AWC 2006 Annual Professional Conference, September 14-16, 2006 Kansas City, MO
The Heart of It All
Annabeth Surbaugh
Annabeth Surbaugh
Chair, Johnson County (KS) Commission
Panelist, "Kansas City: A City of Women Leaders"
Johnson County (KS) Commission Chair Annabeth Surbaugh was the first ever popularly elected chairman of the Board of County Commissioners under the auspices of the publicly adopted home rule charter. Her position has been compared to that of a “county mayor.”
She has named her top priorities in office as including greater fiscal accountability, strategic long-range community planning, and fostering increased public participation in the local governance process.
Surbaugh has served on the Johnson County Commission since 1992. She was chair of the Mid-America Regional Council for two years, serving in some capacity with that organization from 1991 to the present, and has devoted years to economic development and water quality issues. Not only active in government, she also has served on numerous community boards. She was chairman for two years of a local water district and has served on the board for the Johnson County Community College Foundation.
Named one of Kansas City’s “Power Elite” by a local magazine, Surbaugh also was awarded the Blue Valley Schools’ Friend of Education Award and the United Community Services of Johnson County Distinguished Public Service Award.
Surbaugh also has served as a member of the Blue Valley Schools Educational Foundation Advisory Board and the Blue Valley Schools Legislative Coalition; the Overland Park Legacy of Greenery Committee; and the Arts and Humanities Association of Johnson County board of advisors. She has served on the board of directors for Safe Home, Inc.; was part of the master planning committee for the Overland Park Arboretum; and also served on the Kansas Citizens’ Committee on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, serving as president of the Johnson County Drug and Alcoholism Council from 1989 to 1993.
She also has served on policy boards for the National Association of Counties and the National Association of Regional Councils; the Federal Urban Wet Weather Flow Advisory Committee; the National Urban & Community Forestry Council; the Kansas Association of Counties; the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce; and the Blue Valley District Schools’ Governmental and Public Relations Committee.
Besides her public service, Surbaugh owned her own residential interior design shop, and has years of retail experience, including as a buyer for some prominent stores here. She holds a bachelor’s degree in retailing from the University of Missouri, Columbia.