The snow and cold kept many from attending Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, and the shortened agenda
allowed for the night to end early. Absent from the night was Councilman David Banks (D4) while several
attended via zoom. To watch the recording or find related documents, you can click here.
- PRESENTATIONS: DEFERRED TO 3/4/25
● 2025 Strategic Goals and Priorities - CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVED
A. Resolution – St. Patrick’s Day Street Party 2025 – Noise Exception
B. MINUTES of the regular meeting of February 11, 2025
C. APPLICATIONS: None to discuss - ACTION ITEMS:
A. Public Hearing and Ordinance – Auburn Washburn Annexation (A24/05) APPROVED
“PUBLIC HEARING and ORDINANCE introduced by City Manager Dr. Robert M. Perez, to annex
lands, all pursuant to K.S.A. 12-520 et seq., located at 5928 SW 53rd Street and Unaddressed SW
Wanamaker Road within unincorporated Shawnee County, Kansas, and adjacent to the City of Topeka
corporate limits and being annexed for all City purposes. (A24/05) (Council District No. 7) Annexation of
20.9 acres.”
*Items B-E are various road improvement projects.
B. Resolution – SW Harrison 10th Avenue to 8th Avenue – Project No. 841098.01APPROVED
Approval would authorize a total project budget of $800,000 for street improvements on SW Harrison
Street from 10th Avenue to 8th Avenue.
C. Resolution – Micro Surfacing – Southwest Quadrant – Project No. 841104.01APPROVED
Approval would authorize a total project budget of $1.2 Million for the 2025 Micro Surfacing Program in
the southwest quadrant of the city from SW 21st Street, south to the south city limits, and from SW
Topeka Boulevard west to the west city limits.
D. Resolution – 2025 Ultrathin Bonded Asphalt Surface (UBAS) Treatments – Project No. 841104.02
APPROVED
Approval would authorize a total project budget of $947,573 for the 2025 Ultrathin Bonded Asphalt
Surface (UBAS )of NE Quincy, SE Branner, NE Seward, SE 6th, SE California and NE Strait.
E. Resolution – Crack Sealing – Southeast Quadrant – Project No. 841104.03 APPROVED
Approval would authorize a total project budget of $522,000 for 2025 Crack Sealing Project No.
841104.03 as part of the 2025 Street Preventative Maintenance Program, in the southeast quadrant of
the city from SW 21st Street, south to the south city limits and from SW Topeka Boulevard, east to the
east city limits.
F. Approval – Governing Body Rules and Procedure Amendment – Virtual Voting Application APPROVED
Approval would allow Governing Body members to vote by a virtual voting application.
This is a new app that will allow for electronic voting and electronic hand raising. The Mayor, who runs the
council meetings, will have a screen that will show him who is wanting to speak and can call on them. Votes
are still a part of public record. Councilman Duncan asked how we can assure that someone on zoom is the
one who is doing the voting (because the city does not allow proxy voting or a designated person to vote on
their behalf) and the city attorney stated that if there was reason to believe that that occurred, the proper steps
would be taken to investigate and that would be grounds for removal.
*Items G-I are proposed changes to the language within the 3 types of development incentive policies to
streamline consistent wording throughout them. Approval of the proposed amendments would provide for a
more uniform approach to the current CID, TIF, and RHID policy and procedure.
G. Resolution – Community Improvement District (CID) Policy Amendment APPROVED
H. Resolution – Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District Policy Amendment APPROVED
I. Resolution – Rural Housing Incentive District (RHID) Policy Amendment APPROVED
One citizen, me, did speak to each of these topics. Many other cities use specific language in their incentive
ordinances to focus projects within the city that are most needed. In Topeka, we could require that projects, or
at least a percentage of projects, be low-income affordable housing, workforce housing, or development in
specific areas of town that have been underinvested-such as the east side. There is also a need to put
protections within the ordinance so that low-income neighborhoods and people within them are not displaced
or harmed by the increased taxes or property values. These types of policy reviews should be consistently
done so that we are guiding work where it is needed most. The Housing Study was adopted by the City
Council in 2020 and the priorities outlined there have largely been ignored.
Recently, a Kansas legislator requested an official audit of TIF districts across the state and found they rarely
benefit a community and in the case of Topeka, have been costly. The College Hill TIF district was not
successful and 40% of the city’s costs will be paid by the general fund budget (roughly $6.5 million). One
addition to the ordinance will be a sign requirement at the check-out counters of businesses within these
districts to alert shoppers that they will be paying a higher sales tax at that location. That sales tax goes back
to the developer to gain additional profit.
TIF-higher sales tax locations, include:
● Wheatfield Village (Shopping area at the NW corner of 29th and Fairlawn)
● Sherwood Crossing (Shopping area at the NW corner of 29th and Wanamaker. Excluding Crispy & Co,
Kansas Tire, Capital Federal)
● Dynamic Core (A large area around downtown. The map can be found here.)
● 911 Walnut (32nd Terr and SW Topeka Blvd. 2 new restaurants and a shopping center)
● College Hill (The building on the NW corner of 17th and Washburn, the apartment complex and shops
between Washburn and Lane, and the restaurant to the east next to the dog park)
● South Topeka (A large section around S Topeka Blvd and adjacent streets. The map can be found
here.)
- NON-ACTION ITEMS:
A. Discussion – Naming/Dedicating the Jack Alexander Water Treatment Plant
“DISCUSSION to consider naming and dedicating the City’s facility located at 3425 NW Water Works
Drive, as the Jack Alexander Water Treatment Plant.”
Jack Alexander was, continues to be, a beloved leader in our community. Mr. Alexander passed away on June
24th, 2024 at the age of 93. He was the basketball team captain his senior year at Topeka High School on the
last segregated team, the Ramblers, in 1949. Mr. Alexander served in the US Navy for 4 years during the
Korean War. When he returned, he continued work at Goodyear and married his love, Tillie. They celebrated
71 years together before her death, just about a year before.
Mr. Alexander started the first Black bowling league in Topeka at Gage Bowl and was inducted into the Topeka
High School Sports Hall of Fame. He loved coaching his children and the community’s children-a mentor to so
many. I’ve heard many people talk about their memories of Jack and Tillie, always welcoming to everyone.
Before Topeka’s government was run as a council, people were elected to specific commission seats. In 1973,
Mr. Alexander ran for and was elected to the office of Water Commissioner, the first African American to serve
on the city commission. He was president for 10 years. For more than 3 decades he served on a multitude of
boards and organizations, including the appointment to the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Kansas
State Fire Marshal.
- PUBLIC COMMENT: There were 2 citizens who braved the weather conditions to speak during public
comment. One citizen was voicing frustration with code compliance issuing violations of outdoor home repairs
during the middle of winter. The other citizen expressed favor for moving forward with the sales tax initiative
and to fire the police officers who were involved in the shooting of Taylor Lowery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE GOVERNING BODY
EXECUTIVE SESSION NONE
ADJOURNMENT
- City Council only meets the first 3 Tuesdays of the month so no meeting next week. Stay tuned for the March
4th meeting agenda.
REMINDER
To find your city council representative, you can type your address at this link for contact information. Note that
if you haven’t checked who represents you in a couple years, you may want to check again. Every 10 years
with the census, lines are redrawn, sometimes just slightly, to keep the appropriate ratio of citizens within a
district.
Danielle Twemlow, Consultant
Host of Kansas TRUE
