Members of the community wait for the commission meeting to begin Tuesday. Many were on hand to listen to or offer opinions concerning the county's expo center. Salina Post photo
By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
Saline County Commissioners Tuesday morning agreed to hold off on sending a letter to the Salina City Commission that would end the county's pursuit of a new lease for Kenwood Park land used for the county's expo center.
"First, I want to let you know that commissioners didn't just decide to close the expo center. Deliberations have been ongoing for nearly three years with this commission and even longer if you include past commissions," Commission Chair Robert Vidricksen told the crowd assembled in the commission meeting room.
"I don't think there's one person up here who wants to close the facility," he added.
During his personal comments, Vidricksen thanked the city for its willingness to negotiate.
"I want to thank the city commissioners and city staff for their willingness to negotiate, and I'll respect their decision. They have to do what they see best for the City of Salina. Conversely, it is my responsibility to do what I think is best regarding affairs pertaining to Saline County," he said.
Vidricksen noted that Agricultural Hall opened in April 1930 and was an important piece of county history.
"I am not against the expo center. I grew up in Salina and Saline County. I recognize the importance of remembering our heritage. I also know what the expo center brings to our youth and their development. I also recognize there is an economic factor to consider," he said.
Vidricksen continued, "Media accounts did not reveal the whole story last week. The length of the lease is only part of the proposal. Also tied to the lease proposal is a request for Saline County to invest $5.7 million for upgrades and renovations. That was to be invested in the first five years of the lease agreement. That equals $1,140,000 annually, coupled with the present budget of $354,000, which totals $1,490,000 annually for the expo center. The expo center received rent in 2018 of $80,000, and they're on a pace to do about $95,000 this year. End result: operating deficit of $1.4 million. The bottom line would be about a 2.63 mill levy increase continuing for five years which would only take care of the expo center. We had a 2.43 mill levy increase for 2020 and we're still hearing about it. These projects are proposed to be finished within the first five years of the lease. Being asked to spend that amount of money does not make sense to me for a 25-year lease. At the end of the day, it simply does not make economic sense to me to spend this amount of money for something that has an uncertain future. I don't think that this is what the taxpayer wants us to do."
Commissioner Monte Shadwick said that his "stance is not set in stone." Shadwick said he was looking forward to hearing outside-the-box ideas and thoughts on how to proceed on the expo center issue.
"Rest assured that this issue is important to all the commission," he said.
Shadwick said he has been appoached by many people this week concerning the expo center.
"There's one option being discussed that I'm not interest in being a part of, and that is going to the voters for a bond issue to build on the land out south. We're already planning on going to the voters this spring to potentially raise tens of millions to build and renovate a jail. Going to the taxpayers for two votes will not be successful," he said.
Shadwick continued, "I'm holding out hope that something can be worked out with the city, but if not, and we want to continue to host the ag events there is a successful model that may work."
That model includes a public-private partnership in which individuals interested in the expo center would raise private funds to be used for the facility, Shadwick explained.
"I feel that the county has stood up tall in its offer to expend nearly $6 million to upgrade the expo grounds," Commissioner Jim Weese said. "With that amount of expenditure a minimum lease of 40 years is needed to justify the expense of public dollars. We seem to be at an empasse with the city and there comes a time when you just need to agree to disagree."
Weese also brought up a local media interview with Dr. Trent Davis in which the Salina mayor said that the expo grounds might be better served by being under one government entity and that, perhaps, that entity should be the city.
"We haven't looked at that type of government for the expo center, but maybe that needs to be explored," Weese said.
Commissioner Mike White said he was anxious to hear what the persons in the audience had to say about the expo center.
Commissioner Roger Sparks said he had received lots of phone calls and emails about the expo center issue in the last week. Sparks, who has served on the fair board, talked about how participation in 4-H was cyclical, with some time periods having more 4-H membership than others.
"I would hate to see Ag Hall destroyed," Sparks continued. "Being a tall person, though, Ag Hall isn't conducive to everyone, though. I mean, when you're walking around in the top area, it's dangerous. It's not a really nice place just to walk around."
Because of that, Sparks said, he sometimes thinks it would be a good idea to build a new expo center on county-owned land. However, he also wonders why the city can't just sign over the seven acres of land to the county.
"If we're going to spend x amount of millions of dollars somewhere, why not start somewhere today and look at the future generations having a nicer place to keep things going," Sparks said. "All said, it's hard for me to believe that the city, working with everything involved, that the city just can't sit back and said 'here. This seven acres in land is here. You guys fit it.'"
Sparks said he believed that making improvements to the facility to make it more attractive to horse shows and other activities would benefit the city more than it would the county because of the number of people such shows would bring to town.
Vidricksen then allowed members of the audience to make comments.
Joint city-county meeting in the evening favored
Joan Ratzlaff, of Salina, said she had attended the city commission meeting on Monday and agreed with City Commissioner Melissa Hodges' suggestion of a joint city-county meeting being conducted in the evening.
"Additionally, I'd like to see negotiations being public. It seems odd to me that we have two governing bodies that go into executive session to discuss negotiations with one another when it's the public's business, as sensitive as it might be. So I would just like to see all opportunities afforded to the public to observe and to be involved," she said.
More than 10,000 expected for EquiFest
Justine Staten, EquiFest event manager, told the commissioners that her organization is bringing its three-day equine expo event to Salina on March 6-8, 2020.
"We're very excited about that. We expect an average of at least 10,000, probably more, and we typically have about 2,000 other participants between vendors, exhibitors, volunteers, and staff who come from out of town contributing positively to the economy of Salina," Staten said.
"I'm addressing you today both professionally and as a 4-H family participant of the Saline County Expo Center. I understand that negotiations with the city are at an empasse, as we've heard and that you may be considering no further negotiations, which is a sad thought," she added.
Staten said she believed there were groups and organizations with vested interests in the continuation of the expo center and that would be willing to help out in some way. She also suggested that perhaps, because of Ag Hall's age that there might be historic preservation funds available to help with funding efforts.
"I know that's a huge burden for the county, but when you look at what what that facility does, not just from an economic perspective but what it contributes for the citizens," Staten said. "So there's a lot of wonderful uses of having a community building that's affordable, accessable, and also does bring in outsiders to the community that are an economic impact even though you don't directly see that income. There's a definite appreciation for a facility like the Saline County Expo Center."
A blow to pride
Stacie Lundquist, of Brookville, who serves as a national director of the National Paint Horse Association, told commissioners that she felt like she was preaching to the choir.
Lundquist said that when the Kansas Coliseum closed, people in horse associations thought they could just move events to other locations in the state, however, they are seeing shows move to out-of-state locations.
"We don't want to see that to continue to happen. We want to host shows in our state. It's been a blow to our pride to watch those shows leave. I'm just going to urge the county and city to get back together and start renegotiating this lease or start renegotiating what we're going to do with the expo," she said.
"I know that there's a lot of groups that are willing to help with fundraiser, we just need a direction to start or we need a little bit of guidance from you guys on what we need to do as citizens," Lundquist added.
Long history at the expo center
Yvonne McCarthy, manager of the Salina Charity Horse Show, noted that while the show is but one event, it has been held at the expo center since 1941.
"I also want to point out that because of our show, Salina and Saline County has national exposure. We publish in national magazines. We draw people from the five-state area to our show. Just the one event," she said.
McCarthy said her association is happy to help out the county as the county sees fit.
"Our biggest concern is, like Stacie said, we don't have any place else to go," she added.
A 'horrible location'
Abner Perney told the commissioners he was not in favor of moving the expo center to the county's land on South Ohio Street.
"I think that's a horrible location, a really bad idea, and a total waste of taxpayers' money. And speaking of taxpayers, one of the things that always seems to be forgotten is that 80 percent of the money, 80 percent of the people in Saline County are in Salina. The citizens of Salina pay to support the county much more than the few thousand people that live in the rural part of the county," he said.
Perney said he supported having a public open forum with both commissions present.
He also suggest that since there was a Saline County-Ottawa County extension district that perhaps the two counties could go together on an expo center and that a location for such could be the old race track outside Minneapolis.
More than just economic impact
Linda Lilly, a longtime member of the Tri-Rivers Fair Board, said those involved with the fair take great pride in the impact the fair has on children. A professed horse lover, Lilly also spoke about how horses can change the lives of kids who have suffered losses or have had horrible lives in other ways.
Lilly said that having a place such as the expo center was more than the economic impact, it's also about the personal impact events at the expo center have on kids.
Minimum upkeep and jails
Carl Garten, Central Kansas Extension director, told the commissioners that only the minimum required had been done as far as the upkeep of the property was concerned.
"If we could come to some agreement that this thing is going to be a 40-year lease or what with some check points in there that yeah, we are keeping the maintenance up. We're doing projects on this facility and those types of things, maybe everybody could come to an agreement," Garten said.
He continued, "I guess the other concern I have is the fact that in this society today, what are we going to spend? How many millions of dollars for this damn jail? Why can't we take those horse barns that the guys want to get rid of over there and move 'em over here by your jail, and make each one of those horse stalls a little jail room for those who need it and save some money on that facility. I am sorry, but we have spent a lot of money on jails and those types of things where we don't spend the money that we need to on keeping people out of there and keep kids active, and those types of things with whatever project's going on."
Ag not going away
Eric Brown, president of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, said, "the concept that agriculture is going away in the state of Kansas, in Saline County is a fallacy in my opinion. It may look different. It may feel different, but it's not something that's going to go away in the state of Kansas."
Brown said that in the last year, "there's been an estimated $1.8 million in economic impact that has either happend at the expo center or at the TPEC or jointly, and then there's a potential next year for another five different conventions to come to town and take up residency at TPEC and the expo center or a combination."
According to Brown, there are some ideas that could help reduce the $5.7 million figure. He also noted that the expo center issue had been going on for decades.
"We definitely hope that you all will get together again with the city and work through this process and come to an amenable decision that can keep the expo center open that makes financial sense as well," Brown said.
The bottom line
Carol Ann Bachofer, rural Brookville, told commissioners that they needed to look at the bottom line.
"I think one of the most important things is to look at the bottom line. We need to be self-sufficient. $270,000 in the hole plus the debt incurred from the changes to the expo center, I really have a hard time swallowing that as a taxpayer. If I lived in the City of Salina, I would probably be even more upset," she said.
Bachofer said she understands what 4-H does for children, having been involved in 4-H herself.
However, she said, "We cannot be emotional about this. We have to look at the bottom line of what's it costing our county and our city. I think both boards have an opportunity to work toward figuring that out."
Another measure of success
Silvia Rice, Visit Salina director, said the $1.8 million economic impact that Brown mentioned is "a very specific number measuring data that we have, good data that we have, on a very finite number of events. There are many other events that are happening over there that are not included in that number. And most certainly, as Visit Salina, we're looking very specifically at events that are generating visitation and overnight travelers coming in."
Rice said that "while I understand, certainly, the concept of the bottom line, I think that what is important to remember is is that when we're talking about economic impact, I know it's a struggle operationally as an organization, as a facility, but despite what we'd like to think, facilities of this type generate dollars for other businesses. They don't necessarily generate numbers for themselves. So, while we're trying to decide whether or not it's a success, we need to take a look at and speak to people who are selling food to the visitors, who are renting hotel rooms to the visitors, who are entertaining folks on their car lots looking at new trucks and trailers. That is a measure of success that is difficult for us to get our hands on and to get our heads wrapped around."
At the conclusion of the public comments, the commissioners decided to delay sending the letter to the city.
In other business, the commissioners:
- Awarded a contract to Ponton Construction, Inc., for $92,598.22 (less fixtures) for two bathroom remodels and one new handicap bathroom on the first floor of the Department of Senior Services building.
- Voted to delay for a week a decision on a construction manager at risk for the jail project.