It's been 34 years since the state of Kansas instituted a formal economic development strategy. The Redwood-Krider report was issued in 1986 by the Institute for Public Policy and Business Research at the University of Kansas.
A new economic development planning process was kicked off in October by Gov. Laura Kelly.
Kansas Framework for Growth is a comprehensive strategy to accelerate economic growth in Kansas.
KFG is in its first of three phases to be completed in the next several months: assessment and benchmarking, recommendations and best practices, and implementation planning.
Four town hall meetings are scheduled this week to engage the public. The series kicked off Tuesday night in Hays at BriefSpace.
Patty Clark, deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce, was joined by Marek Gootman of the Brookings Institution, hired to help research and analyze the Kansas economy and deliver a comprehensive economic development blueprint for the state.
"This is really important to Kansas," Clark said. "Our economy is flat-lining."
A group of about 25 area residents gave feedback to Gootman, based in Washington, D.C ., who began by sharing the preliminary data.
"The strategies and tactics question is not necessarily driven by state-level decision making," Gootman said. "It's got to have private and public participation, sector participation, and aligning with regional interests."
Jon Quinday, Russell city manager, was one of several Russell County residents attending the meeting.
Quinday suggested there needs to be a better definition of "rural."
"Some [state] legislation has defined rural as a population of less than 60,000," Quinday said, "but outside of Wichita and Kansas City there are very few actual cities that are over 60,000. So any incentive that's meant for rural Kansas, anybody could use [it] except for Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas."
Rural areas came up again during talk about the challenge of keeping well-educated Kansans in the state after they graduate.
"I think 'invest in urban vibrancy' is too limited. I think it should be 'invest in community vibrancy,'" said one woman.
"I think that's what all of us want from our local communities, regardless of size - creating quality of life, places that our young people want to come home to when they're ready to raise their family. That means we have to make our communities desirable places to live, work and play."
Quinday agreed, noting that Hays and Russell are already investing in their respective downtowns.
"Hays is a regional hub that everybody comes to but we're all in it together. If we all don't succeed, then the whole state (is affected.)"
Another woman pointed out urban areas have a larger population and therefore a bigger tax base.
"So we really should be talking about investing into our rural communities and let the urban communities invest in themselves," she said.
According to Gootman, economic development efforts in Kansas are "extraordinarily fragmented."
Working remotely, often considered a lure back home for residents who moved out of Kansas, is "a complicated issue" and it "didn't save rural America," Gootman said.
(The Statewide Broadband Expansion Planning Task Force, chaired by Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers, will release its report to the Kansas Legislature in January 2020.)
Months-long paid apprenticeships and internships businesses were seen as a positive, but can be expensive for small businesses.
"Our apprentices tend to stay with us," said Hess Services employee Joe Leroux. Hess Services in Hays, a turnkey operation producing oilfield and industrial equipment, currently has 352 employees with many open positions.
Another participant said there's a need for more skilled trades workers across the entire state.
A business council to provide insight from a broad spectrum of Kansas business leaders from multiple industries has been assembled by KFG and includes Hays resident Mark Hess, vice-president of operations at Hess Services.
Edward Herrman, HaysMed President/CEO, talked about succession planning.
"In a lot of communities that are our size or even smaller, there's already existing companies that are very successful small businesses. There's no one to take them over," Herrman said.
"How do you identify individuals and tell them we can help you have a really great life in doing something you'd like to do in an existing business? And, how do you make that transition?," he asked Gootman.
"Succession has come up many times [in this process]. Kansas has not really addressed it at the state level as an issue," Gootman answered.
More town hall meetings will be held. More feedback will be collected.
The next steps in the process are benchmarking best practices from other states, reviewing recommendations, and developing a proposed implementation plan to accelerate growth in Kansas. Upon delivery of the draft plan, stakeholder engagement will continue.
Clark says the state should spend a year creating its economic development strategy.
"It requires focus. It requires sustained investment. It requires partnerships and collaboration between economic development entities - whether it's the state or whether it's local - with businesses, with communities, with the education sector, healthcare sector," Clark stressed.
"You have to have those partnerships and that focused, sustained investment if you're going to succeed with growing your economy and competing with all the other states we're competing against."
Corrected 1 p.m. Thursday to reflect Gootman's correct organization.
Corrected 2:15 p.m. Thursday to reflect Quinday's correct title.