Community development director James Holland said the Flint Hills Regional Council roots were developed as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s impact on the expansion of nearby Fort Riley. The regional council was discussed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Abilene Economic Development Council.
Abilene had a task force tied to Fort Riley issues and worked with other organizations and communities over the past five years, Holland said. As a result of BRAC, Fort Riley has experienced a significant increase in troop strength.
“Regional cooperation was seen as a way for us to work with the troops,” Holland said, adding the community has identified Fort Riley as a source for increasing its housing stock.
Abilene and Dickinson County are not members of the Flint Hills Regional Council, said Ty Warren, executive director. Woodbine recently joined the multi-county agency, said Kristina Hyland, who also is employed by the council.
The Flint Hills Regional Council was formed in 2009 to serve Pottawatomie, Geary and Riley counties, but council members agreed that serving other counties that were part of the original Fort Riley corridor made sense, the officials said. Clay, Dickinson and Morris counties are also part of that corridor.
Mayor Diane Miller said Abilene and Dickinson County have developed meaningful partnerships with Fort Riley.
Warren said the council is a non-profit organization that wants to do what is best econoimcally for the region. The council has a budget of $366,000. Seed money has come from the Department of Defense through the Office of Economic Adjustment, which has also provided a site for administration space.
The council is not just Manhattan, Junction City and Wamego oriented, Warren said. Officials from those communities and others who have joined the council believe in a regional concept so that communities are not necessarily competing against others, but rather thinking in a big picture that if the entire region benefits, so will the individual communities.
Networking with other communities in regional with shared information is a potential benefit, Warren said. Also, in time the regional council could help with planning of federal highway transportation funding allocations through a Metropolitan Planning Organization because of the number of people it would represent. It also will work with the region on other economic projects and could help write grants applications and foster federal and state aid.
The regional council is building its base over a 3-year period. Hyland said the current assessment is about 33 cents per capita. Woodbine, for example, pays about $50 for the first year. Abilene with a population of about 6,500 people would pay about $2,200. The fee assessment will increase in time, they said. Warren said the funding from the Office of Economic Adjustment has sustained the start-up of the operation.
Warren, who has experience working in a regional planning organization in Illinois, believes the Flint Hills group has merit in helping identify regional needs that effects multiple counties. Besides Fort Riley, Kansas State University is the site for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
The council generally meets the third Friday of each month, starting at 9 a.m., and rotates from community to community. Meetings are open to the public.
The board has a 21-voting member council.
“The Flint Hills Regional Council is completely volunteer,” Warren said. “It is formed for the benefit of the region.”
Abilene and Dickinson County belong to the Beloit-based North Central Regional Planning Commission. The representatives said they know how valuable the regional planning commission has been to Abilene and Dickinson County and they would not advocate dropping out.
The development council did not take any action as the item was discussed for informational purposes.
Other items
Holland did a followup on a Kansas Department of Commerce request for an industrial prospect. The prospective company seeks a 200,000-square foot building. The company is seeking 200 employees. Holland said as part of the manufacturing process it needed 200,000 gallons of non-drinking water a day. He said Abilene’s reverse osmosis treatment plant produces about 250,000 gallons a day of by-product water that right now is released into Mud Creek.
“It may be an opportunity for us to use our non-potable water,” he said.
The community development director said the location of Abilene’s free land availability with close proximity to the water treatment plant, that could be an extra incentive for a company to relocate here.
Holland said the next step was to wait for any follow up from the state, which had initiated the inquiries from several communities.
“That’s a fairly promising prospect for the Kansas Department of Commerce,” he said.
Holland also reported on three upcoming conferences. A housing summit was planned for 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 23 at Fort Riley. A Kansas housing summit conference is planned for Sept. 8-10 in Topeka. A Kansas work force summit is planned for Jan. 19-20 in Topeka.
In other action the development council:
• Was advised the economic development council’s recommendation on an industrial land development policy would be considered by the Abilene City Commission at 4 p.m. Monday. The council had unanimously recommended changes to the policy after reviewing it the past two months.
• Approved July 20 meeting minutes.