The City of Topeka, Kansas will soon continue an ERP implementation that was put on hold more than a year ago for financial reasons. Despite the mayor’s objection to the project, the city council was able to overturn his veto.
According to an article published in Topeka Capital-Journal, Topeka’s mayor vetoed purchasing a Lawson ERP system in September 2007 and again in April 2008. When work on the project picked up again in May 2008, the then district attorney filed a lawsuit claiming the purchase violated the city’s cash-basis law. A judge agreed.
Thanks to a new ordinance that allows the council to override mayoral vetoes, the ERP implementation was approved in a 3 to 4 vote on June 9.
The major objections the mayor had to the system stem from a councilman’s evaluation claiming that it would take years to see a return on the city’s investment. “It doesn’t break even until seven or eight years into the project,” he said. “Until we have a significant implementation plan that saves tax dollars, I’m voting against this.”
Initially, the fight over an ERP system in Topeka began in 2005. At the time, a joint city-county committee was formed to implement a comprehensive business software. A dispute arose when the city wanted to go with Lawson while the county wanted to implement SunGuard.
