Salina commissioners revise city manager recruitment brochure, debate environmental cleanup mention and employer list

Salina City Commission members spent a study session reviewing and revising the city manager recruitment brochure, trading edits on how to describe major employers, how many employees to list, whether to mention an ongoing environmental remediation project at the Shilling site, and the length of the application window.

The discussion matters because the brochure frames the city’s expectations for candidates and is the primary recruitment document the commission will use when advertising a national search for a new city manager.

Commissioners and staff reviewed page-by-page changes suggested by commissioners, including consolidation of repetitive bullets under recreation and housing, corrected institutional names for higher-education partners, and edits to the “major employers” list. Staff said the employer list in the draft came from the bond issuance documents supplied by the Salina Chamber of Commerce; commissioners asked that some names be removed or corrected. Commissioner Davis and others asked to remove Walmart and Saint Francis from the employer list; staff said those names were included in the source document but agreed to remove them pending verification. Commissioner discussion also led to changing the phrasing to “City of Salina and Saline County” to avoid confusion.

Commissioners debated how to present the city’s workforce size in the brochure. Staff noted that human resources uses “500-plus employees” in job postings and that the exact, day-to-day count (for example a current count of 464 budgeted positions) can change; staff said the “500-plus” figure gives candidates an approximate sense of scale. Chris Lowe, staff member, said, “I think leaving it at 500 is fine for purposes of information, to give the candidate an idea of the size of the workforce.”

A contentious point was whether to mention environmental contamination and remediation tied to the Shilling project as a departmental highlight. One commissioner raised concern that wording about contamination “is gonna scare people off,” arguing such language could be read as a water-safety warning. Staff noted the remediation has been an ongoing, multiyear effort and that the cleanup has been included in the city’s planning for multiple administrations. The presenter said the line was added because commissioners previously requested candidates be informed the project would be ongoing; he would not remove it without direction from the commission.

Housing and economic development language drew edits. Commissioners added a sentence saying the city and community partners secured $25,000,000 from the state to help fund a multifamily project at Magnolia and I-35; staff requested the exact wording from the commissioner who raised the point so it could be inserted verbatim. Commissioners also debated whether to use the term “affordable housing” or “workforce housing”; staff recommended retaining “affordable” because it has a technical meaning tied to eligibility for federal funding, while noting the brochure already includes language that the city is “committed to ensuring a wide array of housing options to meet the needs of the community.”

Arts, culture and recreation sections were condensed and reworded at the request of commissioners and staff. Commissioners agreed to rename the “Entertainment” section “Arts and culture,” and to include a shorter paragraph highlighting the city’s museums, the symphony, the Stiefel Theatre and major annual events; one commissioner read proposed language and staff agreed to insert it when submitted.

Other technical edits included replacing ampersands with the word “and” in institutional names, correcting Smoky Hill spellings, and changing “Vortex” to its full current trade name, “Vortex Global.” Staff also agreed to amend the airport language to note “daily nonstop jet service to and from Chicago, Denver and Houston.”

On process, staff said the job posting should remain open for 30 days once advertised to reach national candidates and allow time for wider distribution. Chris Lowe said, “30 days is typically a good…period,” explaining that a shorter posting window may miss qualified candidates who see the listing after initial circulation.

Staff and the designer (Natalie) will incorporate the agreed edits and return a revised brochure for final review; commissioners asked that any additional textual suggestions be sent to staff in writing. The group also discussed images for the brochure and asked commissioners to submit possible photos for the designer to evaluate, with attention to copyright and image quality.

The commission did not take a formal vote on brochure content during the session; staff will apply the edits discussed and circulate a revised draft for the commission to approve before the advertisement is posted.

Less critical details: commissioners discussed brochure length (staff noted materials pushed the piece from a typical six pages to eight) and the desirability of keeping department highlights concise rather than listing daily duties. Staff also committed to standardizing degree preferences (noting that an MPA is commonly preferred in city manager recruitments) and to clarify preferred versus required qualifications in the brochure.