TOM DORSEY / Salina Journal Ann Zimmerman (left) and John Divine (right) listen as David Norlin discusses the possibility of consolidating Salina and Saline County governments during Tuesday’s League of Women Voters Lunch and Learn program at St. John’s Lutheran Church. They are mem

By DARRIN STINEMAN  Salina Journal

Saline County employees aren’t all that jazzed about the prospect of consolidating city and county government, according to a survey the League of Women Voters conducted as it investigates the issue for Salina and Saline County.

When asked if consolidation would make local government more effective, eight county employees said yes. Forty-seven said no. When asked what type of effect consolidation might have on their job, two said positive, 33 said negative and 27 gave a neutral response.

On the other hand, city of Salina employees said consolidation would make government more effective — by a 28-15 count — and more than two-thirds of them didn’t think it would have a negative effect on their job.

500 workers get surveys

The study committee provided 500 surveys to the city of Salina and 300 to Saline County, and it received responses from 72 city employees and 68 from the county.

“It’s unmistakable that the results were more positive toward consolidation from city employees than from county employees,” David Norlin, a member of the League of Women Voters committee that’s studying the issue, said during the league’s Lunch and Learn event Tuesday.

The surveys also provided space for comments, and they tended to reflect skepticism from county employees.

“We need to concentrate our efforts on finding more jobs, not trying to take jobs away,” one wrote. “Until someone has lost a job, you wouldn’t understand the impact it has.”

What about the county?

An employee with the Saline County Sheriff’s Office was concerned about how consolidation might affect coverage of outlying areas.

“We provide law enforcement for all those smaller towns in the county. In fact, we are the only law enforcement in those towns,” the responder wrote. “Those smaller towns would get the short end of the stick with consolidation.”

Another simply said: “This is a very tired subject. Let’s move on.”

Ann Zimmerman, a member of the consolidation study committee, said the committee is looking

at Wyandotte County —

the only Kansas locale to completely consolidate city and county governments — as well as Topeka-Shawnee County, where residents voted down consolidation last month.

“Topeka did an extensive study,” Zimmerman told a group of about 35 people who attended the noonhour event. “Apparently, they found that consolidation would improve the economy of both the city and the county, but they weren’t able to convince the majority of county residents it would be to their benefit.”

State law required that both Topeka residents and those living outside the city limits in Shawnee County approve of the consolidation plan. More than 70 percent of Topekans approved, but only 40 percent living outside the city voted for it.

The League of Women voters committee is hoping to gather enough information to make a recommendation to the league’s board of directors at its annual meeting in April, committee member Jan Mendell said. The board would then consider making a recommendation to state and local officials that consolidation be considered.

“We’re not trying to build a case either for or against consolidation,” said committee member John Divine.

Divine’s desire to explore consolidation was a constant theme during his unsuccessful campaign to unseat County Commissioner Craig Stephenson in 2004.

“If we’re going to have good government, we need to maintain openness to look at new approaches,” said Divine, whose wife, Debbie, is Salina’s mayor.

It’s inevitable

Salinan Don Timmel, who attended the event, said he is acquainted with the president of the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County, and he claims that project may not have happened without consolidation.

“Why they got the track was (track developers) were dealing with one government, one set of rules,” Timmel said.

Consolidation in much of Kansas is inevitable, he said.

“We need to study this further,” he said. “In fact, when it’s all said and done, everyone working on this better have in mind it’s for the betterment of us in central Kansas, in our little neighborhood here.”

Commissioners care

John Burchill asked if a governing body for Salina and Saline County would have district representation. Committee members said it’s too early to say.

“When I had problems in the city and I tried to contact city commissioners, at that time they all lived in a four-block radius of each other, and they weren’t interested in my neighborhood,” said Burchill, who used to live in Salina but has resided outside the city limits for about 15 years.

“My county commissioner, when I mentioned an issue on my road, knew what I was talking about and goes out and checks the roads all the time.”

Consolidation talks

The League of Woman Voters of Salina is sponsoring a public meeting to discuss statewide city-county consolidation:

WHEN: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday

WHERE: Salina Public Library, Prescott room (basement)

PANEL MEMBERS: David Kerr, Don Moler and Sandy Jacquot

TO LEARN MORE: Call 825-7847, e-mail David Norlin at davidnor@sbcglobal.net or go to www.lwvofsalinaks.com

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