TOPEKA (KSNT) – Topeka’s city manager and mayor are holding a Tuesday morning press conference to talk about the latest big issues in the Capital City.
Topeka City Manager Robert Perez, Mayor Spencer Duncan and others held a press conference at 10 a.m. on Feb. 24 inside City Hall. They touched on several topics such as the city’s budget, the transfer of ownership of the Hotel Topeka, events at the newly reopened Kansas Museum of History and more.
Duncan announced an independent review of concerns brought forward to his office by city employees. He said a third-party organization, Fisher & Phillips LLP, will be taking charge with this and that city staff will not be overseeing the process.
“It is extremely important to me that every employee of this city knows they can come to me with concerns about their jobs, department or operations and that those concerns will be taken seriously,” Duncan said. “Over the past few months, as you have reported, concerns have been raised by a group of employees and conveyed publicly by a member of the City Council. Some of those concerns involve questions about operations. When concerns like this are raised, whether privately or publicly, they deserve discussion. They deserve action.”
Full I-70 closure to start in early summer in Topeka
Duncan said the review will not be a complete audit or “second-guessing” of the work done by the city’s human resources director, department or investigators. He said the city’s human resources director has his full confidence.
Perez took time to highlight the city’s affordable housing trust fund. He said the fund has about $1.1 million which the city is trying to activate.
“The plan is, hopefully, in the second quarter of this year to really see a lot of those projects come to the governing body for consideration and activation throughout the rest of the year,” Perez said.
Duncan also said that, as of June 15, Endeavor Hotel Group will own the Hotel Topeka. He said the city is putting “very minimal dollars” into the hotel now as June 15 approaches.
“We foresee absolutely no hiccups to this point,” Duncan said. “All the negotiations with the city are pretty much done. I know that there is still some conversations with the county, but those are really very technical. They’re procedural in how they’re gonna proceed in terms of management agreements with Maner, how Maner’s gonna be reconstructed as they’re doing the hotel and from everything we’ve been told, both from the county, both from Endeavor Group, from any company we’ve had, everything is go-go-go and everything is on pace to make that deal happen.”
You can learn more by watching the full press conference recording above.
Furniture Mall Outlet in Topeka to shut down ahead of move to Kansas City
For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.
Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf
