By Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Capitol-Journal, December 22, 2010
Topeka City Council members expressed a reluctance Tuesday evening to bring the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority into the municipal government as a city department.
Council members met in a work session prior to their regular meeting to discuss transit matters with R.E. "Tuck" Duncan, executive director of the Kansas Public Transit Association.
No votes were taken at the session, where city manager Norton Bonaparte said he would schedule another work session in which the council could continue to discuss the city's transit options.
Near the end of the work session, council members Deborah Swank, John Alcala and Richard Harmon indicated they were unwilling to make the transit service a city department.
The council and its policy and finance committee since August have explored the possibility of changing the current arrangement in which the city's governing body, which consists of the nine council members and Mayor Bill Bunten, sets the property tax mill levy Topekans pay the TMTA but has no authority over TMTA operations.
Duncan suggested Tuesday that transit services benefit from being overseen by an entity that doesn't have numerous other responsibilities, as the city council does.
He also told council members that "regionalization" is the trend in the transit world.
Council members at the work session also heard Mayor Bill Bunten express concern about the financial situation of Topeka Cemetery. Bunten suggested the city might be forced to take over the cemetery's operations.
In the regular meeting following the work session, council members:
— Voted 8-0, with Councilwoman Sylvia Ortiz being absent, to pass an ordinance updating the city's erosion and sediment control rules to bring them in line with federal requirements.
— Heard Councilwoman Karen Hiller, who encountered opposition to a proposal she recently put forth that the city seek to become debt-free, say she had revised her proposal to address concerns expressed by fellow council members. Hiller passed out copies of her revised proposal.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.