Salina City Commissioners discussed a petition which would prohibit city ordinances regarding issues like wearing face coverings and limiting capacities at businesses.

The petition, which has in excess of 1,600 valid signatures, was submitted late last month.

There are concerns of the validity and legality of the proposed ordinance, though, and commissioners are waiting for a court ruling.

They considered 3 options:

1.) Pass an ordinance submitting to the vote of the electors of the City of Salina at the November 2nd general election.

2.) Adopt a resolution authorizing pursuit of a declatory judgement thereby challenging the validity of the petition and proposed ordinance.

3.) Take no additional action potentially prompting legal action on the part of the petitioners to compel further City action.

The deadline to place an item on the November 2nd ballot is September 1st, which made it unlikely that a court determination could be secured prior to the ballot submission deadline. As a result, a possible scenario could be that a court judgment rendering the petition and/or proposed ordinance invalid could be issued after the question had already been voted on by the voters.

Commissioners opted to pursue the court judgement, but also submit it to the county clerk’s office to go on the November ballot.