By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Lead Reporter - Salina Post
After a week's break for the Saline County Commission, all five commissioners tackled a lengthy agenda on Tuesday, April 23, not in action items but rather in information and budget requests.
Board of County Commissioners present on Tuesday, April 23:
District One — Monte Shadwick
District Two — Robert Vidricksen
District Three — Rodger Sparks
District Four — James Weese
District Five — Chairman Joe Hay Jr.
Before the commission's regular consent agenda consideration, the county celebrated seven students as the Oliver Haag Scholarship recipients.
Two Southeast of Saline students, two Ell-Saline Junior/Senior High School students, two Salina South High School students and a Salina Central High School student received the scholarship, representing each public school in the county.
"Very proud of these students. I know that Oliver Haag would be very, very proud that they're carrying on his wishes," Hay said. "So again, congratulations and apply next year."
The Oliver Haag scholarship is a renewing scholarship for students, so each year, students can reapply to continue funding their college educations.
Commissioners unanimously passed the consent agenda with approval for regular payroll and tax adjustments, alongside approving multiple contract agreements.
Some of those contracts included an agreement with ARD Mowing, LLC, for lawn care at the Saline County Court Services, another for Design Nine's Broadband Community Assessment and two community corrections agreements.
Catalis Pretrial Software
The first of only two action items for the day was considering a new court systems software titled Catalis Pretrial Software. Saline County Community Corrections Director Michelle Callam presented the software to commissioners.
Callam provided the history of the young Community Corrections Pretrial Program, with the department first utilizing another pretrial information software system that did not suit the office's needs.
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"We had a software program that we tried out, but it didn't work out for us," Callam said. "When we got rid of that, we had to go back to the old way of gathering data and documenting what was going on with our clients, which is a series of about 15 Excel spreadsheets."
After several meetings between the Pretrial Program Director Cory Ward, Callam, the IT staff and staff from Catalis, Community Corrections decided to pursue the software and ask for the Commissioners' approval.
The software engineers behind Catalis built a program specifically for pretrial information, and Callam said it would allow the program to do more with the data it already collects.
Callam said the software's total cost would be $12,000 per year, and the remainder of the office's Justice Assistance Grant will fund the new software, but past the end of the Federal fiscal year, the county would continue paying the bill.
Commissioners deliberated the subject but ultimately passed Callam's request 4-1, with Weis voting against it.
Rural Fire District Three Land Purchase
The next action item included a land purchase from the City of Brookville for Rural Fire District (RFD) Three in town. RFD Three Chief Scott Abker presented the approval request to commissioners.
Abker said the City of Brookville agreed to sell 42,989 square feet of property in the northeast corner of Anderson and Meier streets to the RFD for $10,750.
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The first question on the topic came from Hay. He asked when construction might begin for the project after the purchase, which remains undetermined while RFD Three continues to plan.
"We've had three meetings with the architect already, and we're in the process of trying to finalize our building so we can determine what our costs will be," Abker said.
Vidricksen commented next, referencing an earlier statement that the county's spending has increased about 35% since he began his seat on the commission board.
"I wanted to continue to emphasize that the cost through the Rural Fire Districts does not cost the county any money," Vidricksen said. "The tax money is from the district that they live in and that's where that money comes from. Although it was ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] money that we granted to you, I think it's a pretty good expenditure of that money."
The pool of cash that RFD Three will use is from a $95,000 allocation of ARPA dollars, and with the added cost of title insurance and deed recording fees, that cost jumps to a maximum of about $30,000 total.
Vidricksen pointed out that about $60,000 will not be enough to build a new fire station. Still, Abker reported that his office is currently working on grant applications and communicating with future donors to help fund the new building.
Commissioners approved the purchase request 5-0.
Informational items
The first informational item commissioners tackled was a quarterly update from Saline County Senior Services. Rosie Walter, the department director, provided the update.
Walter reported a few accomplishments, including the total number of meals the department served senior residents from January to March 2024, 28,501.
In 2022, the department served 25,503 meals in that same period.
After Walter's update, multiple organizations visited the podium to ask for budget allocations, including the City of Salina, Community Corrections, the Kansas Horse Council, Salina Area Chamber of Commerce with the Military Affairs Council, the Tri-Rivers Fair Board and the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging.
Once each organization presented the various programs for which they sought funding, Saline County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes presented the First Quarter Budget Update to commissioners.
Smith-Hanes reported that the first quarter of the 2024 budget compared similarly to the 2023 budget.
The commissioners then held a concept discussion of elected officials' pay and moved into executive session for a meeting with non-elected personnel.
The April 23 meeting marked the fourth County Commission meeting for the month, so the next Saline County meeting will be Tuesday, May 7, at its regular time.
05/07/2024 Meeting Agenda
- Agency Budget Request Presentations
- Road and Bridge Update
- Audit Presentation
- HMA Overlay Bid Award
- Forestry Mulcher Attachment Bid Award
- 2024 Pipe Lining Bid Award