Topeka city manager Brent Trout intended to staff a proposed new fire station on S.W. 6th Avenue at no additional cost to the city by closing the current Fire Station 11 at 2000 N.W. Lower Silver Lake Road and moving its personnel and equipment to the site on S.W. 6th.
But that plan sparked controversy at Tuesday's meeting of the Topeka City Council.
"This is an unfair thing to even think about doing," said Councilwoman Sandra Clear, who represents the district where Fire Station 11 stands.
Mayor Michelle De La Isla expressed concern that if the city closed Fire Station 11 and moved its crew to the site on S.W. 6th, it would be moving a fire station from an area that is low-income to one that is not.
The ensuing discussion resulted in the mayor and council's creating a committee, which will be assigned to develop a fire station master plan by April.
The mayor and council voted 9-0 to approve De La Isla's motion to form that committee, which she said will include members of the community as well as leadership from the city staff and the local firefighters' union. Councilman Tony Emerson was absent because of illness and did not vote.
The mayor and council then voted 7-2, with Councilwomen Karen Hiller and Sylvia Ortiz dissenting, to pay $290,000 to Cedar Crest Properties, LLC, to buy the vacant Lots 6 and 7 in the Cedar Crest Office Park — just east of Rasmussen College, 620 S.W. Governor View — with plans to make that 1.59-acre property the site of a fire station.
The land involved is just south of S.W. 6th Avenue between S.W. Wanamaker and Fairlawn Roads.
During a meeting that lasted three hours and 58 minutes, Ortiz suggested Tuesday evening that the city work to reacquire about 3 acres it accepted as a donation in 2010 from the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth to serve as the station's site at 5700 S.W. 6th Ave. The property reverted back to the Sisters of Charity after the station's construction was put on hold and never carried out.
Councilman Mike Lesser, whose district includes the property on S.W. 6th, stressed Tuesday that Fire Station 11 didn't necessarily need to close if the property purchase were approved.
He spoke in support of keeping Fire Station 11 open while also buying the land on S.W. 6th, which he described as "an ideal piece of property that is needed for a new fire station."
Councilman Brendan Jensen, who leaves office Jan. 15, said he thinks the city needs more fire protection but defended its staff for proposing to move Fire Station 11's personnel and equipment to the planned new station. City employees in doing that were only following the council's directions that they balance the city's number of stations with its existing allocations, he said.
"For us to yell at staff for doing what we've asked them to do is absolutely inappropriate," Jensen said. "I feel bad for the folks who are going to be on the council because they're going to have to raise taxes to build another fire station."
Hiller said she wouldn't be able to support any purchase of property for a fire station until the city had in place a fire station master plan.
De La Isla asked city manager Brent Trout if the purchase being considered could be made contingent on the city's carrying out strategic planning to determine how to allocate its fire stations.
Trout suggested the mayor and council first establish a committee that would create that strategic plan, then separately approve the purchase of the property on S.W. 6th.
Trout asked that the committee be directed to create a fire station master plan by April, because Trout would need the information involved as he subsequently worked to create the city's next capital improvement program and annual operating budget.
The motion the mayor and council approved creating that committee didn't identify specifically who would serve on it.
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