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Resident asks commissioners to locate approval letter for regional trail grant
Summary
At a public-comment period, Junction City resident Desiree Petra said she could not find a record of the city's approval letter for an ATIIP trail grant and urged the commission to review meeting videos; Mayor Pat Landis acknowledged his signature appears on a June 12 letter but said he does not recall the specific document.
Desiree Petra, a Junction City resident, told the commission during public comment that she could not find documentation showing how the city approved support for an ATIIP grant linked to proposed trails along the Kansas River. Petra said she had attended Flint Hills Regional Council and MPO meetings for more than a year seeking information and only recently obtained a timeline showing the city's June 12 letter of support, signed by Mayor Pat Landis.
"June twelfth, receive a formal letter of support from the City of Junction City, signed by Mayor Pat Landis," Petra said, adding that she had repeatedly asked Flint Hills Regional Council and other officials for the approval letter and got no clear answers. She said she worries that involvement by the National Park Service or federal agencies through regional planning could affect local river and water rights.
Petra said she first raised the issue at a city meeting and that a participant, identified in the transcript as Mr. Dinkel, had commented that the ATIIP grant concerned Washington and Grant avenues. Petra said the meeting was later closed and she could not find a public record of the discussion. "So what This is a violation," she said, urging the city clerk to review archived meeting video.
Mayor Pat Landis responded during public comment after Petra said she found his name on the approval letter, saying, "I'm not criticizing it at all, and I mean, I signed it there, that's my signature, I signed a lot of things off after the meeting, and I don't recall everything that I signed." Landis also noted he signs many routine items and said he does not recall signing every document.
Why it matters: Petra framed her concern as a civic-records and transparency issue and linked it to questions about local control if federal partners became involved in trail planning. Commissioners did not make a formal motion at the meeting to pursue the matter, but Petra asked the city clerk to review video records for past meetings where the grant or related discussions might have appeared.
Petra said she traced the trail proposals to materials from the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Flint Hills Regional Council, and that she traced the sequence of dates showing grant information was sent to the city on May 16, reviewed by the regional council on May 17, and followed by a letter of support dated June 12.
The commission did not vote or issue direction on the record during the public-comment period to open an investigation or to request a formal staff report; Petra explicitly requested that the city clerk review past meeting video and that the commission clarify how the approval occurred.
Ending: The concern remains a public comment request for staff review. Petra said she will continue seeking records and asked the city clerk to review archived video now that she found a dated letter she believes bears the mayor's signature.
