AUDIO: New Salina Mayor, City Commission

Salina has a new Mayor.

After three commissioners were sworn into office Monday afternoon, including incumbents Trent Davis and Randall Hardy, along with newcomer Karl Ryan, the commission reorganized..

Jon Blanchard, who has served as the vice mayor for the past year, is the new Mayor of Salina. Taking Blanchard’s spot as vice mayor is commissioner Kaye Crawford.

Blanchard takes over the gavel from outgoing mayor Aaron Householter, who was defeated for reelection in April.

Householter spoke, saying that he hopes to be remembered as a mayor, and commissioner, who was “proactive and became a part of the community”. He said that there are several projects that he still hopes to see become a reality, including his vision of a “welcome to Salina, your opportunity sign”.

Blanchard spoke about his vision for the city,  as well as the vision of the commission of as a whole. It’s important that policy incorporate “redevelopment along with development” he said.

New commissioner Karl Ryan told KSAL News afterwards that he agreed with a lot of thing  Mayor Jon Blanchard said. “It sounded a little bit like he was running for office, but I’m afraid if he was running for office in this past election he would have lost his seat just like the sitting mayor did”, Ryan said. “I’m on-board with a lot of things he said, but I don’t know if I agree with the manner of how we will get there”, he added.