By NATE KING
Salina Post
Earlier this month on Sept. 19 Salina residents spent time at the Carver Center learning about where the candidates for Salina City Commission and USD 305 School Board stand on issues. The event was well attended, with standing room only during the school board portion of the forum.
Four of the six Salina City Commission candidates were in attendance.
Commission candidates Haley Helzer and Robert Klingenberg were not present.
Four other commission candidates, Chad Farber, Mike Hoppock, Trent Davis, and Jerry Ivey II, discussed issues such as high property taxes, homelessness, immigration, affordable housing, and the desire of some residents to reorganize the city commission's representation structure to allow for districts rather than at-large positions.
The forum, which began at 7 p.m., allowed for one hour of questions from both Picking and the forum audience.
Salina Post will post the discussion from the School Board portion of the forum the morning of Friday, Sept. 29.
The next candidate forum will be hosted by the League of Women Voters and is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 15 in the multipurpose building of Sunrise Presbyterian Church, 825 E. Beloit.
Where do city commission candidates stand on the issues?
Live video from the forum provided by 910KINA Program Director, Chris Cadle
Homelessness
IVEY
"We have a lot of great nonprofits in Salina that are willing to help the homeless, the true homeless that that needs to help that have lost their jobs and just can't make it. I guess from a city level it would be in my opinion to help the nonprofit agencies like the Salina Food Bank, The Rescue Mission and Catholic Charites."
HOPPOCK
"We put a camping ordinance into place, which is helping some. It's amazing that things aren't quite as simple as they seem. "A lot of people come here for help. And an example of this is The Rescue Mission. People go there and they [the Mission] try to sober someone up, they try to get them back into the workforce. But if they don't follow the rules, they get kicked to the street. To me, that's a poor Plan B. And so we've got to figure out how to work with these agencies."
FARBER
"This is not just a local problem. This is everywhere. I think as far as DC and Topeka what they can do to help us. I don't think there's a whole lot they can do. This is a local concern that we're going to have to deal with locally. The biggest concern for most of Salina when we talk about homelessness is safety. Some people are homeless because of a bad decision or a bad choice in their life. Some people were there simply because they couldn't afford a place to stay. And that goes back to some of our high rent costs here in Salina. We need to do what we can to help them with compassion."
DAVIS
"Washinton D.C. and Topeka can help us with money. I'm not talking $100,000 I'm talking millions of dollars. We've been focusing downtown on the homeless people. Until we focus on homelessness. There will always be new homeless people to take the place of the one or two people that we know until we start getting to the root causes. You got to help the people that you see. A lot of people did not choose to get this way they ended up this way. But just like the person with depression, they get so deep they don't have the ability to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. They don't have anything to pull themselves up. It's going t be a massive community effort."
Position on changing the structure of city government to include districts
DAVIS
"I personally like the city manager/City Commission model, because you get five people who were elected one night in November. They don't become experts on sewage pumps and roads overnight. I don't really want to know the pipe size engineering needs to buy for certain things, or how thick of concrete we need to pour, we pay people to make those decisions."
"Our city commissioners act as a strategic board. I've learned that there are advantages to dividing the town into wards and that you get representation in each part of the city. A big disadvantage potentially is that one board holds a project hostage because it didn't get what it wants. So there are pros and cons plus you have people who will move into the ward just to get elected. There are ways to game the system."
FARBER
"My grandfather just turned 91 years old. He wasn't even born when this form of government was brought to Salina. It's time for a change and the reason I say that is not a political one," Farber said. "I believe that if we break our city into districts, more people will, whether perceived or reality, feel their voices heard more. Each district will have its own representative therefore that Representative answers directly to those that segment of his constituents instead of an at-large like like we have now who answers to the entire city."
"There are people on the north side who I have spoken to who don't feel like their voice matters in city government. There are people in the the west side who don't feel like their voice matters and city government. But let's also have a couple of commissioners elected at large. Let's keep the balance in our city checks and balances. I would also love for our mayor to be elected instead of just passed around as a paper title from one person to another."
HOPPOCK
"I think our current form of government currently works well. I understand the idea of districts from being on the commission for six years and also from following city government for many years," Hoppock said. "I've yet to see a commission that really said, 'No' to doing something in its service of the community. It's kind of I don't want to say funny, but Mr. Farber's yard signs say 'A voice for the People.' Well, if you voted for a district, are you still a voice for all the people or just a district? I'm a voice for the whole community and not just a district."
"I don't believe we are large enough to have districts. How many times in the county elections do we have one person running? I don't understand what we gain by an elected mayor. If two of your better candidates run for mayor and one doesn't get elected do they not get elected onto the commission? Again. I think it's a perception that we get more people involved if we district I really honestly I'm not sure that we would. I don't just represent the part of the community I live in. will pave streets everywhere. We are redoing in the older parts of town we're replacing water lines."
IVEY
"I don't think Salina is big enough to have districts. If you're talking five districts, if we leave it kind of where it is now that's 10,000 people, one person representing 10,000 people. I'd prefer to see five people representing the whole city of Salina. As far as the mayor goes, I looked up the same thing Chad did last time around since it was 2021. So it was 100 years ago that we switched over to the form of government that we have now and I just you know it's been working that long and it's been working well."
"I just don't see a reason to change it just to be changing something. As far as the paper title, I think you earn the mayorship. You have to be one of the top two out of the three to get those two people to earn it by votes. It's more than just a paper title. As many of you know my grandpa was mayor in 1984 and I was proud of the fact that he was like he was the mayor and I didn't consider it just a title."
Immigration
One of the citizens who attended the forum raised the question of whether or not illegal immigrants were being bussed to Salina and whether that was contributing to the homeless issue. Each candidate was allowed to respond.
IVEY
"I keep hearing from people that illegal immigrants are being bussed into Salina and I honestly don't think it's happening," Ivey said. "A lot of people bring up the buses by Harbor Freight by Kraft Manor in that area and I do know for a fact that that's where a lot of the Hispanic population goes and to buy tickets so they take that bus to go back and visit family in Mexico."
"I think that'd be perceived as people, you know, illegal immigrants being bused into this, this town. That'd be a good question probably to ask the police department and what they're seeing."
DAVIS
"I wouldn't really worry about the ethnicity of the people who are homeless. They're homeless. 99% of us in this room, technically, were illegal immigrants to the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean. That's how this country was built. We should be glad, in a way, that other people want to come here most immigrants coming here want to work. A lot of the American industry is based on immigrants taking jobs that native-born Americans won't take anymore."
"Not saying that you should open up the gates but don't look down on people who came here because life was miserable where they lived."
HOPPOCK
"I would say there's been an increase in homelessness it appears it's more visible right now. I have a business it's two blocks from the bus stop on Seventh Street and I drive by there at least four times a day that the number will vary anywhere from four to a dozen people there and none of them appear to be Hispanic to me. I do agree with Commissioner Davis that the problem we have is a mental health issue in this country."
"Years and years ago the government had to stop putting money towards mental health, and so we have more people on our streets dealing with mental health. Some of them do wish to live that way."
FARBER
"We do have a huge crisis at our southern border. Let's not downplay that. But a lot of the homeless that I have dealt with and interacted with, specifically those that are on Seventh Street are not the Hispanic population," Farber said. "As far as bussing people in I personally have not seen evidence of it. There are all kinds of stories that go around. I believe it's [homelessness] has become more visible. The more we talk about it, the more we notice things when we talk about them. So I think that may be a question for our police department. They may have a little bit more insight into that.
"But homelessness and our border crisis, a lot of times go hand in hand. Perhaps that is the case a little farther west from here. We're seeing a little bit more of that. I've seen some of that in some of our western cities. But as far as Salina I haven't seen an increase in Hispanic homelessness."
Future COVID-19/public health restrictions
Clarke Sanders, Republican State Representative, 69th District was in attendance for the forum. Sanders asked the candidates whether or not they would be in favor of implementing another mask mandate or restrictions on businesses, should COVID-19 infection rates spike again.
DAVIS
"I'm a little slanted because part of my job is keeping everybody in this room alive, myself included," Davis said. "We are very fortunate that we are smug and arrogant enough to sit here and talk about what happened the last time because we weren't part of the 1 million people who died. So whatever it takes to keep our population alive and our economy growing. When I listened to what my parents went through during World War II, the rationing they think we're wusses. 'Just put on the damn mask and go to work.' That is what they would say. They didn't have shoes they didn't have tires. Communities got wiped out because folks didn't get vaccinated."
"The City of Salina did not lay off a single employee. Our economy survived. And thank God we live in Kansas where we were somewhat socially isolated. So I would not worry about what we're going to do ahead of time just to make sure that we're nimble enough on our feet and open-minded enough to come up with the best solution, whatever it is."
FARBER
"New York City is where it was tyranny. I was very outspoken last time this went through and I am completely against mandating the people by the government. Studies have proven that masks were ineffective against this and I know Dr. Davis, he's a physician He understands the size of the micron particles of the virus and that those masks are ineffective and harmful in some cases. I'm not so much against masks I'm not so much against closing down businesses as much as I am against the government telling the people what they can and cannot do. We fought a war against that. To get this country started."
"Of course, the city commission overstepped its bounds. They mandated what people should do for their health. They shut down businesses and I've heard that was sent down by the state - no - those were city ordinances that were passed. They were not repealed and it was a shame that it was a shame. We got funding from the state and our budget looked really good because we kept getting all those state dollars. But I am completely against the government. mandating what people should do."
HOPPOCK
"Well, I had the pleasure of being Mayor in 2020, and first of all, I'm going to look at Commissioner Davis when I say this, We didn't shut down any businesses, did we? I didn't think so. That was the state," Hoppock said. "That was the state that did that. In fact, I'm a small business owner. I was upset that they allowed Lowe's and Menards to stay open and all the boutiques downtown had to close. So I disagree with the way that was handled. Now the masking you've got to realize that the information we had was changing, not only weekly, the daily sometimes. I remember in my office, we were wiping everything down. That was to protect myself, my customers, and my employees.
"There are different philosophies on whether the masks helped or not. You know, we did what we thought was best. You have to realize again, that I represent all the people. Some people didn't think COVID-19 was a real thing. I had part of my constituents who wore masks to bed at night. That's what I dealt with. So we tried to do what we thought was best. And I don't think wearing a mask killed anybody. Didn't have to like it. Will we do it again? I don't know. I hope we don't even have to deal with that. But what we did back in 2020 - You may not agree with but we did the best we could with the information we had."
IVEY
"When COVID started, it was a scary thing. No one knew. Absolutely no one knew, what it was and what was going on. So I can't put any blame on the commission at that time for doing what they did," Ivey said. "The only complaint I had was kind of towards the end. I think it went on a little too long. But I digress on that. Let's take what we learned from the first time and apply it if it does come around again this time. If you need to wear a mask, wear a mask."
"If you want to get your vaccination and you believe that that works, get your vaccine, but but don't tell me to do it. So as far as mandating it, no."
Gang activity in Salina
Several forum attendees voiced concerns about possible gang activity in the City of Salina. Each candidate was allowed to respond.
IVEY
"If there are gang members in this town then they need to be dealt with by the Salina Police Department," Ivey said. "As a possible city commissioner, I'm a huge proponent of the police department. I've always backed the police department.
"If they were to come to us and say 'Hey, we need help,' establishing a Task Force or we need more equipment then we need to get them equipped to handle the gangs. Personally, I don't know if there's anything we can do other than support our law enforcement in that situation."
HOPPOCK
"I think we need to give our police department all the resources necessary to deal with whatever it is whether it's gangs or drugs," Hoppock said. " I have not heard of the gang problem in the community. I'd have to ask the police department for more information. But they haven't come to us saying we need more help. I know we have some drug issues in the community like every other community does and we deal with those as best we can."
"No matter how many police officers we hire, we can't be everywhere all the time. And we do have a shortage of police officers. We've been trying to increase that number. We did a pay study a year ago and we've increased the pay of a lot of our city employees with the police department being a part of that trying to recruit more employees at least in the city."
FARBER
"Immigration I am not against. I think a healthy country has a certain amount of immigration. I am against illegal immigration. We've tried to change the names, you know what these folks are, and the truth is, they are committing a crime by coming into our country illegally. As I mentioned earlier our border is wide open on the south and we do have gang members coming across and we do have terrorists coming across and we do have drugs coming across and we have sex trafficking taking place. Yes, there are gangs in Salina."
"I'm out in the community enough to know there are gangs it's alive. I don't know specifically about MS-13. The best way to combat that and I think both of these fellows have said it the right way we need to fund our police department and we need to support our police department. They are a strong line of defense between those who observe the law and those who break the law. I was very disappointed when I heard Mr. Davis I believe it was at Central High School graduation where he praised the young people for beginning and supporting the Sunflower Coalition. And as most of us know one of the main purposes of the Sunflower Coalition, way back when, was to defund the police. We don't need that in Salina."
"Our commissions lately have been doing a wonderful job of funding our police department it needs to continue that way. Our police department needs to be respected as far as immigration there are gangs there is trouble. There are drugs, there is sex trafficking, and drug trafficking going on in Salina and we need to support our police department there are dangerous dangerous positions every day."
DAVIS
" I get to address the sunflower coalition remark and I praised the Sunflower Coalition as a group of high school students who took on a task and were successful in civic action. It didn't matter the outcome, it was that they got involved in a conflict. They did revamp and improve our Police Advisory Board. I spoke with him and I told them defunding the police was not going to work. I said if everything you want done happens, we're going to have to increase the funding for police, not defund.
"As far as gangs take time with your kids. Make sure you know where your kids are. Give them options in life other than joining a gang. Most kids join gangs because they're missing that direction and attention at home. Don't let your absence be their stimulus to join the gang. You have to support police but supporting police means you have to call them and say 'Hey, there's something going on.'"
"As far as the location of where the gangs come from, I don't know whether you'd be more comfortable if the gangs came from Russia, Sweden, France and Germany. Doesn't matter where they come from. It's what they're doing. And one of the worst terrorists we've had in this country, were homegrown terrorists. Oklahoma City Bomber, where did he come from? God, we should be embarrassed it was Kansas. So you know, we got to worry about what's going on here.
"I agree. Illegal Immigration is the issue. Immigration itself as far as gangs, Salina Police Department is always going to be too small. You need cooperation between federal, state, and local enforcement. These are regional and international gangs, one little city alone is not going to stop it."
Salina Post will post the discussion from the School Board portion of the forum the morning of Friday, Sept. 29.