Geary County Commissioner Ben Bennett is working to open up the discussion on a proposed new sports complex that could under his idea potentially utilize the athletic facilities that will be built with the new Junction City High School.

A sports complex could take a cooperative effort involving multiple entities including the school district, county and city plus other possible organizations.

During a visit on the JC Now show on 1420 KJCK AM, Bennett indicated he has discussed this topic with different members of the community. “We’ve got some people that have expressed an interest in being involved in that, including people from each of the activity groups that we’ve talked about, school district, city and the county commission, and then also looking at some of our organizational structures that have evolved over the years. The YMCA is an important part of that.”

Bennett noted the next step is to draw those people together to start talking, “And not 50 people in a room. Starting with one person from each of the organizations to voice their concerns, their opinions. “Bennett said he will speak from his podium as a county commissioner to try to bring people together.

He stated the needs and wants for the project would have to be documented, and there would have to be some structure for perhaps a corporation, or sports commission or quality of life commission. “Whatever we decide to name it, I think we’ve got to move forward with that.”

Bennett said he has thought for some time that something needs to be built, and stressed that he is not talking just about bricks and mortar but also concepts and ideas. “We need to be dedicated to bringing that about, and we’ve had a lot of things pull at us from different directions.”

No formal action has been taken on this issue, but the conversation is picking up.