By Maria Carter
Kansas City, MO – Kansas City council committee turned down a delay on starting a red light camera program. KCUR's Maria Carter reports.
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The Kansas City council approved installing red light cameras at some 50 intersections last year. Those cameras were to go up early this year but the installation hit a glitch over ethics complaints. A former city employee was working for one of the companies making a bid. Councilman Ed Ford wanted the new council to reconsider the whole deal, claiming the previous council had not done enough research, but Councilwoman Cathy Jolly and other Public Safety committee members disagreed.
Cathy Jolly: "This was vetted through a process publicly in that there were town hall meetings. And I understand what you are saying but part of me feels like we can't go back and review everything."
The move to delay by 90 days new bids on the red-light cameras failed. The city managers office is looking at how to go forward with a new round of bids.
The Finance and Audit Committee also approved acting Auditor Gary White to take over the position permanently. The city auditors seat was left open after Mark Funkhouser stepped down to run for mayor.