Bond issues support new hospital, nursing home
It could be said that Scott County defied the odds during 2009.
With the state and national economy in the midst of a deep recession, the timing hardly seemed right to bring a single bond issue to a vote - let alone two.
As for the chances of either one being passed . . . well, one might have better luck at the roulette wheel in Las Vegas.
Not only did the Scott County Hospital and Park Lane Nursing Home move forward with their bond issue elections, but each was approved by local voters.
This continues a wave of optimism in the community in recent years which has resulted in a major renovation/addition to Scott Community High School, renovation of the Scott County courthouse and a Streetscape project which gave a fresh look to downtown Scott City.
By only a 54 vote margin, $24 million in bonds were approved for construction of a new hospital to be located on the south edge of Scott City. That brought a huge sigh of relief from Dr. Daniel Dunn, a 30-year member of the local medical community who had long hoped to see a new hospital before his retirement.
“For at least 15 years I’ve felt we needed a major building project, but I never thought we’d ever build a new hospital,” said Dr. Dunn following the 830-776 margin of victory in the September special election.
Hospital Administrator Mark Burnett was particularly impressed with the volunteer effort behind the campaign given the size of the bond issue and the relatively short time to build support.
“I can’t tip my hat enough to the medical staff, hospital board and community members who put their support behind this,” he said. “It took six months to pass the largest bond issue in Scott County’s history.”
It will be the spring of 2010 before dirt is turned on the project. Construction is expected to take 18-20 months, for a projected completion date of late 2011.
Nursing Home
For about 10 years, the Park Lane Nursing Home board of directors and staff have tossed about the need to upgrade their facilities.
And it seemed those talks were always put on the back burner by other community needs - an addition to Scott Community High School, a new Law Enforcement Center and a bond issue for construction of a new Scott County Hospital.
The time finally arrived for the nursing home when voters, by an overwhelming 906-302 margin, approved a $5.75 million bond issue for construction of a new addition and renovation during a special election held on Nov. 3.
“We’re overwhelmed by the show of support,” says administrator Jerry Korbe. Getting a 3-to-1 show of support from voters was “more than we anticipated.”
“Being on the tail end of all these bond issues, we expected voter backlash. But to have all these bond issues come before us, and for this one to win by the widest margin, indicates the community recognized our need,” Korbe says. “It’s confirmation that this community wants to do what’s best for our residents living at Park Lane.”
It marks the first time since 1985 that taxpayers were asked to provide funding for additions or improvements. The original nursing home was built in 1966 with additions in 1976 and 1985.
The primary focus of this proposal is to construct a 2,000 sq. ft. kitchen and build a major addition that will allow the nursing home to convert most of its rooms from semi-private to private. The need for more private rooms is driven by what Korbe refers to as “culture change.”
The cost of both bond issues won’t be noticed by local taxpayers until they receive property tax statements in November of 2010.
Other Projects
While those are the most significant improvements which will be taking place in Scott County in the near future, they aren’t the only major changes on the community’s landscape.
This past year also saw:
•completion of major expansion and renovation of the Scott County Library costing about $1.2 million.
•completion of a $1.5 million addition to St. Joseph Church and parish center.
•completion of the new Law Enforcement Center, valued at $4.2 million.
State Funding Cuts
The state’s financial crisis continues to ripple throughout the state, with Kansas public education feeling a huge impact from a steady stream of budget cuts.
The latest round of cuts imposed by Gov. Mark Parkinson to keep the state’s budget in the black resulted in a reduction of state aid to schools by $206 per pupil. This marks the fourth in a series of cuts which have slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in state spending.
Spending cuts announced by Gov. Parkinson in late November trimmed the budget by $259 million. This resulted in the loss of another $285,000 - or about five percent - in state funding for the Scott County school district.
The district was scheduled to receive $5.8 million (not including special education funds which generally pass through the district to the special education cooperative.)
That level of state funding has now dropped to $5.56 million, and it could get worse.
“Unless there’s a turnaround in state revenues, which doesn’t seem likely in the near future, we could see another round of cuts this spring,” says Scott County Supt. Don Wells.
As part of a court ruling in 2006, and the legislature’s follow-up action to boost education funding, the Scott County district was scheduled to receive $6.22 million this school year. The district has seen that level of support cut by 10.6 percent - or $662,000.
However, the district is limited in what it can do this year to significantly reduce costs. Teacher contracts are locked in for the remainder of the school year and the district has no control over utility costs, which are taking a significant bump due to a 16 percent hike in Wheatland Electric’s rates.
“You have to eliminate a lot of field trips to save very much money and you get beat up when you suggest doing that, so it hardly seems worth the bad feelings that are created,” says Wells. “But we’ll continue to look at our expenses and cut where we can.”
Archeological Dig
When trying to uncover thousands of years of history at Lake Scott, one thing is evident - two weeks isn’t near enough time.
However, the Kansas Archeological Training Program (KATP), held from May 30-June 13, revealed some new discoveries, confirmed other theories and left little doubt there’s much more to be learned.
“If I have any regret it’s that we didn’t have the time to do more test excavations in some of the known sites and get more information,” says State Archeologist Bob Hoard who oversaw the KATP.
Of course, time and money are always constraints in dealing with a project like this and that did limit the scope of the project. At the same time, it was a very productive two weeks and it yielded some interesting finds.
At the top of the list is confirmation that this area was inhabited about 9,000 years ago. A Paleo-Indian point was discovered on private land near the park which dates back to that era.
“We knew people were in this area during those times, but we didn’t have a lot of evidence,” Hoard notes. “We still don’t have a lot of evidence from the park itself, but finding this keeps our eyes open to the possibility of finding more material.”
The age of such material in Western Kansas isn’t particularly surprising - but neither is it all that common. Items from the same time frame have been found in the Norton Bone Beds and near Kanorado. Likewise, material up to 12,000-years-old has been found near 12 Mile Creek in southern Logan County.
What surprised Hoard and his team a little more was the amount of material they found within the 2,000- to 4,000-year-old era. Outside of some extensive material that exists in private collections, Hoard says not too much has been discovered by professional archeologists.
One of the more intriguing discoveries came near the south entrance of the state park where there was evidence of possible dwellings. The discovery may be significant enough to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. However, that won’t happen any time soon.
Of course, that also leads to the unavoidable inquiry about the prospect of another pueblo at Lake Scott, similar to El Quartelejo.
“The likelihood is really small, but it’s possible,” conceded Hoard.
In the meantime, discoveries made at Lake Scott will be the subject of lab analysis and written reports in the upcoming months.
“In fact, the bulk of the work will be done in the lab and in the report writing,” Hoard says. “After spending 16 days in the field, we’re just getting started with our understanding of this area.”
Bin Busters
A second consecutive outstanding fall harvest, on the heels of another very good wheat crop, provided some welcome economic news for Scott County.
This has helped to insulate Western Kansas, to some degree, from the economic downturn that’s had a much greater impact in urban centers of central and eastern Kansas. And while crop prices have been well short of record-setting levels of a year ago, production remained strong with outstanding yields of wheat, corn and milo.
Huge production, combined with low market prices, have created a dilemma for elevators. Travel anywhere in Western Kansas and one can often find large amounts of milo being stored in temporary facilities or piled on the ground.
“Storage is a bit of a concern,” says Gary Friesen, manager of the Scott Co-op. “Producers haven’t sold as much as they traditionally do. With a fall harvest that looks phenomenal, it creates some anxiety.”
Grain from fall harvest is temporarily licensed as “emergency storage,” but that only remains in effect until the end of March.
“It comes off our license at that time,” Friesen explains. “If we stay in a low price environment, producers will continue to be reluctant to sell and we do need movement of grain prior to March 31.”
Of course, this isn’t just a local problem. It’s an issue throughout Kansas as wheat farmers held onto their grain while markets slipped from about $6.60 in early June to just $3.82 at area elevators at the end of September.
“There are a huge number of bushels sitting in storage that we don’t own, so we can’t move it,” says Larry Snow, manager of Winona Feed and Grain, Pence. “Farmers remember prices when they were over $7, so they’re reluctant to sell.”
No one anticipated storage would be a concern in early 2009 when dry conditions cast doubt on prospects for much of a wheat harvest.
“I remember driving around the area on Good Friday and thinking about how bad the wheat and the grass was looking,” says Chuck Kirk, owner of Kirk Grain, Scott City. “Then we got the rain on Easter weekend and that resurrected the wheat.”
It also resurrected the spirit of area farmers - many who had all but written off this year’s wheat crop.
“I didn’t give it much of a chance,” recalls Ron Suppes, a board member with the Kansas Wheat Commission who farms in Lane and Finney counties. “This crop was saved twice - the first time with the rain we got over the Easter weekend and again with the rain we got about a month later.”
Unseasonably cool weather has also contributed to a crop that is being compared to the outstanding harvest this area saw in 2007.
“We’re thankful for the moisture since Easter, but the cool weather is what made this crop,” Suppes says.
The result was yields which left many farmers shaking their heads in amazement.
“A custom cutter told me there have been 90-plus (bushel) yields, which is obviously the exception,” Kirk says. “But we are typically seeing yields in the mid-50s, which are 10-15 bushels over the norm.
“Seventy bushel wheat is not uncommon this year.”
Yields on continuous cropped ground in Lane County is running between 40-60 bushels an acre, says Suppes, referring to his hard white wheat.
Wind Farm Opens
“We’ve done it,” exclaimed Greg Greenwood before a gathering of about 100 people during dedication of the Central Plains Wind Farm in eastern Wichita County in June.
“We’ve harnessed the wind in Wichita County to meet the nation’s energy needs,” added the vice president of generation construction with Westar Energy.
Shortly afterwards, a ceremonial flip of an oversized light switch sent power to a miniature wind turbine as area legislators, Westar officials, landowners and others celebrated completion of the first major wind farm in Western Kansas since the Gray County Wind Farm near Montezuma went on line in 2001.
Completion of the project makes Kansas just one of eight states who are members of the 1,000 Megawatt Club. The 100MW site in Barber County, along with the 99MW farm in Wichita County - the most recent wind projects in the state - officially bring Kansas wind production to 1,011.9 megawatts. The increased capacity puts more pressure on the state to see that transmission lines are in place to move this added energy where it’s needed.
While wind can make Kansas a bigger player in meeting the nation’s energy needs, there’s no mistaking the impact it has at the local level.
Wichita County Economic Development Director Sharla Krenzel says that the county’s sales tax revenue jumped by 20.2 percent during 2008 while construction of the wind farm was taking place.
Westar will also be making payments to Wichita County, in lieu of taxes, in the amount of $247,500 annually for the next 10 years. The wind farm also employs four full-time technicians and a site manager.
While celebrating completion of the Wichita County Wind Farm, energy officials sounded a common theme regarding the need for more transmission lines throughout the state. A couple of projects are on the drawing board, but await regulatory approval.
There has been discussion, including the leasing of ground, in southeast and northwest Scott County for future wind farm development.
KLA locating in SC
Scott County has long been known as the heart of cattle country in Western Kansas.
So when it came to locating a new office in Western Kansas, it was a relatively easy decision for the Kansas Livestock Association.
Scott City has been selected as the future home for the KLA’s Environmental Services Division which is currently located in Salina. The office will initially have 2-3 employees when it opens this spring and, over a period of years, will expand to about 10-12 employees.
The Salina office won’t close, but will instead focus more of its attention on municipal services. The Scott City office will assume responsibility for assisting feedlot operators, primarily in the area of wastewater management.
“We’ve found more and more of our work is taking place in the western half of the state. It only makes sense to have an office located in Western Kansas,” says Rick McKee, senior vice president with the KLA.
The 4,000 sq. ft. office building will be located on the south side of K96 Highway, on the east edge of Scott City.
Work has begun on the site with a tentative completion date of May 1. It is hoped staff can begin working out of the new location by June 1.
The KLA’s announcement was the culmination of nearly two years of efforts by Scott County economic development officials and others in the community.
“It was evident to everyone there is a can-do attitude in this community when you look at the major projects that you’ve undertaken such as the high school, the Catholic church, the library and now the hospital.
“That progressive attitude is one more reason why we want to have a presence in Scott City,” said McKee.
Park on the Plains
Battling rain, cold weather and long hours, hundreds of volunteers within the community pulled together to construct the $300,000 Park on the Plains playground in Scott City’s Patton Park.
“The people who didn’t share in this missed out on a great experience,” said Rick Kahl, who was on site for all six days that construction took place. “I could do this every day.”
The dream of a park project began with Kris Duff when she moved from Garden City to Scott City four years ago.
When Duff first took the idea to the Scott City council and began talking about it to friends nearly 1-1/2 years ago the cost projection was $100,000. When the cost ballooned to nearly $300,000 that raised a few eyebrows and created some skepticism about whether it could be done.
Duff remained just as committed to the project and had plenty of supporters who shared in her vision.
“This happened because a lot of people believed in it and wanted to see it for our community,” Duff says. “When this all began it was a huge leap of faith, but I never doubted we could get it done.”
Neither did the 560 volunteers who joined in the project.
Most recently a soft tile surface was put in place within the playground. Approximately $50,000 is still needed to finish paying for the playground.
Park Attendance Up
Labor Day weekend brought the “unofficial” end to what was a record-setting summer at Lake Scott State Park.
The three-day weekend saw 5,911 people attending Lake Scott.
“It was a repeat of what we’ve been seeing all summer,” said Park Manager Rick Stevens.
At the end of August, Lake Scott had taken in $107,936, topping last year’s 12-month total of $106,085 and the 2006 record of $106,458.
Stevens is particularly excited to see what he guesses are newcomers to the camping scene.
“A lot of the tents seem to be fairly new, so I get the impression that camping is a new experience for them,” he says. “That’s great. If they’ve made that kind of investment, hopefully that’s a sign that they plan on doing this more often.
“Plus, we’re seeing a lot of young kids fishing and riding their bikes around the park. A lot of kids are enjoying the outdoors and not spending their time in front of a video game,” he says.
Airport Upgrade
After being shut down for two months, the Scott City Airport reopened to traffic on June 13 with completion of a new concrete runway and taxiways.
The $2.8 million project included removal of the north-south asphalt runway and replacing it with a 5,000 foot concrete runway. In addition, there are now concrete taxiways leading to each of the hangars, replacing crushed asphalt that was in deteriorating condition.
In the past, there were two entrances to the airport office and parking lot, but the north entrance has been eliminated. All vehicle traffic at the airport will use the south entrance.
“Until now, the taxiway and parking area were one and the same, which the (Federal Aviation Administration) didn’t like,” said airport manager Weston Thompson. “This keeps people off the taxiway.”
“Everyone did a great job to get this completed in 60 days and to minimize the amount of down time,” he said.
Thomas Art Gallery
There’s no hiding Jerry Thomas’s enthusiasm as he walks between the wall displays that will someday feature his historical and wildlife works of art.
Outside the future home of the Jerry Thomas Art Gallery and El Quartelejo Museum, Thomas has spent this fall landscaping the site in preparation for a May grand opening.
“There will even be a couple of surprises that we won’t unveil until the grand opening,” he says.
One of the surprises he has been able to reveal is the donation of original works of art from his series of Kansas military frontier posts.
As with many of Thomas’s works of art, the original paintings have been sold over the years to collectors and he has retained the rights to make prints. Now that he has a place to feature his artwork, Thomas plans to maintain possession of original works and is hopeful that originals in the hands of other individuals can be loaned to the gallery.
Former Kansas residents Frank and Barbara Tillman did one better. Over the years they had purchased all eight of the original paintings in the military fort series, but since they were moving to Springfield, Mo., the paintings were being sold on e-Bay.
When the couple heard about plans for the Thomas Gallery, they opted to donate all eight paintings.
“That’s an $80,000 donation,” says Thomas.
The former Scott City artist also has plans for a media center to be located at the south end of the gallery.
When completed, displays within the gallery will exceed $1 million in value.