The Great Bend Chamber of Commerce and Barton County Young Professionals have come together again to form a visioning project. The goal is to identify ways to improve the City of Great Bend and get the town better prepared for the future.

Chamber CEO Jan Peters says the group held their first open meeting Tuesday with a large steering committee.

Jan Peters Audio

Sheila Shockey from Shockey Consulting Services in Kansas City was hired to develop a strategic plan. The Harms Trust awarded the funding needed to hire the consultant for the movement that is known as “Great Bend, Better than Great.”

Jan Peters Audio

Peters says the committee hopes to unveil their master plan next February at the Great Bend Chamber Banquet.

BOOKED: Eric W. Torres on Barton County District Court case for distribution of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia, criminal use of weapons and possession of stolen property with a bond of $100,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Rebecca Muckenthaler of Ellinwood on Barton County District Court case for distribution of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia, criminal use of weapons, and possession of stolen property. Bond set at $100,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Jacoby Stewart of Texarkana, TX on Bowie County, Texas warrant for aggravated failure to appear, no bond.

BOOKED: Swen Tristan Finnigan on a BTDC case for DWS, bond set in the amount of $1,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Rosa Camacho of Great Bend on a Barton County District Court warrant for failure to appear, bond in lieu of $250 cash only.

RELEASED: Jay Holloway on BTDC case for serve sentence after serving his time.

RELEASED: Rosa Camacho of Great Bend on a BCDC warrant for failure to appear after posting a $250 cash bond.

RELEASED: Renita Johnson on BCDC warrant with a $1,000 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

RELEASED: Swen Tristan Finnigan of Great Bend on BTDC case for DWS after posting a $1,000 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

BUSINESS NEWS

Story and photos by Brandon Steinert

The proceeds from items sold, underwriters, program ads and ticket sales netted more than $40,000 at the 40th Annual Big Benefit Auction in late August, which was themed “Clownin’ Around.” Funds raised benefit students directly through scholarships and program enhancements at Barton Community College.

Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Coleen Cape said she feels fortunate to have reached the foundation’s goal.

“It is truly impossible to gauge the amount of hard work, support and generosity it takes to make an event such as our 40th Annual Benefit Auction a success,” she said. “I wish time would allow for me to visit each and every donor, volunteer and attendee to offer my personal thanks; since that is simply not possible in a timely fashion, I hope they are all aware how grateful we are for their contributions.”

With the auction being the largest fundraiser for the Foundation each year, it is important for everything to come together. Successfully orchestrating this event is something both Cape and the Foundation Board of Directors know would be impossible without support from the community.

Cape said the Foundation is not “Clownin’ Around” when they offer their sincerest gratitude to the auction underwriters, including Advanced Therapy and Sports Medicine, Phil and Kim Grossardt, ILS, Nex-Tech and UMB Wealth Management.

“Their generosity and support were vital to the success of this event,” Cape said. “Of course, we would be remiss without sending out a huge shout out to the guys at the Columbus Club and to Carr Auction and Real Estate for making the evening run so smoothly.”

The annual scholarship honorarium, where auction-goers donate directly to a scholarship honoring a community member, raised about $10,000, all to be awarded in scholarships for the 2019-20 academic year in the name of the Foundation Board of Directors member Sylvan Bleeker.

Roger and Mary Lou Murphy also donated a completely restored Cushman cycle to be auctioned during the collectors’ auction by Carr Auction and Real Estate in October. The proceeds will be added to the honorarium in memory of Sylvan.

For more information, contact the Barton Foundation office at (620) 792-1136.

Thanks to a solid back-up plan, Kids Ag Day 2018 took place Wednesday as scheduled. Due to the recent heavy rains, this year’s event was moved to the Great Bend Expo Complex where all three buildings were used to teach Barton County 4th graders about agriculture.

David LeRoy was once again part of the planning process for the 26th annual event.

David LeRoy Audio

Kids Ag Day is a one-day event held at a local farm on the first Wednesday in September. The event is designed to expose fourth graders to the various components of agriculture. Students see demonstrations on how crops are grown, how food is made, what animals live on the farm, electrical safety, cattle health and horseshoeing, beekeeping, advancing technology and so much more. Barton Community College Ag Instructor Dr. Vic Martin was on hand Wednesday joining many other volunteers who make the annual event happen.

Vic Martin Audio

Over the past 26years, 4M Farms, operated by Kevin Mauler, Brining Farms, operated by the late Roger Brining, and Diamond K Farms, owned by Ron Koelsch, have served as host locations for the event.

In February, Kids Ag Day received the 2017 Legacy Award from the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development. Many of the original group of ag industry advocates who founded the event over 25 years ago are still active in the event today including a list of core volunteers like Kevin Mauler, Ron Koelsch, Jerry Esfeld, Aaron Maresch, David LeRoy, Darrell Touslee, Charles Atkinson, and others.

Taking over the job July 30, Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis is making an effort to make himself more accessible to the public.

Francis announced at Tuesday’s Great Bend City Council meeting that he would be holding “Kendal’s Coffee” on a quarterly basis. During the coffee sessions, community members can come to talk to Francis about concerns or thoughts on the City.

Kendal Francis Audio

The first “Kendal’s Coffee” will be October 12^th, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Perk’s Coffee Shop. Francis mentioned, depending on what is happening in the community at the time, there is a chance of more coffee meetings getting scheduled.

Francis took over the job after serving in the same role for the cities of Coffeyville and Lakin.

The latest USDA Crop Condition Report for Kansas shows that fall crops are doing well heading into the fall harvest season. Corn conditions in the state rated 8-percent excellent, 36 good, 28 fair, 17 poor and 11-percent very poor. Locally, Great Bend COOP Seed Manager Jeff Mauler says the crop remains in pretty good shape.

Jeff Mauler Audio

The USDA report also indicated that 36-percent of the crop was mature, ahead of the 28-percent a year ago and the 21-percent average with just 6-percent of the crop harvested. Mauler expects that to change once things dry out.

Jeff Mauler Audio

Soybean condition rated 4-percent very poor, 11 poor, 36 fair, 41 good, and 8 excellent while Sorghum condition rated 2 percent very poor, 6 poor, 26 fair, 52 good, and 14-percent excellent.

The City of Great Bend dropped over $31,000 to have a firm from Kansas City conduct a compensation study on all city employees. The study found that there were employees, mostly firefighters, which needed their salary increased to meet the market minimum. The Great Bend City Council approved a motion to improve compensation issues starting January 1, 2019.

The study also showed Great Bend was behind other comparable-sized cities for vacation days and paid holidays. Human Resources Director Randy Keasling recommended the City Council pass increases to both vacation days and holiday days for city employees.

Councilmember Jolene Biggs was against the motion, stating there are issues with underfunded or not funded at all projects within the capital improvement plan.

Jolene Biggs Audio

Keasling says in an effort to make the City of Great Bend a “destination employer,” there needs to be steps taken to improve benefits to attract and retain workers.

At the end of August, Great Bend’s turnover rate was 14 percent. The turnover rate for the entire year of 2017 was 13 percent. Currently, 27 percent of the City’s workforce has reached the City recognized retirement age of 55 or over. Receiving pushback from a split City Council, Keasling stated the increased benefits are a piece to the puzzle to recruit and keep millennial-aged workers that value a work / personal life balance.

Randy Keasling Audio

The City Council voted 4-3 to approve the proposed vacation and holiday policies. (Dan Heath, Cory Urban, Joel Jackson, and Andrew Erb voted in favor of the increase. Biggs, Brock McPherson, and Vicki Berryman voted against the measure). It costs over $28,000 per day to fund the salaries for the more than 150 City employees.

City employees will now receive two additional paid holidays, taking their total from eight to 10. President’s Day and Christmas Eve were added. Barton County employees receive 11 paid holidays. The vacation accrual rate was also increased earlier in employees’ careers.