment, but it has challenged me to grow and change as a person to honor the commitment we made to each other and I’m proud of that.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Historic Merriam, available at the library in our city, journals 150 years of our city’s history, before we were even called Merriam. Come read through it one afternoon! I also got permission to turn it into a wiki. So probably after the election, check Croan.org for a link to the Merriam Wiki.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

I love Ron Swanson, from Parks and Rec!

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Downtown Merriam Partnership

What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

I'm proud of my spouse's accomplishment of earning citizenship through the proper (but slow, and difficult and expensive) channels. So many nights spent going through paperwork and collecting statements and supporting evidence and combing through every last question. It is an extraordinary honor that men and women across the world leave their home countries and choose Kansas as their new home and I'm so happy to welcome them to our community!

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