By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
The Ellis County Commission this week confirmed its desire not to fund the Northwest Kansas Planning and Development Commission in 2020, while looking at hiring a full-time grant writer.
Amid budget-cutting efforts and after years of dissatisfaction with the Northwest Kansas Planning and Development Commission, the Ellis County Commission, the largest member county, decided not to pay the full amount of dues owed. They chose instead to pay $22,500.
As a result, the NWKPDC stripped Ellis County of its voting rights. The commission then decided to not pay any fees in 2020.
Previously, Commissioner Dustin Roths had floated the idea of the county hiring a full-time grant writer to fill the void. At Monday’s commission meeting, Roths said he believes a grant writer position could pay for itself.
“The beauty of the position is that we would be able to constantly see how effective it is on a yearly basis. We would know what kind of funds they were creating,” he said.
Roths said he estimated a grant writer salary would be approximately $35,000 to $50,000 and with the county’s benefit package the position would cost an estimated $70,000.
He said he believes that every department could benefit from a dedicated grant writer, including Road and Bridge.
The commission has said it would like to use a portion of the revenue from the quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters earlier this month to pay for improvements to several roads in Ellis County.
“It’s something that I feel like that could be highly beneficial over the years and just a way to be good stewards of any kind of influx in sales tax revenue that is coming in,” Roths said.
Roths also said the position could work with other governments within Ellis County.
“I think the biggest benefit, from our perspective, is the idea that all these staff members, when we they see a grant that’s a potential then they can come to this person to make sure that we are at least putting the funding request out,” Roths said. “Because I imagine we leave quite a bit of money on the table.”
Commissioner Dean Haselhorst said he would like into what it would cost to hire an outside contractor to write grants. The commissioners said they could also potentially work with Grow Hays, if that group was interested in adding a grant writer.
Randy Hrabe, executive director of the NWKPDC, recently reached out to the commission to ask if they were going to pay membership dues for 2020. Hrabe said that they are still working on projects within Ellis County.
On Monday, the commission confirmed that they would not pay its 2020 membership dues and that they would address 2021 funding at a later date.
The NWKPDC helps cities and counties get grants for improvement projects.
Roths said of adding a grant writer position, “If we have this position, I don’t believe that we would need to stay inline with Northwest Kansas Planning.”
The commission also elected to table the hiring of a grant writer position until a new county administrator is hired. They anticipate the grant writer position would report to the county administrator.
In other business, the commission:
• Approved the purchase of a
new grader for Public Works.
• Accepted a donation on behalf of the Ellis County Fire
Department.
• Approved a letter to the city of Hays asking for additional
funds to help pay for a portion of the Northwest Business Corridor.
• Tabled a discussion on pay raises and EMS COVID-19 pay.