The ‘Way Forward’ Town Hall meeting  on Saturday, January 28th will include more information on the need for a new high school, different options for building of a facility, including the costs and how the facility could be financed through a combination of federal heavily impacted military aid and state aid funds.

The meeting begins at 10:00 am in the Warren Settles Auditorium at the High School.

The public will be able to pose questions about this project.

In addition to the live video (below), this will also be broadcast on 1420 KJCK, The Talk of JC – tune in at 10:00 am.

The JCHS Way Forward Steering Committee is hosting the town hall meetings in order to inform the public and receive input on the project.

The 2017 Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner was held on Thursday, January 26th.

Dennis Beson, Chamber of Commerce CEO, updated the community on the ‘state of the chamber’.

“We’ve done a really good job between the Board retreat and our most recent Board meeting, to actually put together some strategies, some goals, some measurables that we can take with us; I think we’ve got a great Board in place with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and engagement – and those things are what make my job easy,” said Beson.

In the last year, the Chamber lost a veteran in longtime Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Director Connie Hall who decided to retire after 25 years of service.

“We try to keep filling positions with good quality people, when we lose a quality person we want to try to find equal or better,” said Beson.

Notably, the Chamber added two new faces –  an Economic Development Commission Director in Mickey Dean, who comes to Junction City with over 20 years experience; and Eddie Reeder, the Project Manager hired to study the feasibility of a sports complex in the community.

“I think we are moving in the right direction, and the way our City and our County are supporting us and talking to each other right now – it’s very exciting,” said Beson.

Several awards were also presented during the evening, all of which were nominated by co-workers/peers:

• Tourism Advocate of the Year: Bob Cervera, owner F&S Electronics, founder All Treats Day and Jammin in JC
• Eldon L. Hoyle Economic Development Award: Mike Harris, Acorns Resort and RV Park, The Cove Bar and Grill, Milford Convention Center
• Business/Citizen of the Year: The C.L. Hoover Opera House – Joe and Sheila Markley
• Ambassador of the Year:  Janie Merk
• Volunteer of the Year:  Phyllis Fitzgerald, Mayor
• Retirement Acknowledgment and Recognition:  Connie Hall

Fort Riley has over 100,000 acres, but only 77,00 of that is usable for training.

That was one of the key points made during the January 26th Military Affairs Council (MAC) breakfast, a joint effort between Junction City and Manhattan Chambers of Commerce.

Retired Lieutenant General Perry Wiggins, Executive Director for the Governor’s Military Council, was the keynote speaker.

“The Council will take issues and items from community members and then we package those and make sure we get those before the Governor so that he has the ear and hears from the people…and then we try to find solutions and recommend those to the Governor,” said Wiggins.

In it’s inception, the Governor’s Military Council was created as a defense for BRAC – base realignments and closings.

“When BRAC came along, organizations were built to confront BRAC; this organization has been around for about 12 years and now we need to start taking a look at how we can start working on the lines of effort that were identified by the Governor…what we need to do is we need to be able to express to those outside the community the goodness that Fort Riley brings in training, deploy-ability and quality of life,” said Wiggins.

Part of the training initiatives is being able to maximize usable space. If Fort Riley were able to utilize Smoky Hill, training capabilities would increase by nearly 35,000 acres.

“Although it’s just a short way up the road and a great place to train, we’re not able to put tanks and bradleys up there to maneuver; so we just want to make sure that we’re putting out best foot forward to use all of the assets that Central Kansas has available to train and increase the readiness of our soldiers – and Smoky Hill is a big part of that,” said Wiggins.

In recent news, military officials and notably GOP Senator John McCain have said that there needs to be a BRAC.

“The service Chiefs as well have said that, you know the 25% infrastructure overhead that they don’t need affects their readiness; so this all goes back to readiness and making sure that we only have what we need, and I concur that we’ve got to take an assessment and a look, but there’s certain places where I think we got it about right and I think Fort Riley is one of those places,” said Wiggins.

As for community, Wiggins said to keep doing what you’re doing:  “Maintain that staunch support, and keep continuing to wrap their arms around the service members and their families.”

Wiggins retired from the Military after 33 years of active duty service in October 2016.

City leaders participated in the annual Government Day at the State Capitol.

Phyllis Fitzgerald, Mayor of Junction City, said that it is a great opportunity for elected officials in local government to gain experience in bigger State government.

“Every year – once a year – there’s a Government Day that is set aside, and that’s where the local government officials come to the Capitol and when you come [here] you get to visit your legislators…have an appointment with them, sit down, talk about any issues,” said Fitzgerald.

The day also gave local leaders an inside look at the bigger issues facing the entire State of Kansas.

“When you come to the higher level and you come with some experience from being at the local level, you have a better understanding when things are starting to be voted on – like the budget,” said Fitzgerald.

During a Mayor’s luncheon, Fitzgerald said that Representative Tom Phillips provided them with some startling realities regarding the bigger picture of State finances.

“He said, in the State of Kansas there are $6 billion dollars of sales tax exemptions that are on the books…it’s a long list of organizations, groups, companies that are on this exemption and he said on that list there’s about 15 of them that generate about 90% of that” said Fitzgerald.

Referring to products that go through a manufacturing process, Fitzgerald quoted Rep. Phillips in saying that it’s like a car plant building a vehicle and not paying sales tax on anything and then the consumer pays sales tax when they purchase that vehicle.

“And he said, our bridges and highways – when we have all that work done – those are tax exempt, but if they start taxing them then our cities and our counties, if we have to start paying that taxing on building bridges and highways, it would trickle down to the taxpayer, the citizen would end up having to pay that,” said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald said representatives from the Kansas League of Municipalities, lobbyists for all of the 600+ cities in the State, were also in attendance to provide information to the local leaders regarding bills that they are supporting and how to get and stay in contact with legislators.

City Manager Allen Dinkel and Commissioner Jim Sands also attended Government Day.