By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The five men running for three open positions on the Hays City Commission agreed on two things during their 90-minute public forum Tuesday night in Fort Hays State University’s Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center.
Incumbents Ron Mellick and Henry Schwaller IV, along with newcomers Michael Berges, Mason Ruder and Ryan Rymer all said they love the community of Hays and want to give back to the town and its residents by serving on the city commission.
Each candidate also declared the need for affordable housing to be a top concern.
Written questions from the audience of about 75 people were read by Dr. Jay Steinmetz, FHSU political science assistant professor.
One of the first questions asked the candidates to name the biggest problem facing the city and how they would fix it.
Their answers varied but each included a mention of affordable housing.
Ruder, the Ellis County Environmental Planning Supervisor, grew up in Hays. Like many young people, he left for awhile to live and work in a bigger city – Kansas City. Then Ruder returned to Hays start a family.
“Our biggest issue we need to tackle is finding ways to retain young people in Hays. Affordable, moderately-priced housing is part of that,” Ruder said, “and working with developers, realtors, Grow Hays.
“We have a bunch of resources available to us to bring in some of these potentially new developments to let the students and the younger people plant roots right here in town.”
Ruder said he struggled to find a house in his price range but “got lucky with what I found. It was a difficult, difficult process.”
He also believes the city should help sustain local businesses and encourage entrepreneurship to help support the economy and retain young residents.
Rymer, an ER nurse at Russell Regional Hospital, told the audience he had done a “search of homes in Hays looking at middle-income housing, which to me was about $200,000 on down to about $150,000 for entry-level folks. I only found two that had been made in the last 20 years.
“If we are to remain competitive and attractive for young people to move to and, when they get done with college here, to not want to leave, we have to look for ways to make housing more economically affordable.
“The city’s parks, with the upcoming addition of the accessible recreation complex, and our blossoming Main Street are amazing, so we’ve got to do other things to help accommodate” people in Hays, Rymer said.
“I’m going to turn the question around and ask what’s the biggest opportunity for Hays,” said Berges, a financial advisor.
Although he sees a lot of opportunities for people living in Hays no matter their stage of life, “we have a kind of wage stagnation with very little opportunity for growth which comes down to a greater problem in affordable housing.”
Berges estimates 80 percent of Hays residents are spending 30 percent of their income on housing, whether rent or mortgage, and says “that’s not affordable housing.”
It’s also not unusual for those raising a family in Hays to be spending another 20 to 30 percent of their income on daycare, according to Berges.
He suggested leaning on Grow Hays and similar organizations to attract higher-paying jobs to town.
The two incumbents approached concerns about affordable housing a little differently.
Schwaller owns more than 150 properties in Hays as president of Henry Schwaller and Associates. He is also a management instructor at FHSU.
“If we’re going to continue to grow, we’re going to have to invest in the fundamentals,” said Schwaller.
“We’re going to have to retain and grow existing businesses and encourage startups. We have to build houses for the people who work here. We’re going to have to make sure we’re creating jobs that are high-skill and high-wage.”
Schwaller pointed out the many employable FHSU and NCK Tech College graduates who “can find jobs that fit right into our economy, and that is a spot we are missing.”
Mellick, a self-employed floor covering installer, referenced the declining population of western Kansas, saying “we need them. They rely on us for services and we rely on them for shopping.”
The city’s general fund is financed primarily by a half-cent retail sales tax.
“I do believe affordable housing would keep a lot of people in our community and in western Kansas,” Mellick said.
“But land prices here in Hays are so high you can’t have affordable housing because affordable housing starts with affordable land prices.”
According to Mellick, the city has many areas that could be developed “but to get those land prices down so we can put in affordable housing is going to be very, very difficult.”
A perennial topic of debate in Hays is traffic roundabouts and their inclusion in the North Vine Street Corridor Improvement Project.
Berges, Ruder and Rymer all said they understand the increased safety and driving convenience but question the roundabouts’ locations in the proposed design.
Schwaller has previously expressed his opposition to the configuration as presented to the city commission. Mellick continues to support the project.
Each candidate stressed the importance of fostering a good relationship between the governing bodies of Hays and Ellis County.
As a county employee, Ruder often works with city department heads.
“We’re currently working on redesigning the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (three-mile zone) around Hays to better suit both the county and the city,” Ruder noted.
Mellick and Schwaller talked about the currently shared services and resources between Hays and Ellis County including law enforcement, emergency medical service, a mutual aid fire agreement and fire training and occasional roadwork.
The city has also written letters of support for the Northwest Business Corridor, proposed improvements to 230th Avenue and Feedlot Road to complete the U.S. 183 bypass around Hays.
“We have an open dialogue,” Mellick said, “and will keep the lines of communication open.”
Although there are many opportunities to work together, “the county is working on getting ahold of their budget and figuring out their revenue sources for the future,” Schwaller said. “Because they’re focused on that, it’d be difficult for us to says let’s work on this together.”
Ellis County residents will vote on a proposed sales tax increase in April. If approved, the city of Hays would receive a portion of the sales tax revenue.
“As Hays goes, Ellis County goes,” Berges said. “I know Victoria and Ellis residents don’t want to hear that.”
Acknowledging that the county’s budget work comes first, Berges added “it is important that we work with our county commissioners and our county employees from a city level.”
“We are just one city in the county,” Rymer said, “and we owe it to the citizens of our county to be able to assist it and augment it in any way possible. We’re all in this together.”
Rymer and Ruder both believe joint commission meetings should be conducted for large projects such as the Northwest Business Corridor. In light of the county’s budget difficulties, Ruder also suggested the city should consider providing financial support to the project.
“It’s going to be a good thing for the city in the long run,” said Ruder.
The audience also asked questions about downtown Hays revitalization, subsidizing Safe Ride, recycling, and long-term water supply problems and solutions.
In their closing statements, each candidate encouraged Hays residents to vote in the Nov. 5 election. Advance voting began Monday.
The top two city commission candidates will serve for four years, while the third-place vote-getter will serve for two years.
Tuesday’s forum was organized by the FHSU Student Government Association, American Democracy Project, the Department of Political Science and Tiger Media Network along with the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce and the Docking Institute of Public Affairs.