During the Junction City Commission meeting on May 20th it was decided by a 3-2 vote to not move forward with the next needed step for any future annexations into the city. By the request of Mayor Mike Ryan it was placed back on the commissions agenda Tuesday night for further discussion.

“When we looked at it before I was told that there was going to be a cost and that it was kind of a ball park price, it came back and the cost is a little more but it’s a not to exceed price,” said Mayor Ryan. “I know some of us are adamantly against this idea, but I would like to have a good look at it before I say yes or no on anything, I want to understand exactly what I’m saying yes or no about.”

In order to follow procedure the commission would first have to rescind there May 20th decision to even discuss it again Tuesday night. The motion to rescind the May 20th vote failed on a 3-2 vote.

However before that vote was made Commissioner Mick McCallister did state his point of view on the matter.

“I think that we need to honor the decisions that are made here and not revisit those decisions every time it doesn’t go the way some folks think it ought to go,” McCallister said.

McCallister was against allowing city staff to move forward with the next step of annexation at the May 20th meeting. He did say though that he feels it needs to be discussed more by the commissioners and those that annexation would involve.

“That’s what this board does, we talk about it and then we make a decision. So far we haven’t talked about it. So far we’ve had a little banter back and forth, some of it’s healthy and some of it’s not.”

He suggested scheduling a workshop to discuss what the city’s goals and expectations are before “opening the checkbook and spending money.”

“I ask the commission to think about that, there’s no loud voices, there’s no bullying. I think professionally we can sit down and look eye to eye and figure out what our expectations are before we can open up the checkbook.”

At the end of the meeting during commissioner comments Commissioner Pat Landes explained that he feels it is important that if you are going to receive a service for a product you need to pay for it.

“We are providing police, fire and EMS coverage to everyone on that map and along our borders that are not in Junction City at no additional cost, none.” Landes said. “We need revenue in this town to pay for things, to pay for our water mains that break all the time, to pay for our streets that are going to be gravel in a few years and we don’t have it. We need the help of everyone that is using those services, plain and simple.”

Mayor Ryan also said during commissioner comments by voting to tell staff not to move forward, the commission blocked the chance for them to bring anybody into the city.

“Instead of doing the study and taking a look at it and then deciding what we did and didn’t want to do I just think we made a preemptive decision to not do anything. I felt like this was wrong.”

Until the May 20th decision is rescinded no further discussion can be held on any possible annexations into the city of Junction City.