ShawneeDispatch.com

Charlotte Hargis

Shawnee — One of Shawnee's most involved residents - and biggest critics - has died.

Charlotte Hargis, 83, died Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007. A former Shawnee City Council member, Hargis was known in the city as a regular attendee at Council meetings and a watchdog for the city government.

In 2006, the Dispatch profiled Hargis and her involvement in the city. Hargis said she continued to attend Council meetings after her years on the Council to stand up for the taxpayers.

"I keep running into people who ask me if I'm still going down there, and they say 'Good, they need someone to keep an eye on them,'" Hargis said in 2006. "... (people) remember me because I was outspoken and I stood up for them, and I still try to do that - but I don't get very far."

Hargis was born in Kansas City, Kan., and moved to Shawnee in the 1940s.

She graduated from Kansas City, Kan. Community College and went to work at TWA, where she would remain for 40 years as a supervisor in the engineering library and then a manual writer.

Early on at TWA, she was the only woman to take a business course the company offered. One of the assignments was to meet with their local political committeemen and committeewomen, and Hargis soon became a committeewoman, knocking on doors, encouraging Shawnee residents to register to vote and discussing the candidates

"It got to be kind of fun - I got into the politics," Hargis said.

In 1972 Hargis was elected to the Council. She was a member of a political group in Shawnee called the Citizens for Open Government, formed to reform city government, return two-year terms for the mayor and Council members, eliminate secret and special meetings and provide the minutes of all Council meetings to the public.

Hargis served as chairman and promoted Keith Q. Hayes as a candidate for mayor, and he won.

"It just got hotter than a firecracker," Hargis said of the political atmosphere at the time. "It was such an interesting experience... probably the most exciting election in Shawnee in a while."

Hargis served for 10 years during one of the city's biggest periods of growth, when it hired the first city manager and city engineer.

"I tried more than a lot of them to represent what the citizens wanted," Hargis said. "... I tried to be an honest politician, and I think I got pretty close to that. Unfortunately, it hasn't caught on."

Even after she lost election to the Council for a sixth term, Hargis stayed involved. She said she felt it was her duty to care, even when others didn't.

"When I go and ask for these things, I'm not asking for myself," she says. "I just think the people should have a voice."

A visitation will be held on Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, from 5-8 p.m. at Shawnee United Methodist Church, 10700 Johnson Dr. Donations can be sent to Animal Haven Animal Shelter, 9800 W. 67th St., Merriam, or to Shawnee United Methodist Church.