Grow Hays director discusses the economics of water rights in NW Kan.

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams discusses the ongoing battle over the water rights from the R9 Ranch and the economic impacts.

Grow Hays, other area agencies submit budget requests to local governments

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams discusses the annual local government budget request process for Grow Hays and other area agencies.

Grow Hays e-community programs helps entrepreneurs achieve goals

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays James Robben, Director of Business Development and Special Projects, shares information about the E-Community program.

Grow Hays director shares area project updates

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates on area projects.

Grow Hays 2022 annual report out now

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams discusses the Grow Hays 2022 Annual Report.

Grow Hays Pitch It event generates entrepreneurial ideas

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams discusses the recent Pitch It event and the effect of entrepreneurship in northwest Kansas.

Grow Hays’ ’Pitch It’ event to encourage area entrepreneurship

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams share information about entrepreneurship in the area as they prepare for the next Pitch It event.

Grow Hays shares housing, microfactory project updates

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates on major Grow Hays projects.

Grow Hays annual report highlights Ellis County economic activity in 2022

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about their soon-to-be-released annual report.

STAR bonds: Grow Hays director discusses concept and implementation

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares STAR bonds and potential uses in Ellis County.

Schmidt Foundation donates $500,000 to Grow Hays Microfactory

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about recent donations to the Microfactory project and their importance to the area.

Grow Hays director discusses the city of Hays’ Braun property plan

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams discusses the City of Hays Braun property plan. 

Grow Hays director discusses grant funding

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about grant funding.

Latest Grow Hays project to bring additional housing; new community center to Hays

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about The Grove.

Grow Hays exec. director discusses recently released building permit data

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams discusses recently released building permit data from Hays in 2022.

Grow Hays director discusses tax increases in Ellis Co.

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about raising property tax rates in Ellis County.

Grow Hays’ Williams looks ahead to 2023

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates on what 2023 will bring to Ellis County.

As 2022 draws to a close Grow Hays director reflects on projects

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams recaps Ellis County development projects in 2022.

Grow Hays’ latest RHID presented to USD 489 Board of Education

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays, Executive Director Doug Williams shares information about an RHID planned for downtown Hays.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Grow Hays, Executive Director Doug Williams recently presented before the Hays Board of Education about and RHID planned for downtown Hays, he stops by to share some of the details on that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Michael Graham rentals, proposing or is going to put in a apartment complex that fourth and fourth right behind the old Washington School location 33 or 36 units and he had applied to the city for a row housing incentive district incentive. And on July 28, the City Commission approved that and then it goes to a veto period for 30 days for the school district or the county can veto that act and stop that from happening. And so we're on the homestretch of that veto period and should be finalized like next week, and then he'll be free to start construction down there to get some much needed housing going in. Hayes. Very good.
 
James Bell 
I like to hear that. Do you expect any of these? Well, first, maybe we want to talk about this? Why do you have to go to the school board and the county for that? Why can't he just take care. But well, the way
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
incentives work and the myths, I think a lot of people don't understand exactly how it works, a lot of a lot of people have the impression that it takes away the part of their tax dollars go to pay for these quote unquote, incentives. And that's really not the case, what it what it does, it allows the developer to recover some of his development costs, through the property taxes, he pays going into the future. So each year, the owner of these properties will pay property tax just like everybody else, but a portion of that will be routed back to them to pay for some of the street improvements, the underground, you know, sewer, water, electric, some of those kinds of things, that they can recover some of their costs on that through a portion of those tax dollars. The reason the city, the county and the school district participate in this process is because they're all affected by it. If if this incentive was not granted, they would get a portion of those property taxes that he would pay on an ongoing basis. So they have to say, Okay, we believe that the benefit of the additional housing is better for the community, then the property taxes we might receive on this project, not to mention the fact that without those type of incentives, the project probably wouldn't be done. So there's the trade off and kind of the bet that most governments make is that we are betting that we're going to this is going to happen, and in the long run, we're going to get our property taxes from it. And it's going to add much needed housing. And we're willing to give up a little bit along the way to make that happen.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. Do you expect any of those boards to take issue? I know you I'd say you've been in front of the school board already? Do you? Do you see any? Anybody saying no, I
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
think I think they understand the need, I think they understand that the impact of them is really doesn't exist, it's not going to hurt their current budget. In the long run, they're going to get additional tax dollars from this asset that is developed in the community. So I don't anticipate any issue from from either of those organizations.
 
James Bell 
Yet, really, I don't know. You know, as you talk about these, it sounds like it's a win win win. Everybody takes out of this deal. It's just delaying a little bit of tax revenue. I don't know why. Because it is sometimes contentious, when you set up an Rh ID or a program like this, people have that misconception that somehow they're paying extra taxes for it. Right?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
They do. And I think it is a win win. But you know, there are rules and regulations that have to be met their statutory UL requirements to get one of these, one of them being a housing study, in the case of an Rh ID, you have to have a housing study that shows you have a need for housing. Because not only is the you know, the local taxing entities are not receiving some dollars, but some of the state dollars are not generated. Some of your property tax that goes to the state is not generated in some cases. And so they have some requirements where you have to show a need, the Secretary of Department of Commerce has to sign off on these things. And then they you know, the local taxing organizations have to look it has to meet some criteria for them to so it's not like they're given willy nilly to just anybody that applies. They do have to meet some requirements. And in the long run, it is good. But there obviously are are those who don't feel any incentives or an order that nobody should ever get any incentives because maybe well, I didn't get any. But the case may be there's you didn't ask for any now they're available to anybody that wants to apply for him. Anybody that's willing to go out and do and invest, I believe the projected number that was put on the application for this apartment complex was three and a half to $4 million. Anybody that wants to go out and do that is more than welcome to apply for these incentives. And, and I'm sure that they would be looked upon favorably by the governing bodies.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, it's really all about just developing what we need. Because we've talked time and time again, there is a massive need for housing here in Ellis County, and, and far beyond. But definitely here, notice County,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
we certainly have a large need in Ellis County. Sometimes these are the things you know, development costs are extremely high. And in order to make it work financially, for somebody willing to put up that amount of money, and they've got to get some incentives anywhere they can.
 
James Bell 
You know, on the flip side of this something else we've talked about, it's been in the news pretty recently, the microfactory project, I hear you have some, some updates there as well,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
we are moving along, although you don't see it on the surface. But plans have been finalized. Architects are working with all the various entities that they have to work with mechanical engineers, structural engineers, civil engineers, all of the things that are going on to get that going. We're anticipating a groundbreaking sometime in October. And so we're excited about that with completion sometime by end of year 2023. And so we're eager to get going on the construction we're talking with, we've talked to half a dozen potential tenants in the building that may have an interest. And that's great, because we definitely want to use it as the incubator, it's supposed to be for manufacturers. And so we're making headway, it just never happens as fast as you would like. And we also are going to be in front of the City Commission asking for some industrial revenue bonds to help with that project that allows the developer which in this case, is gro Hayes to avoid the sales tax on the materials that are purchased to construct the facility, and then potentially a property tax abatement for a period of time to try and help us get on our feet with that project, get some tenants in place, and get it operating at a financial break even point, which is what our goal is also, the project, as you may recall, it's about a three and a half to $4 million project, the base grant from the state of Kansas was 2.6 million. So we're 900,000 to a million dollars short, we did get a nice donation of the land from Heart of America, but we still got a deficit that we're going to have to either raise some funds, or we're going to have to borrow that money. And obviously, it's important that we have some means to pay that back over the life of the building. And so we can get it going. So you'll anybody who watches the activities of the City Commission and and that kind of thing will see that application coming forward pretty quickly.
 
James Bell 
For a building like that is there a lot of extra considerations you have to take to get that facility up and running, I'm just imagining all of the industrial efforts that are going to be going on in there probably require a little bit different layout and structure than a traditional commercial building
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
about a zillion when you're talking about a structure like that, that's going to be focused on manufacturers, all kinds of other considerations come into play things like getting product in and out of the building, you know, raw materials in and then finished goods out? Where are you going to store them on site? How thick does a concrete floor need to be? Because how heavy is the equipment that's going to be in there? How tall do the ceilings need to be? What type of electrical capacity do you need? Are there any specific heating and cooling and air handling situations that go on, it just goes on and on. And it's been I've been around the residential construction, pretty much all my adult life, but not a whole lot of commercial, but particularly industrial construction. And it has been an eye opener for me just a lot of things that I never would have thought that you had to consider and people that you would have to involve. And that's one of the reasons why it's expensive. You have to do things a lot differently. You have a lot more engineering expertise that you have to bring into the into the mix. And so it's complicated.
 
James Bell 
You know, you mentioned you were talking to some organizations that might be interested in moving in there. I wonder, you know, is that is out quickly, is it going to be ready once the the facility is up and running? Are you going to be able to move those guys in immediately or is it going to be a little bit of a waiting period as you set up for those individuals?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Not really sure but our goal is To have these people pounding on the door wanting to get in and operating, when by the time it's finished, that's one of the luxuries we have, you know, we've got basically a year to year and a half here to find tenants find tenants that have similar type operations, one of the ongoing challenges will be one manufacturer is a kind of a dirty process generates a lot of hazardous smoke or whatever in their process next door to and I'll use an extreme example here, I don't anticipate this, but somebody who's doing microchips, you know, you you can't cohabitate with somebody having a dirty process with somebody doing a very clean process. So we think that, that our challenge is not going to be to find tenants, because I think we're going to have lots of people interested, it's going to be matching up those tenants in a compatible way that don't cause each other problems.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, I'm curious, you know, can you kind of alleviate those concerns with construction, or is that something that's just gonna have to be like, oh, you know, what, you have to pass on some organizations, maybe,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
depending on the organization and the kind of the opportunity that they pose, we may be able to deal with some of it through construction, you know, separation walls, or something like that. I think you and I have talked before, my original thought was, there would be these individual spaces with walls all the way and this would be your space, and this would be your space. But in talking with the experts in manufacturing, there are no walls planned to be inside that building, it will be open, you will have your space, you will do your thing here. But the guy next to you, you know, I don't know if it's a Wk RP in Cincinnati piece of yellow tape on the floor that you don't cross this space. And but there will be designated space for each operation. And they will, they will operate that space. And so things like air handling and the type of processes they're going through become critical to make sure those are compatible.
 
James Bell 
Okay. You know, we've got just a couple minutes left, you've got some events coming up at gro Hayes I think we want to talk about right,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
we do we have our think like an entrepreneur class, which starts on September 14, that's an eight week course it will be taught by Chris Munch. And always a good course, always a lot of fun, and always very worthwhile to anybody. You've been a past participant and and anybody who has an interest in owning and operate their own business, I would highly recommend it, I think we've got an early bird special for 100 bucks prior to September 1, to sign up. And after that, it's like 150 bucks, we feed you eight meals, you know, we feed you every time. So for the price of entry is just really cheaper than what you could eat for for that. And all the content is basically free if you look at it that way. And it's really good. And then we have our quarterly luncheon coming up on September 7, at Breece base where we're going to be calling Belzer, the assistant city manager and myself, we're going to be talking about the housing study that was conducted by the city of Hayes and came out in June. So a couple things going on in the near future.
 
James Bell 
Very cool, very exciting stuff. And if you want to find out more about those events, we'll get signed up for that class and information available on your website,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
website, Facebook page, call us, whatever you want to do, because we're we got a lot of ways to get that information. And we'd love to see a lot of people in the class and obviously a lot of people in the in the quarterly lunch and I think we've got 40 signed up already for that we got a capacity of about 45 So if you if you have an interest in coming call us to reserve a spot
 
James Bell 
very good. You will also have the Zoom meeting link available right
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
put the zoom out there on our website and on Facebook. So if if somebody can't make it down, you can certainly join us on Zoom and and ask questions on Zoom. So join us that way if you can't be there in person

Hays housing report to be released soon, discussed at Grow Hays Quarterly Luncheon

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about a Hays housing report.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
James Bell 
A housing study completed earlier this summer in Hays is about to be released and an upcoming Grow Hays quarterly luncheon will share some of those results. Executive Director Doug Williams stops by to give us a preview on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
We're gonna have our quarterly luncheon it's gonna the topic is going to be this housing study will be on September 6, September the sixth the day after Labor Day.
 
James Bell 
Okay, very good. A lot of interesting stuff in here. And I don't think we're gonna get to even a fraction of it. But maybe I think maybe a good way to start is what's uh, what's the overview? Is it good news, bad news. So how we look at?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, I think it tells us what we already know that we have housing shortage in Ellis County or in Hayes. This is specific to Hayes, but it extends beyond Hayes and Ellis County. And it just kind of verifies that it talks about how we compare to other communities. We're certainly not alone with the our housing woes in Ellis County. But it also tells us why we have housing prices like they are which are higher than they maybe should be. But also, more importantly, looking forward, it tells us that what i The biggest thing I glean out of it is it tells us what we need to be building per year, at certain growth levels in our community. And the fact that we have put ourselves in a deficit of the number of housing units that we have, and how many we need to build on an ongoing basis.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, that was one of the things that I was under is trying to find it in here. Because it's you know, it's a 50 page document. But I was trying to find the numbers, that it really it did seem like if we don't get on it now, and I know a lot of people are working on this, but we're going to be it's going to be a growing problem. If you don't take action now, which we've talked about over and over and over again in the segment, the actions come and it's just slower than we want,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
why it's slower than it than we can afford it to be, is the problem at 1% growth. The city of Hays needs 88 new units per year. We haven't built 88 units in a year, we got close, I believe in back in 2013. Since then, we've been in the 25 to 40 range per year, which has created this deficit that we have, which I talk about from time to time, you know, we've got a three to 400 unit deficit in this community in terms of housing units, and that's single family residences, apartments and that kind of thing. And I have people all the time to me, Doug, you're crazy, there's no way that we're three to 400 units short, but the reality is we are. And what's that's resulted in is missed opportunity. We've had people that maybe wanted to move to this community or would move to this community, but haven't because we don't have sufficient housing. And then we have people living in substandard housing, that they really shouldn't be living in. And if they had alternatives, they would choose not to live in that housing. So you couple those two things together the missed opportunity, as well as the people living where they maybe shouldn't, as well as housing be more expensive than it should be. All of that is a function of supply and demand. And we don't have enough supply. And we have the demand for it. So we put ourselves in a tough spot. And we've chosen the worst time in the history of construction to try and work our way out of this problem. So it's a challenge, but we just have to figure out how to overcome it.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, one of the conversations I hear pretty regularly and this taken us out of the survey a little bit, but over and Victoria, about the right size, they've had a lot of seniors in big houses for five bedroom houses that would love to be in a smaller setting. But they don't have anywhere to go and they don't want to leave Victoria. So they're stuck in these houses. And then the families don't have the opportunity to move in and no constructions really going on in a large scale anywhere over there.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Right that that real problem in smaller communities. And appropriate housing is another thing that this this housing study tells us that retiree friendly housing, more affordable housing on the lower end, both are in strong demand. And we've got to figure out ways to meet that. Now fortunately, the one opportunity exists the state of Kansas has come out with some programs that are focused on communities 8000 And under, where they have some grants and that type of thing. And we're going to we're working on trying to figure out how we take advantage of those. But the other challenge is is builders and subcontractors that can can meet the demand. We these guys are as busy as they can be. They're They're backed up for months. And so the thought process of going in and starting new construction, when a framer may not be available or the electricians are backed up and that kind of thing. Make it a challenging building environment as well, whether it's in Hayes or Ellis or Victoria, or wherever, but we just we just got to figure out a way. You know,
 
James Bell 
one of the other things that I thought was interesting in this is the the financial bet. And I mean that by household income to housing. And I wonder if you can speak to that a little bit? Or are we out of whack in that department as well? Or are we okay, here, no one's counting for that.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Now, we're housing is too expensive here relative to median family income. And so that's a problem. We don't have enough housing that is priced appropriately for the level of income that we have, and in many cases, so that's a struggle, that's also a function of supply and demand. You know, you can go back to that. And, you know, you I, I chuckled, when I sometimes read in social media that, you know, the realtors have driven the price up on houses, that's the most ridiculous thing you could ever think because they don't, they don't set the
 
James Bell 
price to say yeah, like, well, they don't have any control over that, really, it's what people are going to pay. It's
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
the marketplace and supply and demand. And while we would like to think that that's not the case, it is. And until we add more supply to the market, this demand is going to drive prices up. Now, we've had another outside factor that's affecting our market as well. And that's interest rates have risen considerably over the last six months to a year. And that's making affordability more difficult as well, making new construction more difficult. And so just one more thing we have to deal with and try and overcome.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, you mentioned the interest rates. And that is something else I wanted to get into today, we heard a little bit on the news this morning. And our news breaks, there was a study come out or story by the New York Times, and they were highlighting the drop in the sales because of the interest rate. And it looks like I've got the number here. 5.9%. Last month, home sales dropped. And that's a national number. But I wonder how much of that is actually impacting local sales and real estate.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
What is and talking to local realtors, you know, last February, I think we had as low as maybe 10 homes on the market. Now it's more in the 40 to 50 range, I think. So that's a function of interest rates, certain people get priced out of the market, the challenge is they have to live someplace. And so they're just priced out of maybe buying a home. But that puts additional pressure on the rental market. And we have not added many new units to the rental market. We do have a project there St. Joseph school, you know, that's going on. And Michael Graham is putting in 36 units down behind the old Washington School, those will be rental units added to the market, we have a duplex here, a duplex there that are being added. And so that helps somewhat, but we haven't had anybody build a complex in our community for a long, long time, like what Michael Graham is doing, or even, we are talking to a couple of developers outside the community that are considering larger complexes, 80 to 200 units, which would be great. But they face the same challenges, they've got to find people to build them. And then they have to be able to build them at a price point where they can make it work. And unfortunately, that with construction costs where they are, that's difficult to do too. So there are no magic bullets. And there's no silver bullets in this situation. It's a challenge.
 
James Bell 
You know, I'm curious, why don't we have more of those in Hayes hour and Ellis County, I would think, you know, I can think of two or three of those larger apartment units. But how can we have just built those over the years, like you see in some other especially I think college towns,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I think it's a function of the willingness for local developers, local builders to take on that level of a project, you know, a couple 100 units, you're talking, it's costing 150,000 plus per unit to build right now, some big muscle, if you're gonna build 100 units, that's $15 million, you're gonna build 200 units, that's $30 million at $150 per doors, that is the terminology they use in the industry. And there just aren't many local developers investors willing to take on that level of, of risk and that level of a project. And outside investors typically are leery of communities our size, we think we're larger community, college town, that kind of thing. But they're looking at Wichita, Kansas City and that type, you know, Lawrence, Manhattan, even for those type of projects, we have a hard time attracting outside investment. And so that combination makes it the fact that we just don't see many of them in our community. We don't see any of them in the last long period of time.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, so I you know, I'm curious, we get it. We talked about the problems. Wait, how do we how do we move forward? How do we use the data that's in this the survey to push us into where we need to be?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, we have to have an organization, you know, part of our responsibility that I view is is driving Housing, Construction, driving things and understanding the programs that exist that the city, the county, the school district can offer like RH IDs, and some of these moderate income housing grant programs, and utilizing those tools, towards the construction of property and finding land, and property owners that are willing to sell at a price that will make these things feasible. We're working on as I said, we've got probably three or four different projects, I guess, I wouldn't even call them projects, I call them concepts, that at various locations around the community that that really, we would like to make happen. We're working with potential developers. But you know, of those three or four we're working on, if we get one to happen, it would be a great because they're challenging, they're, they're expensive, and they're hard to make work financially. Also working with not for profits, like heart of America and what they did at Easter, the technical college, that's that's a win win the the ultimate winner in that scenario are the people that are living out there, the homeowner, and we need to utilize not for profits, if we can for maybe apartment construction, where the ultimate winner is the tenant? You know, that's the type of construction we need to focus on. And we are it's just, it's just complicated.
 
James Bell 
Sure. You know, we talked a little bit about the nonprofit's before we want to honor on air as well helping out with them. I wonder if you want to share the What's that? What's the role in those organizations? Like we've talked about a heart of America with your 22nd, Wheatland development, you know, how much are they going to be able to drive this in the coming years,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
they need to be a part of it, they can't be the total solution, but they need to be part of it. You know, those organizations that are dedicated to community good, and are not necessarily profit motivated? You know, I look at, we've got an opportunity here, we've got outside investors who come in, and they're pretty much their motivation is profit. They want to make money, I get that that's, that's great. Well, I wouldn't be in business for long if you didn't, right. But the profits they do make, where do they go, they leave the community, the long term profits that they make, when they sell or whatever, they leave the community. And then you've got local investors, who they're, they're out this, they're in this to make a profit as well, again, that's good. And the good news there is the the operating profits and the long term profits that they make, they stay in the community, they buy cars, they buy furniture, they spend their money locally, that's great. And then you got the not for profits, who are not in this to make money, they're in this for community good. And if we can figure out ways to assist them with some of these programs, and if they're willing to take on some risk and projects, that can be a part of the solution as well. And we're absolutely working with those organizations like Heart of America, and trying to make some of these things happen.
 
James Bell 
When I think it would be true as well, that those local developers, those local nonprofits, they're going to have a lot more interest in hiring local contractors, people locally, they can actually make the project come off the ground.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Sure. I mean, they're focused on the community, they're focused on community good, and, and that's great for the community, they can't be that they can't be the only solution. They just need to be part of it. And so that's what we're trying to do.
 
James Bell 
You know, how much of this also is, is just finding that help finding those people to do that
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
work? Well, that's a big part of it right? Now. We hope we work our way out of that. And, you know,
 
James Bell 
we build the houses, then we get more workers, then we can build the houses,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
right? I mean, it's one of those kinds of deals, but we're gonna fight that for a few years here. I think I don't think there's any quick fixes to that. You know, everybody always says, we'll just get somebody come out of town to do that, you know, framing company from out of town. It's not that simple, because they're all busy where they're at, too. And there's, there's there's a lot of demand. But bit by bit, I think we can work ourselves out of this situation. We can add units to the marketplace. But it has to be a proactive thing. We do we did. It clearly has not happened on its own, just with the marketplace supplying this. We've got to be more forthright in our efforts to make this happen. Because just waiting for the market to correct itself has not worked yet. So we've got to we've got to force some things to happen.
 
James Bell 
Okay. Well, Dave, we've got just about a minute left. Before we got to get over the news. But you can hear more about this at the quarterly luncheon. I wonder if you want to share with everybody like what do they need to do if they want to get involved and hear more about this at that event? Well, we're
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
going to post this study on our website at grow hayes.com For one thing, so they can go out there and read it and we'll put it out on our Facebook page. And then the quarterly luncheons, they're open to the public, we just ask that you call our office and And RSVP. So we know how many people to get food for. We can handle about 40 to 45 people. So once we fill up, we do fill up, but we ask that you do RSVP, you know, call our office to reserve a spot and, and we'd love to have a good cross section call and Belzer assistant city manager is going to be doing part of the presentation. I'm going to pitch in on some of the things that we're doing. So it should be pretty interesting, and we'd love to get feedback from it.
 
James Bell 
Do you still do the online portion of that as well?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
We will we will do a zoom deal that we'll put out there and our website and Facebook page if some people want to attend the Zoom