KANSAS CITY, Mo. — UPDATE 4:20 PM 10/21/2017: The City Council voted to continue negotiations with Edgemoor in a meeting Thursday.
Last week, KC City Council voted 9 to 4 to reject an agreement with Edgemoor, the company that was chosen to build a new single terminal airport. The public vote overwhelmingly approved the new terminal in November.
During the council's Thursday meeting, it approved a substitute resolution that allowed for continued negotiations with Edgemoor and set a timeline for completion of the memorandum of understanding (MOU). The resolution also allows for including council input on the next draft and updating the public on the process.
Following the council's rejection of the MOU last week, Mayor Sly James called the vote a “political move” by some on the council to create a “backdoor way of getting what they want.”
James released a statement Thursday, praising the council's decision to continue negotiations.
"Last month, Kansas Citians stepped up to invest in the future of our City by voting for a new KCI terminal. And today, I’m proud that the City Council took the next step toward ensuring that we build a terminal that works for Kansas City by passing a resolution that will continue good faith negotiations with Edgemoor. We still have a long way to go in this process, but if I’ve learned anything from my time as Mayor of this great city, it’s that when we work together, we can achieve the seemingly unachievable. I’m proud that we’ve ended 2017 on such a high note and look forward to 2018, when we’ll continue our work to build a terminal as world-class as our city."
After the news broke that Edgemoor may be out of the picture, the second-place bidder for the airport contract, AECOM, teamed up with Burns & McDonnell to make a play at the project. Some council members have expressed interest in support of this duo.
During the campaign for a new KCI, Burns & McDonnell touted itself as the “hometown” team, but the company was eventually disqualified from the competition.
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