Remarks by Spencer Duncan
308 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 13
Then with that, this meeting is adjourned at 9.31.
If I turn on my microphone, let's try that again. Good evening. Welcome to the October 13th, 2026 Governing Body Meeting of the City of Topeka, Kansas. We'll now call this meeting to order. I was going slow for you. I was going slow for you. Councilmember Ortiz this evening has the invocation. So please turn your attention to her and rise if you are able.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. With that, we will turn to the roll call.
Council Member Hillard, we see you. Can we hear you?
All right. With that, we have a handful of presentations this evening. We will start with the first one, obviously. City Clerk.
Yeah, so we're going to work on our end of turning it up a little bit, but we can hear you.
Questions, comments from the governing body? I can't see council members Valdivia, Alcala, and Hiller. I don't know if they have their pads tonight or not. Can you either help me see them, or is there a way to let me see them on the screen? Yep, I think that's it. Yep, there they are. All right. I can see you now. So if you have questions, just raise your hand or speak up if you don't have your pad. All right. All right, and I guess if you, so Christy, is your plan to reach out to every member of the governing body for a one-on-one?
Perfect, so just be aware that's coming and don't ignore it, please. Any other questions or comments? All right. Well, I don't see any, so thank you. We look forward to the process.
Perfect. Thank you, Christine. Thank you to your team. All right. With that, we'll move on to our second presentation of the evening. City Clerk.
The young man who ushered me in here. There's a button on the side of the remote. Is it turned on?
All right, I'm going to open up to the city council here in just a minute. I'm going to make a comment before. And this won't be anything new to Curtis. Because when I heard about this, I called him right away. And partly why he's here. But you made the comment that there's a lot of questions you're not going to be able to answer. But the truth is, they can answer a lot of these questions. And Curtis, I like you. You know that. I trust you. We've worked together on many things through the years. You've never led me astray. So this isn't about you. And I want to make that very clear. I've said…
Thank you. Thank you. All right. Council Member McGee.
All right. I see no other questions or comments from the governing body at this time. I want to make sure I'm not missing anybody before I let Curtis go. Thank you, sir. I know this will be the first of what I'm guessing will be many conversations.
All right, with that, we move on to our third presentation of the evening. City Clerk.
All right. Comments or questions from the governing body? Councilmember Valdivia-Alcala.
Thank you. Any other comments or questions from the governing body?
I do appreciate it. I think it's important for everyone to understand the distinctions between annexations. I will tell everyone I fundamentally have concerns with any type of island annexation. I think that annexation as a whole should always be taken seriously because it impacts people who live in the county versus who have chosen not to live in the city, which is why we actually have a pretty good track record as a city. In fact, I looked recently at our last 10 years of annexation, and it's very minimal, and it's always been only when requested. We have not done any hostile annexation. So…
All right. We have a motion to approve from Councilmember Kell. And it's been seconded by, hey, there we go, Councilmember McGee. If the clerk would take the vote, please. Maybe. I'm sorry. There we go.
All right. With that, we will move on to our non-action items. Non-action item A, city clerk.
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Thank you. All right. That was all on this item. Questions, comments from the governing body at this time?
Other comments or questions from the city manager? It doesn't appear that way. I can't see Councilmember Hiller. She's gone. So I'm going to assume she doesn't have anything. Maybe that's not fair. Be on the lookout for his email, asking for your feedback before he brings this back to us so he can get those questions and comments or additions, subtractions, whatever that looks like from you, so he can factor that in before he brings this back to us. Thank you, sir.
All right. With that, we will move on to non-action item B, city clerk.
We had a specific question on that slide.