League of Women Voters
of Salina, Kansas

Consolidation on agendas
Topic to be focus of League and joint city-county meetings

Sharon Montague
Salina Journal

Saline County commissioners won't have a formal meeting Tuesday, but they'll have a joint session this week with Salina city commissioners and a meeting with a League of Women Voters committee studying city-county consolidation. The joint meeting with city commissioners is set for 3 p.m. Monday in Room 107 of the City-County Building.

Commissioner Sherri Barragree said members of the two boards had discussed meeting periodically to talk about matters of interest to both.

This will be the first of those meetings.

"This is just a startup," Barragree said. "We'll be talking about some topics that we need to discuss in the future. This first one is just a get-together."

There is no agenda, Barragree said.

The meeting with the League of Women Voters committee is set for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Room 213 of the City-County Building.

Barragree said county commissioners hadn't had a chance to talk to the committee members before they had two recent public meetings. At the session Wednesday, commissioners will tell committee members of the statutory obligations of county officials and possible implications of consolidation.

"We want to shed some light on what the county does and is required to do," Barragree said.

County commissioners meet from 9 a.m. until business is concluded Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Room 209 of the City-County Building.

All of the sessions are open to the public.

A complete agenda may be viewed on the county's Internet site, www.saline.org.

Association director to present county viewpoint

The Salina Journal

As part of an ongoing League of Women Voters study of city-county consolidation, Randall Allen, director of the Kansas Association of Counties, will be part of a public forum on the issue at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Prescott Room of the Salina Public Library.

Many of those who attended previous League meetings on consolidation asked for more information from a county viewpoint, said Marge Mintun, a member of the League's committee that's studying consolidation.

Allen directs the primary organization in Kansas promoting effective, responsive county government, Mintun said.