By SALINA POST
Downtown parking lot improvement options and fire department related issues are among the items on the Salina City Commission agenda for Monday.
About the meeting
Study Sessions and City Commission meetings will take place in–person at the City/County Building in Room 107 and via Zoom until further notice. Meetings can be viewed at the City of Salina YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/cityofSalinaKansas.
To participate via Zoom, citizens will need to use the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89275984587.
The meeting can also be accessed by phone at 1-346-248-7799. Enter Meeting ID: 892 7598 4587 when prompted.
If citizens wish to speak, either during the public forum or when the mayor requests public comment on an item, citizens attending via Zoom must raise their hand so that the meeting host can allow them to speak. Those who attend the in-person meeting will have the opportunity to speak at the podium.
Citizens can also send written comments or questions to City Commissioners by visiting the City of Salina’s website at www.salina-ks.gov and using the “Email City Commission” icon on the home page.
In order for the commissioners to have an opportunity to review comments in advance of the meeting, please email your comments or questions by 5 p.m. the Sunday prior to the Monday meetings.
Study session
Commissioners are scheduled to meet in a study session at 3 p.m. concerning downtown parking lot improvement options.
One location is the parking lot on the north side of The Temple, 336 S. Santa Fe Avenue.
"At the south end of the downtown project, The Temple parking lot is in poor condition and does not reflect the improved downtown infrastructure along Santa Fe Avenue," according to the study session information packet.
Suggested changes would include a redesign that would reflect the functionality and aesthetics in other recent downtown parking lot projects, including those on Fifth Street and the City Lights Stage lot at N. Santa Fe Avenue and W. Ash Street. Such changes would include new concrete entrances and sidewalk repairs, as well as landscaping and pavement surface replacement and markings.
The City Lights Stage parking lot also is on the list. According to the study session information packet, the goal of this project is to "provide a cost-effective, multi-purpose, shaded spectator viewing area and covered parking for the City Lights Stage and parking lot using fabric canopy shade sails and/or cantilever systems."
Information about including solar panels and two car chargers also is included.
Also included in the study session will be information about creating a way for city staff to remotely access the lighting controls for the downtown overhead structures.
Regular meeting
The regular Salina City Commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
Commissioners are scheduled to consider a request to proclaim the month of May 2023 as National Bike Month in the City of Salina. Trell Grinter, OCCK Transportation director, is scheduled to read the proclamation.
Additionally, commissioners are scheduled to consider a request from the Salina Fire Department to purchase an emergency medical supply vending system and a 36-door locker assembly from Vend Novation LLC for $37,845.
The fire department has used a similar VendNovation system for more than 10 years, and the current system has "exceeded its useful life and is unreliable.
"Replacement parts for the current system, if even available are typically back ordered as the system has become outdated," the fire department noted in its request.
The vending system cost is $25,845.
The requested 36-door locker assembly would replace a set of wooden supply cabinets that are approximately 10 years old and are in "well used condition," the fire department noted.
The locker assembly would cost an additional $12,000.
Other items on the Salina City Commission agenda for Monday include the following.
●Consider approving a proposed resolution supporting a request from the State Historic Preservation Office for comments on the eligibility of Kansas Wesleyan University's Peters Science Hall for potential listing on the National Register of Historic Places and the Register of Historic Kansas Places.
●Consider accepting offered street right-of-way and easement dedications from Overlook Estates, LLC, to serve the Overlook Estates Addition, a proposed 11-lot subdivision on a 52.9-acre tract of land located south of River Run Addition and west of Great Life Golf and Fitness.
Commissioners also are scheduled to meet in executive session to discuss legal considerations relating to the pending case of Tim LePage vs. City of Salina and Larry Mullikin, with legal counsel Terelle Mock of Fisher, Patterson, Sayler & Smith law firm. LePage is the former Salina Fire Department captain who brought to light the alleged misuse of leave time by some members of the department. A later forensic audit found that some Chiefs of Staff took time off without applying it to vacation.
READ: Forensic audit of fire department leave time shows misuse
Possible action may follow the executive session.
To see the full Salina City Commission meeting packet for Monday, click here.