TOPEKA (KSNT) – People who attended a recent pool tournament in Topeka are looking for answers after an air conditioning (A/C) outage left them sweating for hours last weekend.
Hundreds were frustrated and covered in sweat at the Maner Conference Center in Topeka on Saturday, June 21 during a pool tournament due to an A/C outage. The conference center, owned by Shawnee County, is close by the city-run Hotel Topeka.
The hotel’s management team told 27 News it is contracted by the city and is only in charge of calling the county to report problems such as the recent A/C issue. However, the county said the A/C was working prior to the tournament but could not keep up with the crowd size.
(Photo By: Grace Gaume)
(Photo By: Grace Gaume)
(Photo By: Grace Gaume)
(Photo By: Grace Gaume)
Shawnee County still allowed Hotel Topeka to rent out the space to hundreds of people for the tournament despite the problem. One city councilwoman is weighing in on the issue.
“The bottom line is, is that if we want to keep people to come here, we have to we have to own up to who owns what and whose responsibility it is,” said Topeka City Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcalá.
Organizers of the pool tournament previously told 27 News they were not going to host another event at this location if players can’t be kept cool while they shoot pool. Shawnee County said it is looking into the capacity for this event space and will continue to respond to maintenance problems as they arise.
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