Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority director says commercial airline could take off in Topeka

What worked to bring a commercial airline to Manhattan will work for Topeka — and now is the time to try it.

At least that is what Eric Johnson, director of the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority, told Shawnee County’s legislative delegation Tuesday.

And the nine members present seemed to agree: The delegation directed Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, to enter a bill in the Ways and Means Committee allocating $2 million toward bringing a commercial airline to Topeka.

That is the same amount Kansas allocated to Manhattan for the same purpose — an amount returned to the state, in full, early this year.

The $2 million served as an insurance policy to get American Eagle flying out of Manhattan — providing compensation when flights weren’t more than 70 percent full. Manhattan used only the $250,000 local match to supplement those flights, and only in the first few months, leaving the state’s $2 million untouched.

That not only proves the revenue guarantee model works, Johnson said, it also means the state has $2 million already allocated to beefing up the state’s air services. Why not repeat what has proven to be a successful model in Topeka, Johnson said.

“We see that there is a success story, with an exact model,” he said. “How can you go wrong with a proven model?”

The airport bill was one of two the delegation saw it could put forward so far after seven straight hours of presentations from 23 county officials.

The other bill would allow counties to sell cemeteries they have taken over out of bankruptcy, a request from Shawnee County counselor Rich Eckert. It will go through Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka, in the local government committee.

The remaining proposals either had no action or required more information.

Eckert’s proposal to reduce the lame duck session for county treasurers from 11 months to two, for example, was delegated to Mah, who also serves in the elections committee, for further vetting.

The delegation directed Eckert to get input from the Kansas County Treasurers Association, as well as other counties, before it would go forward with the idea. Members expressed some concern trying to push it forward during this legislative session, because it would short incumbents’ term by 11 months. However, most agreed the idea made sense.

“I’ve thought about this for a long time, regardless of the actions of our current treasurer,” Rep. Lana Gordon, R-Topeka, said. “This seems to me to be a good policy, so I feel like whatever I can do to help, I’d be happy to do that.”

The county’s third agenda item, to heighten the liability threshold for inmates who hurt themselves, was sent back for more information.

And so were two of District Attorney Chad Taylor’s proposals — one regarding grand jury changes and the other having to do with the election process of district attorneys.

Taylor’s third item requested more funding for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation crime lab, which is severely backlogged, he said. The item was sent to the legislative research department so the representatives could have more information to analyze the problem.

Janlyn Nesbett-Tucker, CEO of the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority, asked the delegation to write a letter in support of building a $25 million multi-modal system near Forbes Field. The delegation said it wanted to review the federal grant application for the system before writing a letter.

Three members of the county’s 12-member delegation weren’t present Tuesday: Rep. Sean Gatewood, D-Topeka; Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka; and Rep. Joe Patton, R-Topeka.

http://cjonline.com/news

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