City Council OKs legal challenge to Save Century II petition
The city of Wichita is working to throw out a citizens’ petition and craft its own version of a ballot question about the future of Century II and the former downtown library, a move the petition organizers say could spoil months of work.
City leaders said it’s a compromise that assures the public gets a say in the future of the buildings without limiting what can be done with other city-owned buildings.
But Save Century II group leader Celeste Racette said the move threatens to undermine the democratic process.
“The whole purpose of a petition is to allow citizens to make law, and City Hall is fighting us,” she said. “They want to turn it to be a non-binding vote so they can change their mind later.”
Mayor Brandon Whipple on Tuesday moved to place the question back under city control, directing city staff to develop a draft by Aug. 18. He said the meeting that the city’s proposal would force a vote before tearing down either building. The City Council unanimously approved Whipple’s motion.
After being accused of working in secret to avoid public scrutiny, the Wichita City Council on Tuesday also voted unanimously to approve a legal challenge filed by the city last week against Racette and Karl Peterjohn, organizers of the Save Century II group.
The council also included a provision so that even if the petition is thrown out, the future of Century II and the former Central Public Library could still end up on a ballot.
The two actions were bundled together in a single motion that Whipple said, “makes it clear that we are trying to find a more holistic result.”
“Pretty much, I am asking staff to put on the calendar a discussion of policy, and policy is a word I use loosely, but it could mean ordinance, it could mean resolution, it could mean council rules — policy is roughly what we go by,” he said. “I’m trying to keep that somewhat flexible so that we as a council can work with not only our team and each other, but also with the public to come out with a satisfactory resolution.”
The language of the ballot question would be drafted by the city and would only be binding if it were attached to a sales tax increase. Otherwise it would be advisory, meaning the council could overturn it.
Save Century II, a group of activists working to get the buildings placed on historic registers, gathered 17,265 petition signatures from January to July, more than the 12,554 required to place an ordinance on the ballot. The group aims to let voters decide whether to tear down the two buildings, a move that could block a divisive $1 billion plan to redevelop area that is along the east bank of the Arkansas River.
The city of Wichita filed a petition in court last Wednesday to try to preserve the city’s right to demolish publicly-owned buildings that are historically significant without a vote.
On Monday, Save Century II organizers claimed in court documents that the city of Wichita violated open meetings law by trying to throw out their petition without a public vote by the City Council.
Racette, who spoke at Tuesday’s council meeting, called the legal challenge “a slap in the face” of everyone who signed the petition.
“We need to know where they (council members) stand, so people can then decide whether they want to elect them to office again,” she said. “We need to know whether they’re being forthright about where they stand on our petition and not hiding behind a veil of secrecy.”
Whipple, who called for the public vote ratifying the city’s legal action, emphasized that the council members’ approval of the legal challenge does not mean they are against the intent of the petition.
“Given respect for the 17,000-plus Wichitans who have signed this petition,” Whipple said, the City Council will consider putting the future of Century II and the former Central Public Library on a future ballot.
“The purpose is to do two parts: to allow this language to go through the legal system to determine its legality but also to allow us to continue the work that the signers of the petition or 17,000 folks want us to do, which is ensure that we have a vote on the future of Century II.”
Unlike a citizens’ initiative petition, which would be binding, any ballot question initiated by the City Council would be strictly advisory and could be overturned by the council, unless it is attached to a question about an added sales tax.
As an example, Whipple said: “If we had Century II tied to a one-cent sales tax for development of that whole area, that technically wouldn’t be an advisory election. That would be a binding election.”
Save Century II’s proposed ordinance calls for a vote by the City Council or Wichita electors whenever the city plans to demolish, replace or otherwise adversely affect city-owned buildings of historical importance or architectural significance, including Century II and the library.
The city owns more than 500 structures ranging from park shelters to large museums, the city said in its court filing. The wording of the citizen’s petition is so vague, the city argued, that it raises questions as to whether it would need voter approval to demolish a park restroom or remodel the city council chambers in City Hall.
Council member Brandon Johnson, who is city’s representative on the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan committee, said the citizens’ petition language goes too far.
“It goes much further than Century II and the public library,” he said. “There’s no real definition here of who decides what’s historical and what’s not.”
Whipple said he thinks the council can work to draft a policy that would alleviate those concerns while maintaining the intent of the Save Century II petition.
“If we do a policy from the bench then we can clean the language up so that there are less unintended consequences,” Whipple said. “It’s not the intent that we’re trying to avoid, which is a vote, but I think there are some technical aspects of it which is the unintended consequences of what this might have on other buildings that the city owns.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 4:11 PM.