1.0 CIMCITY COMMISSION INFORMATION MEMORANDUM
May 9, 2022
ADMINISTRATIVE BRIEF FROM JIM KOWACH
PUBLIC WORKS -GENERAL SERVICES
Public Works -General Services Overview
The Salina Public Works Department is comprised of the City Engineering office and the
General Services office. General Services is responsible for the day to day operations within
the Public Works Department, and includes: General Services Administration, the Central
Garage, the Municipal Solid Waste Landfill, Sanitation Services (including the Drive thru
Recycling Center and Household Hazardous Waste Facility), and Street Maintenance, Flood
Control, and Traffic Control sections.
ADMINISTRATION: The Operations Manager and administrative staff are responsible for
overall management of General Services, including: planning, personnel, supervision, payroll,
purchasing, budgeting, customer services, and publication of notices on the city website and
Facebook. This spring staff are busy answering calls, entering sanitation cart customer and
address information, paying invoices, issuing barricade permits for summer events, processing
personnel payroll and submitting performance evaluations. The budget process for 2023 is in
full swing as well.
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CENTRAL GARAGE: Responsible for fleet services for city vehicles and equipment, including
vehicles for the Saline County Sherriff's office and Salina Public Library. Central Garage
inspects, diagnoses, services, and repairs the City's fleet. Central Garage maintains over 700
individual pieces of equipment in a facility that consists of six repair bays, two wash bays and a
lube pit. Central Garage also maintains the City's fuel site, which is located on the same site as
the Household Hazardous Waste Facility, at 315 E. Elm St. This site provides fuel for all City
and County Sherriff's vehicles and is equipped to dispense fuel during power outages for
emergency response vehicles.
Central Garage is an "enterprise fund" which supports its operations through fees charged to
other departments/customers. Each department/customer budgets for their respective
equipment repairs and fuel. Central Garage charges the other departments for the services and
the fuel they provide. Sanitation, Utilities (water and waste water), and Solid Waste (landfill) are
also "enterprise funds" so their funding for vehicle repairs and fuel are provided by the fees they
charge for their services to their customers. Public Works (Streets and Engineering), the Police
Department, the Fire Department, Computer Technology, City Manager's Office, Finance
Department, Human Resources Department, Development Services, Arts and Humanities, and
Parks and Recreation Departments are funded through the General Fund. The Fire Department
and Parks and Recreation Department also employ staff to work on specialized equipment, so
Central Garage is not responsible for repairing or maintaining all City vehicles and equipment.
The Fleet Superintendent will play a key role in the Enterprise leasing program as it is
implemented. Leasing instead of purchasing all vehicles smaller than a one -ton truck is
expected to save the city a substantial amount of funding.
Staffing: One Superintendent and three full time ASE -certified master technicians and one part-
time employee. Two retirements are expected in 2022.
SALINA MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL: Provides waste disposal in accordance with
the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). The landfill occupies 656 acres,
289.69 of which are permitted by the KDHE for waste disposal. The landfill receives
approximately 85,000 tons of refuse per year and has a life expectancy of about 180 years. The
landfill is an enterprise fund which supports its operations through fees charged to customers.
A waste characterization study and recyclables composition study was completed at the landfill
in early April 2022. The results of these studies will assist in determining focus areas for waste
reduction in the community in the coming months.
Staffing: One Superintendent, one supervisor, seven full-time and two part-time employees.
Staffing is increasingly difficult due to the shortage of qualified equipment operators currently in
the job market.
SANITATION SERVICES (Residential Collection): Provides residential refuse and yard waste
collection for over 15,000 households' weekly, collecting about 17,000 tons of waste annually.
Five distinct routes are collected every work day of the year with the exception of only three
holidays (Thanksgiving Day, Christmas day, and New Year's Day). This office also provides
public education and informational materials for General Services utilizing the city website,
Facebook posts, news releases, and radio ads. Sanitation is an enterprise fund which supports
its operations through fees charged to customers.
Rollout of the new sanitation trucks and carts is well underway. In 2022 the Public Works
Sanitation section is partnering with Salina Parks and Recreation to implement a new citywide
street tree trimming program. This effort will not only enable public and private sanitation trucks
to travel safely on city streets, but will also enhance the ability of large UPS, FedEx, school
buses, and other large profile vehicles to travel in residential neighborhoods in the City.
Staffing: One superintendent, one supervisor, one Environmental Education and Enforcement
Coordinator, and 15 full-time employees. The implementation of fully automated collection
vehicles has significantly reduced staffing shortages previously encountered with the rear -load
packer style vehicles.
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SALINA DRIVE-THRU RECYCLING CENTER: The Salina Drive-thru Recycling Center (SDRC)
is an operationally lean, single -stream, no sort facility that accepts a wide variety of recyclable
materials for all Salina and Saline County residents and small businesses. Customers drive thru
the recycling center, dropping off their single stream (unsorted) recyclable materials. Staff load
the materials into a rear -load packer truck and compact the load for transport. When a truck is
full, the recyclable materials are transported to Hutchinson Kansas to a sorting facility, known as
a Material Recycling Facility or MRF, where the materials are sorted and baled for further
processing/sale. While a rear -load packer truck is delivering materials to Hutchinson, another
rear -load packer truck is utilized in the SDRC. Loading a truck and transporting it directly to
Hutchinson is an efficient method of handling the materials only once and greatly reduces the
storage area and processing equipment needed in the Salina Drive-thru Recycling Center. The
SDRC is located at 125 W. North Street, on the corner of Santa Fe Avenue and North Street,
and is open Wednesday through Saturday except standard City holidays.
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SALINA DRIVE-THRU RECYCLING CENTER: The Salina Drive-thru Recycling Center (SDRC)
is an operationally lean, single -stream, no sort facility that accepts a wide variety of recyclable
materials for all Salina and Saline County residents and small businesses. Customers drive thru
the recycling center, dropping off their single stream (unsorted) recyclable materials. Staff load
the materials into a rear -load packer truck and compact the load for transport. When a truck is
full, the recyclable materials are transported to Hutchinson Kansas to a sorting facility, known as
a Material Recycling Facility or MRF, where the materials are sorted and baled for further
processing/sale. While a rear -load packer truck is delivering materials to Hutchinson, another
rear -load packer truck is utilized in the SDRC. Loading a truck and transporting it directly to
Hutchinson is an efficient method of handling the materials only once and greatly reduces the
storage area and processing equipment needed in the Salina Drive-thru Recycling Center. The
SDRC is located at 125 W. North Street, on the corner of Santa Fe Avenue and North Street,
and is open Wednesday through Saturday except standard City holidays.
The preliminary data for the recyclables composition study recently completed at the landfill
indicated only 1.3% contamination in the materials collected at the Salina Drive-thru Recycling
Center! This is remarkable compared to nationwide averages that indicate 25% contamination
rates in recycled materials.
SDRC Staffing: Two full time Sanitation Drivers knowledgeable in refuse and recycling.
Lout/Operations
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY: The Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)
facility located at 315 E. Elm Street inspects, packages and processes residential waste for
disposal or reuse. HHW staff also provides educational materials to the public at schools and
other local events. The facility relies on voluntary participation of citizens. Staff consists of one
certified HHW coordinator and occasional assistance from sanitation employees. Many products
used in our homes contain the same ingredients as industrial waste, yet are exempt from
disposal regulation. Leftover products or those unused for over a year are unlikely ever to be
used, yet the risk of spills or accidental poisoning of children or pets increases the longer the
product remains in the home. The HHW facility provides a means for citizens to drop off these
hazardous products at no charge.
This work unit (HHW) will host the annual Electronics E -waste recycling event on May 14, 2022
from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Berkley Family Recreation Area -Runway on Markley Road on
the east side of Salina. Recycle for Free: Computer towers, desktop printers, keyboards,
laptops, hard drives, speakers, cell phones, pagers, radios, desktop scanners, VCRs, DVD
players, cameras, desktop fax machines, answering machines, non -PCB ballasts, stereos,
power tools, restaurant equipment, and more!
Recycle for a Fee: Large Appliances (stoves, furnaces, copiers etc.) - $25
TVs (any type) - $25
CRT Monitors - $10
Microwaves - $10
Not Accepting: Alkaline batteries, smoke detectors, tapes, light bulbs/tubes, CDs, DVDs, PCB
ballasts, software, toner cartridges, thermometers or hazardous materials.
RAIN OR SHINE
CREDIT CARD, CASH & CHECK PAYMENTS ACCEPTED
Staffing: One full time employee with support from other sanitation employees.
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STREETS: Street crews repair and maintain the City's streets, gravel roads and alleys in a
variety of ways, including asphalt and concrete replacement, pothole repair, right-of-way
mowing, road and bridge maintenance, snow plowing and street sweeping. This group serves
as first responders and is called out 24/7 to work as needed for wind, snow and ice storms, and
flooding. They also assist the Fire and Police Departments with traffic control when needed.
The City of Salina has approximately:
• 746 lane miles of streets
• 21 vehicle bridges
• Six pedestrian bridges
Winter weather has finally ended and crews have been busy patching potholes, and starting
summer street repair efforts throughout the city.
Staffing: One Superintendent, two foremen, 24 full-time and two seasonal employees. This
section currently has 10 vacancies due to the shortage of qualified commercial driver licenses in
the job market and the resulting competition and salary requirements for these employees. This
staffing shortage has resulted in a reduction of services provided with only the highest priority
items being addressed in a timely fashion.
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FLOOD CONTROL: Inspects, maintains and repairs the City's flood control levee. Additionally,
the work group oversees emergency response for high water events. Staff maintains 21 miles of
levee, including two pumping plants, 25 structures, nine sandbag gaps and numerous inlet and
outlet channels. They regularly inspect the levee including its slopes, driving surface, gates,
pumps and related equipment. They also inspect seven storm water detention ponds within
various residential areas throughout Salina. Five of these ponds are mowed and maintained by
Flood Control personnel, as well as two ponds by others. These employees are also responsible
for supporting snow and ice removal operations during winter weather events.
The Salina flood control levee is regulated by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE). The
USACE performs annual inspections of the levee system, with an in-depth inspection performed
every five years. The five-year in-depth inspections include exercising all the valves and testing
of all electronic controls. The annual inspections include checking for deficiencies, erosion,
rodent infestation, tree control, adequate mowing, and checking for any encroachments onto the
levee system.
Spring mowing, spraying and trail repairs are underway.
Staffing: One foreman, two maintenance workers, and one seasonal employee.
TRAFFIC CONTROL: Installs and maintains various traffic signs, street markings and signals to
ensure the safety of motorists and pedestrians in accordance with the Manual for Uniformed
Traffic Control Devices. Maintains 62 signalized intersections, 44 school flashing lights, 14
midblock crossings, two Hawk (R) pedestrian crossing systems and one electronically -controlled
emergency light at Fire Station #3. They also maintain 38 high -bay lights, 80 decorative
overpass lights and 24 overpass street lights. These employees are also responsible for
supporting snow and ice removal operations during winter weather events.
Crews have been busy this spring repairing damaged signals and signs from the December 15,
2021 wind storm and all the wind storm events the city has experienced this spring. Replacement
of the pedestrian signal near Fairdale and Crawford has begun, materials are ordered, a
contractor is hired, with the work expected to be completed in June.
Staffing: One foreman, three technicians and two seasonal employees. Full time employees are
required to obtain International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA) certifications.
All of the people shown in these photos are very important to us here at the city. We want you to
have a safe trip and we want our employees to go home safely every night. Please use caution
while traveling in work zones. Please stay off your cell phones, pay attention to the roadway,
don't drink and drive, and wear your safety belts. May all your travels be safe!