By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Kansas Lt. Gov. David Toland discussed the economic wins of the Kelly administration and what the Department of Commerce plans for future development at a Chamber in Hays luncheon on Friday.
Toland also serves as the Kansas Secretary of the Department of Commerce.
Between 2019 and 2024, Gov. Kelly's administration generated 19.7 million in private business investment in Kansas and retained or created 67,912 jobs. About 15% of the jobs were retained from moving to other states or overseas.
Toland said Kansas has been on the defense to keep other states like Missouri from poaching its businesses and jobs.
"I'm not talking about federal grants or COVID money or stimulus or any of that," Toland said. "I'm talking about businesses that get to make a decision on where they invest, and in unprecedented numbers in our history, they are choosing to invest in Kansas."
He said the growth is a combination of new businesses and existing businesses expanding in the state.
The second-largest economic project in the state during the Kelly administration has been in northwest Kansas— the Amber Wave wheat protein facility in Phillipsburg. That project was a $670 million investment.
Private business investment in the state grew steadily from $1.3 billion in 2019 to $3.8 billion in 2021.
"2020 was COVID. As a state, we had a decision to make. Are we going to pause and wait and see what happens as the global economy collapses, or do we hit the gas?" Toland said. The decision we made as a state—as an administration—was to hit the gas."
Private investment peaked at $7.4 billion before settling back at $3.1 billion in 2023. The state has about $1.8 billion in private investment so far this year, but multiple major projects are in the works for this fall, Toland said.
Although unemployment has inched up across the state, including Ellis County, which was at 3.1% in June, Tolland said in an interview after his presentation that anything less than 4% is still considered low.
He said the state is closely monitoring the employment data, but there is no need for alarm.
Kansas still has 100,000 open positions—50,000 are listed on KANSASWORKS.
Although EnerSys, an industrial battery manufacturer, announced layoffs in May and Amphenol Adronics, which manufactures antennas and vehicles, closed its Hays plant earlier this year, Toland said the Microfactory is poised to bring in new manufacturing businesses and jobs to Hays.
The MicroFacroty is a $4.5 million, 30,000-square-foot facility that was constructed to attract startup manufacturers or those wishing to expand to Hays. The Kansas Department of Commerce contributed $2.6 million in a BASE grant for that project.
The ribbon was cut on the facility in March.
"[The MicroFactory's] very presence is a tangible reflection of this community's commitment to manufacturing and business development," Toland said.
He said he had personally spoken to two businesses interested in Hays.
"I'm confident that we are going to have a win soon," Toland said.
Doug Williams, executive director of Grow Hays, said the economic development organization has seven to 10 businesses in the pipeline for possible rental of the space in the Microfactory. He said Grow Hays wants to ensure it finds manufacturers that are the right fit for the facility and Hays.
Toland also said housing is essential to recruiting talent to Kansas, and Hays has been aggressively addressing that issue.
"With the housing shortage we're seeing in northwest Kansas and across the state getting more acute with the growth that we are seeing in this part of the state, we've got to make certain that new rooftops are going up," he said.
Other Department of Commerce investments in Ellis County have included $115,000 for renovations for the Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas building in Hays, $150,000 for DSNWK, $2.3 million for workforce retention through Fort Hays State University, a $75,000 HEAL Grant for Chestnut Suites in Hays and a $594,000 BASE grant for Gella's Diner.
"We have really tried to be focused and be intentional on making investments in Hays and Ellis County, knowing that this is the retail and commercial job center in this part of the state," Toland said.
When companies are looking to invest, they want to make sure there will be places for their workers to live, he said.
He said Hays also does well in investing in quality of life. This has included $6,500 in operational support for the Hays Community Theatre and $22,000 for the Hays Arts Council.
Toland gave kudos to Ellis County's work to reduce the number of needed child care slots in the county from 800 to what will soon be 330.
Sara Bloom, who is from Hays, is the child care advocate for the Kansas Department of Commerce. She said the Child Care Task Force of Ellis County, which is facilitated by the Chamber in Hays and Sarah Wasinger, deserves all the credit for reducing that care gap.
"There has been a focused effort in this county to solve the child care shortage here," Toland said, "and that matters because businesses that are trying to hire people need to be able to hire people who are often at child-bearing age. They want to know that their children are well taken care of while they are working.
"If you don't have child care slots, a lot of people choose not to work," he said.
Toland also touched on the state's new "Love, Kansas" initiative, which aims to bring workers who once lived in Kansas back home.
Hays is one of 19 cities in Kansas to pilot the program.
Toland, an Iola native, left Kansas after graduating from The University of Kansas for a job on the East Coast.
After he and his wife had their daughter, he decided they didn't want her to grow up playing in their 4-foot-by-4-foot front yard. The family moved back to Kansas.
"The Love, Kansas program is about taking someone who graduated from Hays High School, maybe 10 years ago or 20 years ago, you decide," Toland said, "and using local people who know those graduates to make a pitch to them—to reach out to them directly and say, 'Hey, do you know all of the great things that are happening in Hays?'"
He added, "We have 100,000 open jobs. We have wonderful communities that offer such a high quality of life and are welcoming places, so let's go out there and bring our people back to Hays, to Ellis County, to northwest Kansas, to Kansas."