By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Following a Hays City Commission meeting Thursday, Aug. 13, in which the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development had its funding put into a holding pattern by commissioners, work already has begun to alleviate a perceived lack of communication between the two bodies.
The city commission was responding to the way the Big Creek Travel Plaza information was being dispersed, according to Aaron White, executive director for the ECCED.
Concerns from the commission were first brought to light at the Aug. 6 work session. New Commissioner James Meier called the Coalition to the carpet for “not doing their job” and suggested cutting funding for the Coalition in half. The commission eventually funded the entire $87,550 budget request on the condition that communication issues are resolved.
Historically, the city of Hays and Ellis County have provided the lion’s share of funding for the eco-devo group. The Coalition was formed in 1988 in the midst of a downturn of the oil and agricultural economies and as the community reeled from the closure of a longtime major employer, Travenol.
During Meier’s work session comments about the Coalition, the primary target was a development agreement between the city and a developer looking to build a travel plaza north of Interstate 70 — a project that would require the extension of city utility services such as water and sewer lines. At the meeting, Lance Jones, also newly elected to the commission, said the development agreement was riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.
“I took a highlighter and there wasn’t a single page in this whole document that didn’t have a single error on it somewhere,” Jones said at the work session. “Ellis County Economic Development should have caught this. They’re … wasting city staff time and they’re wasting a lot of the commission’s time.”
White was not present during that work session because the travel plaza was pulled from the agenda — but said the concerns resonated.
“After the work session meeting and, of course, the report back and the feedback from the commissioners that they were upset about how the project was handled, our Coalition board immediately reached out to the commissioners and started looking at ways we can set the process back on the appropriate path,” said White, who has served as executive director for nearly four years.
The goal since the meeting, according to White, is “to make sure we are meeting the needs of the city commission as well as our investors in the Coalition.”
Work began immediately following commissioners’ concerns being voiced, and work is progressing to create a stronger line of communication between the two bodies.
“Those conversations went very well,” White said. “I think they’re definitely getting us on the same page moving forward.”
While the communication problems are being addressed, the Coalition will continue to refine the process to keep everyone informed, including regular updates at commission meetings by both White and Coalition board members.
“There is definitely a lot of work going on behind the scenes working with city staff and Coalition staff to make sure that we’re on the right page, we’re going in the right direction.” White said. “We’re putting together a process in place that makes life easier for everybody.”
“This is still a process that the community is refining,” he said. “And making sure that the process is in place that meets the satisfaction and the needs of the community.”
The city has a voting representative on the board, currently Schwaller, and the city manager also has a seat at the table as a non-voting member. One Ellis County commission and the county administrator also are on the board in a similar fashion. Schwaller was not present at the Aug. 6 work session.
“Unfortunately, we give them the money and they do not answer to us. They answer to a board that we have some members of, but it’s not like we control the board or anything,” Meier said during the work session.