Watco’s Assistant General Counsel Michael Gray wears a lot of hats depending on where he’s headed.
Royals baseball caps when he drives to games in Kansas City. Pittsburg State University Gorillas hats when he’s tailgating.
And for the second time in the past six years, he wears an invisible hat every day: He’s mayor of the town that Watco calls its home base.
‘Long shot’
Gray spent 11 years of his childhood in the bustling, vibrant Puebla, Mexico; his parents served as missionaries there for 20 years. Fluent in Spanish, he attended a high school that involved students in a model United Nations.
“It was my first introduction to the concept of representing citizens and country,” said Gray, who served for three years as a delegate, then committee leader, then general counsel researching topics, engaging in daily discussion, working toward solutions or compromise, and writing out resolutions.
“Living in a different country opened me up to different ways of looking at things,” he said. “It was eye opening, living abroad.”
His parents were from Southeast Kansas, and his sister was attending Pittsburg State University, so it was a natural choice for his college education. There, Gray served in a number of clubs and organizations, including student government for one year.
After graduating in 2003 with a degree in political science, international studies and Spanish, he attended law school at the University of Tulsa, and later joined the Watco Team in 2006.
At a time when he believed Pittsburg was poised for growth but needed more progressive and new ideas, he threw his hat in the ring to run for city commission.
“It was a long shot,” he said. “I was up against some known names, and I’m not a local — I’m an outsider.”
He won a seat for two years, beating an incumbent by a handful of votes. At the end of that term, he was reelected for four more years, which will come to an end with a November election this year and the swearing in of the winning candidate in January.
During that time, Gray has served as mayor twice; first from April 2013 to April 2014, and currently.
Occasionally the job has meant being on the receiving end of negative phone calls and emails.
“You’re not going to please everyone with every decision,” Gray said.
The job also is 100 percent volunteer; Pittsburg is one of a handful of communities of its size in Kansas that do not pay council members and mayors. In addition to twice-monthly commission meetings and occasional study sessions, Gray must occasionally carve out time to attend ribbon cuttings, ground breakings, and serve as a guest speaker at events.
But he believes he’s gotten more than he’s given.
“I’ve attended events and met people that I never would have had the privilege to attend or meet otherwise,” Gray said. “I’ve gotten to see the hard work that goes on behind the scenes in a city, and the people who make it work.”
He’s also had a front-row seat to the inner workings of local government — a form of government he believes has the most impact on daily life.
“It’s sometimes easy to point fingers and complain, but you get in there in a position like this, and you gain a different perspective,” he said.
He’s pleased with the direction Pittsburg has taken since he joined the commission, from a stronger partnership with PSU to the physical growth of the city, including a new event center, a new performing arts center, and the revitalization of the core of the downtown district.
If he could change one thing, he said, it would be to get more people involved in their community.
“The benefits far outweigh the negatives,” he said. “If I can make a difference here, where I live and my daughters live, and can show them it’s important to be involved and not complain, but actually try to offer a solution and try to be a part of change, then that’s a privilege.”
Gray recently filed to run for reelection and plans to be on the ballot in November, seeking a third term on the city commission.
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