A local group who wants a public vote on expanding the Honeywell plant in Kansas City is suing City hall.
The group says it’s asking a Jackson County’s district court for a writ of mandamus–a court order– to hold a vote on whether or not the plant should expand.
Rachel McNair of the peace Planters group says a city hall’s refusal to permit that vote is “being sabotaged”.
The group submitted more than 3,572 valid signatures earlier this summer.
But City Attorney Galen Beaufort advised the City Council not to put the issue on the November 2011 ballot. Beaufort’s legal opinion claims the expansion of the plant is not a local issue.
Since the Honeywell plant has national defense contracts from the Department of Energy, what the plant does is a national security issue, not a local one. The plant makes non-nuclear components of weapons systems.
Timing is a key issue in the court filing.
The deadline for placing an issue on the November ballot is August 30. That leaves three business days from Friday August 26 to get a decision from the Court.
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