The Salina Post

City commissioners also are scheduled to reconsider the 2017 sanction of former commissioner Jon Blanchard. According to meeting packet information, at the commission’s September 17, 2018, meeting, city staff was directed “to assemble a factual record of the ethics sanction given to former Commissioner Blanchard in 2017 and schedule a reconsideration of the sanction” for Monday’s meeting. On November 20, 2017, the city commission, by a 3-2 vote, approved reprimanding “Blanchard based on a violation to the City of Salina Ethics Section 4(e)(2),” according to the minutes from the November 20, 2017, meeting. At the time, Blanchard was accused of violating [...]

Groundbreaking for an expansion project at the Dodge City Boot Hill Museum is scheduled for Nov. 1. Plans are to construct a new 12,000-square-foot building to house nine new exhibits, a gift shop and a 3,000-square foot temporary exhibit hall. Daily gunfights, shows, and dinners will continue during the summer season as they have for more than 60 years. The museum expansion project will have an estimated cost of $5.5 million. STAR bond money will cover about 78 percent of the new building, leaving the museum to fund the rest. The museum has raised $1 million to fund most of the [...]

On Monday through October 12, APAC-Kansas, Inc., Shears Division of Salina will perform the ultrathin bonded asphalt surface (UBAS) maintenance on the following streets for the City of Salina, weather permitting. This type of preventative maintenance is fairly new to Salina but has been used to help extend the life of many roads around the State of Kansas. It consists of a thin, coarse aggregate hot mix over a special asphalt membrane similar to a chip seal but placed in one pass with a spray paver. The membrane prevents water intrusion and provides a superior bond to the old asphalt. The [...]

More than 5,700 customers have recycled more than 77 tons of material at the Salina Drive-thru Recycling Center (SDRC) since it opened on July 11. According to an administrative brief by Jim Teutsch of the Salina Public Works Department, “after eight weeks of operation, the facility has serviced 5,727 customers who recycled 77.1 tons of material. SDRC drivers have made a total of 11 trips to the Material Recovery Facility or ‘MRF’ in South Hutchinson, where the recyclables are processed.” Teutsch wrote that both residential and commercial customers are using the facility. He wrote that, “overall feedback has been extremely positive. [...]

After several months of work, citizen meetings, and workshops, the City of Salina announces a public open house to present the results of this planning process – a plan for a new vision for Broadway Boulevard. A major focus is the street itself, as businesses and property owners along the street have long been concerned about access and circulation problems partially created by medians in Broadway. Other issues have included poor bicycle and pedestrian facilities, the street’s visual image and appearance, speed concerns, and underused adjacent property. The plan, which included extensive public participation and two public design studios, is [...]

The Kansas Department of Agriculture hopes to start issuing licenses for farmers to grow industrial hemp in time for next year’s spring planting season. Agency spokeswoman Heather Lansdowne said on Friday that proposed rules and regulations were submitted earlier in the week to the Department of Administration. That’s the first step in a long process required to establish an industrial hemp program in Kansas. The program will initially allow growing hemp only for research. But officials said in an economic impact statement that a successful research-based pilot program may lead to the eventual legalization of commercial industrial hemp. (Read more: The [...]

Etzanoa. For centuries it lay buried beneath the Kansas soil, holding its secrets and waiting. It waits no more. Join Dr. Donald Blakeslee as he discusses this exciting archeological discovery. This free presentation is hosted by the Smoky Hill Museum on Thursday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. To accommodate a larger crowd, the presentation will be held at the First United Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall, 122 N Eighth St., just across Iron Avenue from the museum. Spaniards called it the Great Settlement, while a native name for the town was Etzanoa. This ancient settlement in southern Kansas was home to more than 20,000 [...]

While they didn’t fill the public seating area, supporters of Vanesa Cowie nonetheless had an undeniable presence at the Salina City Commission meeting on Monday. The previous week, between 75-100 people filled the public seating area and overflowed into standing-room-only in both entryways. Most people were there to show support for Cowie, the much-beloved manager of Salina Animal Services who was put on paid administrative leave August 15 for reasons that are officially unknown to the public. Her hearing with interim City Manager Mike Schrage is scheduled for September 5. City officials have referred to the matter as a personnel issue [...]

To meet Nebraska’s legal obligation to increase the flow of the Republican River into Kansas, the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District has proposed creating a connection in Nebraska between the Platte River Basin and the Republican River Basin. After entering northcentral Kansas, the Republican River feeds into Lovewell Reservoir and Milford Reservoir before joining the Kansas River near Junction City. The Republican River also connects with several other waterways in northcentral Kansas. The State of Kansas opposes this project because invasive Asian Carp and White Perch in the Platte River could enter the Republican River (along with other nuisance [...]

The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) has signed contracts to provide funding to Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) in Salina and Manhattan for the creation of two new crisis stabilization facilities to care for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, according to a media release from the KDAADS. “Kansas communities face the continual challenge of helping those who are struggling with mental illness as families deal with the ongoing anxiety of trying to maintain stability and safety, while also meeting the needs of their mentally ill loved ones,” Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D., said. “Crisis services [...]