After delaying the decision from December, the Great Bend City Council voted 6-2 Monday night to go against city administration’s recommendation to approve a proposal for retail recruitment. The consultant, Retail Strategies, would gather community statistics and represent Great Bend at national and regional retail conferences.
Councilmember Dana Dawson felt Great Bend needed a push to reenergize the Great Bend economy.
Dana Dawson Audio
The City Council voted to table the decision in December so the newly-elected councilmembers could have a say. At the December meeting, Great Bend Chamber of Commerce CEO Jan Peters noted having Retail Strategies’ connection at large retail conventions would be helpful.
The consultant came with a $50,000 price tag each year and councilmember Chad Somers felt the lack of retail businesses in town comes down to population and not recruitment efforts.
Chad Somers Audio
Somers went on to further state he felt it is more important to recruit industry businesses and then the retail companies would follow.
The Chamber along with Barton County Young Professionals formed a steering committee and hired a consultant last year to form strategic plan to identify ways to improve Great Bend. Hopes of having that master plan in the next couple of months also encouraged Somers to wait on making any action of hiring Retail Strategies.
Councilmember Dana Dawson remembered 20 years ago when Great Bend had several clothing, jewelry, and drug stores. As those shops closed, out-of-town shoppers went elsewhere to shop.
Dana Dawson Audio
Somers also did not like the idea of spending $50,000 a year to hire Retail Strategies from Alabama with no guarantee of success.
Chad Somers Audio
The $50,000 price tag would have come from the Economic Development line from the 2019 budget. The 2019 budget set aside $100,000 for an economic development project, and the entire fund has $1.7 million.
Dawson and Dan Heath were the only two councilmembers that voted to approve the proposal from Retail Strategies.