Salina resident brings ward-based commission, elected mayor petition plan to City Commission
SALINA, Kan. — A Salina resident brought his plan for petitions to change the city's form of government to the Salina City Commission on Monday. The petitions would ask voters to replace the city's current commission structure with four commissioners elected from geographic districts and a mayor elected citywide.
Tony Johnson raised the proposal during the commission's Nov. 9 meeting after first outlining it in a social media post. In that post, he said he is shifting away from an earlier idea of circulating a petition to stop future River Project funding after receiving legal advice.
The announcement follows remarks by Salina resident Tom Wilbur at the Oct. 26 City Commission meeting about starting a petition related to River Renewal funding. Johnson's post describes a different proposal, focused on changing how commissioners and the mayor are chosen. Available sources do not establish that the two efforts are coordinated.
What Johnson proposes
Johnson said he plans two petitions: one to abandon the city's current form of government and one to adopt a new form. Under the structure he described, the city would be divided into four wards or precincts, with one commissioner elected from each, and a mayor elected at large by citywide vote.
Salina currently operates under a Commission-City Manager form of government. Five commissioners are elected at large, and the commission selects one of its members each year to serve as mayor. The commission appoints a city manager. Johnson's post does not say whether a city manager would be retained under the form he described.
Petitions have not been independently reviewed
Johnson said he plans to submit the petitions to the county counselor before collecting signatures and that he does not yet know how many signatures would be required. He said that if the petitions succeed, the questions would appear on the November 2027 regular city election ballot and take effect in November 2029, according to advice from his lawyer. That timetable is Johnson's description and has not been independently confirmed.
Salina311 has not seen petition language or a county legal opinion on the questions. Johnson's post does not show that any petition has been filed or that signatures have been collected.
Kansas law provides procedures for cities to place questions about adopting or abandoning a form of government on the ballot and for county legal review of petition questions. Whether Johnson's specific proposal meets those requirements has not yet been settled.
Earlier discussion concerned river funding
At the Oct. 26 commission meeting, Wilbur said he would start a petition to put Smoky Hill River Renewal funding back on the ballot after a motion to redirect $5 million from the project failed for lack of a second, according to Salina311's coverage of that meeting.
Johnson said he abandoned the idea of a petition aimed at stopping future River Project funds after being told such a measure would be treated as an administrative matter under Kansas law. That account comes from Johnson and has not been independently verified.
As described in Johnson's social media post, the government-change proposal remains at the planning stage.
