Salina commission revises city manager recruitment brochure, debates salary range and community priorities

Salina commissioners and staff spent a study session reviewing and rewriting the draft recruitment brochure for the city manager search, focusing on what community projects and department strengths to highlight and how the advertised salary range could affect applicant quality.

The discussion on the brochure — led by a presenter identified in the meeting as Chris and attended by the mayor, multiple commissioners and department staff — covered housing, public safety, the Smoky Hill River renewal project, the Schilling remediation settlement funds, K State–linked economic projects and the city’s arts and parks offerings. Commissioners asked staff to tighten language, avoid excessive lists of details, swap several photos, and circulate a revised draft for review before any formal approval at an open meeting.

Why it matters: the brochure frames the city’s national recruitment for a top executive and can affect the size and quality of the candidate pool. Commissioners and the consultant repeatedly flagged the salary range in the draft as a key signal to applicants; how the city sets and explains that figure will shape who applies and the later negotiation process.

Most urgent changes and next steps

Commissioners asked staff to add or clarify several community items in the brochure: recent and planned housing investments; named higher-education institutions and their contributions (K State Salina, Kansas Wesleyan and other local programs); the city’s parks and Kenwood Cove waterpark; the Smoky Hill River renewal project; and the Salina Regional Health Center and Tammy Walker Cancer Center as part of the medical-sector paragraph. The draft will also note public safety upgrades (new fire equipment and a station under construction) and a CALEA-accredited police department.

The consultant told the group that the salary figure in the brochure strongly affects applicant quality and competitiveness. "If there's one correlation between the quality of applicants and anything in the brochure, it's the salary number," the presenter said. He recommended leaving flexibility to negotiate and proposed lowering the advertised minimum so there is room to recruit competitively, suggesting a possible minimum of about $185,000 while keeping a market-level maximum to allow room for top candidates.

No formal vote; staff direction only

There was no formal motion or recorded vote during the session. Commissioners gave staff direction by consensus to: incorporate the edits and clarifications into the brochure; swap and broaden the photos shown on the draft cover and inside pages; include concise references to major projects (for example, the $42,000,000 Kansas Advanced Immersive Research for Emerging Systems project tied to K State Salina was discussed as a notable economic development item); and circulate the revised draft to the commission for review. The group also agreed that the brochure and salary figures should be discussed and, if necessary, approved in an open meeting before being published.

Topics emphasized in the discussion

- Housing and development: commissioners asked for clearer mention of recent housing work and the Salina housing plan so candidates understand recent local investment. - Economic development: the group added references to major employers and said staff would pull employer lists (the EDO presentation and a preliminary official statement tied to an upcoming bond issue were cited as sources). - Public safety and departmental strengths: the draft will highlight CALEA accreditation, new fire apparatus and a fire station under construction and emphasize recruitment and training assets rather than listing tactical equipment the city does not want to prominently advertise. - Smoky Hill River renewal and Schilling remediation: commissioners asked the brochure to mention long-term, life‑enhancing projects such as the river renewal and to note the remediation funding and the city’s role in the remediation project; meeting remarks identified a federal settlement payment of about $65,900,000 tied to the Schilling remediation and the involvement of KDHE and federal funds in the remedial investigation/feasibility study process. - Marketing and imagery: several commissioners requested replacing or rebalancing photos that focus mainly on downtown to better represent neighborhoods, parks, the waterpark and K State Salina images.

What was decided and what remains open

Staff will produce a revised brochure incorporating the commission’s editorial direction and will circulate it to commissioners prior to the next agenda packet. The commission discussed using either a regular or special meeting to place the brochure on an agenda for public discussion and formal approval; several commissioners said they preferred to move deliberately rather than rush the decision. The salary range was discussed in detail and was identified as a negotiation and recruitment lever; the consultant recommended leaving room to negotiate and suggested a possible lower advertised minimum (approximately $185,000) while preserving a market-competitive top figure, but commissioners did not adopt a final, binding salary number during the session.

Context and constraints

Speakers repeatedly urged the brochure remain a concise, "10,000-foot" overview rather than a detailed catalogue of every local project. Several commissioners said long lists of named organizations risk omitting groups and creating unintended friction; the staff and designer were asked to balance specificity and brevity and to include references that a candidate could follow up on independently (for example, the Friends of the River page for Smoky Hill River project resources and an EDO partner presentation listing major employers). Several speakers also recommended noting the city’s general financial stability and bond rating (double-A3 was cited in the discussion) to reassure candidates about fiscal management without overloading the brochure with technical budget charts.

What to expect next

Staff and the consultant will rework the draft, swap selected images, add or tighten the community and departmental paragraphs discussed, and circulate the updated brochure to the commission for review. Commissioners signaled they will consider formal approval at an upcoming meeting; if they choose to act sooner they may call a special meeting. No hiring decision or candidate selection occurred in this session.

(Reporting note: direct quotations in this article are attributed to participants who spoke during the meeting transcript. The meeting was conducted as a special study session of the City of Salina City Commission.)