The Kansas City Council is expected to vote today on whether to allow local voters to have a say in whether the city is financially involved in future nuclear weapons construction efforts. Through a complicated financing arrangement, the Kansas City Council signed off on bonds that are financing the construction of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s new non-nuclear component production facility in Kansas City, but activist groups are petitioning the council to end any future involvement with the facility. The council has largely opposed the group’s efforts and has balked at passing an ordnance that says the city “shall not enter into, facilitate, nor give permission for any future contracts whereby it will be directly financially involved in any facilities that produce or procure components for, assemble, or refurbish nuclear weapons (except for outside infrastructure improvements customarily provided by cities and governmental services ordinarily provided to citizens.”
But a group dubbed the Kansas City Peace Planters has collected 3,791 signatures that it says should allow the issue to be placed on the ballot for an April 2 election. Rachel MacNair, the petition coordinator for the group, said that she was unsure if the council would allow the issue to be taken up by voters despite support from city attorney William Geary, but she said that if the council voted against the petition, her group would sue to force the issue.