City to consider undoing move to outsource

Topeka's governing body has three new members as it prepares Tuesday to consider rescinding the action it took last month aimed at outsourcing the city's program that provides grant funding to social service agencies.

The governing body, which consists of the nine city council members and Mayor Michelle De La Isla, plans to meet at 6 p.m. in its chambers at 214 S.E. 8th. The Shawnee County Commission won't meet Monday because of the Martin Luther King holiday.

New Topeka City Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcala proposed last week that the city's governing body rescind the action it took Dec. 17 in a 7-2 vote to authorize city staff members to solicit proposals from anyone interested in operating the program through which the city provides grant funding to social service agencies. Votes from six governing body members would be needed to undo that.

Four governing body members — De La Isla and Councilmen Mike Padilla, Neil Dobler and Mike Lesser — remain on that body after having voted Dec. 17 in support of outsourcing the program.

But three council members who cast "yes" votes that day — Sandra Clear, Brendan Jensen and Jeff Coen — have since left their seats. They were replaced by Valdivia-Alcala, Hannah Naeger and Spencer Duncan.

Also remaining on the council are members Karen Hiller and Sylvia Ortiz, who voted Dec. 17 against outsourcing, and Tony Emerson, who was absent that day because of illness.

De La Isla announced last week she will miss Tuesday's meeting because of a speaking commitment for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The city currently lacks a deputy mayor to preside over council meetings in the mayor's absence. So Tuesday's meeting will be run — at least at first — by city clerk Brenda Younger, who can't recall having ever presided over a council meeting since she took that position in December 2006.

Soon after Tuesday's meeting begins, council members will vote by paper ballot to elect one of their own to a one-year term as deputy mayor.

In each of the past five years, the mayor and council have elected as deputy mayor the member who has served the longest on the council without being deputy mayor, provided that council member wants the position.

The most senior council member who hasn't been deputy mayor is Emerson, a councilman since May 2016. Emerson said this past week that if he were nominated and elected, he would be honored to serve as this year's deputy mayor.

Council members also plan Tuesday to:

• Vote by paper ballot to elect two council members to serve one-year terms as voting members on the board of directors of the Joint Economic Development Organization, a body of city and county elected officials who oversee the use of revenue from a countywide, half-cent sales tax. The deputy mayor and mayor also have votes on JEDO.

• Elect two council members to serve on the policy board of the Metropolitan Topeka Planning Organization.

• Consider establishing one benefit district each for street improvements for Horseshoe Bend Subdivision No. 5; sanitary sewer improvements for Horseshoe Bend Subdivision No. 5; and street and stormwater improvements for Sherwood Village Subdivision.

• Discuss but take no action regarding potentially having the governing body meet on the second Tuesday of each month at a location to be determined by the city manager, as opposed to the current practice of holding that meeting in the council chambers. Under the proposal involved, the governing body would continue to meet on the first and third Tuesdays of each month in council chambers.

• Discuss but take no action regarding potentially having governing body members commence their terms on the first Tuesday in January after they are elected instead of the second Monday in January after they are elected, which is currently the case.

• Discuss but take no action regarding the city's capital improvements policy and the financial parameters of the 2021-2030 Capital Improvement Plan the mayor and council will consider approving later this year.