By APRIL MIDDLETON

Salina Journal

Hundreds of sometimes angry contractors and developers packed a city meeting room Wednesday night to voice concerns about what they called an unfriendly and illogical development and planning environment in Salina.

Just a few minutes into the city-organized meeting, with people raising their voices and talking over one another, Deputy City Manager Mike Schrage warned the crowd that discussion would be halted if it couldn't be done civilly.

More than one person in attendance said the issues are affecting more than just those people that work in development.

There is a perception, they said, that Salina is not a friendly place to work or build.

Whether that is true or not, "at some point perception becomes reality," said Bill Medina, who owns Medina Construction, 211 E. Walnut.

"We are feeling it as a business community," he said.

More than 200 people attended the development forum Wednesday at the City-County Building. Those at the meeting filled the city commission meeting room and spilled out into the hallway. Extra chairs were brought in to accommodate the crowd.

Several dozen people spoke publicly about general concerns or specific questions they had.

The forum was to have no formal agenda. Several city staff members including the director of public works, director of utilities, the city planner and the building official were in attendance. Also in attendance were at least three city commissioners, Luci Larson, Aaron Peck and Abner Perney.

Peck and Larson said they hoped the city would make note of the concerns addressed and continue the discussion.

"I hope city staff recognizes that if there is smoke, there is fire," Peck said.

Larson agreed saying such a large turnout shouldn't be ignored.

"We need to work together in solving the issue," Larson said. "This is a first step."

Not a personnel issue

Before opening the forum to public discussion, City Manager Jason Gage responded to a letter that called for the firing of Mike Roberts, the city's building official. The unsigned letter was sent to nearly everyone who attended the meeting.

Gage told the audience the forum was "not a referendum on any individual employee."

Several people, though, continued to insist that personnel is an issue.

Jim Reynolds, a member of the Home Builders Association of Salina, read a letter from the association.

Among other things, the letter asked for a meeting with the city manager and city commissioners to continue the discussion.

"... we would suggest that there be a less public format more appropriate to dealing with personnel issues," he read.

Those in attendance said the city's licensing requirements and inspection processes were difficult. Some said there was no need for licensing requirements at all.

Lack of common sense

One man said the biggest problem was a lack of common sense in the writing and enforcement of city codes.

"We're thinking about this like city government does, not in a common sense way," he said.

One contractor said his job site was shut down last week, without so much as a phone call in advance, because the city said there were people on the job site who weren't allowed to work.

Should that happen, he asked.

"I will tell you, the code is written as it is written," Gage said. "Technically you are not suppose to have unlicensed subs (contractors) working. That said, that shouldn't happen."

Salinan Tim Sankey of Sankey Auto Center, 801 E. Crawford, said the issues have to be addressed.

"I love Salina. This is a great community, but anything having to do with building permits and inspections is terrible," he said. "I think that it too bad. It's too bad it is so hard on the community. I don't think that is the intent, so why can't we fix it?"

You have to tell us

As person after person shared personal stories or things they have heard have happened to others, Gage said he has to know about issues (perceived or real) in order to address them.

"The way we are organized, I have total responsibility of every employee, The reality is I can't keep track of 500 of them every day," he said. "If you run into a situation where you are mistreated, pick up the phone and call us."

Gage said people should feel comfortable going to city staff with problems.

"They aren't unreachable," Gage said.

nReporter April Middleton can be reached at 822-1409 or by e-mail at amiddleton@salina.com.

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says....
I THINK MIKE ROBERTS SHOULD BE FIRED. I AM A HOME OWNER AND THE EXPERENCE I HAVE HAD WITH HIM WERE NOT PLEASENT. I FEEL SORRY FOR THE CONTRACTORS HERE IN SALINA.
10/2/2008

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