Home remodeler, clinic director running for open seat in west Wichita City Council district

Two Republican candidates have entered the race to replace mayoral hopeful Bryan Frye as northwest Wichita’s District 5 City Council member.

Those men are J.V. Johnston, executive director of Guadalupe Clinic, and Gary Bond, a home remodeler and husband of Wichita school board member Kathy Bond.

Johnston, who owned a men’s clothing store for 35 years, has never run for elected office. Bond, who is chair of the Remodelers Council for the Wichita Area Builders Association, lost the 2015 City Council race with 44.8% of the vote to Frye’s 54.9%.

“I’ve been wanting to serve the public for eight years now. You get the fever, and once you get the fever, it’s hard to get rid of,” said Bond, 65, a Southeast High grad who studied marketing at Butler Community College and Wichita State.

Johnston, 63, graduated with a business degree from Newman University, where he served as vice president of institutional advancement from 2014 to 2019 before leaving to run the Catholic nonprofit that provides free healthcare to uninsured patients.

“We say it’s the working poor because almost all of our patients are working. They’re just basically doing the jobs that no one else wants to do,” said Johnston, who told The Eagle he would stay on as executive director if elected to the City Council.

On his watch, the clinic, which he said provides more than 9,000 patient visits annually, has begun offering same-day visits and providing eye exams in partnership with the KU School of Medicine-Wichita.

Bond said one of his priorities is Wichita’s need for more rooftops to match housing demand. Sedgwick County Appraiser Mark Clark has said the current need is 25,000 to 50,000 residential units. Bond said the city should loosen restrictions to make the building process more efficient.

“When they want to go get a permit on a project or a neighborhood, maybe we need to help them fast-track it a little bit,” Bond said.

“I don’t know if we need to . . . give them any incentives or anything — I don’t think that’s what we need — we just need some encouragement.”

But he said his top issue is public safety.

“I think we need to mend the relationship between the police department and the council,” said Bond, whose father was a Wichita officer for 30 years and whose brother spent 17 years with the sheriff’s department.

“The mayor had some rough moments here with the police department in the last year, and there are also council members that lean that way too on the defund the police side,” Bond said.

Johnston, too, said it’s important for elected leaders to support the department publicly.

“Every time something goes wrong, we can’t throw them under the bus,” he said.

Johnston, who chairs Frye’s District 5 advisory board, said his experience has positioned him well to make a difference on the council.

“Honestly, I still think like a businessman,” Johnston said. “But now I know the nonprofit world. I know most all the leaders of the nonprofits, especially in human services, health care, mental health.

“That perspective will help with a lot of things, including finding a solution for the homeless, which I think is important for Wichita’s growth.”

Bond said he’s generally wary of the city handing out incentives to promote economic development.

“Most of them, I’m not in favor of,” Bond said. “I don’t like picking winners and losers. We shouldn’t be in the business of doing that, but there are times when there may be another city we’re competing with that we may need to look at them.”

Johnston said a hands-off approach to regulation is the best way for the city to support its business owners and economy.

“Sometimes it’s just, the government needs to literally get out of the way of them, make it easy to do business.”

The primary election is Aug. 1. The general election is Nov. 7, when the mayor’s race and three City Council contests will be decided.