By DARRIN STINEMAN  Salina Journal

The meeting was supposed to be primarily about consolidation, but it ended up being more about expansion.

At the League of Women Voters summer membership meeting Monday night, City Manager Jason Gage was asked to speak about city-county consolidation, which will be the subject of a League study this year.

He did that, then opened the floor for questions. The first came from former mayor John Divine, who made an unsuccessful run for a Saline County Commission seat in November, running primarily on a platform of the need for consolidation of city and county services.

Divine’s question, however, had more to do with whether Salina will attain the 50,000 population in the 2010 census that will be necessary for the city to qualify for various federal grants and programs. Several more questions on the subject followed.

“It seems like our growth in the past 10 years has not been sufficient to get to that 50,000 in the next census,” Divine said from the back row of seats in the Salina Public Library’s Prescott Room.

Gage, who has been city manager for just under two months, said it’s probably too late for economic development to carry Salina to the 50,000 mark.

“I still feel our best opportunity is to bring the folks out to fill out the (census) forms,” Gage said. “What that means is a concerted effort between the city and the chamber of commerce, educational institutions or whatever the groups might be.”

That prompted a question from Ted Mintun, one of about 35 people who attended the meeting.

“Are you saying we probably have 50,000 people, but we don’t have 50,000 people counted?” he asked.

“Every community would probably tell you they’re undercounted,” Gage said, “and most communities are undercounted.”

City and county

Gage might have answered most of the questions about consolidation with his 15-minute speech on the subject that started the meeting.

He said consolidation has its place, but he doesn’t want to see anything too drastic at this point.

“I’m sort of biased as a city manager,” Gage said. “I believe in municipal government; I believe that municipal government should be effective and continue to improve. To me, that’s extremely important.

“But there’s a perspective out there that municipal government is better or more effective than county government, and that may be true in some places, but I’m not sure it’s always true.

“I’m a big believer in sharing of common services and trying to find efficiencies. We do that here; I’ll give credit to both the city of Salina and Saline County. There are a lot of things we share that you won’t find in many cities or counties, so they’re already probably a step ahead of many cities and counties in the state.”

Gage mentioned shared services in law enforcement, information technology, vehicle maintenance and the city-county health department as examples.

The delicate dance

Other questions Gage fielded were a mixed bag.

Phil Black, dean of academic affairs at Brown Mackie College, Salina, asked about the dynamic of the city manager working with the city commission. It so happened that Debbie Divine, Salina’s mayor and the wife of John Divine, was across the room.

“How do you do that delicate dance, when you’re looking at Debbie and thinking, ‘Gosh, she has no idea what she’s talking about?’ ” Black said, drawing laughter from the audience and a big smile from Gage.

“I’ve never thought that,” Gage said, causing an increase in laughter, the loudest coming from the mayor.

“He’s quick,” Divine said.

Gage finally did address the question seriously.

“We have a commission that historically has been pretty consistent in its views and perspectives,” he said. “Today, there’s probably a little more variation in the perspectives and views and how they see the future.

“No matter what we do, it needs to be what’s best for the community; we have to find a happy medium. If we get gridlocked, we can’t go anywhere.”

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