The City Council authorized $34,216.74 from the unassigned reserve fund to repair the York chiller at Hotel Topeka and rescinded a prior resolution that had allocated $125,000 for civil site repairs.

Braxton Copley, deputy city manager, said the York chiller is approximately 30 years old, has a cracked barrel and is leaking refrigerant. He said the city previously replaced a Trane unit at a cost of roughly $250,000 and recommended making minimal repairs to the York unit so it can provide redundancy during extreme heat or when the Trane unit is down.

Copley told the council the resolution would effectively return about $91,000 to unassigned reserves by rescinding the earlier allocation and allow $34,216.74 to be used for the chiller repairs. The council approved the resolution by recorded vote; the motion carried 7–3. Councilmembers Valdivia Alcala, Ortiz and Banks voted no.

Council discussion focused on the hotel’s maintenance needs and the decision to use reserve funds to address the immediate chiller repair rather than a larger capital replacement at this time.