The Geary County Commission has yet to sign off on an amended Master Agreement for the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce. 

“The City Manager has some more things that he wants to bring attention to and change…he asked some questions about the city’s obligations in it so it is still on the drawing board,” said County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread.

Allen Dinkel, City Manager, said that it’s simply a matter of wording.

“The City has always felt that for the Economic Development Council and also the Military Affairs Council that even though we give city funds for that, I don’t feel that we should put in [the agreement] a dollar amount, because it’s subject to annual appropriations and budgets; and if we put a dollar amount in there, in essence it violates the Kansas Cash Basis law,” said Dinkel.

That the words in previous agreements did not have a dollar amount attached, it was just an annual appropriation, according to Dinkel.

Dinkel hopes that previous language can be used again in an effort not to violate the law.

The Master Agreement has received much attention in recent months, as two county commissioners were opposed to keeping the agencies under the Consolidated Chamber of Commerce as a “collective”.

All agencies in the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce will remain under one “umbrella” and continue to operate collectively under the new Amended Master Agreement.

Dinkel is hopeful that the changes will not be prolonged.