City Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, it is 4 o'clock. I will call the July 27th Salinas City Commission meeting to order. I will first ask staff for confirmation that the Kansas Open Meeting Act required notice has been properly provided.

Yes.

Thank you. May we have a roll call?

Mayor Hoppeck?

Here.

Commissioner Davis?

Here.

Commissioner Lankowitz?

Here.

Commissioner Rimp?

Here. As you will see, we have two of our commissioners zooming in for this meeting. Will those who are able please stand for a Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

Thank you. Okay, that will lead us to item 2.1.

Item 2.1, acceptance of Commissioner Ivey's resignation and discussion of the process for filling the vacancy on the city commission.

And commissioners. On this item, as you're aware, Commissioner Ivey submitted a resignation. For part of our procedural process, it would be appropriate for the minutes to reflect that there was a motion made to accept the resignation and dated July 24th, 2026. Following that, because he was also the vice mayor, it would be appropriate for the commission to elect a new vice mayor in the same manner that we do at our organizational meeting. And then following those two actions, staff will need some how you would like to submit the process or run the process for selecting a new commissioner.

Okay.

So I kind of have this broken into three parts. I thought we might do them in order and then have more discussion about the selection of a new commissioner after we knock out the first two.

Okay. Do I have a motion to accept the resignation of Commissioner Jerry Ivey? Yes. Do I have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second to accept the resignation of Jerry Ivey II, effective July 24th, 2026. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes 4-0. We would like to thank Mr. Ivey for his... dedication to the community and wish him and his family the best of luck in the future that will move us to the election of a vice mayor of the board of commissioners do i have a motion i move that we select commissioner davis as vice mayor I'll second that. We have a motion and a second to appoint Vice Mayor Commissioner Davis to fill that spot as Vice Mayor of the Board of Commissioners. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That item passes 4-0. Okay, that will move us into the filling the vacancy. Do you want to read that?

I thought I might just quickly address just the ground rules for people at home and for the commissioners. By city code and by state law, to select the board of commissioners, the remaining commissioners select a new commissioner. To be eligible, they simply have to be a registered voter residing in the city of Salina. State statute and city code requires that to happen within 60 days, but other than that, the guidance is very general and vague into how you do it. Staff have reviewed prior vacancies and it appears that usually the city has put out an expression of interest form and solicited those from whoever wants to fill one out, similar to how we deal with other boards. And then, so staff just need direction whether or not you would like us to do that again, whether or not you'd like anything different than usual and whether or not I think it'd be appropriate to identify if you want to try and do that at your next meeting or a future meeting just so the applicants have an idea of what your timeline is.

Okay comments from the commissioners?

I have a couple and I can lead off. Okay go ahead. I think we should do to allow the community to do an expression of interest form I think we as commissioners we know that we have had multiple people already express interest. I got a call from a young man earlier expressing interest and I think we need to approach it with a little bit more urgency than two months but I think the people that have thought about it have already thought about it. And I would think if they had 10 days or two weeks to provide, to put that expression of interest forth, I think we should do that and take a look perhaps at the next meeting.

Commissioner Renth, what timeline do you think is reasonable? Are you thinking maybe August 24th, that meeting or?

No, I think we should do it before that. I would think the first meeting in August. Based upon the people that have already expressed interest, we already have three or four, five, perhaps half a dozen people that have interest and I think we should allow them to make it formal And I don't think we should wait a month. I think we have too many issues where we kind of need that fifth commissioner.

Commissioner Davis?

Yeah, I think the timing would also depend on the deadline for submitting the expressions of interest. If there's a 14-day deadline, The deadline would still be open at the time we would get the packet for our next Commission meeting. And that would mean we would have potentially a few hours or a few minutes depending on our work schedules to review any late entries. And it would caution you any deliberations have to be done in open session. We don't get to go back into a closed room and discuss it out and hammer it out. All that discussion is in open session. So if our deadline extends two weeks to submit it, I would say whatever meeting comes after that two-week deadline is over.

Well, I think we could make it ten days.

Looking at the calendar, if we try to do it on the 10th, expressions of interest would have to be in by August 6th. not knowing if people are on vacation or anything i would probably lean towards doing it on the 24th just from a standpoint of having enough time for individuals get their eois in and then for us to be able to review them also that would just be my preference i would be fine with that yeah i don't i think that's within the 30 days and i think that would give everyone an opportunity to to get those filled out and to give us opportunity to review them prior to the meeting so

I like that idea.

So do we have to go ahead. You ready for a motion?

Yeah. I would move to direct the staff to prepare and publish expression of interest forms for qualified electors interested in serving on the city commission to complete Commissioner Ivey's term. The Expressions ventures would be due within 14 days of today, and the commissioners would select a new commissioner on August 24th.

I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Having staff prepare and issue expression of interest forms for qualified electors interested in serving and submitting those within 14 days with a replacement commissioner being selected on August 24th. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That item passes 4-0.

Thank you. So the expression of interest form will be available on our website. We'll make that link available. And so two weeks from today would be the 10th. So that would be the due date. And then we'll provide those to the city commission as soon as we have them all.

They could call the city office also.

Absolutely. Call city clerk's office. Call our office. We'll make sure that we've advertised how it's available. We'll put it out on our Facebook page as well, how you can get access to the form.

Okay, thank you. That will lead us to public hearings.

Item 3.1, conduct a public hearing and consider approval of Ordinance No. 26-11290, vacating portions of Decatur Street and Chester Avenue in the areas described within the ordinance.

Okay, I am going to recuse myself from this item as I'm doing title work on this property and continuing to work with the owners. So I will turn it over to the Vice Mayor. Thank you.

And with the city attorney's permission, I am going to ask Commissioner Lenkiewicz if he would actually direct this item just because you're able to see the room and you can feel the pulse of the room, something I won't be able to do very effectively remotely.

Understood. I'm happy to do that.

Thank you.

Okay. Commissioners, this is a public hearing to consider approval of an ordinance to vacate the right-of-way of certain portions of Decatur Street and Chester Avenue, which is also at one point known as Railroad Avenue. I don't know if we were able to put the map of the area we're talking about on the screen. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay.

My mic is on. I don't know if it's working. They remind me we haven't actually formally opened the public hearing because I was too excited to talk about this.

Well, let's officially open the public hearing. Then I'll turn it back over to you. Thank you. Sorry about that.

No, it's all right. So again, looking at vacating a portion of Decatur Street, also known as Railroad Avenue and Chester slash Custer Avenue. That's kind of the area, it's hard to see what we're talking about, but this is kind of an unusual section of land just to the south of the railroad. I believe to the north side of town, kind of between the business district and the railroad. Essentially what appears happened in time was at one point there were multiple railroads that actually in the beginning, the original city of Salina was just to the south of that main street. And then an early plat was done north of that with the intention of residential housing. However, this is in the 1800s. Instead of housing happening, several railroads came through and then later left. And so it kind of created a bunch of disjointed streets that were never really fully developed and turned over to the city. Today, if you were to drive north of these streets, it's not recognized as part of our city street system and hasn't really functioned as a street, but the right-of-way still exists on paper. So as part of discovering this, these are two little sections of the city. They're basically about the length of a crossing railroad track, but there's no railroad track there anymore. And so the reason we're having this hearing is to clean this up and eliminate these from their formerly Officially being streets at the register of deeds office. So it's I would classify it as fairly mundane But it will allow some potential development and in other words No one can ever acquire a title to those tracks because they look like they have a street on them, even though they physically don't Thank you and I'll bring the discussion back to the Commission we have any follow-up questions or comments and

Well, did I understand it correctly that we're doing this for K-State Salina, or they are the ones that have requested it?

That's the second hearing we're doing, and that's in a different part of town.

All right.

Yeah, you're correct. That's a similar process, Commissioner, but this is for Street Right-of-Way near the railroad in the north of the business district.

Okay. I have no issues with it.

No, the city's not using it as a street, and so I don't think we're going to miss it.

All right.

If we're done with that, I'll direct it to the public if they want to comment on this particular item. Feel free to do so now, and please abide by the three-minute time constraints. Okay, I'll bring it back to the commission and I will officially close the public hearing.

I'd move that the city commission approve ordinance number 26-11290 vacating portions of Decatur Street and Chester Avenue in the areas described within the ordinance. Second. Second.

All right. We have a second. Our first and a second. Adopt ordinance 26-11290 vacating portions of Decatur Street and Chester Avenue in the areas described within the ordinance. And this is going to be a roll call vote.

Commissioner Lankowitz? Oops. One more again. Commissioner Lankowitz?

It's a yes for me.

Okay. Commissioner Rem?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Davis? Yes.

Yes. So that motion carries 3-0. Thank you.

Thank you, commissioners.

It's kind of odd being up here by myself in this context.

Okay, that will lead us to item 3.2.

Item 3.2, conduct a public hearing and consider approval of ordinance number 26-11288, vacating a portion of a 100-foot platted utility easement located in lot 8, block 1, Schilling subdivision number 3 to the city of Salina, Saline County, Kansas, and vacating a platted 30-foot utility easement lying in portions of lots 12 and 13 in block 1 in Schilling subdivision number 3. Okay.

With that, I will open the public hearing. Margie. Margie.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. Today, we are here to conduct a public hearing and consider approval of ordinance number 2611288, vacating a portion of 100-foot platted utility easement located in lot 8, block 1 of Schilling subdivision number 3, and vacating a platted 30-foot utility easement lying in portions of lots 12 and 13, also in block 1 in the Schilling subdivision number 3. Next slide, please. So just to get you a little bit of where we're at, here is the request area on the screen. It's just north of Beechcraft Road on the K-State Salina campus. Next slide. So Kansas State University Salina is in the process of building a new aerospace education hub near these utility easements. As easements are public utility easements, they're not permitted to install their private utilities or build any structures in those easements. Vacating the easements will allow them to place their private utilities and allow them to continue their construction on their new building. Cod Valley Engineering prepared a vacation petition and supporting descriptions and exhibits, identifying the segments of easements they're requesting to be vacated. If you want to go to the next slide. So the two easements are on the screen here. Kind of harder to see from the back, but on the left-hand side, there's a blue easement. That is a 30-foot easement that they're wanting to vacate that whole portion or that whole easement. On the right-hand side, there's a red easement that is a 100-foot easement. They're requesting to vacate the 30-foot of the western side. So the purpose of the July 27, 2026 public hearing for today is to provide notice to potentially affected property owners and public and franchise utility providers and provide the public an opportunity to speak. In this case, there's no other property owners who own property in this specific portion of utility easements. So all of the easements have vacated will revert to the full use of the property owner upon recording of the ordinance. City staff did distribute this vacation petition to all local public and franchise utility providers. No utilities reported having any utilities within these easements. And there were no objections to the easement vacations as received. The City of Solano Utilities Department has stated they're agreeable to the vacation of the western, shouldn't be 40 foot, 30 foot of the 100 foot utility easement as long as 30 foot on the other side is added to that east side of the existing. So we have 100 foot of public utility easement and that maintains that 100 foot. The required findings for the vacation request can be found on pages one and two of your staff report. There's no direct fiscal impact for this request. So KSA 12504A requires that the City Commission conduct a public hearing. We've already done step one, which is open the public hearing. Number two is receiving the report from staff, which you're hearing right now. Three will receive comment from the petitioner and the public. A representative from K-State is available for any questions you may have. Questions and deliberations by commissioners, close the public hearing and act on the ordinance. So your options today for ordinance number 2611288 is to approve the ordinance as written or with any changes that you see fit. Postpone consideration to a specific date and time if you need more information or deny the ordinance request. I'm here for any questions or if we have other staff members if you need them to.

Okay, any questions or comments from the commissioners?

None here.

Okay. Any comments from the public on this item? Okay. If not, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission for action.

Mayor Hoppeck, I move that the city commission approve ordinance number 26-11288, vacating a portion of the 100-foot platted utility easement located in lot eight, block one of Schilling subdivision number three, to the city of Salina, Kansas, Saline County, and vacating a platted 30-foot utility easement lying in portions of lots 12 and 13, block one, Schilling subdivision number three, to the city of Salina, Saline County, Kansas, as depicted on the attached exhibit.

Second. We have a motion and a second to approve ordinance number 26-11288, vacating a portion of 100-foot platted utility easement located in lot eight, block one, shilling subdivision number three to the city of Salina, Saline County, Kansas. And vacating a platted 30 foot utility easement, lying in portions of lot 12 and 13, block one, Schilling subdivision number three to the city of Salina, Saline County, Kansas. May we have a roll call please?

Commissioner Davis? Commissioner Davis?

Yeah, I'm sorry, aye. Are you able to hear me?

Commissioner Lankowitz?

Aye.

Commissioner Rem?

Aye.

Mayor Hoppeck?

Aye. That item passes 4-0. Thank you. That will lead us to the consent agenda.

Item 4.1, consider approval of the July 13th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Item 4.2, consider approval of the July 15th, 2026 special meeting minutes. Item 4.3, consider approval of resolution number 26-8365, appointing members to the Saline County Community Corrections Advisory Board. Item 4.4, consider authorizing the city manager to sign a request from the Kansas Department of Transportation to exchange 2026 federal funds per the KDOT master agreement governing the annual use thereof. Item 4.5 consider approval of resolution number 26-8361 accepting a conditional emergency solutions grant award from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. And item 4.6 consider approval of resolution number 26-8366 authorizing the city manager to take necessary actions to complete the requirements to make the city of Salina eligible to receive a non-competitive implementation grant for the pathways to a healthy Kansas multimodal transportation and recreational trails package.

Thank you. Is there an item the commissioner would like to have removed from the consent agenda?

I'd like to add one word to page two of the minutes, item 4.1.

Okay.

So where, let me pull those up here real quick.

It's at the last paragraph of page 2.

Okay.

In fact, at the very end of the first line, it reads states indoor clean act. I just wanted to add the word air, A-I-R, after the word clean.

I will make that adjustment, and I will get a proper copy signed.

And it is referenced correctly in the action in the next paragraph. It's just a little technicality.

Yeah, it makes more sense that way. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Are there any comments from the public on any of the consent agenda items? OK, if not, I would accept a motion to approve.

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second. Yeah, we've already first motion, second, yeah, I guess. Did you have something on the consent agenda you wanted to address?

Yes. Are you talking about all of the items on that agenda? Yes, yes. Yes, I do.

We'll go ahead and give you, maybe you didn't.

Susan Cooper Salina. You have considered approval of the July 15th, 2026 special meeting minutes. Where was that published? What happened in that executive committee meeting that you had on that date? Because you left the meeting and didn't address to the public after that meeting. So what happened at that meeting? Because you were supposed to be talking about the lawsuit for the COSI. And I'd like to know what you decided at that time.

All that legal counsel addressed the executive session.

Right. There was an executive session as stated in the minutes for attorney-client privilege discussions. Attorney-client privilege discussions can only happen in executive session because we would lose our privilege if we discussed those matters publicly. I understand that. And there was no formal action taken at that meeting.

So why was there no information that no formal action was taken?

Imagine if a private individual wanted to meet with their attorney, they would just go have a meeting and they'd have that meeting. If the commission wants to have a meeting with their attorney, they have to do it in that manner to do it properly.

But as the taxpayer, I think that we have a right to know that no action was taken. Do the minutes reflect no action was taken?

They do. They do. The minutes reflect that there's no action that was taken.

I didn't see any of the minutes.

Okay, we have on the floor a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That item passes 4-0. That will bring us to administration.

Item 5.1, consider approval of a change order for project number 24041, Water Tower Maintenance, Markley, Schilling, Wyatt, in the amount of $130,000.

Okay, Mr. Hoffman.

Commissioners, this is a change order. In January of 2025, the city of Salina contracted with a vendor to paint three water towers in the city of Salina. The vendor was doing good work and the first two water towers unfortunately was not able to complete the third water tower in that year. The way the contract was bid, the theory was that there'd be a savings by having one vendor come from out of state and do all three at once. The way to move forward with this matter would be to the list and spend the least amount of money for the city would be to have a change order that has that vendor. Remobilize come back and finish that last hour. Most likely at this point in the season that will probably happen in 2027 and that's the deadline for it.

And what could you update us a little bit on? There seemed to be a discrepancy between us and the vendor as to what that amounted to.

Sure, there's basically a difference of opinion. Several things happened on the project and it didn't go well. We were just discussing attorney-client privilege. I could brief the commissioners fully in attorney-client privilege about the SACE position and their position. The good news from the SACE perspective is that instead of fighting about this matter, we'd like the vendor to come back and finish the work. They were doing a good job. We like the quality of their work. We feel like if we went with a different vendor and rebid this process, we'd spend substantially more money. And so this is the solution that will, in the opinion of staff, save the city the most money and get the project finished.

Question. Yes. Without violating client attorney privilege, was the failure to complete the, or inability to complete the third tower due only to time, or were there other issues that our original contract did not foresee or allow for? I understand he's from out of town, he's got to bring the crew back, etc., etc. Is that something that would have been... his own burden if the work had not been completed in a certain time frame, or were there circumstances beyond routine work delays?

A little bit of both, to be honest, Commissioner. It's really difficult to answer that question publicly because it kind of depends who you ask. But the quality of the work that they were doing was really good. They didn't get it done in the painting season. After talking about it and discussing it with staff and the vendor, the staff feel like this is a good way forward.

A question. So on this project, are we spending an additional $130,000 versus what was originally budgeted or approved?

Yes, that's for the change order. The problem being the way it was bid initially, they didn't think they'd have to mobilize and come back to Salina, and so that's the justification for the additional cost.

Did the original contract specify that it was to be done in a certain time frame or that the three towers would be done and obviously the calendar is no surprise so I'm going to assume the vendor would know at the rate he works if winter time is going to catch up to him or not. In other words, would we naturally have been expected to pick up the tab for remobilization the way the first contract was written?

Sorry, I'm trying to remember how to answer the question. The original contract anticipated that it would all get done in one year. And it did have a date. That's part of the change orders to, in addition to the price, give them more time so they can complete it in 2027. So those are the two things we're really amending in the contract by this change order.

Well, I'm sure the public is... I'm sorry if I'm stepping on anything.

Go ahead. My question will wait.

Okay. I'm sure the public is going to bring up the... There's talk of... I think I've seen it in writing that the water tower didn't get drained as per agreed upon, so testing could be done and some other factors. Maybe it falls into that attorney-client... where it can't be talked about. But I guess I don't don't know where I'm going with that. Besides, I've read stuff that makes it look like the city did not do their part.

I suggested it would be easier for the city attorney to answer those questions that we recess into a an executive session for about 10 minutes. I think Commissioner Remp and I probably have similar type questions. Yeah, if you would like to make that motion, we can certainly do that. I don't have the long verbiage, so I hope the short version would work. I'd like to recess into executive session. Ten minutes would be enough, I would think, for ten minutes to discuss contractual issues with our attorney for items that would be deemed protected under attorney-client privilege? I hope that's close enough for a second.

Second. I believe that did cross all the boxes.

We have a motion and a second to recess into executive session for ten minutes to discuss attorney-client information. We will resume the meeting in this room at 4.43. Did we have a second?

Yes.

Okay, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, okay.

Yeah, present in the room will be myself, Patrick Hoffman, Sean Hennessy, and Martha Tasker. Okay, thank you, okay.

you Thank you. Bye. Beautiful.

I'm working on it. EXPLANATION.

YES. THANK YOU, MAYOR. YES. IN EXECUTIVE SESSION WE HAD MORE DETAILS, BUT AS I WAS TRYING TO STATE EARLIER, THIS WAS A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR THREE WATER TOWERS. THERE WAS AN ISSUE ON THE THIRD TOWER. THE CONTRACTOR AND THE CITY DID GET A LITTLE BIT SIDEWAYS WITH EACH OTHER, BUT THE SOLUTION THAT MOVES EVERYONE FORWARD IS A CHANGE ORDER THAT ALLOWS THEM TO COME BACK AND FINISH THE JOB. I THINK I DID SAY EARLIER THAT THEY WERE DOING GOOD WORK. WE JUST HAD TROUBLE WITH THE TIMELINE, AND WE THINK THAT THIS SOLVES IT BY GETTING THE TOWER PAINTED IN 2027.

Okay. Any other comments from the commission? If not, I will open it up to comments from the public. Please give us your name and keep your comments to three minutes. Thank you.

Tony Johnson, Salina. Since we're struggling with the full truth, let's call this what it is. It's an out-of-court settlement, not a change order. This contractor sued us because we could not drain the water out of the shilling water tank so he could proceed. In the city, according to his lawsuit, you can research it. It's on the Kansas District Court website. They never got back with him. He asked for like, they give him an October 30th deadline and never got back with him. And November 5th, I think he started counting days. And then anyway, I don't know why Martha Tasker's not giving this speech. I found it interesting, too, that in this settlement, city staff cannot be on site unless it's prior authorization through legal counsel. I wonder what precipitated that item. But regarding the testing that was being done, I wish somebody would answer what we were testing for, what did the test results show, why did the city decide not to drain the tower so he could continue work, was this condition known prior to this project being bid, and if not, what changed? And was the same work performed on all three towers, meaning did we drain the Markley and whatever other tower, Wyatt Tower as well? I'm assuming... Since we're going to go ahead and give him an extra $130,000, plus it's costing us legal fees at Clark Mize and Linville, I assume we realize he's probably in the right here and we're on the wrong side of this. So you got to ask yourself, what the hell are we doing? Who's driving this boat? I've heard issues before in here. It's like, we can't get contractors to bid on our projects. Well, we had to re-bid the landfill scale house project due to uncteen addendums and all kinds of bad wording. So I'm thinking maybe we need to start at the top and completely re-imagine what this city's leadership looks like from the top down. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Susan Cooper, Celina. If the original contract was $130,000 for three water towers, why is it going to cost $130,000 for one? Can anybody explain that to me without breaking client attorney privilege? I just see so many avenues where money is just thrown out the window and nobody is responsible for it. But we as citizens are supposed to just shut up and go along with what you guys say. I hate to tell you this, but guys, you work for us. And we have a vested interest in having our money spent prudently, and it has not been. So please tell me why it's going to cost that much money for one versus that much money for three.

I could. The original contract price, as you'll see in the sheet here was over a million was about one point almost 1.2 million dollars so this you know the other three were not done for this same price if anyone here has ever done a house remodel added on to their house landscaped a yard we call them change orders here at home you probably call them something else you do your best to get to a price that you think the project's going to cost. But a lot of projects cost more once you get into the work. And of course, the projects that get the, or the changes that get the attention are the ones that you hear about. Most of our projects go smoothly, and we don't have to. do changes on them. This was a peculiar one. But the $130,000 would be about 10% of the original total cost.

And where was that? Where can we find that document?

You mentioned that it was in the paperwork for today's meeting, which would be online. Oh, I didn't get this.

Oh, you've got to print it out. So you can't come to the meeting and get the information that you need at the meeting. You have to go electronically. Well, I'm learning. This is only my second meeting.

Okay. Thank you.

Trust me, it won't be my last.

Thank you.

Lori Hall, Slina. My husband and I own a construction company, so I'm familiar with change orders. But why are we paying for the mistakes of the city? I mean, why do we taxpayers have to do that? I mean, it should be on your back, right? I mean, because, huh? Right. I mean, my company, my husband's company, we don't pay for change orders anymore. if they make the mistakes. So I don't think that we should either.

Anyone else?

Sue Nichols, Salina. I read through this lawsuit earlier today, and it seems a lot of the issues revolved around communication. It's like, if you guys are going to give a deadline to people, then you should follow it. You should be a person of your word, and we expect that from every city employee.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. If not, I will bring it back to the Commission for action.

May I move the City Commission approve the change order for project number 24041, water tower maintenance, markedly showing why in the amount of $130,000 as presented by staff and authorize the City Manager to sign on behalf of the City.

I'll second that. We have a motion and a second to approve the change order for project number 24041, water tower maintenance, Markley, Schilling, Wyatt, in the amount of $130,000 as presented by staff and authorize the city managers to sign on behalf of the city. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That item passes 4-0. That will lead us to item 5.2.

Item 5.2, consider directing city staff to develop and advertise a request for proposal for the operation of the Salina Animal Shelter.

Mayor and commissioners, as you're aware, we've had lots of conversations about the animal shelter over the last couple of months. We did a study session on March 23rd, and city commission directed us to do an RFP for a shelter consultant to come in and take a look. at our shelter operations we issued that rfp and received respondents responses on march 30th those proposals were brought back to the city commission on may 11th city commission authorized me to execute a contract with animal shelter services llc over the last several months animal shelter services llc has been he's provided a kind of an operational overview we've given him all of our shelter policies and procedures and other relevant information, and he spent some time on site. Based on those discussions with staff, myself, Deputy City Manager Sean Hennessey, and Jeff Hammond spent quite a bit of time with the representative from Animal Shelter Services. And based on those discussions, I've come to the conclusion that at this point, if we were to, there's just quite a few issues and challenges that we're going to find out about in the report that comes out here in the next couple of weeks. And I think at this point, I don't think that all those issues and concerns are insurmountable, but I do think we would need a very strong, experienced shelter professional to come in and be able to manage the facility. And at this point, given what's going on in our community, I just don't see that the city would be able to find somebody that would be able to come in and kind of turn the corner. At this point, I'm recommending that the City Commission provide me with direction to develop an RFP. I think we could do that here in the next couple of weeks, have something out, probably have responses back in the next 45 days. Would want to take a little bit of time to get the report back from Animal Shelter Services so that we can include any of the recommendations that are part of that report. might impact what our RFP looks like. And there are services that we would want to have moving forward. So I'd like to have that back. But I do think that we can get this out the door fairly quickly in the next few weeks and then see if there's any available private contractors that would like to take on our services here for our animal shelter. Most of these companies that do this don't do animal control and I'm not sure that we want them to anyway to provide that kind of code enforcement type authority to an outside third party. So we would pull code enforcement or animal control officers outside of the current operation. We'd have to do some work on where that goes. within our city structure, still need to do that. Lots of work would have to be done in terms of developing agreement and as we move forward. So not necessarily a super quick solution, but I do think we can move as fast as we can to try and get an RFP out and see who's out there. And then obviously staff's committed to trying to work with whoever that is to come up with a good solution in terms of an agreement on how we move forward. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Any comments or questions from commissioners?

Comment, out the door are you referring to sending it out to bid or having it ready for us to review? I would like to see the animal shelter services report to make sure whatever should be incorporated into the rfp is done before it's actually sent out for bid just so we don't have to do it twice uh i wouldn't want to have someone bid on something and then we change materially what would be required and then we have to start over again i think it'd be good to certainly get started on the work but you know we have a consultant working who's obviously provided you with some preliminary information already. But I'd like to make sure that the benefit from that gets incorporated into the RFP.

Commissioner Davis, I kind of agree with you. As I was looking at the options, I wonder if we should direct staff to develop a request for proposal and take out and advertise. And that way we'd have time to review the report, massage the RFP before it gets advertised or sent out. that would solve my concern yeah and then it's then at a time down the road we would um approve the rfp and then each uh direct staff to to send it out does that yep let's really do that okay

Yeah, I don't, you know, we've got all the RFPs from other communities that we've seen in the last couple of years, so I don't think it's going to be a super heavy lift for us to develop it, but we can certainly bring it back for the City Commission.

I think Commissioner Rapp is muted. He was trying to say something.

I don't know how I got muted. Thank you, Commissioner Davis. A few comments from... my direction and it's kind of a counterpoint and i respect all my fellow commissioners but we get accused of kicking the can down the road myself and most of those sitting in the audience there have wanted this for many months some even years we don't have to reinvent the wheel we have rfps from other communities similar sized communities that have done the same thing We have an attorney on staff. I see no reason why we can have an hour. A request for proposal in RFP. Ready within a week or 10 days and and and put that out there and I think we have people out there that are ready. To respond, I'm not 100% sure. But I think we have operators that are willing to take over and I know we have. many of them sitting in the audience that would be back at the shelter as volunteers under a private organization running our shelter we've been getting this feedback again for a long time we were told many times over and i know we're going to get told again by the people in the audience that a consultant would be foolish. I voted against it. And I think if we kick this can down the road some more, we're going to get and we deserve to get raked over the coals some more.

We do have to decide what we're going to do with animal control and how that's going to interface with the shelter. And We have not seen the report. There may be some things we need to add in. I just don't want to have to go through the RFP process twice. And I think we're looking at weeks, not months here to get the report. We're not delaying this by six months or anything. This is a short-term delay, for lack of a better term.

think we need to keep it on the front burner oh it'll it'll stay on the front burner i think there's a difference between kicking the can down the road and just doing our due diligence i mean we are we're talking about completely revamping a department there are and there's a human component to this as well i mean i know there's a lot of people that aren't pleased the animal shelter but There are people that work there with families that have an income they're worried about, and I think this is something we just can't jump headfirst into. We need to, again, do our due diligence. Let's see what the report shows from the consultant. We've already hired them, despite some opposition to that, but it's part of the process, and let's cross our T's, dot our I's.

Well, if I could, just a couple more comments, and I talked to our city manager about this this morning, but I personally have bought and sold, I'd have to come out, but 10 to 12 businesses. And probably the most anxiety with employees is the in-between time period where they don't know what direction things are going to go. And it's been my experience that the sooner The sooner they get answers, the better.

I think we're still looking at a soon. It's just a question if it's a very soon or a very, very soon.

Yeah, I think... You know, waiting a couple extra weeks, I mean, in my opinion, to get the report, there may be things in there that we haven't thought about we want to add to the RFP. Again, we're looking for a long-term solution, so I would prefer to wait on that and to do it right.

Well, we've waited this long. I'm okay with weeks. I just don't want it to extend into months.

I think that's what we're talking about. I think we're hoping to have the, Commissioner Rimp, I think we're looking to have that report back in the next two to three weeks, and we'll already have the request for proposal fairly well put together, and that way we can add, if there's anything we need to add to that, we can do that at that time.

Well, thank you, and I've got to believe in this computerized day and age that consultants can get us the report quick-like.

Okay, any other questions or comments from the commission? Okay, if not, we will open it up to the public to come forward.

Hello, my name is Whitney Garaki. I live in Dickinson County and I volunteer for Prairie Paws in Manhattan, Kansas. And I can tell you right now that Brandon, director of Prairie Paws in Manhattan, Kansas, would love to run your shelter.

If I could for a moment, I've met Brandon and he is an outstanding young man.

Yes, he's great. Honestly, it's been the best experience I've ever had walking into an animal shelter. I've rescued animals pretty much all my life since I was 12. And I've gone to Wichita and I've gone to Eureka and I've gone to Junction City and I've come here and I've rescued animals out of here. I've kind of gone everywhere and I chose to volunteer for Prairie Paws because I've heard outstanding things about them. And I do a lot of the volunteering for community outreach. A couple weeks ago, I was at the dock diving event in Manhattan and was helping set up and just do a lot of different things in the community. They take animals to nursing homes and sororities and They have a volleyball tournament coming up soon to raise money. They just do so much. And Manhattan has at least 500 volunteers. That's just Manhattan. It's charity based and they also rescue animals from other locations as well. So I actually adopted a puppy there last year and they got her from Hutchinson. So she was on death row and they rescued her. A couple weeks ago I was there. They rescued a bunch of moms with a bunch of puppies that are not in a good setting for a shelter, but they have space in certain areas. They're actually doing construction on the place in Manhattan. to make it better for the volunteers and for the animals. I mean, call Brandon. He would love...

We're doing an RFP and it's open to them to obviously submit a proposal just like anybody else.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Do you mind if I ask a follow-up question real quick? Is there a program to place the pit bulls? Like for instance, with Celina having the ordinance, is there something? Oh, okay. Okay.

I was going to say, I mean, they could. A lot of times if they can't find a home at one location, they transfer it to the next location, too.

Okay.

Thank you. Hi.

My name is Diana Frobenius, and I respectfully ask if there's any common sense left here. I was a business person. for a lot of my adult life. And when you fire someone or they get arrested and leave, you don't, it's not common sense to pay for their attorney. It's not common sense to keep them on staff or paid. I don't understand what's going on in Salina. I love Salina. I love the North End. Are waters bad?

We're currently talking about this RFP, so I think what you're talking about would be under citizens form. So we're asking for comments on the RFP and- I apologize. That's fine.

Kim Hill, Salina. And to answer your question, at the last meeting I brought you information regarding Prairie Paws. I did reach out to Prairie Paws directly regarding the pit bulls specifically. And the way it was explained to me is that they have a way of transferring the pit bulls to the other shelters in communities where they can be adopted at. But it's not just we're going to take the pit bulls from Salina and leave them here. We would do a trade. I mean, there could be some breeds at these other shelters that would be more adoptable in our community and not so much in another. And so they take our pit bulls, we bring the chihuahuas to Salina, that kind of thing. The other thing that I wanted to speak about as far as opening this for the RFP is when it comes to the mobile vet van, I guess is what they have. Again, Prairie Paws specific, but if the shelter already has a surgical area set up, they will use that area for the spay, the neuters, whatnot. And they can utilize the van, say they set the van up in Oakdale Park. They can offer low-cost vaccinations and microchipping. We're talking like $5 to get these done. This is huge for the community. It plays in part two that if they offer these services, you know, such Prairie Paws, Humane Society, whichever one it is, they offer these services in the community. These animals are getting vaccinated. If they do find themselves at our shelter, it decreases the likelihood of them bringing in a contagious disease such as parvo, feline leukemia. There's other cat diseases. So those were two of the key issues that I wanted more to know about besides what I brought to the last meeting. is to how all these things would operate. And as it was explained to me too, say it is Prairie Paws that wins the RFP, okay? They come into the community. Eventually, they can take that mobile vet van and they could assist with the surrounding communities around us, like adoption events. vaccination events the microchipping events you know that would also be a benefit not just to us but to the surrounding counties dickinson mcpherson ellsworth lincoln ottawa counties you know there's a lot of um others but those were the two major things that i wanted to ask them about so did that answer your question with the pitbulls very helpful i appreciate it thank you okay thank you

I'm just going to talk a little bit about having the benefits of having a veterinarian on staff, and Prairie Pals has four. Having a full-time veterinarian on staff is one of the most important investments an animal shelter can make. It directly improves animal welfare while making shelter operations more efficient. One excellent example is Prairie Paws, which has four veterinarians on staff. Their model demonstrates how in-house veterinary care benefits not only the animals, but also the shelter and the community. Most significant advantage is for the animals that receive immediate medical attention. When a sick or injured animal enters the shelter, there is no waiting for an outside veterinarian to become available. Right now, our shelter only has one vet that comes in once a week, and they come in from, I believe it's Kansas City, maybe it's Wichita. Okay. Prompt examinations, treatment, and diagnostics reduce pain, suffering, and prevent illnesses from worsening and increase the chances for a full recovery. Another major benefit is the ability to perform spay and neuter surgeries on a regular basis rather than waiting for days or even weeks for an outside veterinarian. Surgeries can be completed quickly, allowing animals to recover sooner and become available for adoption much faster. This also helps reduce pet overpopulation by ensuring every animal adopted is sterilized before leaving the shelter. Faster veterinary care also leads to quicker adoption turnaround. Animals can receive vaccinations, medical exams, treatments, and surgeries without unnecessary delays. The sooner an animal is medically cleared, the sooner it can be placed into a loving home. Shortly, shorter shelter stays also reduce stress on the animals and lower the overall cost of animal care for the shelter. Having veterinarians on staff also improves disease prevention and overall shelter health. Continuous medical oversight allows illnesses to be identified early. Helping prevent outbreaks that could affect many animals and preventive care is not only better for the animals, but it also saves money by reducing the need for costly emergency treatments. And we've seen that for what we've paid out recently. Prairie Paw's team of four veterinarians shows how this approach can transform shelter operations. The ability to provide immediate medical care, perform high volumes of spay-neuter surgeries, and prepare animals for adoption more efficiently allows them to help more animals each year while maintaining a high standard of care. In conclusion, employing full-time veterinarians is not simply an added expense. It's an investment that pays dividends through healthier animals, faster adoptions, lower long-term costs, and better service to the community. By reducing delays in care, increasing adoption readiness, shelters with dedicated veterinary staff can save more lives and provide the highest level of care for every animal that comes through their doors. And one more thing, no one would euthanize the animals except for the veterinarians. And I know how you feel about prairie paws. Yeah.

Can I ask, are you making a specific suggestion for what we should include in the RFP? Yeah. We're trying to decide about the RFP. Were you making a specific suggestion? No.

about the importance of having a veterinarian on staff full time.

All right, thank you.

Rosemary Mize, Salina, Kansas. I'm a little baffled. I've been on the Animal Shelter Advisory Board, and a year ago we came to the commissioners, we asked Jacob to come to the commissioners and ask them to consider prairie paws at that time, and it was a unanimous vote. Now we paid $30,000 for a consultant to come up with the same stuff that we had asked you guys to look at. And I'm just a little bit baffled on why we spent $30,000 to come up with the same stuff that the advisory board suggested to you. Thank you.

Sue Nichols, Salina. I'd just like to talk a little bit about what the volunteers could bring to the shelter. And I think that was a huge mistake to not form some other kind of group after friends of the shelter left because the animals suffer apparently a lot because of it. So like delaying this action, what you're doing is you're making more animals suffer. We don't have vets on staff here. So I'm just going to talk the past month. I mean, somebody adopted a cat. It died within two days of having it home. June 27th, somebody adopted a puppy that had parvo and paid $2,000 to get that animal treated. And then there was another cat that died within five days of being adopted. So you guys want to delay it? Then delay it, but it's on you.

Michelle Timpson, Dickinson County. I'm just going to back Sue up on that. I'm actually one of the ones that called the state, and I actually talked to the state vet. I had a conversation with her, Anna Pease. So if you guys want to keep delaying it, I'll go ahead and keep calling the state. And I know the state vet showed up this time, which I'm so proud of her. It wasn't just an inspector. So go ahead and keep delaying it. Keep kicking the can down the road. But I'm going to stick behind Doug Rimp. Stop delaying this because the animals are suffering. And you guys are worried about the staff? I've talked to some of the staff. I've stopped them in public. They are damn glad that Andrea and Monique are gone. And you know what? The bad seeds are going to weed themselves out. Because there's still staff there. They need to be gone, and they need to weed themselves out. What we saw when we were there on the last Friday, what they were doing to Kyla, it was unacceptable. You still have some problems there. There's some good staff there. There is. And guess what? It starts at the top with our bad leadership. So there needs to be some major overhaul changes at that shelter, major. So let's not worry about the staff. That will work itself out. I've talked to the staff. I'm not afraid if I see someone in public to talk to the staff. You got animals dying. adopting them out and dying. That is sad. Let's think about that. I know. I know you guys don't care.

Thank you.

Let's think about it. Let's not kick the can down the road. Let's make changes now. I mean, these are contagious diseases you guys sent these animals out with. You're sending him home with children and other pets? I'm glad the state vet showed up, and I will call her again. I have her number in my phone.

Thanks. Christy Dixon, Salina, Kansas. I just want to follow up on what Michelle said. I had a whole speech, but... My concern is that these animals that accidentally get let out by a house setter or something like that, they get picked up by the animal shelter, go into the shelter, now come home with parvo and die. It happens. Cats that come in. There's a feline leukemia cat positive in that shelter right now. We have about seven kittens in there in the same room with it from Friday. Feline leukemia positive. I have a feline leukemia cat, so I know how contagious it is. I won't get any more animals, cats, because of the contagiousness of that disease. But, yes, it's... If your dog got loose and ended up in the shelter next to a litter full of puppies with parvo that we didn't know because they just came in as well, your dog is now exposed unless you have the money to take care of it or find somebody that can go pick it up and get it to a vet that will treat it. That would be great. But I'm going to talk about achieving a no-kill. And when I mean that, I mean a no kill shelter. I encourage you to make achieving a no kill status a priority on our community shelter. This is not about changing a policy, it's about changing the future of our animals and the families who depend on the shelter, such as what I just said. A no-kill shelter. Oh, and by the way, the shelter does, if you're in an emergency, if you're in a car wreck inside a town and you get into a car wreck and you have a pet in the car, the shelter used to hold your pet free of charge while you recovered in the hospital if there was no one to come get your pet. What happens if that pet comes home with parvo now and dies while the pet's... So anyways, you know where I'm going with that conversation. Come on, let's make some wise choices. Anosh Kill Shelter is committed to saving every healthy and treatable animal. Euthanasia is reserved only for those animals that suffer with no reasonable hope of recovery when it is the most humane option. We don't have to wonder whether this model works. We have a successful example right here in Kansas. Prairie Paws Animal Shelter serving Ottawa, Manhattan, Emporia. something along that line, and they have a registered, licensed veterinarian do it. It's not just somebody who likes to watch animals suffer like our two animal shelters that are being, employees that are being paid right now. They manage admissions, they foster homes, they partner with rescues, they have strong adoption programs. I'm not going to be able to read all this because I know how you like to cut me off, but I just want you guys to see the big picture here. I've offered multiple times to you, Jacob, given you my social security number, my phone number, what else do you want? I'm willing to give you 10 hours, volunteer work right now. 10 hours. And I bet I can find three other people in this room that will give 10 hours. That's a full-time position right there. That's 80 hours every two weeks. All you got to do is let me know. I'm sure you can find my phone number. Otherwise, I can give it to you. Thank you. I can give you guaranteed 10 hours right now, starting tomorrow.

Thank you.

Christy Dixon.

Kathy Schwartz, Salina, Kansas, and I agree with Doug. This can't wait any longer. What I'm about to tell you is the situation at the Salina Animal Shelter has affected animal shelters in the surrounding communities. Attached is an anonymous letter from one of those shelters that describes a few of those issues. Number one is an individual facing homelessness. An individual who was about to become homeless reached out for help regarding the litter of puppies and a pregnant dog. The owner was actively trying to do the responsible thing by finding a safe solution before the animals were forced into an unsafe situation. or left without care. According to the owner, they contacted the Salinas shelter seeking assistance and guidance but were told that the dogs would be turned away. This left the owner without a resource during a critical moment when they were actively trying to prevent a crisis. Situations like this highlight the importance of having a shelter that can provide direction, referrals, and alternative options when they are unable to directly assist. Number two is an owner unable to financially care for a litter. An individual contacted the Salinas shelter because they could no longer financially care for a litter of puppies. The situation has become so overwhelming that the owner was at risk of losing their home due to the financial strain. According to the owner, when they reached out to the Salinas shelter, they were not provided with alternative resources, referrals, or guidance on other options that could help them safely place the care of the animals. When an owner reaches out before a situation becomes worse, the lack of assistance or direction can leave them feeling though they have nowhere to turn. Number three is family displacement after a storm damage. Following a major storm, a woman's home sustained significant damage when a tree fell onto the roof. crushing a portion of the home. The damage resulted in the loss of electricity, running water, making the home unsafe and unlivable. Although she was unable to find temporary housing, that option did not allow pets, leaving multiple animals in the damaged home. With no electricity, the home had no air conditioning and no moving air circulation during extreme summer temperatures. The animals were left in a home without cooling, creating a serious concern for their health and safety. The storm damage also exposed the home to the outdoors, resulting in a severe flea infestation. Between the unsafe temperatures, lack of utilities, Flea exposure and the financial burden of trying to address the situation, the owner no longer had the ability to adequately provide for the animals and feel as though she has no other option aside from watching them suffer. This cannot go on any longer. We need to resolve this as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Bonnie Newbrand, Salina, Kansas. I'm going to follow what Kathy had to say there. These situations demonstrate why it is critical for the Salinas Shelter to function as a true community resource, even when they do not have the capacity to directly take in every animal. Community members are reaching out before situations become emergencies because they are trying to do the right thing and prevent animals from suffering. When those individuals are turned away without resources, referrals, or guidance, the problem doesn't disappear. In fact, it becomes worse. It is simply shifted onto other organizations, shelters, rescues, and individuals across the state who often don't have the capacity or resource to step in, but are still trying to provide some form of assistance. While reducing the burden on shelter staff is understandable, ultimately solve the problem instead avoiding community assistance. Sorry, I lost my thought. Instead of avoiding community responsibility on outside organizations and individuals who are already overwhelmed and may have limited ability to help. A shelter's responsibility is not only to house animals, but also to serve as a connection point for the community by helping people find available resources, providing direction and assisting in preventing situations from escalating. If the goal is to reduce the strain on staff and improve outcomes for animals, refusing to act as a resource works against that effort. A community is stronger when resources work together and the Salinas Shelter has an important role in helping connect residents with solutions before they reach a crisis point. I would just like to say that I was over at the shelter a couple Fridays ago It smelled terrible. There was poop in the bins. There was pee, I mean, everywhere. There was a lady that said that she had gone over and there was poop in almost every pen, pee everywhere, and it was just filthy. And we need to move on and get the RFP, I think that's what you call it, and pray pause or someone in here to take care of this because there's no reason to have poop in the cages, to have the cage windows cleaned. They're dirty, filthy. And... I stood before you guys for the first time, I don't know if it was February or when it was, I think it was February, I don't know. But it's been going on for three years, three years. And you've heard, I don't want everybody to go down the rabbit hole, but I'm afraid it's going to go down the rabbit hole.

Thank you.

I'm Lucille Sanderson-Tolina. I've been sitting back there listening to all these girls talk, pleading the case, saying, where is it going? I have an idea. Attorney, city manager, and every one of you commissioners will go to the animal shelter and you will not leave there until you arrive at the final decision. No water, no food. I think that would be very interesting. But maybe you would get something done. I love animals. And the attorney can't even look at me. Isn't that bad? I'll remind you of what I told you one day. Do you want me to make it public? Your pants? He came to work with a hem coming out of the bottom of his pants. Now, do you think that might work if you guys all went to the... Animal shelter? No, there's no bed rolls, no food brought in, no water. Do you think you can arrive at a decision because you don't come out until you've got it solved? Thank you.

Okay, I only have a little bit to say. Jane Trostle Salina. If the employees love what they are doing, they're not going to worry about whether or not they're going to have a job. I've had so many jobs in my life, I have never ever worried about if I was going to keep my job or not. And one of them was working at a nursing home. And you want to know how many times a nursing home changes hands? A lot. And I never once worried if I was going to have a job because I did my job, I did it good, and I was respected. That's all I have to say on that.

I was just going to talk about the animal control part of it. You know, I hope that Dickinson County over in Abilene, they have the animal control there through their police department. Mike Ragsdale put in for you guys to contact him at some point, and he was going to come in and actually go over to the shelter for free and give you guys some pointers on what needed to be done. But imagine that. You guys didn't even contact him until... after uh after you guys hired somebody else but anyway he goes through the police department he loves it um you might want to you know like i say he's he's open to talk to anybody about his job and to try to help i mean all we want to do is get somebody in there and and we want to help like right now um i you know i just want to help you guys to get get something going there and so you know like others have already volunteered I mean I can sit and answer the phone while you get their workers off their tail and go out and actually respond to calls and things. I mean, I know how to say, good afternoon, this is animal services. I did that for several years. But police department, at least they'd be responding to the ordinances that they're supposed to be responding to. You know, in Manhattan, what, they have one or two officers for that big of a town. Mike's by himself over there, and he works Monday through Friday. He's off on the weekends. The officers, police officers, go, and if they catch a dog or anything, then they take it to the shelter, which... Sounds like if Perry Paws comes in or somewhere else you guys can figure out the hours and everything and that would allow those officers to drop off those animals at any time. So anyway, give him a holler and hopefully you get animal control going again.

Thank you.

Katie Shortingville, Salina. I just guess I want to say with all the issues that are going on here in the city, numerous very big things. You'd think that you'd want to get the animal shelters door closed. Close the door, go down the road, and I would think that would be one of your simplest things to solve. You're making an issue out of nothing. That's all I have. Thank you.

Gene Yenny.

Would it be possible to go on and get this RFP out or start proceedings on looking at other avenues of running the animal shelter and putting your good addendums or whatever, put a clause in there subject to final say from the consultant you had done. There has to be a wording or something or leave it open. There has to be a way to open it up. But get on the ball and get the ball rolling now. I was here for when Vanessa's situation went on. And I hate to see that sheltered like that. can't necessarily help, I want to help in other ways because I adopt the animals when I foster them, so that didn't work. So anyway, surely you can come up with a solution to get the ball rolling. It's an excuse, another delay, to wait for two weeks for a consultant's report when It needs to be done now from what has been said today. And I'm sure you can somehow do a wording or a condition subject to. It's that simple. Thank you.

Thank you.

I want to jump a little farther beyond RFPs, and this is going to be directed at Jacob Wood. Once you get the RFPs of say three entities that are showing interest coming in here, what is going to be the process for coming up of Is it going to be the same process as what you went through with the consultant of $30,000 instead of 15 to where you're going to do it on a point system for any of these entities that want to come in through a staff commission that you had to do? Is that the way it's going to be done?

Generally speaking, that's how we do all of our RFPs. Yeah, we'll review it and staff will make recommendations. The ultimate decision is up to the city commission.

So your staff can make the decision on who they think would be the best one, not including dollars, just by your point system that you used before to get your ambulance chaser in here to for $30,000, you'll go down the same route. Is that correct?

Just the same process we use with all of our- Same process.

Okay, so what I'm saying is that this process here could possibly, how do I word this? Could take one of the commissioner that doesn't like a particular entity and we'll put them last because he's going to say, I don't want this entity to come in and we will go with another. And you see where I'm going with this, ladies? Do you see, everybody see where I'm going with this? Yeah, and as far as your RFP, now, let's do it now. Government doesn't need to go slow on this issue. All of your consultants that didn't charge you $30,000 are sitting right here. We're here. You listened to them for three years. They told you everything that this consultant come in and said, uh-uh, can't do a thing with this shelter, you're going to have to farm it out. Same thing they told you for the $30,000. So- Get it done now. Get it done in there. And if we find out on this point system that there's a little shenanigans going on here, believe me, you won't hear the end of that either. Guaranteed. Thank you very much.

Tony Johnson, Salina. I wasn't going to speak, but Ben jogged my memory. I know with the county, when they do RFPs, their scoring system is completely subjective. They can score all of them the same. I was wondering if the city, when they score them, do they use a system where the lowest price gets the maximum number of points and then there's a graduated scale going down? Or is it just totally subjective based on opinion, I guess, basically? Subjective from people who don't know what they're doing.

We usually list a set of criteria by which we would judge whatever.

But your scoring isn't, there's no uniform way to score it. It's just like if I bid $5 and you bid $4 and the next one bids $3, that person, I could get three points, they could get three points, and they could get three points. If that's the way they feel like scoring it, correct?

I'll jump in. Usually RFPs are scored by a panel to try and aggregate that information so it's not shifted by one person. I looked at the RFPs this morning from some of the other cities, and they all have a scoring mechanism in it. But I think what the city manager said earlier was staff might score it, but it ultimately comes back to the commission to make the final decision. So it's coming back to this body no matter what the score is. Right.

And you'll be able to see how we scored it.

And the score, yeah.

Okay. I got a good education on that in this room when we paid an extra $112,000 to tear down the county jail. I know that wasn't the city, but I learned all about that, how RFPs work. It's a legal mechanism. for the governmental entity to choose who they want, basically. If you want to come down to it, it really is.

I can talk about it all day, but when you do a request for bids, you know exactly what you're trying to buy. When you do an RFP, you're looking for a service, but there's more nuance and there's more... It's not as easy as it makes sense, so you have to take in other things into consideration. And this is clearly an RFP situation because every day, if we... Every shelter is different, right? Right. So it will be an RFP. It will be scored. The scoring will be available as open records, and then it will come back. It will be in the packet for the meeting. Right.

I've looked at some of our RFPs in the past.

I'm more educating people who might be watching and may not be familiar with the process.

I'm pretty sure, like I said, it's a subjective system where you might, you know. So I would like to see us in the future for RFPs have a set of criteria, whereas each – the best – proposal in each area. Each area of each proposal gets the maximum number of points and then the next one's awarded six less, the next one maybe five less. You know what I'm saying? Instead of just being able to arbitrarily put in any number you want. But anyway, thank you.

It should be objective. Yeah, it's not. Subjective means...

Okay, anybody else? Okay, if not, I will bring it back to the commission. for action.

I would make a motion, but I don't have any of the numbers. I didn't print off 500 pages for the meeting. As you know, I'm out of state. So I'd make a motion that we...

It doesn't have an ordinance or resolution, but it's item 5.2.

All right, well, I'd make a motion that we started an immediate RFP process, have an RFP ready to go out within a 10 day timeframe and to have those RFPs back or those proposals RFPs within, I guess we could say, 30 days and even that seems like a long timeline to me but i'm trying to i'm trying to get something that will work for everybody so an rfp ready within 10 days and the proposal is back within 30.

You're not waiting for the consultant's report before it's bid? No.

Why? We are your consultants.

Every contract that I've ever been associated with gets massaged along the way.

And then you're back into the thing that a lot of people are concerned about, change orders if money's involved, delays and legal haggling if it's not a monetary issue. I'd like to, in this instance, measure twice, cut once, and be done with it.

Well, I think whatever direction we go in, we're going to save money. And it's going to be a lot better for the employees. It's going to be much, much better for the animals.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So is that a, we have a motion on the floor, do we have a second? Okay, if not, do we have another motion?

I move to approve directing city staff to develop requests for proposal for the operation of the Salina Animal Shelter, but not send it out for bid until we have seen the report from our consultant.

Please, let him finish. Okay, we have a motion. Do I have a second?

Should we incorporate... Something in that motion, if it takes longer than expected, that we can cut dates, so to speak?

That would be fine. I don't anticipate it's going to take. I think we'll get the report probably by the end of the week. I'm hopeful we can have this all ready for you at the next city commission meeting. So that's my goal. I'll second that.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Directing staff to develop a request for proposal to the operation of the Salina Animal Shelter to be finalized following the, I don't know how to put it, the consultant's report. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay. That item passes three to one. Okay. That will lead us to item 5.3.

Item 5.3, consider granting an easement to property owners of certain property where ingress and egress are affected by the levy.

Okay, I am going to turn this over to the Vice Mayor as I will recuse myself from item 5.3 and 6.1 as I have open orders with both entities.

All right, and- If Commissioner Linkowitz would be so kind as to direct the proceedings from the room.

Yes, sir. Happy to do that for you.

All right, commissioners, this is my item. Can we put the map on? I believe this is another piece of housekeeping. What we have here is a unique situation. It'll make more sense if we can see the map, maybe.

No pressure, Scott, no pressure.

Yeah, well, I can explain it. So back when the city built the levee a long time ago, there's a track of farmland that's just to the north and to the west of our levee system. And apparently, ever since the city built that, the city has just been allowing the farmer to ingress and egress across the levee. I think that's the other one, Scott?

No, that's the one we already did.

Yeah, that's the one we already did. So as that property – the landowner of the farmland has asked the city to – we've never actually put in writing that it's okay for them to ingress and egress. If we were ever to deny them ingress and egress at this point, they'd be landlocked and we would – be in an interesting situation with them and probably not one we'd want to be in. So the solution would be to just simply adopt this grant of easement document where we tell them, yes, you have permission to use the city's, the levy to go for ingress and egress. We have identified the points that they can cross at and where they're going. It's relatively straightforward in my world, but that's all it is. I think they've been doing this for decades. It's been done by an oral agreement. We've never had a problem with it. If they damaged it, we would take them to account for it. But we just would have formally in writing say, yes, you can continue to do that.

Do the members of the commission have any follow-up questions on this item?

I'm assuming the integrity of the levy itself is not affected by their crossing it.

It has not been, no. And, you know, if they did something to damage our levee, we'd still have a claim against them for that. We're not saying that they can do whatever they want. But this is how they've been accessing their farmland since we built that.

Okay. Did you have a comment, Commissioner Ramp?

No, no, just based upon everything I've heard, that it... It needs to be formalized. It can't be taken away. Otherwise, they'd be landlocked. So I have no problems with it. Understood.

Thank you. With that, I'll bring it to the public. If anybody wants to comment on this item, please stay within the three-minute time constraints and identify yourself at the podium.

Identify yourself as Ben Winholz-Salina. Boy, this is... This is kind of a funny one here, guys. Let's look at it this way. You're worried about the damaging of a levee that was put in place to keep a river from flooding Salina, and yet we are looking at putting in a river in the same spot that could possibly flood Salina with a levee in place. In Salina, Kansas, make that make sense to me.

Nobody else? I will bring it back to the Commission for a motion.

Is there a more formal way to identify the Easement as far as location, name, other than just item 5.3 here?

Unfortunately, the legal descriptions involved in this tract are extremely long and complicated. Right. So I don't really have a great, you could say two, it's a funny name, two, Nandor LLC if you wanted to, and Kansas University Endowment Association. Those are the owners, those are the grantees if you wanted to identify it. But it might be simpler just to say in the packet.

Okay. In that case, I move the City Commission grant the easements and authorize the Vice Mayor to execute the document in Item 5.3. Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve the City Commission's grant of the easements and authorize the Vice Mayor to execute the document in Item 5.3. Those in favor, say aye. Aye. Passes 3-0. And on to development business 6.1.

Item 6.1, consider approval of resolution number 26-8363, a resolution of support for building Kansas LLC to submit a 2026 Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit application to the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. And resolution number 26-8364, authorizing amendment number 2 to the Moderate Income Housing American Rescue Plan Act grant agreement between the City of Salina and the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation.

Ms. Clem.

Hi. So today we're considering approval of two different resolutions for building Kansas for the airplane subdivision. Do you want to go to the next slide, Scott? So Building Kansas LLC is developing the aeroplane subdivision on approximately 53 acres, located north of Schilling Road and east of Centennial. At full build out, the development will consist of 169 lots containing 338 townhome units constructed over multiple phases. To date, approximately 100 units have been developed within subdivision. 87 of those are complete, with 65 of those 87 being sold. We also have another 13 nearing final completion. They are preparing phase three, which is a reason that we're coming forward today with their request. Next slide. So the first request before you today is a resolution of support for their 2026 KHITC application, which is the Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit. A resolution of support from the local governing body is a required component of that application process. The City Commission has previously approved two resolutions of support in the past for phases one and two. You'll see that on the little timeline on the screen. Both of those applications were successful with KHRC, Kansas Housing Resource Corporation, approving their awards. For the 2026 funding, Go back a slide for me. For the 2026 funding round, Building Kansas intends to request tax credits for 40 housing units representing the maximum number of units permitted under the program for a single project. Staff has reviewed and finds the proposed application is consistent with the city's adopted housing goals and continued efforts to expand supply of attainable housing through public-private partnerships. I'll also note that the KHITC applications and program do not require any administration from the city or any additional funding by the City of Salina. Next slide. The second request is an update to the MIH ARPA grant agreement. This would be amendment number two. Building Kansas LLC has requested a second amendment to the grant agreement between the city and KHRC to allow the required 50 MIH units to be satisfied through either owner-occupied or rental housing. So the development agreement the city has with Building Kansas already allows units to be sold and rented. This would just allow those rental units to count towards the required 50 MIH units if the renters met those standards for income. KHRC has already reviewed the request and indicated support for the proposed amendment pending your authorization. The requested amendment does not modify the number of the MIH grant agreement awarded to the project. It does not reduce the required number of MIH units or create any financial commitment to the city. It just allows those rental units to be counted towards the MIH numbers. As I said previously, there's no administrative work or financial contribution by the resolution support for KHITC application. And approval of the MIH ARPA grant agreement amendment will not obligate the city to any future financial contribution. Next slide. So with the two different actions you have today, both resolutions, you can approve, approve with amendments, postpone consideration, or deny the resolutions. Staff would recommend approval of both resolutions. I'm available for any questions that you may have on the city staff side. We also have representatives from Building Kansas if that is helpful for you guys.

Thank you very much. Gentlemen, do we have any questions for Ms. Clem or any comments pertaining to this item?

I know. Go ahead. Go ahead, Commissioner. If the houses could be bought and then rent, are there any superimposed controls on the rent to make them still eligible for the MIH? So it's just sure.

So it's not based on the amount that the rent has to comply with. It's based on their income levels. So the renters would have to show what their income levels are to make sure that they fit between a 60 and 150% of the adjusted median income for Saline County or the city of Salina, whichever they happen to fall within.

Thank you for clearing that up.

I, the comment I would have, I know I, Shoot, it's been a couple of months back. I don't remember the exact time frame, but there were a lot of pictures out there of flooding in that neighborhood, and it's my understanding that the storm drain was plugged or clogged somehow, and I just wanted to make sure city staff is confident that the storm drains can handle the future development.

Sure. I'll actually have Building Kansas come up and talk to that. They know exactly what they did with that. So give me one second.

Good afternoon. Commissioner, thank you for having us here today. So yeah, so there was a storm event that had approximately four inches of rain within four hours. And I guess the backstory, of course, I mean, there's all sorts of stuff out there online and not everything online, of course, is true. But there's even accusations that we were built on a floodplain. Anybody can go online and take a look at a floodplain in Salina. Now, a lot of South Salina is in a floodplain, a lot of homes. But not one at airplanes. We wouldn't develop on a floodplain. You know, the truth is hundreds of thousands of dollars went into design, millions into construction to build adequate design, right? It goes through the city, it goes through planning staff, it goes through KDHE, it goes through the state, all of which is to build a new safe neighborhood. And in doing so, Adequate drainage did exist, but there was a drain that got blocked. The city staff came out and did remove that block and everything drained in a short order of time, very quickly. But to make sure that did not happen again, we took two measures. One, we went back to the engineer and said, how do we make sure this doesn't happen again? He said, that's a fluke thing that you get that much rain that short of a time and that there would be something blocking it. But the drain was redesigned so that it cannot have blockage. In addition, at the developer's expense, none of this came at the expense of the city or taxpayers, the developers have gone in and put in a redundant pump system, not required a transformer, there's a generator, there'll be a permanent one, and a pump system so that if for any reason an intersection did get blocked, we'd be able to pump that water into the drainage ditch. So again, it was an odd set of circumstances, but I actually appreciate the opportunity to bring this up today and clear the air because there are still comments online about aeroplanes and the water there. So literally water in an intersection, no, no water ever touched a house. I was there the entire time. As soon as I got a call that there was a drain not draining, I was there until late in the night when the city got the drain cleared and everything drained fine. And the city engineers reviewed things since then. We're confident in the measures that took place. We took two additional measures to make sure that can't happen again and have full confidence in what is there. So I hope that answers the question for Commissioner.

Thank you, Derek. If you're comfortable with it, I am. I just I. I know there will be people in the room that would probably bring it up and I just wanted to have that clarified. Thank you.

We appreciate that very much. Any other questions that we can stand for?

Gentlemen, any more questions?

No, thank you.

Thank you very much. I'll bring it back to the public. And if anybody has any comments, please keep it within the three-minute time constraints.

Thank you. Tony Johnson, Celina. I'm always fascinated that these developers come at the 11th hour and want to convert to rental units when we've been told that we need so much housing and we've incentivized it so much. I'm also curious if the developer is planning on purchasing some of these to rent out themselves so, in turn, are going to help them build their own houses, which they're going to collect rent on on the backside. I'd like to know that answer.

Lucille Sanderson's line. When is the new fire station going to be built out that way? Because you're getting a lot of houses out there. And what's on the old air base isn't always easy to get to. Is there a current fire station out there on the air base for the airport?

There is a fire station at the airport, but it's specifically for the airport. Right. And that's actually for the runway.

Right.

No, we don't have a fire station. We are starting to have conversations about when and if we'll need one in the south part of Salina.

You better get it in your budget to start building a new airport fire station because of that. Somebody's not getting their head screwed on straight. Right. Gets busy, we gotta get that fire station built.

He'll have to answer mine too. Ben Wendell Salina. I want to piggyback on what Derek said about the water didn't reach any of the houses or anything up there. Thank God for that because they're slab on grade anyway. But the whole story could be if you've been in construction ever, basically you know that the streets that now the city owns out there, the curb and gutter, and everybody's driveway was on fresh soil because that's a brand new addition. So with the water standing, as much water was standing out there for that period of time, and more likely could have gotten underneath the streets, the curb and gutter, and the people's driveways to a point where it has settled it, and now they're going to start disintegrating and cracking. So maybe we need to look into that part, too, as far as what goes on after the water has left. Thank you.

To be clear, Mr. Benholtz, you're not saying, though, that that has happened. You're just worried that it might.

Speculation. And it has happened. Yes, Mr. Davis, it has happened in the past. You can find it all over town to where roads and concrete has actually settled due to water getting underneath of it because of the water that was standing. Because there's a little bit of head pressure involved when you have this and that will force the water into the ground and into cracks and is not waterproof underneath there. And everybody knows that dirt and asphalt and concrete is not waterproof in between it. So with that little bit of head pressure, there is a good possibility that this could happen down the road. We're already seeing all of this out and the development of Stone Lake. The driveways out there have been leaving, going downward from the garages. And that there is a company out of Wichita that's here on a weekly basis, as their bread and butter, to pump up these driveways again. So yes, it does happen in this community.

Lauren Mandel-Sablana. This housing issue, how long has that been existing? Since World War II, as the population has increased. People are moving here, and you're covering up all this ground with concrete. The water's not going in the ground anymore. That's why you're getting flooding issues. This has been going on since 1945. So that's what you're going to have to address the issue. What caused this? We know what's causing it. The developers. their greed. So until you address the population issue, you're not going to solve anything. This is an article in the Kansas Country Living on page 14. You need to read it. You're the cause of it, people. Newton's Law. Then you have Murphy's Law. Who the hell is Murphy? Then you got Robert's Rules. That sounds like what we got here in Salina, Kansas. Murphy or Robert? Any of you guys named Robert or Murphy?

I have a dog named Murphy. I don't know if that helps or not.

I have a dog killer named Murphy.

You stepped into that one.

We did. Good dogs.

Thank you again. So to answer the question again, I appreciate it coming up. You know, in offering rentals at a cost that covers carrying costs, we still have those, but our intention is to sell all of the homes in there. We did also offer a rent-to-home program. Several people have taken us up on. And people have now bought those homes. Where if somebody is new to Salina, we've had medical professionals, managers, people that were coming to Salina for a new job, not entirely sure this was the right town for them. So they rented the home. And after a year, we rate back $6,000 of what they've paid in rent toward the purchase price of the home. And they locked in whatever the lowest price was when they initially went into the home. So again, yes, our intention is to sell them all. We have no intention to hold any real estate long term. Our intention in building was to sell. However, when we started this project, this began six years ago, interest rates were in the twos, maybe threes, and home payments were cheaper. Building homes was a lot less money. And it is not feasible for everybody to have the money saved right now to buy a home. But they can get into a brand new home, an energy efficient, very good home. and make a reasonable payment and then receive a refund after a year to purchase that home. And again, several have taken us up on that after living there for a year and enjoying it. So do have a rent to own program as well. And we're very happy with it. As for the settling, again, appreciate any concerns coming up. We've been through that area. The water was not there that long and drained. And we're confident in it not remaining there now because, again, in addition to the drain being revised so that it cannot block, we also have the pump system in place that would be able to handle a heavy rain event. So even if the drain were completely blocked, we'd be able to handle a significant heavy rain event and expel all that water. So there's a float system in that drainage box It's probably overkill, but again, we are really making the effort to try to do things the right way. So, appreciate the questions. Thank you.

I'll bring it back to the commission for a motion. Actually, we have two actions.

Go ahead. I'm satisfied we got good information and I would Move to approve resolution number 26-8363, authorizing a resolution of support for building Kansas LLC to submit a 2026 Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit application. Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve resolution number 26-8363, authorizing a resolution of support for For Building Kansas LLC to submit a 2026 Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit application. Those in favor say aye. Aye. Passes 3-0. And on to the next action item.

And I move approval of Resolution 26-8364, authorizing Amendment No. 2 to the Moderate Income Housing American Rescue Plan Act Grant Agreement. between the City of Salina and the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second to approve resolution number 26-8364 authorizing amendment number two to the Modern Income Housing American Rescue Plan Act grant agreement between the City of Salina and the Kansas Housing Resource Corporation. Those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Passes 3-0. I think we can get Mayor Hopnick back in.

Thank you, Commissioner Lankowitz.

I'm happy to do it. Thank you.

Welcome back, sir.

okay that will lead us to other business is there a commissioner has something they would like to bring before the commission i'll i'll go ahead and chime in here we got seems like within the last couple of days we received information again regarding costs associated with the COSI litigation. And I'm going to make a motion again that we pull the plug.

It's on you, Mayor.

Okay. I don't hear a second. I would ask our city attorney to address some of the issues and concerns we have right now with the costs on the Cozy Inn.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Regarding the Cozy Inn, that matter remains in active litigation and therefore the city cannot comment on the substance of the case or the arguments on appeal. I can say that in addition to the appellate briefing and the scheduled oral argument, there have been related legal issues requiring attention. Those issues have now been resolved. At this time, the only anticipated remaining expense to the city in connection with the appeal are the fees associated with oral argument. That oral argument has been scheduled for September 16th, 2026. Once a final order is issued on the appeal, the city will review the ruling and determine any appropriate next steps.

I know for one, and I know there are many, But I don't know why we're having such a difficult time getting an accurate accounting of the total dollars spent, regardless of where they might be categorized.

I mean, I haven't gone over that with staff. We know exactly how many dollars of checks we've sent. When I've always looked at it, I started in January, so I've always looked at the January numbers. It kind of depends on where you start. Different media, and I haven't read every article about this, but some newspapers start their... calculations at different times of year. We do know, we have verified, that for the brief, we've paid exactly what council said they would charge us. And we do know, as per my statement, there were additional legal issues that we asked them to work on because we had to get answers to those questions and take those steps, and we've paid for those. So I don't know how else to answer the question because it just depends how you, when you start looking at the records, but we know exactly what we've done. Maybe the city manager has something to add.

And there is accounting of those, correct, that's available?

Yeah, I mean, we know exactly how much money that we've spent, so I don't have that number in front of me right now, but we can certainly provide it.

But we can sure make that available. Okay. Okay, anything else from the commissioner?

Nope.

No. Okay. Just on a brief note, on a positive note, Don Boos, who's the chair of the Salina Airport Authority and myself, met with President Litton from K-State the other day for about two hours and had a good conversation about the activity going on out at the Salina Airport and the K-State Salina. A lot of exciting things happening out there. We're We wanted to make sure we had his ear because funding continues to be an issue for colleges, and we wanted to make sure that he understood that the city supported K-State Salina, and we're excited about some of the projects going on out there. So anyway. Okay, if no one else has that, we'll bring us to Citizens Forum. We ask anybody has any comments, please come forward and state your name and limit your comments to three minutes.

Good afternoon, Ben Winholz, Salina. I'm going to get very, very serious right now. Nikki is about to bring you some visual things that you can look at. I would ask that you take the flashlight and put it inside of the copper and take a look at what's going on there, plus on one side of the brass, see what's going on there. Last Thursday, Mr. Tom Wilbur and I had a meeting with Jacob, Martha, and Jeff Schamberg on water quality here in Salina. I'm going to tell you guys right now that I'm not going to talk about dirty water. There are two other issues going on here, and you guys need to listen to this really, really close. One of them is that the corporation stops all around town. Old mains, new mains, new additions everywhere are plugging up. These are the corporations that feed people's houses. They're right off of the main. If you look at that brass, that's exactly what you see on a corporation, what's going on. So far this year, I've been told there are 17 of these that have happened in the first six months of this year. At a estimated cost that Martha gave me of anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 to repair these, there's money out of the water budget right there. But that's a mute point for what you guys spend on money. So what I'm telling you is these corporations are plugging up. Now, why are they plugging up? Well, back in 2000, the water plant was redone. And it was a different chemical put in. It used to be chlorine. People didn't like it. So we went to what was called chloramine. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia. Ammonia and copper and brass do not mix. They do not mix. You do not find a refrigeration system ever on an ammonia system that has copper in it. And so what is happening, along with the fast-tracking corrosion that's going on on the corporations, this is also happening in all of the mains, and you saw that on the study session, how these mains were completely corroded shut. The second thing that's happening is copper is eating out in this town. all over town. People's residents, businesses, everywhere are getting pinholes in their copper. And you can see that right there on that copper is a prime example of how it is adhered to the inside and has ate it from the inside out. It's due to the water chemicals from the water treatment plant. I have a study right here. Martha asked me two years ago to do a study on this with the corporations plugging up. I took it to my chemist. He gave me a report. This is it right here. If you want a copy of it, Jacob or Martha has the whole thing because I gave it to him on Thursday. Guys, we're in an emergency, period. This is not something to do with dirty water. Oh yeah, we're gonna clean it up over the next two, five, 10 years. The emergency is now, it's right now. Because what's happening is basically the infrastructure of the city is corroding shed and it's gonna get to the point where when they go out to do fire, have to hook up to these fire hydrants and there's no volume there, What's gonna happen then when they can't put out a house fire? Because they're corroding shut. Six inch main, we had one picture, it looks like this. That's a two and a half inch hole in a six inch main. Volume is not gonna be there down the road if you keep going the route you're going. Copper eating out, the damage has been done. Nothing we can do about that. Corporations are still plugging up. Nothing we can do about that. All we can do is, if somebody calls in, says, hey, I don't have any pressure, city will have to come out, dig them up. take care of it in the street, on our property, wherever that corporation's at, taking care of it, all on the city dime, because you guys own them. And what I'm telling you now is it's a state, of emergency, period. It is something that needs to be taken care of now. And if what it takes is a bond issue, pull money out of everything else that doesn't really pertain to any type of necessities in this town, let's do that. But you need to get it taken care of now. Because the copper that you're holding onto there, Mr. Linkowitz, has been going on for 24 years. It's been eating out for 24 years. The corporation stops. I have no idea how long they've been going on. But I know that they are plugging up. 17 of them in six months having to clean. And the guys are telling me they're having to go back multiple times on ones they've already dug up, have to dig them up again and do it again because they're plugging up again on the brass. And this is all due to the water quality. Now, Jacob will tell you that there has been a study. that is being done right now at the water treatment plant as far as changing the chemicals. That's good. It's about time something happens, that we find out what I will call Martha's cocktail actually involved as far as the 18 chemicals going into the plant. and which chemical is actually going with the chloramine and making this fast-tracking. We already know the copper is being ate out by the chloramine itself, but the fast-tracking of corrosion is due to another chemical with the chloramine to make this happen. And a lot of times it's zinc, according to the report that I have here. So I'm telling you guys from the bottom of my heart, as I have born and raised here, I've lived here all my life. I'm going to be buried here. I'm very passionate about this community, and I want what's best for us and for the citizens. And when I go to a plumbing contractor here in town, one of the plumbing companies here in town, that does service and repair, and I asked him point blank, how much of your work these days is going out and fixing water leaks in people's homes? 45% is the number that he gave me. And when I told him that I was going to the fathers and going to see about getting the changes done, he goes, there goes our water heater business. Water heaters have a six-year warranty on the tank. They're barely making it. They're barely making it out of warranty, all due to the Salinas City water. So, guys, listen. Please, listen. Do not take me as a joke, as a clown, whatever they've been calling me before. Take this for the seriousness that it really is and the issue that needs to be taken care of right now. Thank you. Thank you for the extended time. This one here is only actually three years and eight months old. It came from Simmons Street. The valves are eight out from the inside out. Three years and eight months. Thank you.

Gentlemen, Tom Wilber, Celina. Last Thursday, Ben and I met with Jacob Wood, Utilities Director Martha Tasker, and Jeff Schamberg. The meeting reinforced what I think is a significant problem in Salina. It's not just the water department. Time after time, when questions are asked, the city manager has pointed to you guys and said, you guys are the decision makers. He says he doesn't have the power to do anything. The commissioners, in turn, look back to the city manager and somewhere in the exchange, accountability disappears. I'm still unclear what our city manager knew regarding the management of the Salina Animal Shelter before the suspensions and criminal indictments. These employees worked directly under his authority, and his assessment was that they were good people. They may well be, but they were terrible managers. And now we've been paying for their suspended pay and $100,000 of their legal fees. The same pattern seems to exist with our water system. During our meeting, I asked Martha Tasker about lead pipes. And she shared with me that there are probably 500 water lines in Salina that may or may not be lead pipes, but she doesn't know. We've been discussing an aging water infrastructure that has more than 100 miles of piping that has exceeded its expected life. We have asbestos cement water mains in parts of the city, an estimated 60 miles out at the old air base. We have groundwater contamination challenges and ongoing concerns from the residents about their water quality as they've brought them to you guys and shaken the brown water right in front of you. And most of the answers we got from Martha the other day were, well, that's something we're thinking about. That's something we're working on. For years, linens have reported discolored water, unpleasant odors, damaged plumbing fixtures, shortened water heater life, and the need for expensive filtration systems. Whether all those problems share one cause is a technical question, but the public's dissatisfaction is impossible to ignore. Why can't we have a goal of having the best water anywhere in Salina as opposed to just accepting what we have? When I asked Jacob whether he would consider replacing Martha, he told me directly he would not. And asked me point blank, how could we fill her spot?

About another 30 seconds.

Her salary. is with her benefits is probably around $200,000. And I respectfully disagreed. Leadership is measured by results. And the results of our water are that our water sucks. And so we need better leadership there. We need better leadership across the board. We need more accountability. And I'd say earlier today we saw a great example of why people don't trust you guys. Because you tried to change a lawsuit into a change order. And that's total BS. Thank you very much.

Haley Helzer. I was working with a contractor and somebody with a claim a couple of weeks ago, and it came about that this person wasn't actually licensed with the city. They were as an individual, but the business that they were operating under was not. And then it kind of sparked some curiosity, and I talked to the city clerk's office. Basically, when these applications come in, they submit their COI, and in their COI, all they're looking at is verifying the amount of coverage, and I believe it's $500,000 per occurrence and $1 million per aggregate. The problem with that is, theoretically, me and my farmer's market booth, I pay $250 for that. The name of my farmer's market booth isn't really indicative of what I do. I could potentially go to the city and apply, and I have a million-dollar liability, two million aggregate, so my coverage limit is. But the answer that I got was that the city code says that. Now, I couldn't find it for the life of me that the city code says. I know it says verify coverage. My question is when we do like special events as an insurance agent, I go in and I put in, you know, I have to put in there that City of Salina is additional insured and just for second measure I put in the location of that. I don't see why we couldn't say in that application process to put something about the general liability code and the description, because if you have a handyman service applying for plumbing or roofing, I mean, I've done a whole lot of repairs in my own home, but you don't want me doing it in your home. So, I mean, I feel like as a consumer, if I went to that website and said, you know what, the city has vetted these people, How do we move forward if my insurance isn't going to cover it if I'm jumping up on a roof and damage somebody's roof? They're going to be like, you were selling sewn products at the farmer's market, lady, and that's what your insurance covers. And I mean, each individual policy could cover multiple hazards and have different codes for those things, but it really should matter to verify that the people that are applying are applying for what they're saying that they're doing. Does that make sense?

I would love to talk with you. I think we need a little bit more detail.

I sent a giant email, but I will absolutely talk to you.

Or send me the email. I'd be happy to look into that. I think there's a difference between a contractor license and then a license for a special event permit. So generally the contractor license, we're not just checking insurance. There's a test that you have to take. There's other requirements, and we're talking about all those things. So I'm not sure if they're all apples to apples, but I'm happy to look into it.

Okay.

Thank you, Haley.

Jane Trostle, Celina, and this one will be longer. I am a registered voter and have been since the age of 18. I do vote. I will not tell anybody who I vote for, not even my husband. But I will tell you all this now. The only person that I voted for was Doug Remp. I heard someone say that people need to be nicer to one another. Well, you can only be nice for a certain time, especially when it's the same crap but different day. My 18, I will repeat that, my 18 grandchildren have better morals and values than most of you. I know right from wrong We, the people, I will say it again, we, the people, are being a voice for the animals because obviously most of you are not. If you have pets, I hope you take better care of them than you are of the animal shelter pets. Also, I guess the animal ordinances are not being enforced still because my sister and I walk Sunset Park all the time and people still let their dogs off the leashes and it obviously states on the entrances. Dogs on leash. Also, my husband and I were vendors at the KKOA lead sled. Dogs running loose there. Did anyone go visit other shelters like I asked him two months ago? We the people need you guys to care, to have compassion for the animals. We the people will vote again and you will not like the outcome. And that will be some justice, at least a little justice for the animals.

Thank you.

Kim Hill, Salina. First off, Salina 311 did a poll last week. The gist of that poll, 90% of this community does support privatizing the shelter, whether it's Prairie Paws or another entity. But I also know how feelings can be towards polls, so with that, everybody that is in this room, if you support privatizing our animal shelter, please stand. I think that shows you a pretty good support for opening the RFP. Thank you, everybody. For months, many of us spent our time documenting what went wrong at Salina Animal Surfaces. Today, I'd like to spend my time talking about what we can do right. As the city moves through the process of privatizing the shelter, we have an opportunity and obligation to improve conditions immediately instead of waiting for months. First, I'd like to suggest appointing an experienced upper level manager to work at the shelter full time during the transition. That person should provide daily oversight, support staff, ensure policies are followed, solve problems as they arise, and serve as a primary point of accountability. Recent records have shown that consistent oversight has been lacking. This is an opportunity to correct that immediately. Second, establish a structured volunteer program without delay. If just 20 volunteers each donate four hours per week, the shelter gains 80 volunteer hours every week, the equivalent of two full-time employees. Those volunteers can clean kennels, walk dogs, socialize animals, provide enrichment, assist with laundry, help at adoption events, and support staff with many of the daily tasks that improve an animal's quality of life. That allows employees to spend more time focusing on medical care, adoption, and other specialized responsibilities. Finally, I ask that you temporarily waive the proposed background check requirement for volunteers. After the city inadvertently released volunteer applications containing social security numbers and driver's license information through improperly handled CORA records, many citizens understandably have concerns about providing sensitive personal information. Volunteers should still sign liability waivers, complete orientation and safety training, and work under the supervision of shelter management. This proposal costs very little, strengthens accountability, reduces stress on employees, rebuilds public trust, and most importantly, improves the lives of the animals at our shelter. The people of Salina have repeatedly shown they're willing to volunteer, foster, transport animals, donate, and help. Let's remove unnecessary barriers, provide the leadership this shelter needs, and allow our community to become part of the solution while privatization moves forward. Because while privatization may be months away, these animals need our help today. Thank you.

Kathy Schwartz, Salina, Kansas. I'd like to ask one final question. Why wasn't Monique Holley terminated long before criminal charges were ever filed? This wasn't a situation where management didn't know where there were problems. Jeff Hammond met with Monique behind closed doors for several hours every Tuesday, week after week, month after month. He knew how the shelter was being managed. When it became apparent that Monique was failing as a manager, the answer wasn't to terminate her. Instead, Andrea Murphy was placed over her in an attempt to compensate for her failed leadership. Think about that. Instead of replacing ineffective management, the city simply added another layer of management. Today, taxpayers are paying someone making more than $80,000 a year to perform janitorial work while on administrative leave. That should never have happened. We've received statements from former employees describing a workplace that was chaotic and poorly managed. One former employee described Monique routinely leaving before the workday was over, posting work schedules at the last minute, changing them multiple times after they were posted, denying adoptions based on personal feelings rather than objective standards, and creating an environment where employees never knew what to expect from one day to the next. The same employees stated they witnessed shelter supplies being taken from the shelter, including pet food, play pens, bird cages, and other equipment. They also stated that Monique took home a $1,200 terrarium that wasn't returned until a member of the public confronted her about it. If these concerns were known to employees, how were they not known to management? Or were they known and simply ignored? Because Jeff Hammond was meeting with Monique every single week. So I have to ask, what exactly was accomplished during those meetings? Why weren't these problems corrected? Why wasn't she replaced before the shelter reached the point of failed state inspection, criminal charges, and a complete loss of public trust? Leadership isn't about waiting until a crisis forces your hand. Leadership is recognizing when someone is not capable of managing an operation and making the difficult decision before animals suffer. Employees lose confidence and taxpayers are left paying the bill. That is exactly why I believe the Salina Animal Shelter should be placed under the supervision of an experienced outside organization. The city had countless opportunities to correct these management failures and didn't. The animals paid the price. The taxpayers are paying the price. And it's time to put the shelter in the hands of people who have the experience to restore accountability, transparency, and public trust. Thank you, gentlemen.

Thank you.

Christy Dixon Salina. I'd like to ask a question I believe every taxpayer in this room and Salina deserves an answer to. Why was Andrew Murphy not terminated long before the criminal charges were filed? Based on the city's own emails and records, city management was aware of serious concerns long before the county attorney became involved. These records show drug logs being rewrote, rewritten. They show Andrea Murphy taking wildlife home without the permits required to rehabilitate them. They show federally protected migratory birds being euthanized. They show text messages with former employees discussing current employees, internal operations and details about state inspections after those individuals no longer worked for the city. I also have a written statement from an employee stating they were recorded without their knowledge. These records also show Andrea Murphy in possession of a pit bull despite Celina's breed specific ordinance. These were not isolated incidents. They were repeated warning signs. Jeff Hammond knew. Jacob, you knew. And Patrick, you knew. Yet, Andrea Murphy remained employed until criminal charges were filed. Instead of taking action, the city chose to spend taxpayer dollars defending two employees charged with three counts of animal cruelty. We're paying their attorney fees for individuals unable to follow the basic policies and procedures. Basic. Kindergarten level. Basic. You have burdened an already struggling shelter budget with their wages while on leave. Money that could have gone towards caring for animals, hiring more staff, and improving shelter operations. And we're still paying them until September 8th, 9th. I think they actually blocked the whole week off for their court case. You've also exposed taxpayers to potential liability by failing to protect confidential records, releasing personal information, medical information, social security numbers, driver's license, and volunteer applications that have never should have been disclosed. So my question is simple. How much evidence did management need? Jacob, how many emails did you need? Jacob, how many documented incidents did you need? Jacob, how many warning signs? Leadership isn't measured by how you react after criminal charges are filed. Leadership is measured by whether you recognize problems early enough to prevent them from ever getting that far. Unfortunately, you didn't let that happen. You failed. That is exactly why the animal shelter should be placed under the supervision of an experienced outside organization. The city had every opportunity to act and it didn't. The animals paid their price. About 15 more seconds, please. The taxpayers paid their price and the public's trust has been damaged. It's about time to put the shelter in the hands of people who are experienced. Thank you. Watergate and Sheltergate all fall on you.

Thank you.

Jacob.

I'm going to share a couple more emails because I think it's the community's right to know because there's so much stuff that's been kind of hidden from the community and the taxpayers. So I just want you all to know. In November of 2025, Andrea Murphy sent this email to Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Hammond. i'd like to read part of it i've been telling mo for weeks weeks that we are out of kitten food for adoptions we're still out ordering animal food is an ongoing issue with running out and more not being ordered as well as the opposite she orders way too much of one type and it ends up expiring and we have to throw it away She continued, this is also more than just an animal food issue. She over orders on everything. She puts the blame on the staff. 90% of the time she forgets or lies to staff saying it's out of stock. This then rolls into the budget issues the shelter always has. Jeff Hammond received that email on November 14, 2025. Now listen to what former employee Dave White recently said publicly. She constantly did the same thing while I worked there. We'd have tons of canned cat food and puppy food when we didn't need it, and then we'd run out of dog food and constantly have to go to Menards, Sam's Club, and Boomgar's. Adult dogs were fed puppy food because there wasn't enough dog food. We constantly ran out of dish soap to clean the kennels. Dish soap? No wonder all the animals are sick. Come on. He also stated there were times she'd buy items at Petco and keep them in her office, and then shortly afterward, they were gone. I saw her remove cat playpens, bird cages, and dog and cat food, saying it was for a neighbor who couldn't buy any. And finally, the work schedules were often not finished until the day before the new week and were usually wrong. It was a totally bizarre experience in a chaotic place to work. Commissioners, whether every statement made by Mr. White is accurate, it is something you can investigate. But what cannot be disputed is that your own operations superintendent warned Jeff Hammond in writing that there were serious management problems for months before any of the public knew about this. So my question is this. Mr. Hammond, what did you do? Where are you at? What did you do? You were warned about inventory problems, waste, expired supplies, budget issues, and the manager who Andrea Murphy herself said forgot things and lied to staff. If these concerns were serious enough for your operations superintendent to document in writing, why wasn't action taken in 2025 instead of allowing all these problems to continue into 2026? The public deserves an answer. Because this wasn't a surprise. This was a warning sitting in Jeff Hammond's inbox, and it was far from the only one. His inbox contained warning after warning after warning. Too numerous to count. The question isn't whether management knew there were problems. The question is why. The question is why management chose not to act. Jeff Hammond didn't do his job. I'll say it again. Jeff Hammond didn't do his job. I don't know what he's keeping from you commissioners, but he didn't do his job. He's not a leader. Five more minutes.

No, five more minutes.

Five more seconds.

That might be pushing your luck.

He's not a leader. He's not a leader. Jeff Hammond's a failure. And he's not only failing the animal shelter, he's failing our parks too. And that'll be coming up before long.

Susan Cooper, Salina. I wasn't here, I didn't live in Salina in 2010, but I know that there was a vote taken for the river project, and it was voted down, like two to one. Then in 2016, there was a sales tax increase, and there are a list of things that that money was supposed to go for. And one of those things was to help stabilize the tax base for Salina homeowners. There was supposed to be park management for the monies. generated by that sales tax increase. Now I find out that due to a $700,000 shortfall in the city budget, you want to increase the mill levy to take care of that. You knew that there was going to be a $700,000 shortfall, but yet you still went ahead and gave $735,000 to the River Festival this year. So my question is, if the money that was generated by the sales tax was supposed to be for park management, why was it transferred? Why were monies, a lot of money, transferred out of that budget for the river project that has been voted down by the public in the past? Who made that decision to go ahead and pump millions of dollars into the river project? And I'll wait for an answer because I don't think it was Martha Tasker who approved all of that and said, OK, we're going to do it my way. You guys, the city manager says, it's up to you. And I don't know if you think that the city manager is supposed to be overseeing the budget. So who is it that allowed those funds to go into the river project that was voted down?

I don't know. So the 2016 sales tax had a ballot question that was very broad. But all of the communication that the city put out at the time, and I wasn't here at the time either, there were indications that we were going to do a river project. We were going to spend $1.3 million out of that sales tax on the river project. And so $1.3 million annually. So that has been approved as part of the city's annual budget since 2016, 2017 timeframe. Every year we talk about the sales tax capital fund and where those funds will go, and it's approved at that time. So it's been talked about every single budget process probably since 2016, 2017 timeframe when the sales tax money started coming in.

So it doesn't make any difference whether the taxpayers, the people who give you the money, we have no say.

Every year there's a budget process where the public is welcome to come and express their opinions on what the budget looks like. And that has been part of every single budget discussion since that time.

Okay. Since they moved $5 million.

And that was also part of the budget discussion that happened at that time.

And the commission did. We had excess reserve funds. We moved. And it's not restricted. We moved $5 million over to the river in case we need it in the future. Can I talk, Tom, please? But it's not just sitting there. If we need to bring it for some other reason, we can. It's not restricted just to the river.

So why isn't it being used for water infrastructure improvement?

We haven't got to how we're going to fund all that yet. Perhaps it will be.

You know, I'm sorry, guys, but this is not a new project, not a new problem that you have to deal with.

We've...

I'll tell you what. I don't want an increase in mill levy because you're sitting on, I think you've talked about the $67 million that you've got in reserve.

We don't have $67 million in reserve.

So how much is it in reserve?

$26.

$26? Okay. Excuse me. $26 million. Why can't you do less with arts and humanities and give the... have a budget that will make sure that the people in Salina aren't having to pay exorbitant taxes. I know when you put out the thing that Salina was down the list of all of the cities that had these increased sales taxes, and at the time I thought, Well that's a stupid reason to increase the sales tax because we're down the list from Junction City and all of these other places. Okay, thank you. You're not being prudent stewards of our tax money. Thank you.

I'm here once again. I'm Lucille Sanderson, and wake up. We're going on a roller coaster. First of all, I want to tell Mr. Trent Davis that I was ashamed of the way he answered the man last week when he was speaking to him about the Dover problem. Trent sat there looking down, and he asked him to look at him. He said, I'm listening. Now, wait a minute. Two ears, two eyes, but one mouth and one brain. No, he was blocking him out. And I'm ashamed at what he'd done to that man. Now, the next thing is city commissioners seem to have a problem getting anything solved in short length of time. I bet if every one of these was a woman, it would get handled in short time. I'll tell you why. A lot of women are working. A lot of women have a home. They have to keep it clean. A lot of women have children, a husband. They don't hire all that work done. If they did, they wouldn't be working. So I think we'd be better off if we had women setting up there. But we're stuck with you for the length of time. Now, last month, I went to a meeting, and I can get you the date, at Carver Center. When I came out, there was a section of sidewalk had been rerun. Only one problem. It was lower than the section right beside it. I stopped in at Park and Rec to pass that information, feeling that maybe something should have been done. I didn't get to talk to the leader of the gang. Oh, I'll be sure and tell him, well, guess what? I drove by this morning, and it's still not been replaced. I'm thinking about at night when people walk out, you're going to be stepping, and you may go down, and then it might be a lot cheaper if we replace that section now. And another thing, we're so busy extending out, decorating, getting things done. Have we stood back and looked at what we already have? The golf course. I spoke to Mr. Hammond last year. I personally spoke to him. And be damned if he didn't get it cleaned up. But he's letting it slip again. Scrub trees. Your police department over here. They started out with a hedge. Scrub trees are higher than the hedge now. You should be ashamed and get that stuff cleaned up, make it look nice, instead of wasting our time on a river walk that's been so many years in the making, and it will never come to fruition. I'm sorry to disagree with you on that, but be common sense. And remember, women would get things done quicker.

Thank you.

Hi, Nicole Skidmore. I didn't want to come back and talk, and I had no intentions on standing up. I already talked to the commission about the water issues at my house and the stuff that they have, but I've had some things recently happen health-wise with my daughter who was very, very bored and not wanting to be here that day that she was here. My daughter has eczema and she has it pretty bad. We actually got to go away and went camping and I got to notice that while she was in that lake and even though we were doing sunscreen and all the things that makes those things worse, Her skin was getting better. It was getting clearer and it was getting softer. But when we came home, she showered and immediately I just watched her get out of the shower and it is bright red and inflamed and flared. And I was like, good grief. Now she goes, I know our water is not causing my daughter to have eczema. I did have to take her to a different doctor, and now I have to inject my daughter once a month with a biologic.

Excuse me. I'm sorry, Nicole. Could we please respect Nicole so we could hear her? Thank you.

I have to inject her once a month with a biologic pharmaceutical drug with a needle that makes her cry. so we can get control of it. And I have to wonder, all that we're learning about the, I mean I'm not, I don't know anything about the chemicals and stuff like that. But I do have to question and wonder, is that aggravating it? Is the physical water and the things that are being put into it making it worse? Because she's in constant pain. Like she cannot put lotion on her skin because it stings, it burns. She, I mean, she can't, she gets embarrassed. Everybody thinks she has vitiligo because she has it on 90% of her body now. And so it's just really hard for me to kind of sit back and just not say, I guess I'm just a mom pleading. The water really, really needs to seriously be looked at and we really need to do something. But I also just went through the third hot water heater in my house and I've owned it since 2012. It went out this week.

Thank you, Nicole. Thank you.

Sue Nichols, Celina. Hey, I just want to say over the past several months, I've asked for several different batches of emails from Andrea Murphy. The first request, most of that was redacted properly, but one entire attachment to an email was not. And so I now have copies of driver's licenses for Keith Cooper, Michael Thompson, and Kamiya Bess, along with other identifying information. I now possess all three of those. If Keith is going to do an interest in being a commissioner, I already have his information for you. So the next two requests were far more concerning. The records appeared to be redacted, but as soon as you downloaded them, you figured out pretty quickly that the text boxes put over them was not proper redaction. As a result, I have received social security numbers, personnel, and medical information, criminal case discussions, communications with the city attorney, and emails documenting internal concerns raised by Andrea Murphy. None of that information should have been publicly accessible. And if you think I'm ever going to trust you with my information, you're wrong. These requests cost hundreds of dollars. You know, Patrick, it's $670. Well, as soon as we get those requests, we disseminate them. Like whoever wants them, we get them all. So that information is everywhere. So I've respectfully requested a refund of the fees I paid for these defective records. To me, it's no different than paying somebody to wash your house, paint your house with washable paint. The second that it rains, it's gone. So I paid for defective work, and I think I deserve my money back. What concerns me even more is that more than two weeks after you guys acknowledged that you didn't redact the records properly, the portal that we all have to submit open record requests on still has your records on there that were not redacted properly. Fairfold and Woods, all of the 2026 redactions for the billing, the invoices are not done properly. They're not done properly. Doesn't that give the information to the other attorneys? Thank you. That's okay. I'm on cozy side anyway. But the other thing is that the July 6th email that Jacob sent the city commission that talks about Andrea Murphy and her dog bite, the vicious dog bite, and needing to place her on administrative leave again, it's still out there. Why don't you guys listen? You don't listen to anything. Like, you guys are inept. You're inept. Especially you, Jacob Wood.

Michelle Timpson, Solomon. I'd like to read a text conversation that took place on January 12, 2026, the same day the Salina Animal Shelter received its failed inspection from the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Jeff Hammond wrote, it appears that the complaint was based on the letter that you shared with me. In essence, the inspector was making the statement that we were operating outside the authority of the veterinarian. It makes us look like staff prescribed medication when we don't have the authority to do so, even though we might have received direction from an actual veterinarian that there's not documentation. That goes for euthanasia as well. I believe the results of this might be that our expenses for veterinarian care might increase significantly. or we hire our own veterinarian. Andrea and I'll have a report to you by the end of the week. Jacob Wood then responded, so all euthanasia that we have done is wrong? Jeff Hammond replied, we don't know that exactly yet. Then Wood responded, seems a little petty. Commissioners then text raised some serious questions. Mr. Wood had already been responsible for overseeing the animal shelter since 2023. Yet on the very day the shelter failed its KDA inspection, he was asking whether the shelter's euthanasia practices might have been wrong. That tells me city leadership did not have a firm understanding of the laws and regulations governing the shelter they were responsible for overseeing. If city leadership was still trying to determine whether shelter staff had been operating within the authority of the veterinarian, how could they confidentially assure this commission and the public that everything was being handled appropriately? And then there is the final statement, seems a little petty. I'd like to ask, what exactly seemed petty? Was it petty for a state inspector to question whether shelter staff were operating outside the authority of the supervising veterinarian? Was it petty to expect proper documentation for the administration of prescription medications and controlled substances? Was it petty to question euthanasia practices that the inspector believed may have fallen outside the veterinarian's authority? Or was the inspector simply doing the job Kansas law requires? Those questions matter because state inspections exist to ensure compliance with the law, protect animal welfare, and safeguard the public's trust. When an inspector identifies potential violations, the response should not be to characterize those concerns as petty. The response should be to understand the regulations, correct any deficiencies, and ensure they never happen again. To me, these text messages demonstrate exactly why the Salina Animal Shelter should be placed under the supervision of an experienced outside organization. We need leadership that understands the laws, understands veterinarian oversight, understands shelter operations, has a proven track record of running a compliant life saving animal shelter. The animals, the employees, and the citizens of Salina deserve nothing less. I think we've proved leadership sucks.

Mayor, commissioners.

Could you pull the microphone down so we can hear you there? Thank you.

Gloria Duffy, Salina. I have clear water. I do. I have clear water. I'm sorry that many don't. Because of the taste and the smell, however, we did install a reverse osmosis so that we and our dogs can drink it. My mom and dad weren't as lucky. They moved to Salina in 1998. My mom would call the water department very often, very often about her brown nasty water until she passed away in 2022. Do your math. That's 24 years that she called and complained and dealt with it. During the last meeting, you approved taping a sticky note over the problem. I won't even say a Band-Aid because a Band-Aid would show some healing when it was removed. You took no time to discuss how you would implement this or cover the cost. You just made and approved a motion. And like the time and money you're using on other projects, this should be a top priority. If my roof was leaking, I'm canceling my vacation, I'm not going to the movies, I'm not eating out, and I'm going to fix my roof. I'm grateful that you are attempting to assist those in our community that obviously have unsafe water. However, I have some questions concerning this process. Where are the funds for covering this to come from? Are we going to see a hike in our water bills or a tax increase to cover these expenses? Since there seems to be no willingness to halt unnecessary projects, what turnips are you going to squeeze? What about rental properties? Did you think about that? Does the landlord have to approve the filter installation? Will future renters be willing to cover the cost of filters? If utilities are included in rent, who is going to figure the reimbursement? And will that need to go through the landlord before reaching the tenant? What about properties that have had more than one owner or renter within the 18 months you approved? Will the previous owner or tenant receive any reimbursement? Will the additional time to determine who receives the reimbursement require hiring additional staff, time and funds for preparing and mailing forms, reviewing applications, dispersing funds? It doesn't seem that you can lay more on Ms. Tasker's plate. And for how long will this continue, months, years? Will they pay for unclean water going forward? Will the owner-tenant be required to pay for testing? Will this be required each month in order to not be charged for water usage, which would again increase to me and staff needed to review each request? How long will this sticky note be expected to cover this ever-growing, festering wound? How will this refund, reimbursement affect someone who is on disability and has a maximum on-hand limitation? Shouldn't there have been some actual data on the cost and how it is to be implemented before putting this to a vote? You should not need to hire another consultant, data analyst, or mathematician. It's just basic math. Perhaps it would have been wiser to start fixing the problem years ago, years ago, rather than just covering the wound now. Those sticky notes won't last very long, and they're going to be very expensive and still will not resolve the problem. Please think about some of those questions.

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. Jess White, Celina. And we were hearing all sorts of stuff. Again, I'm up here saying the same thing. We're talking about the water infrastructure, about the animal shelter. It's amazing to hear people coming in and starting to suggest ideas and to see you guys listening to the ideas with the water, with those things, and that's what our community should be doing. So while people are sitting here looking at all those problems, the water infrastructure That's so expensive. We don't really have that kind of money just laying around. You can only pull from so many different places. We can't hold everything because then Salina gets completely left behind and you can't do anything. And all the beautification that you want to do in the world, you can do. But if you don't have clean water and the saying is come on vacation, leave on probation in Salina, people aren't going to want to look at the river anyways. So... I see an opportunity here, though. What if we don't just replace the pipes, but if we built a workforce that replaces them? I've been developing a proprietary community development framework that looks at the challenges differently. Instead of solving one problem at a time, it says how can one investment solve multiple challenges? Imagine where we partner with Salina Tech, local plumbers, workforce partners, and the city to build a registered apprenticeship pipeline. I've already been in communication with some of the local plumbers. I've already spoke with the president of Votek. And I've also spoke with another person in the community who is willing to help with grant writing assistance to formulate a $70,000 economic growth development research program. That would give the city some time and the ability to put some of this together. The plumbers are willing and wanting to know what they can do and more about the apprenticeship programs. We would then be able to attract people from outside areas and Salina would be a place that people want to come and learn the plumbing trade and all that goes along with that. And they're working on a huge city project. So it looks real good on a resume. So why not look at ways that we can bring money into Salina? We have all these people who are talking about animal wellness, animal shelters, things like that. They could have conferences. They could do things like that. And I was respectful when y'all were up here, and I would like the same courtesy, please. Thank you. Okay, so when we build things and have skilled workers to relocate to Salina, it builds careers, people buy homes, we support local businesses and the people become part of our community. It's not about replacing great work that's already being done and it is about replacing some of the not so great work because we do have people that could do a lot for this city that are just being set on the backside so that we can hire all these consultants that are coming in and just pulling the wool over everybody's eyes. So I'm asking for you guys to consider a conversation And an opportunity to meet with city leadership, public works, Salina area tech, local contractors, and other community partners to explore whether this collaborative approach could support the city's long term goals. And again, relating back to what she said, I'm a mother, I have five children, I'm a business owner, I'm a nurse, I'm a human rights consultant and advocate, and I wear many different hats. We can't have one thing going on and all the focus be on that. We have to be able to function in, I don't know, a multiverse or- Five more seconds, Jess, please. We just have to work together. And we're starting to, we're just not quite there yet.

Thank you.

Tony Johnson, Celina, I'm going to be kind of all over the place. We mentioned the legal fees regarding the COSI, and you seem to have easy answers. Celina 311 reached out to the city manager's office, I think, on July 11th to break down the mythical or the mysterious accounting as it relates to Fairfield and Woods and The appeal amount. So I would think the city manager's office could reach back out to them and clarify that. When you sit over here at this table and talk in circles and smoke and mirrors, you all keep earning the hate. I'm just telling you. Just lay it out there for us, man. Good grief, you all are just... Anyway... We're talking about the water. Our population is and has been stagnant for years, but our footprint keeps getting bigger. So with that footprint means we're adding more miles of water mains, storm sewers, streets, maintenance. And I want you to think about this. A Saline County commissioner told me that 30% of the property in this town is tax-exempt, essentially. So we're not getting anything for it. So I'd like to see us, until we get this water issue resolved and some other infrastructure issues, let's put a moratorium on all the tax abatements and everything that we seem to throw around until we get that figured out and maybe a balanced budget on the table. I think it speaks volumes that I asked about what kind of testing we were doing at this Schilling water tower as it related to the lawsuit on this change order deal and Martha Tasker sat right back there and never said a peep. So I'll send a court request for that. I do want to thank the city commission though and the city manager's office for opening the eyes of citizens and uniting us. People from all walks of life, people of different color, political beliefs, and economic standing have come together to take back control of their local government. I believe this city has conducted business unchecked for decades now, and thanks to your continued disregard for the majority of citizens, you have people looking up your rear end so hard they can see your tooth fillings. We're not going away. We're gonna hold our leaders accountable and we're gonna make Celina a place for all to enjoy Not just a select few. I welcome all of you to hop on for the ride.

Thank you Mission my name is Bonnie new brain My concern is what is going to happen in the interim Jacob with You're deciding who's going to come in or what to do, and the city still has the shelter, and it's not being cleaned. There's poop all over, pee all over. Dogs are not being taken out to be exercised. They're not being... even hardly noticed. Pills are being thrown over the top of the cage and not even making sure the dogs take the pills. So what's going to happen during this 60 days or 90 days or whatever days you decide to keep the staff in check because I will continue to go over. I can't do anything when I go over. I can't tell them I'm going to wash the windows, I'm going to clean the . But somebody has to. You don't need six people at the front desk talking to each other and then a little dog running around inside the front desk not getting to go out. And they recently did get a Great Dane in. And that Great Dane supposedly is the most vicious dog in the state of the world. So the dog doesn't get taken out. It poops in its cage. I don't even know if it's still alive. But that dog came in two weeks ago Friday. And, you know, we have pit bulls that are not being taken out because the staff is afraid of those dogs.

They've been there over a year.

And it's been there over a year. That dog apparently grew up in that kennel. And when you go in there, that dog is going, run, jump on the glass, run, jump on the glass. That dog's nuts. But it's not because of him. It's because of the people trying to take care of it that don't know what they're doing. If you're afraid of a dog... don't work in the shelter. I mean, it's pretty obvious. If you've never been around big dogs, it is intimidating. So don't be in the shelter. And if Jeff has any suggestions to his people, he needs to take care of it because they are not being taken care of. They're not. Oh, cutie pie was adopted. That's wonderful. Or another dog was adopted. That's wonderful. But behind the scene of the frosting, the cake has been eaten by worms. I'm sorry.

Thank you.

I can go tomorrow.

Volunteer.

Hi, Lori Hall.

Who in this room went to the parade the other night? Anybody? Who saw the lady on the moped with the raccoon on her shoulder?

Okay, that's why I continue to come back.

On Sunday, my pastor shared a message that has kind of stayed with me. And he spoke about how deception can redirect us away from the truth and shape our behavior. And he also shared ways to move forward and out of that deception. And those were to name the lie, find the truth, and take the next step. And I think that maybe we could use a little bit of his message to help us to get from where we are to where we're going. Over the past several years, and especially in the recent months, citizens, including myself, have raised concerns about what we believe were false and misleading representation by city leaders, department heads, and Salina Animal Service supervisors regarding how pets and wildlife are handled in our community. So let's apply some of these steps. The first one is name the lie. And I'm going to talk mostly about wildlife, but we could find many lies that we have found about the pets too. And I'm only going to name three of them. The first lie I have found is that we should treat wildlife with the same protocol as domestic pets. That's a lie. Accurate records and proper documentations are not as important when the animal is wildlife. No one will notice how we treat wildlife because no one cares. Those are three lies I've come up with. Now, let's know the truth. Our community expects wildlife to be treated with compassion, care, and respect for life. Those entrusted with the authority to care for wildlife have a duty to do what is right, regardless if someone is watching. Wildlife handling is different than the domestic pets and is governed by specific federal and state wildlife laws that regulates their care, transport, and release. City leadership and supervisors must be properly trained and qualified to ensure wildlife is managed safely, legally, and humanely. Now, let's take the step. That's the third one. We must ensure qualified leadership make necessary staffing changes to meet proper standards for wildlife care and handling. We must restore accountability by partnering with a qualified private entity such as Prairie Paws.

About 10, 15 seconds.

And we must bring back dedicated volunteers who have supported the shelter. And we must support the Department of Wildlife and Parks, and other appropriate state and federal agencies for their efforts to provide oversight, investigations, and where warranted, hold individuals accountable under the law. To those who oppose these steps, I respectfully ask that this is not a defeat for the city. It is a victory for both domestic animals and wildlife, and for the citizens who care about them.

Thank you.

My name is Linda Reynolds Salina. I'm talking about the animal shelter. The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. That's found in Proverbs 12, 10.

Thank you.

Norman Arnold Solano. If you ran your baseball team this way, Commissioner, they'd fire you, wouldn't they? I believe one of you commissioners was a team manager. Disneyland runs better than this. I'm going to another Kansas Fish and Gaming meeting. I know the secretary of the Fish and Gaming department. I know the chairman of the department. We've got diseases that are coming across the border. Screw worms, we can't stop them. That's the problem. Environment is warming up so terrible, it's bad. There was clean water here in 1492. Enforce the laws. Greed is an animal that requires blood to satisfy its hunger. We have met the enemy and it is I. You don't have friends, you have enemies. I don't hope for the best, I expect the worst. As President Trump says, I hate my enemies. We are the enemy. You need to hold your planning zone board members responsible for approving sites that are allowing hazardous water. They approve these sites. I'm going to go to a movie. If you remember Erin Brockovich, she made a statement. And she says, to get something done, and I quote what she says, move your ass.

I Was just gonna I'm in that Cox I was just gonna ask We've heard a lot about You know a lot of us would volunteer and everything like if I had if I would agree to be like a leader or something of the volunteer deal I could we get something in there to help out now? Because I sent you guys the videos, and I know some of you have watched them. The only one I didn't get information back from, if he'd seen any of them, was Dr. Davis. Didn't get anything back from him, but everybody else responded back. And so you can see what's going on there. And they talked about parvo in the kennels. You know, one of the videos, I don't know if I shared that one or not, but she didn't even spray, spray soap in the middle of the large dog kennel. I mean, why even spray the outside then? Because all you're getting is the dog's wet. you're not going to spray soap on the inside because they just carry it back and forth i mean so spraying one side's no no good you know and like like they've said somebody needs to be over there and cracking the whip a little bit you know um i mean Just watch those videos. Everybody in the city can go to the city website and just log in and they can watch them. They can watch them all. All the videos are free for people to watch because we paid for them and opened them up and a lot of the videos I couldn't send you guys because they were too big and so all you got is like maybe 20, 30 seconds at the most. They're doing it all the time. I mean, all the time. And we would be glad to go and volunteer right now, like they're saying. And if you need somebody to head it up, I'll be glad to do it. I've got plenty of time.

And experience.

And so, yeah, I've been over there. And so anyway, I just want to try to get... let you guys know that I'm willing to do whatever to get something done. Because I'm sure that a company doesn't want to come in there and spend three weeks trying to clean up a mess. So if we could get in there and try to clean it up ahead of time, then maybe they can You know, get things started right away rather than spending a bunch of time trying to clean it up and having to retrain people on how to get out a cloth in a spray can. But we're going to be glad to do it. Just let me know.

Thank you.

Chris Hardesty, Salina, Kansas. I'd like to know who these two women are related to from the shelter. Because you think they're good people? I walked in there with my grandson, he's seven. He was seven at the time. And Monique was so rude to us. I have never been in there where someone was so rude. What happened to the friendly people like when Danny Porter, Rose, Annette, when they worked there? It was a great place. I took my girls when they were little. And so I'm just floored. Do you think they're good people and they kill animals? You call that a good person? I don't get up and talk in front of people like this, but I am pissed. And another thing I do hair for a living and the last like three or four years, my hands have just been raw, burning, peeling. What's that from? Is that from that stuff in the water? I don't know. I thought I was going to have to quit. So I started wearing gloves because I shampoo a lot of heads. I've done hair for 40 years and all of a sudden my hands are doing this. Why aren't you guys doing anything? I mean, you're just spending all this money and you act like you don't even care at all. At all. And it makes me sick. Do you all have animals? Do you have pets? I know you said you did. Have you ever adopted a dog from the shelter? These animals have to suffer like this? I am just floored. I used to love this town and I'm just so disgusted. This is the third meeting I've been to. I never even came before. But now I don't want to miss because I am just baffled by what's going on. And then last August, I broke my kneecap going off of a curb from work. I'm on crutches and my pipe, my cast iron pipe in the basement, I could hear water pouring out of it. Yeah, split, sewer water everywhere. I couldn't even get in my basement and I'm a single person. I had my grandson there with me. I had to make him go down and ask him if he could hear water coming out of the pipe. And I have pictures on my phone and a video. My daughter that is injured from a car wreck a long time ago, her and a friend had to go down there and shop vac all this water off my ledges. It was so disgusting. I called the plumber. They couldn't come out for a week, so we couldn't even flush my toilet for a week. And you guys just look at me like, oh, too bad.

Yeah, I don't get it.

Do you guys even care about anybody? And I've lived here since the early 80s. I used to really think a lot of this town, but I don't anymore.

My name is Shannon Russ, Salina, Kansas. I'm here today to speak my thoughts on a couple of the issues. I must apologize as a citizen of Salina for not being aware of situations such as the animal shelter and water quality in this city that I call home. That is on me for not paying attention and being as informed of a citizen as I should be. I'm going to try to my best to rectify that by attending these meetings as much as possible and speaking. When I googled leadership, it states leadership is the ability to guide, inspire, and influence individuals or teams toward a common goal. Core qualities of leadership are listed as integrity, communication, and empathy. When I was thinking about what I would say today, the first word that came to my mind that I wanted to touch on without even looking at definitions was the word empathy. In my career, I have a leadership role, and I know deep in my core, empathy speaks to those you serve. So I am going to focus on that word. Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of another person. As far as the animal shelter, I will just repeat what all these hardworking and caring citizens have already said. We need to privatize the shelter. We did not need to spend the amount of money that was spent for a consultant. When you have a gift, these ladies, they are a gift to this community. They've done the work. We didn't need that. We don't need to pay legal expenses. Over the weekend, I also saw where Rose Base, former director of the animal shelter, was denied being on the animal board committee due to possible intimidation of shelter staff. I was absolutely dumbfounded. If you are doing your job competently, And to the best of your ability, there should be no reason to feel intimidated. If I was on that staff, I would consider someone with Rosa's knowledge as a gift and someone to learn from. As for water quality in Salina, absolutely shocking and unacceptable. I am appreciative of the measures that were taken last meeting. However, we need to fix it now. I will echo what other citizens of Salina have said, that all unnecessary spending needs to stop immediately until our water quality is fixed. In my household, we always have several wants, but we have to maintain a budget and prioritize our needs over our wants. Government spending of taxpayers' money should be no different. Needs have to come before wants. I'm going back to empathy and the water quality in Salina. I would like for every single one of you to close your eyes for a few seconds. Now picture your grandchildren or children having to drink a bottle of baby formula that you had to make from brown water that comes out of these citizens' faucets. These children did not ask to be brought into this world. A simple, I understand, I was wrong, and immediate action would show empathy and compassion to the citizens you lead. I know you care about Celina. You should anyway, you chose to serve our citizens. And I and the citizens need to see empathy and a leader, and that's what a leader should possess. Thank you.

Okay, is there anyone else? Okay, if not, we have an executive session scheduled and I think we said ten minutes.

Okay. Yes. I request we move into executive session to discuss it. I'm sorry. Recess into executive session for ten minutes to discuss the potential acquisition of specific real estate, the identification of which would be contrary to the public interest based upon the need for the preliminary discussion of the acquisition of real property Pursuant to KSA 75-4319-B6, Would you like a break before the meeting or just go straight through, John? We can just go straight, I think. All right. Open meeting will resume in this room at 7, by the time we get in there.

7.42. Yeah, 7.33 or 34. 7.34. Give me a minute to walk. 7.40. 7.34. 7.43. Do we have a second?

I'll second that.

We have a motion and a second that the City Commission recess an executive session for 10 minutes to discuss the potential acquisition of 10 minutes for the potential acquisition of specific real estate. The identification of which would be contrary to the public interest based upon the need for preliminary discussion of the acquisition of real estate pursuant to KSA 754319B6. The open meeting will resume in this room at 743. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, we'll be back here.

In attendance will be Ron Marsh, Public Works Director, Tilden Crabill, Landfill Supervisor, Sean Hennessy, Deputy City Manager, Patrick Hoffman, City Attorney, and myself.

you you you Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, we are back in session, and I will accept a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Do I have a second up there? Second. Got a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? We will see everyone back here. I believe it's August 10th.