Candidate for Topeka District 6 City Council seat makes appearance with KSNT 27 News

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Zachary Surritt, a Kansas native and Chair Elect for Forge Young Talent, joined the KSNT 27 News Morning show to speak about his campaign for the District 6 seat on the Topeka City Council.

According to Zachary’s website, he has lived in District 6 since he moved to Topeka for his college career. In addition to being involved with Forge, Surritt is also working with his families’ company as the business development director and serving on the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m very fortunate to have family and friends that are very supportive of community involvement and civic engagement,” Surritt said. “My dad was the mayor of Meriden for 14 years, so I grew up understanding the importance of getting involved at that level.”

He added that as of right now, you really don’t see a lot of young people getting involved in this level of government in our country. On his website, he said that he wants “to be a new voice for Topeka”.

In addition to this, Zachary spoke about his excitement with business development and innovation coming to Topeka.

“I want to make sure that we continue that momentum that we’ve had over the last five or 10 years,” Surritt said.

As far as issues he wants to address, he says the most “visible” is infrastructure and roadwork. More specifically, right now, is the 12th Street project.

“People are tired of having long stretches of road closed for a really long time in their communities,” Surritt said.

Lastly, he also spoke on the increased homeless population and large number of encampments popping up throughout town.

“We have to understand that it is not only a policy issue, but a person issue,” Surritt said. “It’s real people in our community that are struggling and each person’s situation is different.”

As a potential solution, Surritt said it’s important to meet those people where they are, and give them what they need.

“One of the biggest things I think we can do for this community, is making more shelter, specifically low-barrier shelters, where more people have access to care,” Surritt said.

For more information and details, you can watch the full interview above.