04-09-1979 MinutesCity of Salina, Kansas
Regular Meeting of the Board
of Commissioners
April 9, 1979
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners met in the City
Commission Meeting Room, City -County Building, on Monday, April 9, 1979, at four
o'clock p.m.
The Mayor asked everyone to stand for the opening ceremony.
There were present:
Mayor Jack Weisgerber, Chairman presiding
Commissioner Keith G. Duckers
Commissioner Dan S. Geis
Commissioner Karen M. Graves
Commissioner W. M. Usher
comprising a quorum of the Board, also:
printed.
Hodges.
L. 0. Bengtson, City Attorney
W. E. Harris, Acting City Manager
D. L. Harrison, City Clerk
Absent:
None
The Minutes of the Regular Meeting April 2, 1979 were approved as
MAYOR WEISGERBER welcomed Commissioners -elect Roy Allen and Merle
STAFF AGENDA
BIDS WERE RECEIVED for Engineering Project 79-649 - Machine Laid Seal
of certain streets:
Brown and Brown, Inc. $157,400.00
Commence April 23, 1979 and require 90 calendar days
Engineer's Estimate
$159,500.00
A motion was made by Commissioner Duckers, seconded by Commissioner
Graves to award the contract to Brown and Brown, Inc, as the low bidder in the
amount of $157,400.00, subject to the bid meeting the Engineer's specifications.
Ayes: (5). Plays: (0). Motion carried.
BIDS WERE RECEIVED for Engineering Project 79-650 for Slurry Seal of
certain streets:
Ballou Construction, Co., Inc. $238,232.00
Commence May 14, 1979 and require 45 calendar days
Engineer's Estimate
$240,500.00
A motion was made by Commissioner Usher, seconded by Commissioner
Graves to award the contract to Ballou Construction Co., Inc., as the low bidder
in the amount of $238,232.00, subject to the bid meeting the Engineer's
specifications. Ayes: (5). Nays: (0). Motion carried.
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A RESOLUTION was introduced and passed entitled: "A RESOLUTION directing
the City Engineer to prepare a feasibility report relative to the advisability
of the installation of certain street improvements within the City of Salina,
Kansas. (Crawford Street from the west side of Ohio Street to the East City
Limits, including the bridge) A motion was made by Commissioner Geis, seconded
by Commissioner Usher to adopt the resolution as read and the following vote was
had: Ayes: Graves, Usher, Duckers, Geis, Weisgerber (5). Nays: (0). Carried.
The Mayor approved the Resolution and it is numbered 3420.
PUBLIC AGENDA
PETITION NUMBER 3753 was filed by Richard Barlow for water and sanitary
sewer to serve Lots 6 - 10, Block 1 and Lots 2 - 6, Block 3, Eastridge Addition.
A motion was made by Commissioner Usher, seconded by Commissioner Geis to refer
the petition to the City Engineer for a recommendation. Ayes: (5). Nays: (0).
Motion carried.
COMMISSION AGENDA
RECONSIDERATION of the question of removing parking from the south
side of Iron Avenue. (Sponsored by Commissioner Graves) (Tabled April 2, 1979
for 1 week).
A motion was made by Commissioner Duckers, seconded by Commissioner
Usher to remove the matter from the table for consideration. Ayes: (5). Nays:
(0). Motion carried.
Commissioner Graves explained that she asked the matter be tabled for
one week so interested citizens could have an opportunity to express their
opinions. She explained the City Engineer's recommendation is to widen two
driving lanes and have parking on the north side of the street only. Because
Iron Avenue is an arterial street, parking on both sides of the street impedes
traffic. She said a progressive commission takes steps to do what is best for
the largest number of people for the whole city, and at some point she will move
to accept the City Engineer's report and remove parking on the south side of
Iron Avenue in an attempt to upgrade the streets.
Mr. Tucker, East Iron, said the black top on the street is breaking up
and if parking is removed it will throw more traffic on the street and it will
not take long to break that black top up. He also said if the parking is removed,
the speeders that use that street now are going to increase. A large amount of
the westbound traffic is well over the speed limit. He said it takes 1 to 4
minutes to get out of your driveway now, and if you throw a lot more traffic on
that street, how are the residents going to get out of their drives? If the
street is marked into wider lanes, people are selfish, and as they come up to
the intersection and they see the light is going to catch them, they pull into
the middle of the two lanes so nobody can pull up beside them and get ahead of
them when the light changes to green.
Mr. Robert Ziegler, 1020 East Iron, said he has lived there since 1945
and is a milkman and has traveled the streets for 35 years and knows a little
bit about the traffic in Salina. He said he has made a study of Iron because he
lives there and the first thing the city ought to do is adopt a program like
Lindsborg or McPherson, for snow removal where the people move the cars off the
street or they tow them off. He said from Ohio to Santa Fe there are 4 stop
signs, and that stops the traffic, then you have a 30 mph, a 20 mph, and a 30 mph
speed limit. At the intersection of Iron and Ohio there are "no parking from
here to corner" signs, but there is a car parked there, and that car was parked
there all during the snow storms and nobody objected. Another thing to contend
with is traffic from the hill. Nobody has any trouble in the morning, but in
the evening everybody gets off at 5 o'clock and you have traffic congestion.
The whole problem in a nutshell is the congested periods.
Mr. Leon Dinkel, 1006 East Iron, said he tried a couple of times
during the winter to park on Kansas, but last winter there was one lane traffic
if you could dodge from curb to curb. He said as far as parking in the alley,
he tried to help neighbors get out of the alley and broke an axel on his truck.
He said if you eliminate the parking on the south side of Iron, there is no
place to park. Some people don't have driveways and some people share driveways
and there wouldn't be enough space on the north side of the street for everyone
to park. He said the major traffic congestion occurs after 5 P.M. for about 15
minutes.
Commissioner Duckers asked if the East Iron Avenue problem could be
alleviated by no parking during rush hours, because there are many hours the
parking is no problem to anyone. He said the City should be taking a look at a
snow route ordinance.
Mr. Boyer said those things are possible, and we should consider a
snow route ordinance for the entire city.
Mrs. Rosetta Ogborn, said if you put all the cars on one side of the
street, everyone is going to have to run across to get in their car. She said
she is concerned that the safety factor might be greater than it is now for
opening a car door. She said she wonders if the Commission is a little premature
on this issue and perhaps it should be handled as a group with some other prioriti
Mrs. Arnold, expressed the same concern because she has a neighbor who
has a broken leg and walks with a walker, and she has young granddaughter and
she is concerned about how they will get across that busy street.
Mrs. Stack, who lives next door to Mrs. Arnold, was also present.
Mr. Opat, said the big problem is the congestion during the busy
hours, and he wondered if a new traffic light at Ohio and Iron wouldn't help to
get the traffic moving.
Mr. Leith Watts, lives at 1526 East Iron and has a shop at 1528 East
Iron. He said he has adequate off street parking so that is not his complaint.
He said his complaint is, he has 2 kids and, there is a school crossing there
which they watch and there is quite a problem with people speeding through
there, and a couple of times the kids didn't even see the car that almost hit
them. For these reasons he hates to see it turned into more of a thoroughfare
with faster traffic than we have already, and for the safety reasons of the
kids he does not want the parking taken away.
Mr. Zeigler asked if there has ever been a survey to determine when
the peak traffic occurs and how long it takes to clear, or how long the traffic
is congested?
Dean Boyer said the real peak hour is a rather short duration, an hour
would be stretching it, but the congestion occurs not from the number of cars
but from the tightness of the lanes.
Mr. Zeigler commented that he interprets this to mean that for the few
minutes of the day the traffic is congested the Commission is going to condemn
the whole side of Iron for no parking.
Mr. Boyer said the parking ban is just to try to help the existing
conditions, that Iron is an arterial street and if money was available they
would make four traffic lanes and prohibit all parking, and that this will be
coming in the future.
Mrs. Mildred Robb said her question was just answered, and that is how
close is the traffic on East Iron to requiring 4 lanes of traffic and no parking,
and the Engineer just said it is very close to that point. She said she is all
for getting the traffic through in lanes wide enough to handle it.
Mrs. Stack said the traffic congestion ends in less than 20 minutes
many evenings.
An unidentified woman said it is a drastic measure to ban the parking
all the time. She suggested the parking be banned during the peak traffic hours
to accommodate the congested times. She said other times nobody has any trouble
and can't see why it needs such a drastic measure to ban all parking.
A MOTION was made by Commissioner Graves, seconded by Commissioner
Usher to accept the City Engineer's recommendation and to ban parking on the
south side of Iron Avenue from Front Street east to Marymount bridge. (Cut-off
channel bridge)
Commissioner Geis said he believes the people do have a point about
the difficulty if parking is banned on a full time basis, and suggested giving
them a chance to see if a temporary parking ban in the peak traffic periods
would work; then if it doesn't work come back and prohibit it on a full time
basis, but enforce it during those peak traffic hours.
A MOTION was made by Commissioner Geis, seconded by Commissioner Duckers
to amend Commissioner Graves' motion to prohibit parking during peak traffic
flow during the day. Ayes: Duckers, Geis (2). Nays: Graves, Usher (2). Mayor
Weisgerber voted Nay. Motion did not carry.
The Mayor called for a vote on the original motion to ban parking on
the south side of Iron Avenue. Ayes: Graves, Usher (2). Nays: Duckers, Geis
(2). Mayor Weisgerber voted Nay, so the matter can be brought up before the new
Commission which will be seated next week. Motion did not carry.
CONSIDERATION of a suggested name for the arena of the Bicentennial
Center. (Sponsored by Commissioner Duckers).
The Commissioners discussed the suggested name, and showed little
enthusiasm.
Commissioner Duckers - I don't think it comes as any news to my
colleagues on the City Commission my suggested for the
name arena which is, I
think, in keeping with the historical theme that is beginning to develop,
Heritage Hall and Bicentennial Center, I have proposed the name of Ad Astra
Arena because this is a portion of our state motto which means "to the stars".
As a youngster in Kansas I grew up, as most of you did, studying such things as
that. I know that this was adopted back in 1861 with a group of hardy people
who were here on the prairies and they pioneered a way of life and it meant it
literally took them to the stars. The second half of that motto is Per Aspera
which means "through difficulties" and I think hundreds and hundreds of people
realize the difficulties that we shared together in bringing the building almost
to its dedication. I was literally appalled the other day when I began to
realize that probably we were going to open this magnificent new facility and
the arena was going to be called "the arena". I thought it is almost as
imaginative as calling this building "the building", and so I want to offer this
name in all seriousness. For one thing, AAA would work itself nicely into
headlines of the marquee. I honestly believe, and have said all along, that I
think the Bicentennial Center will become the name for all of Kenwood Park. I
think people will refer to the rodeo grounds at the Bicentennial Center, the 4-H
center at the Bicentennial Center, the running track or the football field at
the Bicentennial Center, and I think eventually Kenwood Park will fade into the
background and I think for this reason when you go over to the Bicentennial
Center you really need to know what building you are going to. We have come up
with, I think, a great name in Heritage Hall and I would hope that you would
consider this as a serious proposal from me as a name for this facility. I
could go on and on. I think I have talked to each one of you individually about
this, and I offer the name of Ad Astra Arena for our new Bicentennial Center
Arena.
The Commissioners discussed the suggested name, and showed little
enthusiasm.
CONSIDERATION of names for the Bicentennial building meeting rooms.
(Sponsored by Commissioner Duckers.
Commissioner Duckers - I have another suggestion, Mr. Mayor, that I
would like to make, and I am equally concerned and I have suggested this before
and I thought we could name it after nearby communities, and they felt this
might be difficult because someone would have to be left out, but the thought
occurred to me that we are surrounded by 4 counties and we are a county ourselves,
plus we could name the meeting rooms the Saline room, the Ellsworth room, or the
McPherson, or Dickinson Room, or Dickinson County Room, and offer those counties
or those communities in the counties an opportunity to publicize their own
community. Abilene, for example, could put some Eisenhower Center memorabilia
on display there. Could even change it from time to time, and they, at the same
time, could encourage people who are meeting in that room to drive 20 miles to
Abilene and visit Eishehower Center while they are here, and likewise Ellsworth,
Bookville, Minneapolis, there are many. Lindsborg, the heritage and wonderful
things that are there for people who are right here 20, 30 minutes away from
those communities. I can't help but think that would create a warm feeling by
the citizens of those counties, and feel part of this new facility, and again it
seems to me to have a little more class than Suite A, Suite B, Suite C, or Suite
1, Suite 2, Suite 3, so I offer that suggestion to the Commission.
The Commissioners discussed the suggested names, without much enthusiasm
Commissioner Graves suggested names in keeping with the Bicentennial
theme, such as Liberty Room.
A motion was made by Commissioner Duckers, seconded by Commissioner
Geis to table the suggestions indefinitely. Ayes: (5). Nays: (0). Motion
carried.
A MOTION was made by Commissioner Usher, seconded by Commissioner
Graves, to place a change order for the Bicentennial Center on the agenda for
consideration. Ayes: (5). Nays: (0). Motion carried.
Mayor Weisgerber explained the contract for inspection services for
Bucher and Willis for the Bicentennial Center was originally $40,000.00, but
there have been considerably more hours required for inspection services than
originally estimated, for a number of reasons, and the actual costs by the time
the building is completed will approach $135,000.00. Bucher and Willis is
requesting an additional $40,000 from the contingencies fund to cover a portion
of the cost of this additional time spent on inspections. Mayor Weisgerber
asked for a motion to approve the change order, on one condition, that the
$40,000 is available after all contingencies are paid regarding the actual
construction cost at the end of the project.
A MOTION was made by Commissioner Usher, seconded by Commissioner
Graves to approve the change order and authorize the $40,000, if funds are
available in the contingencies fund, and that it be the last item paid. Ayes:
Duckers, Graves, Usher, Weisgerber (4). Nays: Geis (1). Motion carried.
A MOTION was made by Commissioner Duckers, seconded by Commissioner
Geis to appoint Commissioner Graves to meet with Bucher and Willis on the lobby
furniture and to establish the specifications so it can be let out for bids.
Ayes: Duckers, Geis, Graves, Weisgerber (4). Nays: Usher (1). Motion carried.
Mr. Harris said the City Commission received a letter from the Recreatiol
Commission concerning concessions, and recommended the City Commission authorize
the Recreation Commission, in any activity that they conduct or sponsor, that
they have control of the concessions. He said perhaps we should have a resolution
on the agenda next week to that effect so we have a written policy, and if you
concur in that, they would like to know before their meeting tomorrow.
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A MOTION was made by Commissioner Geis, seconded by Commissioner Usher
to authorize the Recreation Commission to decide for themselves on how the
concession should be handled at their sponsored events. Ayes: (5). Plays: (0).
Motion carried.
A MOTION was made by Commissioner Usher, seconded by Commissioner Geis
that the Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners be adjourned. Ayes: (5).
Nays: (0). Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 5:26 P.M.
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D. L. Harrison, City Clerk