Category: Unified Government Commission

Rock Island bridge project deadline extended

The Rock Island bridge project deadline was extended at Thursday night’s Unified Government Commission meeting.

The UG Commission heard that the project date would be extended to July 2023 by 16 months, to finish in March 2024. If not extended, the project deadline would have been Dec. 31. The motion that passed would allow the UG to recover the cost of a bridge raise through TIF and CID proceeds.

The bridge will be an entertainment and trail connection, with places such as restaurants and bars locating on it. It would be the first such bridge project in the nation, according to developers. Lately, a zip line from the Bonner Springs area would be added near the bridge for more entertainment options.

The cost of the project would be $5.7 million, including a bridge raise recommended by UG engineers. The financing was not approved Thursday night.

The four-foot bridge raise would be necessary because of levee work going on by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Kansas River, according to UG staff. The bridge would need to be protected against a 400-year-flood. The bridge could overtop and surge at a 400-year-flood.

Flying Truss, which is the company developing the bridge, is ready to start construction in January, according to UG staff.

The bridge raise would cost $850,000, according to UG staff.

The Corps of Engineers has classified the bridge as a closed bridge and is not putting any funding toward it, according to UG staff.

Commissioner Brian McKiernan said he has been a proponent of the bridge project from the beginning, as it has a catalytic potential for developing the riverfront.

However, he was disappointed that the Army Corps of Engineers is raising a levee and the Corps has told them it’s the UG’s responsibility for funding the bridge raise.

McKiernan also said he was disappointed that they already voted on the funding, plans, development agreements and suddenly there are more costs that they haven’t considered. He is disappointed that it happened at this stage.

Commissioner Tom Burroughs also was stunned that there is an additional cost to the project. He asked if they had actually purchased the bridge from Kansas City, Missouri, yet.

Patrick Waters, UG attorney, said they have the deed in hand but not closed and recorded it yet.

Financing options were to be presented in January.

UG engineers said the project costs have gone up almost 25 percent since they started. Some redesign was necessary.

Mayor Tyrone Garner said the community deserves to have down to the dollar information and they need to see where every penny is going. They simply do not have the money for increased expenses.

He said there was a communications lapse, a breakdown where something has gone critically wrong somewhere in the UG with communications and it was unacceptable.

The motion to extend the deadline passed 9-1 with Commissioner Gayle Townsend voting no because she was not clear about the nature of the moton. Later she said she supports the bridge project.

Mayor Garner said they had to hold UG staff accountable so this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.

Management style came up later in the night’s discussion about the change to the rules and procedures governing the mayor and commission in setting the agenda. Commissioner Mike Kane brought up the bridge accountability discussion and said it wasn’t nice for the mayor to talk to a staff member like that in public, until she started crying.

“If you don’t like what I’m doing, pull me in room and talk to me. Don’t beat me up in public,” Kane said.

Rally at City Hall supports mayor

A rally held Friday afternoon at City Hall supported Mayor Tyrone Garner.

At the rally, supporters chanted “Change is here,” “This is the people’s mayor” and “Seven more years.”

On Thursday night, the UG Commission voted to expand the commission’s power to set the UG standing committee agenda. Until now, the mayor had the power to set the agendas under the UG rules. A measure passed Thursday in Section 202 rules said items should not be added or removed from a standing committee agenda without approval of the standing committee chair.

A sentence in Section 203 rules was deleted Thursday: “The mayor ultimately determines the final agenda for the full commission meetings.”

Mayor Garner released a statement Friday: “Considering my recent call to action for unity and collaboration between myself, our commission, and the community, I view the political action taken by nine UG Commissioners as an underhanded act that curtails the longstanding discretion and authority of the UG Mayor/CEO. I believe that this is more than a blatant rejection of my community driven agenda, but rather clearly rejects the will of the people of Wyandotte County desperately seeking change. Their request for community driven change champions equity, facilitates unity, promotes opportunity, and calls for a political body that provides leadership that works equitably for all. It is an understatement to say that I am disappointed for those voters that elected me seeking an improved way forward. As such, I am even more resolved to stand firm with the people against an establishment that I believe has disenfranchised many, disinvested much, and has brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. I am confident that the resilient people of Wyandotte County are aware of what is occurring and will do what is legally necessary for us to rise above any challenge. I assure the residents of our great County that community driven change has indeed come, and I remain committed to standing with all those demanding change.”

On Thursday the mayor urged people who were concerned about the UG Commission’s actions to get out and vote at the next election.


The proposed change to the rules and procedures was not on the UG’s agenda for Thursday. It was introduced at the end of the meeting when adjournment was starting. The meeting was the last one before Christmas and around the time of Mayor Garner’s one-year anniversary in office.

Commissioner Andrew Davis, one of three people who were said at the meeting to have known about the UG Commission action in advance, posted on Facebook after the vote: “There’s quite a bit of disinformation going around explaining what happened last night at the Full Commission meeting. I humbly ask that you watch the meeting in its entirety to understand the full context of what’s taken place and what this means going forward.”

Louise Lynch, a community activist who has been instrumental in organizing utility customers who want the utility cutoffs to stop, said this meeting was not organized by her but tended to be a response to the Thursday UG meeting. She also said the UG was trying to stop her from ceding time to speak at the UG Commission meetings. She said she believed that was an unconstitutional attempt to stop her free speech.

To see an earlier story, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/christmas-power-grab-at-ug-commission/.

Christmas power grab at UG Commission

by Mary Rupert

With only two weeks to go to Christmas and at its last meeting of the year, the Unified Government Commission sprung a power grab Thursday on Mayor Tyrone Garner, limiting his ability to set the UG agenda.

After the meeting adjournment was started, it was called back by a letter being passed around by Commissioner Angela Markley.

The audience wondered what was going on for several minutes, as this action was not on the agenda. It was not released to the public in advance nor was it even explained at the meeting for some time.

At the UG, the mayor sets the agenda, deciding what the commission will discuss. The change that was approved on a 9-1 vote Thursday concerned the UG standing committee agendas. Commissioners would be able to add to the agendas and decide what moves forward to the full commission, and an item could not be removed without the approval of the standing committee chair.

Recently, the mayor had taken some items off the full commission agenda that had passed through the standing committees, saying they needed more work.

Mayor Garner said if the action passed, his powers have been reversed and he is just someone who runs the commission meeting. It is a backdoor way of taking the power of the mayor away from him, and from the people who voted for him, he said. Everyone in the community needs to know that he was the first mayor since unification not to have the same powers afforded to the mayor-CEO, he said.

The mayor said he was not notified in advance that this would be presented.

Commissioner Markley said only three commissioners knew about it, herself, Commissioner Andrew Davis and Commissioner Christian Ramirez.

Commissioner Tom Burroughs urged the rest of the commission not to take action now.

“It sows discontent and distrust among people,” Burroughs said. “It pains me to see us do it this way.”

If there is a move to change how they function as a government, they should be working together, he said. It did none of them any good to air their differences in public, he added.

Burroughs has been running a UG task force that is looking at changes in the UG charter. He said it was a very transparent committee. He hated to see the UG Commission do this at this particular time and especially this particular season. “It’s just not the transparent way to do things,” he said.

Commissioner Ramirez said the rules procedures approved Thursday night did not take away from anyone but it equalized the sharing of the agenda.

He said in other cities, mayors do not have control of the agenda, and that the UG was the only one who did it that way. He said it was something that should have been put in place a while ago.

Commissioner Markley said the mayor would still be completely in control of every other part of the agenda.

Commissioner Chuck Stites said it’s an avenue for the commission to get items placed on an agenda that the constituents want them to discuss. It isn’t taking anything away from the mayor, he said.

Commissioner Brian McKiernan said he viewed changes as promoting collaboration rather than taking it

He said recently, an item was pulled from the full commission that had been approved unanimously at the standing committee. He was not consulted, but was told the item was pulled, he said.

Commissioner Burroughs said he found the process Thursday a little disheartening and concerning. He did not know about this in advance, he said. He said if the commission does work, it should do it in the public eye.

Commissioner Melissa Bynum said she still believes they are a commission and a mayor that can work together.

This meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOZoIgHxOMI.