By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
January 11, 2012

After interviewing three candidates Jan. 5, the Kansas City City Council selected Todd Wilcher as the new judge of the Municipal Housing Court. Wilcher will be sworn in at a later date.

Wilcher grew up in south Kansas City, Mo., and has lived in the greater Kansas City metro for more than 40 years. After graduating from the University of Missouri – Kansas City with a bachelor’s degree in history, he earned a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.

In addition to working in the Kansas City City Prosecutor’s Office, he also operated a private practice, concentrating on personal injury, collections, criminal and municipal defense.

“I felt like I could achieve results that made a difference in people’s lives,” he said of working in the City Prosecutor’s Office.

However, Wilcher said he found his true niche while working as a housing court prosecutor.

“Housing codes cases appealed to me for a variety of reasons,” Wilcher said. “I want to make a difference… I have a passion for the neighborhoods.

“We all want to go home to the quiet, orderly beauty of our own neighborhood.”

He understands how blight can affect a neighborhood and the importance of enforcing the city’s housing codes, he said.

“Blight invites more blight and blight invites crime,” he said.

To remedy the violations, there must be a “game plan”, which includes motivation and not degradation, he said. It includes educating the public on not only the city’s ordinances, but where to dispose of limbs and brush, where to buy cheap paint, among others, he said.

“I’m eager to embrace the role of a housing judge,” Wilcher said. “I appreciate this is a position of public trust… I’m humbled by the new appointment.”

“Your testimony today really showed your passion and your commitment, your understanding of the system and your forethought,” City Council member Cindy Circo said.

City Council member John Sharp also commended the new judge.

“I am pleased we are filling this position,” Sharp said. “And we filled it with the right person.”