Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it, Kansas legislator Vic Miller cautioned Topeka’s governing body Monday.
As that body considered going behind closed doors into executive session to discuss southwest Topeka’s proposed $100 million Wheatfield Village development, Miller encouraged it to hold that discussion in public.
“Secret meetings as to public giveaways only bring suspicion as to the wisdom and the propriety of those giveaways,” he said.
Miller added that secrecy over the city’s proposed purchase of the Heartland Park racing facility raised public suspicions about that move and ultimately resulted two years ago in its defeat.
After Miller spoke, governing body members voted 6-1 to meet behind closed doors in executive session to discuss attorney-client privileged matters related to contract negotiations regarding Wheatfield Village.
Mayor Larry Wolgast and council members Karen Hiller, Michelle De La Isla, Brendan Jensen, Elaine Schwartz and Jeff Coen voted in favor of holding the 60-minute executive session. Council members Sandra Clear and Richard Harmon were absent because of illness, Wolgast said.
Councilman Tony Emerson hadn’t yet arrived at Monday’s 5 p.m. meeting when the vote took place. He showed up during the executive session and voted “yes” as governing body members subsequently continued it for another 20 minutes.
The governing body, which consists of Wolgast and the nine council members, took no action after Monday’s executive sessions.
Monday’s meeting was the first for new city manager Brent Trout, who was among five people allowed into the executive session who weren’t part of the governing body. The others were deputy city manager Doug Gerber; finance director Nickie Lee; city attorney Lisa Robertson; and Jeff White, of Columbia Capital Management, the city’s financial adviser.
Miller, a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, served on the Topeka City Council from 1985 to 1993, the Shawnee County Commission from 1993 to 2011 and as administrative judge for Topeka Municipal Court from 2011 to 2015. He spoke before Monday’s vote about whether the governing body should go into executive session.
Miller told members he was appearing before them as a “concerned citizen.”
He said the governing body has met behind closed doors multiple times to discuss Wheatfield Village, which reminded him of executive sessions that body held after the city administration in June 2014 unveiled a plan to buy Heartland Park. Amid increased public opposition to the purchase, that body voted in May 2015 not to proceed with it.
“The suspicion of the public rose and rose and rose with every single meeting that the city council held, and the wonder of what was going on behind closed doors but could not be discussed, and that’s why I’m here today to ask you not to go into executive session,” Miller said.
Topeka’s governing body plans Nov. 14 to hold a public hearing on whether to provide tax increment financing and establish a community improvement district for Wheatfield Village, which is proposed to be built on 14.7 acres at the northwest corner of S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road.
The project would include a Marriott hotel, an apartment complex, a nine-screen movie theater, a Johnny’s Tavern, a PT’s Coffee and a SPIN! Pizza.
Contact reporter Tim Hrenchir at (785) 295-1184 or @timhrenchir on Twitter.
