By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
"Let us have our dogs," said a member from the community at the City Commission meeting on Monday.
The City Commission on Monday voted to move the Pitbull ban petition to a special election, that would be voted by the community to either repeal or keep the City ordained ban.
The special election will cost the City upwards of $60,000.
Before the meeting, the petition presented to the City had over 1,000 signatures from the public to repeal the ban.
Salinans Against BSL is the Facebook group and frontrunners to repeal the ban. The group is for people whose goal is to end the Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) in Salina.
The original ordinance set by the City in 2004 is Salina Code Chapter 7, Article IX, Division 1.
The city's ban is often attributed to a specific dog attack that occurred in 2004, where a young child was attacked by pit bulls.
According to City Manager Jacob Wood, it is yet to be determined if the vote will be a mail-in ballot or a vote at the polls.
Several cities in Kansas such as Overland Park, Hiawatha, Independence, Clay Center, Bonner Springs and Garden City have repealed the BSL ban in the past.