TOPEKA, Kan. — The Topeka City manager’s decision to find an interim fire chief from outside of the state is now the subject of a lawsuit.
CJonline.com reported that R.E. Duncan filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of former city councilman John Alcala, saying the move violated a city ordinance that states bids should be solicited if contracted services exceed $50,000.
Topeka officials maintain they did nothing wrong.
The lawsuit is seeking a restraining order and an injunction to block the city from entering into a contract with Goodyear, Ariz. to loan an interim fire chief to Topeka. Goodyear Fire Chief Tim Wayne was set to serve as the Topeka Fire Department’s interim chief starting Tuesday.
Duncan said the contract with Goodyear will require Topeka to pay $13,600 per month for at least six months, which would cost the city $81,600, far exceeding the $50,000 that the city ordinance states should require bids.
The city ordinance also requires the pubic be notified about contracts over $25,000. Duncan said the city gave no notice to the public before making the deal with Goodyear.
“The point is that the public should have known about this before they ever signed a contract,” Duncan said.
Acala said he thought the contract had not been properly vetted in a bidding process and taxpayer funds were being misused.
“I feel like this was a bad decision and it was done wrongly,” said Acala.
According to city attorney Lisa Robertson, City Manager Jim Colson did not violate any codes.
“The city of Topeka is not required to send out bids when someone is brought in on a temporary basis to fill a short-term need. Also this section of code deals with goods and services. This employee is serving on an interim basis and is on loan from another municipality, so there is no correlation,” said Robertson.
The lawsuit claimed the function of Wayne’s job, which includes reviewing operational readiness, resource allocation, and outlining a plan to transition to a community medicine approach, constitutes service to the city and therefore violates the code.
Duncan hopes the temporary injunction and restraining order will prohibit the city from implementing the contract and will force them to solicit bids for an interim fire chief. Additionally, the lawsuit requests a judgement declaring the city has not complied with city ordinances and declaring the contract void.
“Allowing non-compliance with city ordinance constitutes an injury to the citizens of the city that outweighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause the defendant,” the lawsuit states.