League of Women Voters
of Salina, Kansas

The Salina City Commission approved a resolution on Monday that holds up its end of the bargain regarding the formation of a city-county consolidation task force - but the question is how long the city will be hanging on.

The task-force proposal - which was spawned by a yearlong study conducted by the League of Women Voters - also will require approval from the Saline County Commission, which has been cool to the idea of examining consolidation.

The league made its request for formation of the task force at last month's joint city-county meeting, and city officials promised quick approval. City commissioners pressed Craig Stephenson, chairman of the county commission, to commit to a timeline for responding to the League, but he refused to do so.

At Monday's city commission meeting, City Manager Jason Gage told the commission a study of possible consolidation would conform to a part of the city's strategic plan that says it will "provide the highest quality of services."

"We think it's an exploratory process that very well might get us to higher quality, but we don't know that at this point," Gage said. "If Saline County (approves it) fairly soon, then we'll have to get together and talk about what we're really going to go after."

The city commission voted 5-0 to establish the city's participation in a joint city-county task force.

"I think we should support any initiatives to study possible ways to increase efficiency in local governments," City Commissioner Alan Jilka said.

"I believe this is the proper thing for the Salina City Commission to do," Mayor Donnie Marrs said, " and I look forward to the county commission adopting a similar resolution."

Bad Pavement address

At last week's meeting, city commissioners pointed out problems with some recently resurfaced areas and what might be done to address them

The topic came up again at Monday's meeting when the commission was asked to approve an $891,000 contract to resurface asphalt on more than three miles of city streets.

City Engineer Karlton Place told the commission that the city will be using a new asphalt mix that experts believe to be of better quality than what the city previously had used. Also from now on the city will mill the old surface down 2 inches - the current procedure calls for 1-1/2 inches - in an effort to prevent cracking and other problems. More police, firefighters

The city commission approved a requrest to add nine new positions in 2007, including four police officers and three firefighters.

Police officers are being added because of inadequate emergency response times, Gage said.

Highest-priority response times have increased to an average of almost six minutes, Gage said, and his goal is to have it around four minutes or less.

The estimated cost of adding the officers is $220,000. Adding the firefighters will cost an estimated $150,000.

New pay plan approved

After hearing last week from a consultant who recommended the city of Salina change its method of evaluating employees and to move toward merit pay rather than a pay plan with "step" increases, the city commission approved a new salary schedule at Monday's meeting.

The new plan has an emphasis on rewarding performance and increasing accountability, human resources director Natalie Fischer told the commission.

In respons to a question from City Commissioner John Vanier, Gage said the new plan could have an immediate effect on the pay of up to half of the city's employees. The new plan, which goes into effect June 1, won't resolut in anyone's pay being reduced. A fiber-optic system

Faced with the prospect of being charged $900 a month to use fiber-optic lines it has used for years at no cost, the city of Salina is going to build its own fiber system to connect city offices with the Bicentennial Center.

A previous agreement between the city and Cox Communications required Cox to install and maintain the system and allow the city to use it for free. That agreement recently expired because of a law that shifted cable franchising authority from municipalities to the state level.

City officials asked Cox to allow the city to continue using the system for free, but Cox refused. Instead, Cox said the city cold continue with its past practice only if it paid a fee of $900 a month.

That would've cost the city $54,000 over a five-year period, so city compter technology director Jack Rolfs proposed that the city establish its own system, which he estimated wouldcost less than $50,000 and have more capacity.