A public hearing regarding industrial revenue bonds for Great Plains Manufacturing, the proposed adoption of the 2021-25 capital improvement program, and a proposed ordinance pertaining to a citizens review board are among the items on a busy Salina City Commission agenda for Monday.
About city meetings
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, city study sessions and commission meetings will take place via Zoom until further notice. You can view the meetings at the City of Salina YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/cityofSalinaKansas.
To participate in the meetings, citizens will need to use the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89275984587
If citizens wish to speak, either during the public forum or when the mayor requests public comment on an item, citizens must raise their hand so that the meeting host can allow them to speak.
Citizens can also send written comments or questions to commissioners via email at [email protected]. The city requests that in order for commissioners to have an opportunity to review comments in advance of the meeting, citizens should email their comments or questions by 5 p.m. the Sunday prior to the Monday meeting.
Study session
Commissioners are scheduled to begin with a study session at 2:30 p.m. The topic of the study session is a Salina Net Generation Tennis Project presentation.
Regular meeting
The regular commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. A time for public comment is scheduled near the beginning of the meeting.
Commissioners are scheduled to conduct a public hearing regarding issuance of Taxable Industrial Revenue Bonds for Great Plains Manufacturing No. 2, LLC.
At an Aug. 6 meeting, commissioners adopeted a resolution preliminarily indicating the city's intent to issue $20 million of industrial revenue bonds for a project with the code name of "Gemini." That code name referred to Great Plains' proposed expansion to the Signify (formerly Phillips Lighting) facility at 3861 South Ninth Street that was closing.
On Aug. 13, Great Plains announced the $53 million expansion to the 750,000-square-foot Signify/Phillips Lighting plant, which was planning to close by the end of 2020. Great Plains plans to begin operations in the new facility by the end of 2021, and will utilize a phased approach. Initially, Great Plains will plan to add approximately 130 new manufacturing jobs, Linda Salem, president and CEO of Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc., said during the announcement of the expansion. The size of the building on South Ninth Street will allow for future expansion as well, she added.
"The initial product we will focus on will be the Kubota compact track loader called the SVL65," Salem said during the August announcement. "This product is manufactured in Japan today. Kubota's strategy is to move production closer to the market and the North American market is the No. 1 customer for this unit, so we are honored they have entrusted the manufacturing of this important product to Great Plains."
READ: UPDATE: Great Plains announces $53M Salina expansion
Monday's public hearing is the next step in the process of issuing the bonds. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the commission may consider adopting a resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds and the execution of a performance agreement with Great Plains.
Commissioners also are scheduled to hear the first reading of an ordinance establishing a Citizens Review Board (CRB) for the Salina Police Department (SPD). The CRB would be a city commission-appointed board. The idea of doing away with the SPD's Law Enforcement Advisory Board and establishing a new CRB was officially proposed to the city commission on July 15 by the Sunflower Coalition, a community organization. Since that time, the city commission conducted three public events to provide citizens with the opportunity to weigh in on the proposal before the city commission made a final decision.
Other items on the city commission agenda for Monday include the following.
●Approve Resolution No. 20-7915 describing the corporate limits of the City of Salina.
●Approve Resolution No. 20-7912 adopting the 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Program for the City of Salina.
●Approve Resolution No. 20-7909 authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement for the installation of natural gas facilities by Kansas Gas Service for the South Water Treatment Plant.
●Approve Resolution No. 20-7904 authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement for the placement of public art between the City of Salina and Saline County to allow for placement of the statue Farmer at the senior center on property owned by Saline County.
●Consider Resolution No. 20-7906 authorizing the city manager to execute renewals of Agreement to Provide Administrative Services for a Self-Funded Health Benefit Plan and Individual and Aggregate Stop-loss with BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas.
●Consider Resolution No. 20-7917 amending and restating Section 3 of Resolution No. 20-7825 addressing COVID-19 paid leave in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency and ratifying all other provisions of Resolution No. 20-7825.
Additionally, city commissioners are scheduled to meet in executive session "to discuss the subjects of (1) the legal considerations relating to the Governing Body’s potential consent to representation of the City by the City’s legal counsel, the firm of Clark, Mize & Linville, in the matter of a proposal by a private entity to purchase real estate owned by the City under circumstances in which the private entity (a) is also a client of the firm, (b) has consented to the firm’s representation of the City in the matter, and (c) has not been provided legal advice by the firm regarding the matter; and, if the Governing Body anticipates publicly consenting to representation by the firm in the matter, (2) the legal considerations involved in responding to the proposal to purchase real estate owned by the City with legal counsel."
To see the entire Salina City Commission meeting packet for Monday (181 pages), click here.