Why some Salina residents point out 'bigotry and prejudice' in city's proclamation change

The Salina City Commission is getting out of the proclamation business during its meetings.

While not the only reason given by the commission during discussions, some residents voiced concerns that an action by current Mayor Bill Longbine to not participate in Pride Month proclamations the past two years the reason behind the change.

Assistant city manager Shawn Henessee said the city understands the importance of giving citizens and organizations the opportunity to let people know about them, but proclamations in the current format take on the form of official, endorsed, stances by the commission, stamped with the city's seal and signed by the mayor or another commissioner.

Some citizens not fans of new Salina proclamation format

This new format will see the a slotted time designated for proclamations to be broadcast on public access television and YouTube.

"On the first and third Mondays of the month, people would be able to sign up for and have five minutes to speak on any topic they desire to," Henessee said. "The only limitations is that they could not speak for the City of Salina, they could not engage in commercial speech, i.e., have a commercial for a product and they would need to be either a resident or an organization from the city of Salina."

To make sure that people don't associate the message being broadcast as an endorsement of the city commission, a disclaimer saying as much will be broadcast before the first proclamation and will also scrawl at the bottom of the screen during the proclamation.

Several people who attended the meeting has issues with this new proclamation format, including two who believed it was brought on primarily by the actions of Mayor Bill Longbine, who declined to participate in a Pride Month proclamation during this meeting and last year, a move he said was due to the proclamation conflicting with his "personal beliefs and values."

Salina citizen David Norlin said this whole discussion was "suitable for a 'Saturday Night Live' skit or ... a Broadway play."

"We would not be here were it not for the bigotry and prejudice of Commissioner Longbine," Norlin said. "I could not believe when I read that you had taken an entire study session to even talk about this."

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Commissioners had previously said this new format would be a safeguard from the commission having to endorse controversial or sensitive topics or views they don't believe in.

"If there's a proclamation ... that is so bigoted and so prejudiced that you can't find one single person on this commission to sign for it, then that's your safeguard," Norlin said.

Former Salina mayor says meetings and proclamations are for the public

Jon Blanchard, a former Salina mayor and commissioner himself, said he wanted to remind the commission that these meetings and the proclamations that happen during them aren't for the commissioners, but rather for the people of Salina, with a statement directed toward Longbine, who said another reason for suggesting changes was due to the time it took in commission meetings to go through proclamations.

"You're not (making this decision) for time, Bill, you want to codify your bigotry," Blanchard said. "They fact that the other four (commissioners) want to go along with this is because you're short-sighted of you just don't care about the people who voted you in to represent (them)."

Blanchard mentioned that many proclamations take on meaning when they have that city seal and that signature from the mayor, mentioning directly Peace Officers' Memorial Day as an example to Commissioner Jerry Ivey Jr., who's father was a Salina Police officer killed in the line of duty and which Jerry Ivey Memorial Park is named after. Blanchard said he was honored to sign and read that proclamation during the memorial service each year honoring that day.

"When I was mayor is was my honor to do that, not only to honor existing officers, but I felt it was my duty to you and your family, to express our debt of gratitude that can never be repaid to you," Blanchard said.

Blanchard said having proclamations read during commission meetings also gave the commission, and the people, an opportunity to come together as a community.

Current City Commissioner Trent Davis agreed with Blanchard on this latter point, causing him to give the lone dissenting vote on the format change.

"The access to certain events and groups that none of us would otherwise know about is tremendous," Davis said.

Davis did agree that some kind of change might be necessary so that the commission and city was not seen as taking official positions on topics, but said completely removing proclamations from the meetings wasn't the way to go.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Some Salina residents cite 'bigotry' in city's proclamation change