Here is your weekly recap of the most talked about items at the Topeka City Council meeting on February 11th,
2025. You can always go to the city’s website to watch the recording or find related documents here.
2. APPOINTMENTS: APPROVED
A. Board Appointment – Downtown Business Improvement District Advisory Board recommending the
appointment of Robert Bergquist to the Downtown Business Improvement District Advisory Board to fill
a term ending February 11, 2027.
B. Board Appointment – Topeka Sustainability Advisory Board recommending the appointment of
Adebanke Adebayo to the Topeka Sustainability Advisory Board for a term ending February 11, 2027.
(Council District No. 7)
3. CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVED
A. Ordinance – Expenditures – October 26, 2024 to November 29, 2024
B. Resolution – Bank Depositories and Signatures
C. Resolution – Kansas Pooled Money Investment Board
D. Professional Consulting Contract – United Way of Kaw Valley, Inc. – Social Services Grant Program
Administration
E. MINUTES of the regular meeting of February 4, 2025
F. APPLICATIONS: None to discuss.
4. ACTION ITEMS:
A. Public Hearing and Ordinance – Establishment of Sherwood Professional Park RHID APPROVED
PUBLIC HEARING to consider the establishment of the Sherwood Professional Park Reinvestment
Housing Incentive District (RHID) and adoption of the Plan.
*This ordinance brought up discussion from council members Banks and Valdivia-Alcala about using the RHID
to focus more on low-income affordable housing and opportunities in their districts. This was echoed during
public comment. Other council members defended the development which ultimately passed. It’s important to
note that the issue was not with the developers themselves in this case, but that the focus of using the RHID
(funds from the state to incentivise construction) needed to be on low-income housing remodels or builds. This
will continue to be a topic of discussion and advocacy.
B. Resolution – Hotel Topeka Funding Request – Operations and Maintenance APPROVED
“RESOLUTION introduced by City Manager Robert M. Perez, regarding additional funding for
operations and maintenance for Hotel Topeka. Voting Requirement: Action requires at least six (6)
votes of the Governing Body. (Approval would allow the transfer of $71,499 to the Topeka Development
Corporation for operation and maintenance of Hotel Topeka.)”
C. Resolution – JEDO Board Member Selection Procedure APPROVED
“RESOLUTION introduced by City Manager Dr. Robert M. Perez amending the procedure for the
selection of council members to serve as voting members of the Joint Economic Development
Organization (JEDO) and amending Resolution No. 8823. Voting Requirement: Action requires at least
six (6) votes of the Governing Body. (Approval will modify when the governing body selects the voting
members of JEDO.)”
D. Resolution – 21st Street and Belle Avenue – Project No. 141037.03 APPROVED
“A RESOLUTION introduced by the Public Infrastructure Committee comprised of Councilmembers
Sylvia Ortiz, David Banks and Neil Dobler recommending approval of Project No. 141037.03 for Traffic
Signal Replacement at 21st Street and Belle Avenue. (Public Infrastructure Committee recommended
approval on January 31, 2025.) (Total project budget of $528,475 for traffic signal replacement at 21st
Street and Belle Avenue.)”
E. Resolution – Southwest Fairlawn 23rd Street to 28th Street – Project No. 701040.00, 281250.17,
291143.04, 502730.00, 502730.01 APPROVED
“A RESOLUTION introduced by the Public Infrastructure Committee comprised of Councilmembers
Sylvia Ortiz, David Banks and Neil Dobler recommending approval of Project Nos. 701040.00,
281250.17, 291143.04, 502730.00 and 502730.01 for SW Fairlawn Road Rehabilitation from 23rd
Street to 28th Street. (Public Infrastructure Committee recommended approval on January 31, 2025.)
Voting Requirement: Action requires at least six (6) votes of the Governing Body. (Total project budget
of $7,253,865 for various projects on SW Fairlawn Road Rehabilitation from 23rd Street to 28th
Street.)”
* This project includes widening the road at 25th street for a turn lane as well as sewer line and other
infrastructure work. Next year will include sidewalk repair. There was no discussion by the council.
F. Resolution – Branner Street Bridge Repair – Project No. 121019.00 MOVED TO 3/4
G. Resolution – Branner Street Bridge Repair – Project No. 121019.04 MOVED TO 3/4
* Dr. Perez removed item F and G from the agenda and moved them to the March 4th meeting. Item F needed
revisions and item G is a companion item.
H. Resolution – Topeka Performing Arts Center Improvements – Project No. 861411.00 APPROVED
“A RESOLUTION introduced by the Public Infrastructure Committee comprised of Councilmembers
Sylvia Ortiz, David Banks and Neil Dobler, amending the 2025-2034 CIP and the 2025-2027 CIB to
revise the funding allocations for Project No. 861411.00 for TPAC building improvements. (Public
Infrastructure Committee recommended approval on January 31, 2025.) (Total project budget is
$1,670,000. Approval would revise funding allocations for TPAC building improvements.)”
* Currently the Topeka Performing Arts Center is under construction and the areas in this project are slated for
the same areas that are demolished at this time. The request is to approve these projects now while the
current construction is occurring instead of in 1-2 years. If they wait, then they would have to duplicate some of
the work they are completing now.
I. Professional Consulting Contract – SW Huntoon Street Reconstruction Project Design APPROVED
“APPROVAL of a Contract Amendment for the SW Huntoon Street, Street Design Project from Gage
Boulevard to Harrison Street. (Project No. 701028.00)”
* Last week council members had several questions regarding this project which will make similar changes to
Huntoon Street as were done to 12th street. Councilman Duncan put forth an amendment to reduce the
sidewalk widths to no more than 6 ft. Braxton Copley, Assistant City Manager who has held several positions in
the city including Public Works Director, reiterated that under the “Complete Streets” design, that 10 ft
sidewalks are an important feature for accessibility. The vote to include the amendment was one vote shy of
passing. The contract passed as it was originally written with verbal clarification that as construction occurs,
adjustments can be made if necessary.
PUBLIC COMMENT
* There were three members of the public who spoke at the end of the evening. Topics regarding affordable
housing, the hotel, and the sales tax came up. Notably, a community leader spoke about the city attorney filing
sanctions against the legal advocate of Taylor Lowery’s family and the family themselves, for releasing the
body camera footage of the police killing him during an encounter in October 2022. A federal magistrate judge
ordered for the video to be released without images of juveniles or identifiable witness information. The Kansas
Reflector released 3 body cam footage in their entirety with the exception of the protected information. Since,
multiple national news entities have also shown pieces of the video. The community leader pointed out that the
city attorney did not file sanctions on the two white attorneys representing the family, but to the legal advocate
and the family member who are both Black women. She went on to point out that in 2022-2023, the city paid
out over $1 million to city employees who won discrimination lawsuits, not including the legal fees. Additionally,
the city has 5 more pending lawsuits against them from current or previous employees for discrimination. The
concern that under a budget crisis, the city is focusing on the wrong issues.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The council did move into an executive session before adjourning for the evening.
Stay tuned for a look into next week’s agenda items.
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 podcas
