While they didn’t fill the public seating area, supporters of Vanesa Cowie nonetheless had an undeniable presence at the Salina City Commission meeting on Monday.

Approximately 20 Salina Animal Shelter volunteers and other supporters made their presence known during the citizens forum portion of the meeting.

The previous week, between 75-100 people filled the public seating area and overflowed into standing-room-only in both entryways. Most people were there to show support for Cowie, the much-beloved manager of Salina Animal Services who was put on paid administrative leave August 15 for reasons that are officially unknown to the public. Her hearing with interim City Manager Mike Schrage is scheduled for September 5. City officials have referred to the matter as a personnel issue and have declined to comment on specifics of the case.

At Monday’s meeting, Bruce Moore, who said he volunteers 15-20 hours per week at the shelter, told the commissioners that this was not his first opportunity to volunteer and listed his numerous volunteer endeavors.

“I get more satisfaction out of my time at the shelter than I did with any of those activities,” he said.

Moore acknowledged that he was aware that the commissioners would not be deciding Cowie’s fate and told them that there was nothing preventing them from passing a resolution acknowledging Cowie’s many contributions to the community and her national recognition as a shelter professional.

“I question whether you have the leadership and courage to do that,” Moore said.

“If you think you shouldn’t attempt to influence the interim city manager’s decision, I say ‘stop. Think about this,'” Moore said. “It is very clear that the decision to terminate Vanessa originated in Jason Gage’s office. Among other things, he didn’t like a woman standing up to him and he was upset that the city had to pay for animals impounded at the request of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office, even as other options Vanessa offered were rejected out of hand. I believe he instructed his minions to find a way to get rid of Vanessa and here we are.”

Moore said he also would like to know whether interim City Manager Mike Schrage was involved in the decision to terminate Cowie.

“If so, he should recuse himself from presiding over her hearing. The prosecutor shouldn’t also be the judge. It’s not fair,” he said.

Moore noted that when funding from the city was not made available, Cowie “secured over $400,000 in grant funding, paid for new floors, new kennels, new wall coverings in the city-owned shelter. You benefitted from her work. By the way, did you know that Vanessa and her team designed those kennels? These are not off the rack. She designed these kennels based upon years of experience.”

Moore told the commissioners of the new management software used by the shelter that Cowie helped develop. He also reminded the commissioners that Cowie is recognized by the Petco Foundation as one of the top 35 shelter professionals in the country.

“She’s a renowned and respected professional that Salina should be proud to claim and not kicked down the street,” Moore said.

She’s done more with less each year, handling more animals without additional staff, he added.

“When you weigh all of those accomplishments with those of her supervisors, what do you get? Well, you get the Sunset Park fiasco and then you have to decide who’s incompetent,” Moore said.

“Vanessa was hired to stand tall, take charge and be innovative. She’s done that and done it well. Now short-sighted, low-level bureaucrats want to put her in her place. Don’t let them,” Moore continued. “We’re watching. We’ll remember. We’ll continue to speak out. And we’ll vote.”

Former Salina Mayor Jon Blanchard said he was glad that when he was on the city commission, he was not aware of the city’s rule regarding employees following the chain of command and not speaking directly to a city commissioner because he “would have gotten probably 50 employees fired.”

“I’m glad I didn’t know. I’m glad I had conversations where employees told me not oh hey my job is horrible or anything, but things that they enjoyed about their jobs, what they could do to make this community better, and actually, I asked them how I was doing. So the fact that we have some archaic chain of command thing that somehow you guys can’t communicate with employees is insane. I don’t know how it makes you better commissioners,” Blanchard said.

He encouraged the commissioners to “look at the policy and look at making common-sense changes to that policy that don’t get in the way of making decisions for employees, but that you’re able to receive input and good, sometimes, advice from employees.”

Blanchard questioned why Animal Services is not mentioned in the Salina Parks and Recreation master plan. He also questioned what the city commission discussed during an executive session on June 18 that was extended for 85 minutes.

Sue Voll, president of Friends of the Salina Animal Shelter, told the commissioners that Cowie has already done many good things for the animal shelter. “And she will do so many good things for the shelter yet,” Voll said.

“We need Vanessa to keep the shelter moving forward,” she added.

Nicole Krob said she supported the idea presented last week of moving the animal services program from Parks and Recreation to the Community and Development Services Department. She also demanded that Cowie be reinstated immediately.

Garnett Zamboni also stressed that Cowie sought out numerous grants to help improve the shelter. She compared the shelter before Cowie’s improvements to a prison.

In other business, commissioners heard a request from Don Green of the Central Kansas Foundation to proclaim September National Recovery Month. The request was approved.

The commissioners also appointed a number of Salina citizens to various boards, commissions, and committees. Commissioner Melissa Rose Hodges noted that her mother, Gayle Rose, had withdrawn her application to be appointed to the Animal Control Advisory and Appeals Board because she didn’t want it to seem that the appointment was in any way improper due to her daughter being one of the people voting on the appointments. Hodges said she was proud of her mother for doing that.

Other items included the following.

• The commission approved authorizing the city manager to permit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) to solicit within the city’s rights-of-way utilizing off-duty Salina firefighters.
• The also approved the second reading of Ordinance No. 18-10965 levying Salina Business Improvement District Number 1 service fees for 2019.
• The commission also approved the second reading of Ordinance No. 18-10953 authorizing the execution of a loan agreement between the City of Salina, Kansas, and the State of Kansas for the purpose of financing improvements to the city’s water distribution systems.
• They also approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission of the Kansas Department of Commerce for an Arts Integration Program Grant Award.
• After Commissioner Mike Hoppock recused himself, the remaining city commissioners and city attorney Greg Bengtson discussed whether it was appropriate for family members of commissioners to be appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Hoppock’s son, Austin Hoppock, was on the list to be reappointed by the commission. Bengtson said that appeals of Board of Zoning Appeals’ decisions would go directly to district court and not to the city commission. He noted that past Salina city commissions have sued their own Board of Zoning Appeals because of rulings. Mayor Karl Ryan, whose stepdaughter, Madison Miles, is on the Board of Zoning Appeals, said he didn’t see and ethical issue with commissioners’ family members being on the board and didn’t believe Commissioner Hoppock needed to recuse himself. Commissioner Trent Davis moved that the matter of appointments to the Board of Zoning Appeals be postponed for two weeks so that further discussion on the matter could take place. The motion was approved and Commissioner Hoppock rejoined the meeting.
• Commissioners also heard the first reading of Ordinance No. 18-10969 amending Chapter 38, Article III of the Salina Code by amending Sections 38-59 and 38-62 pertaining to contracts for vehicle towing and storage services.
• Additionally, commissioners heard the first reading of Ordinance No. 18-10966 amending Section 35-40.2 of the City Code that would allow movable signs and outdoor furniture to be placed in public alleyways in addition to front sidewalks, plazas and arcades and that would allow for staff review and approval of movable sign and outdoor furniture permit applications in the C-4 (Central Business) District.
• Citing aesthetics and a need to adhere to a brand for the city, the commissioners unanimously decided that they were not in favor of allowing electronic changeable text signs or digital billboards within the city limits and voted to extend to November 2 the moratorium on the erection, conversion, or operation of any new electronic changeable copy advertising sign within city limits.