The Post Podcast

Hays Chamber Golf Tourney set for Friday

On this episode of the Post Podcast president and CEO of the Hays Chamber Sarah Wasinger, along with president and CEO of the First Care Clinic share information about the upcoming Chamber Golf Tournament.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Hays Chamber is putting the final touches on their golf tournament set for Friday, President and CEO of the Hays chamber Sarah Wasinger, along with President and CEO of First Care Clinic, Bryan Brady, join us to talk about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
So this week is like the week. It's golf tournament week, which also means it's our silent auction week. And we have her scare clinic who is sponsoring that silent auction this year for us. And we are so excited about that, because it helps us do a lot of nice things, including showcase all of the wonderful auction items that have been donated by our chamber member businesses, and even a few non chamber member businesses. Because this is the one event every year that we allow those folks to participate in our events as well.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. No, I do want to get this out of the way. You sold out on the golf tournament. Right? We have but your team's 30 teams. Oh my goodness, that's a lot to manage. But you've still got tickets for the patio party, right?
 
Sarah Wasinger 
We do. Okay, great. Do so the cool thing about that is tickets are $25 each, it comes with a fiesta taco bar. Let me get that right. So it's literally a day after Cinco Demayo. So we thought that might be a fun play on what's going on. And then we also have a margarita that comes with that too. So you can get to enjoy a margarita out on the patio, some tacos, and have a chance to play the Plinko board. And that Plinko board will come with some great prizes too. So we have anything from T shirts to nice coffee cups to some sunglasses, you name it, you can win it.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Very cool. I love that. And you know, honestly, when we've talked about this a little bit, what an exciting event for the community to be able to get together and really celebrate businesses and everything else going on.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Exactly. So we, of course are excited to have we do have a special guest just dropped in. How are you, sir? Construction?
 
James Bell 
You timed that perfectly? You Oh, yes. What a mess right there at that intersection? Oh, my goodness, I have to do that every day. It's terrible. How are you sir?
 
Bryan Brady 
I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
So Brian Brady is the president CEO at first care clinic. And as we shared, they are our sponsor for our silent auction this year. So Brian, tell us a little bit about you guys. And what you offer at first Care Clinic real quick. we'll segue into that.
 
Bryan Brady 
Sure. So first Care Clinic is what we call a federally qualified health center. And what that means is we take care of everybody regardless of their ability to pay regardless of their insurance status. And we're really proud to do that. And grateful we can do it for the AES community.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
And they've been a well, well trusted chamber member for quite some time now. So and Brian actually also serves on our chamber board of directors. Next year, he will be our board chair. Oh, very cool. Excited
 
 
about that, for sure.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
So, Brian, you guys obviously are playing I think I'm a golf tournament too, right?
 
Bryan Brady 
Yes, I've played in that. Almost every year since I've been in Hays. It's such a great event. We have a great time. And looks like we'll get to great weather tomorrow or Friday as well. Yeah, we
 
Sarah Wasinger 
were looking at that and very excited knock on knock on wood. So one thing that is fun of note, we actually kicked off the Auction yesterday. So ours is a little unique. We start that on Monday morning at 8am. And then that online auction will run until Friday at 3pm. So we actually had the auction link that will go out today in our newsletter, but it can also be accessed online. So feel free to contact us at the Chamber if you have any issues getting onto that link.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. And what what an amazing assortment of items during that auction
 
Sarah Wasinger 
over $13,000. And we're actually getting closer to $14,000 as we speak and shut up. Ah, we're adding a few things here at the last minute. Love it.
 
James Bell 
We're talking about some of the things I'm looking at the list and I figured you would
 
Sarah Wasinger 
come to my office because it looks like the auction actually blew up in there. And it's very fun. We have a plethora of gift certificates from our chamber member restaurants and obviously some good eat options there. So you have to feed your family. So you might as well go online and check. Check those out for sure. Absolutely. One of the other things that we're really excited about is we got a ridiculous amount of coolers this year. And they're also interesting in their own right so we have a couple of Gatorade slash KJ hot coolers, and those were donated by Pepsi Cola. I've got a fully stocked Coleman cooler that is full of neat swag items from five broadband 60 cord Polaris Northstar cooler that was donated by BLS motorsports. And then we've also got some tools, speakers, adult food, beverage and food baskets. So those are really neat because you can kind of buy those. Maybe Mother's Day gifts. Think of Mother's Day.
 
James Bell 
Is that coming up soon? It's I'm just kidding.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Well, the nice thing about our auction is of course we bring all of our items to Smoky Hill Country Club, because many of our golfers do bid on those. And so whether you come to the chamber office throughout this week to look at those items through noon on Thursday or if Do you want to come down to Smoky Hill Country Club and peruse those? You sure can. But you can pick up the items after we close the auction at three o'clock. So you would have them technically in plenty of time to celebrate Mother's Day. Very cool. We have some unique experiences this time around as well. And we were very excited. President and Mason fhsu has provided a dinner for for at her home. We also have for fhsu All sport general admission tickets for the 2020 to 2023 football and basketball seasons. A couple of new ones that we are offering from the chamber this year include our 2023 chamber banquet dessert sponsor. And you might be asking, what is that Sara? Well, you get two tickets to attend the event. We're going to put you in the program, you'll get plenty of advertising leading up to the event and after the event. And what that sponsorship does is allow the chamber to help offset the costs of the dessert at the event.
 
James Bell 
So neat idea.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
I love it. Yeah. So Rhonda came up with that one. So it was a
 
James Bell 
Rhonda. That was a little bit sooner.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
That's It's amazing Sandra kudos. And then we're also going to have a couple of tickets that are VIP tickets actually for the 2022 Wild West fest. So very exciting for that. And then another unique item that we're offering for next year is going to be our 2023 Plinko patio party cocktail sponsor. We've gotten a lot of good feedback already that folks are excited to have a cocktail out on the patio with their meal on Friday. And so we're going to of course, as well give that opportunity that will come with a couple of tickets to attend next year's event. Awesome. Brian, are there any items that you plan on bidding on?
 
Bryan Brady 
I haven't looked through the auction yet. But don't tell my wife there's an auction.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Okay. I'm gonna just Facebook message earlier that
 
James Bell 
sounds like you just found your next Plinko patio pot party cocktail sponsor right there.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
We also have a couple of other awesome items, we have some men's and women's Oakley sunglasses that are donated by EMI specialists associated and Hatton Montero family eyecare has also donated a pair of designer glasses that are Kate young brand. And then you can also bid on different items that are related golf like haste municipal golf course has a round of four for golf. So just want to make sure that people go online, we have some pictures uploaded. And we do have descriptions of each of the items there. I'm starting bids are open, of course right now. And then we have, you can set a max bid if you want. So let's just say you're not good at keeping up with stuff. You can put what you're willing to pay for it. And then as long as no one else bids more than that. You can actually technically be the winner
 
James Bell 
meet. Yeah, I think so many groups that do the do auctions ahead to move it online. So I think everybody at this point had a little bit of experience with an online auction. But
 
Sarah Wasinger 
I think the chamber was kind of a trailblazer in that they've been doing the online format for quite some time since the start of the tournament. So and then of course want to give a shout out to Avalon of Hayes. They are also our big sponsor for our Plinko patio party.
 
James Bell 
Yay. Thanks to them. Yeah,
 
Sarah Wasinger 
next Tech wireless, where would we be without them? There are the actual tournament sponsors so grateful for everything that they do to help us and put on a successful event. And then a final shout out to our ambassador team. And they've gone above and beyond and helping us get some prizes for the raffle for the auction and all those other cool things.
 
James Bell 
Very cool really takes a village to put this thing together. Huh, it does. So
 
Sarah Wasinger 
we've been planning this event since probably February. And I think everyone's ready for a good afternoon to relax and enjoy the day. It's here. It's here it is here.
 
James Bell 
Alrighty, well, we've got just about a minute or so left any other events going on. And this is probably taking the bulk of your week up. But I would imagine get ready for this.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
So for the remainder of this week until noon on Thursday, we are still celebrating childcare provider Appreciation Week. And so we still have probably about 25 appreciation backs and a handout. So if you didn't make it down yesterday, please feel free to stop by our office. If you're a childcare provider. Obviously you're offering care during the day and you can't get away feel free to send someone on your behalf to get your care package for you. We also have leadership pays tomorrow at 830 at the Welcome Center. We'll be celebrating in the carpentry house at NCQA Technical College on Thursday at 10am. Our H yp networking and Engagement Committee will actually meet at 1205 at the Welcome Center on Thursday. And then of course Friday is Game On work around the country clubs so we won't be in the office the office will be closed

Weekend Setlist May 3, 2022

On this episode of the Weekend Setlist host Jeffery Leiker details events around the Hays area this weekend.

Grow Hays shares project updates with city officals

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates presented to the city of Hays during this week's commission meeting.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Grow Hays can often act as a point of contact for business owners in Ellis County Grow Hays, executive director Doug Williams stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the post podcast. We had the City Commission recap a little bit earlier on the show. And one of the things that came up was user apparently you were at their meeting last time. We're gonna talk a little bit about that today. Right?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
We are and I was there.
 
James Bell 
Good stuff. Well, good and bad. I think Sandy Jacobs told us.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, mine was all good. There was some bad there are some challenges. But yeah, challenges.
 
James Bell 
That's a better word for it. Because I mean, we talked about this all the time. There's there, we all know, there are some opportunities here. And hey, so we've got to take on and also some amazing things going on.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
That is true. And we I wouldn't say that it was all good what I talked about, but most of what I talked about was positive, you know, our microfactory housing, that type of thing. And that there was a group of childcare providers at the at the meeting last night, and Sarah was singer who's leading the childcare Task Force spoke and gave an update and, and childcare is certainly a challenge for our community.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, almost unbelievable numbers that we were hearing this morning about parents in need, and students that are children, I guess that can't find a spot.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
That is true. And it you know, that ties back into much of what we do, which is workforce. And if if one of the parents can't work because they have to stay home with the children, because they either can't find childcare, or it's too expensive for them. That takes out of our workforce. And the task force has done a survey which has identified a large number of people that would go back to work if they had childcare. So it's an issue. We're not unique, you know, like many of these problems. It's all over the country that childcare is a challenge, but particularly I think, Kansas, because we actually have some, some pretty antiquated regulations that limit the number of children that can be taken in certain situations. And that just makes the problem worse. So we have some challenges in that area.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. You know, I we did hear about some of the action and activities that are going on locally to address that problem. I wonder if you have any insight on on the bigger picture, the state level stuff? Or if you've even if they've even really done anything with that in the last few weeks? Well, I
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
think there's discussion. You know, a lot of it comes if you talk to, if you talk to childcare providers, the ratios that they have to maintain based on how many children they can look after, at certain age groups and how that affects. If you take so many infants, she can't take some others. So age, children, just just different things like that, which I think that is being looked at that the state, the Kansas Department of Health and Education, I guess is who supervises that. And when you look at Kansas, compared to many other states, the ratios here are, are pretty prohibitive with, say, the number of infants that the number of providers per infant, I believe it's four to one under 18 months. So if you look at the economic aspect of a daycare center or childcare facility, they can take four infants per employee to provide that service. Well, they can charge, let's just say three bucks an hour. For those for infants, maybe that's $12 an hour, and to hire someone to take care of those kids. And that kind of thing may be more than that, not to mention payroll taxes, and that kind of thing. So it's a it's a broken system, because of these ratios. And I understand, Katie, he they, their primary concern is child's safety as it should be. But there's got to be a happy medium in there someplace. And I think when I last look, Kansas was a one of two states in the United States that had that stringent of a ratio requirement. And so we really, you know, they need to look at that, and I think they are.
 
James Bell 
Okay, well, and I looked forward to see you know, what, what results come out of these discussions and what actual action we can take to alleviate some of this need, because it sounds huge. But I wonder if you want to speak about some of the other updates that you gave the city last night? Well,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I told him about our microfactory project, you know, we got the base grant, and we're proceeding along with the try and get arrangements made architects engaged to get that project started. That of course, is the 30,000 square foot building that we intend to construct at the corner of ninth and commerce Parkway. And it'll be split into either five or six different areas for upcoming or startup manufacturers who we hope to you know, it's to be an incubator for them. They go in there where they operate for three to maybe up to five years, perhaps trying to get their product established and grow their business. And then we roll them out into a facility of their own, and we roll the next guy in. So it's it's one of these deals that will, that will serve as an endowment for our community for a long, long time. And so I explained that to them and what our plans are there. We hope to get started sometime this summer, on the construction of that we have two years to get it constructed in under the terms of the grant we received. But we hope to be up and running well before two years. So we're getting started on that. I talked about housing, we talked about the apartment situation last week, a little bit in terms of the number of apartments that are being constructed in the area right now. And then also discussed the tall grass addition, the fact that there are currently now there are four homes that are owner occupied, they've been completed and the owners have moved in.
 
James Bell 
so fast that didn't happen. I mean, we talked about how long it takes to get these things to happen. But that actually seemed like it happened overnight. It seems like
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
it it was back in, you know, the fall that they started construction on these and, and so they I give the contractors that are building out there all the credit in the world, because they have had to overcome a lot of obstacles.
 
James Bell 
And we heard about some more of those obstacles that are coming, or at least for one of the builders, I think that they said they wouldn't be able to start the next set until July.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, well, yeah, I mean, the if you go out there, and I encourage everybody to do so. There are eight basements that are in the ground right now. But the framer who the contractor uses is tied up on other projects and can't get to it till probably June. And so there they sit for 30 to 45 days, that just adds to the construction time, it just adds to the time that that home is going to be available for somebody to move into. But we've got activity going there's there'll be four completed in the next 30 I actually another six completed in the next 30 days. And then these eight are going to are already started that have basements, the other contractors plan to start another 11 this summer. So that developments going to be built out pretty quickly. I'd say by year end, you're going to see lots and lots of houses out there. Excellent.
 
James Bell 
And that really ended Sandy Jacobs talked a little bit about your I say famous kind of workforce needs pyramid that you go around the community and share. And that's that's the bottom. So to help us kind of get to the spot where we can develop those other things. And that's really something else we want to talk about today. There's been an effort that you guys have made, and really, I think done a great job within the last few months of promoting Hayes's story, and getting people out here. And we talk a lot about this remote workers, they can pick wherever they want to go. And we hope Hayes is one of those places. But I want to talk about that. As your organization grow Hayes's the Economic Development Group, and connections with so many other organizations, I wonder if you want to talk a little bit about someone that maybe is looking at Hayes from the front range of Denver, and they want to start a business here, what resources are available to
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
well, where they're starting place, obviously, if they want to start a business, we have an E community loan program where we can provide funds to a business startup, they have to involve a bank as well. And that and we've we've actually got a couple of we're meeting today on one application for a business analysis. And we will probably be funding a portion of that one. And then we obviously we kind of know where the sites might be available what either space or building site might be available. So we assist them in that regard. And then we can connect them with all the other resources that they may need. The Small Business Development Center on campus can help them with business plans. We can direct them to the northwest Kansas Planning Commission and some of these people who can help them with some SBA loan things. So we're kind of a connector, we if they start with us, which we hope that they do, we can help them find the resources that they need, and show them why Hays is a good place to come if you're going to start up a business, or why Hayes is a good place to come if you just if you're a remote worker, and you can live anywhere you want to live. We've got a great story to tell here.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. You know, I wonder if we want to talk a little bit of the details and some of those other organizations. I know network Kansas is a big one that you guys partner with a lot and I think they provide some of those resources for potential business owners or entrepreneurs as well.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
They do they're a great partner for us. They're a great resource for across the entire state. They do fund are a community loans. So we work with them and if once we have a loan committee local made up of local people, but once we approve a loan, they send us the money to provide to the borrower and integrate new twist on that is that network Kansas was able to get a grant from the Patterson Foundation. And now, up to 20% of what a borrower, the loan amount from us is available to them in in form of a grant. So if some are our loan limit is $45,000, if somebody qualifies, and if they meet the requirements of the of the grant 9000 of that comes back to them as they don't have to repay it. So that's a great deal not to mention the fact that our interest rates are typically around prime rate, so typically going to be lower than they would expect to pay elsewhere. So it's a great program, I encourage anybody that is starting up a business or wants to do an expansion to to contact us on that. And network. Kansas also does our youth entrepreneurship programs. And they sponsor a lot of entrepreneurial activity. So they're a great organization and a great partner.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you mentioned the SBDC, down on the Fort Hays campus. And I wonder if we want to talk about this as well. I think really out here in Hays, we've generated this culture of entrepreneurship, that really, I think kind of maybe starts there on the campus and permeates the entire community. But if you're someone that's looking for that kind of place where you can connect with those folks, Haze is a great place for that right?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Or it is now the campus, obviously, they're they're very focused on entrepreneurship on campus with the Faulkner challenge and and Hanson Hall are both very entrepreneurship focused, the SBDC that's Rick Felton Berger leads that group, and they're very good at helping a person take an idea and getting it on paper, because you know, a bank, they always want to see it on paper, they want to see your business plan. And, you know, I've always said, a business plan is one of those necessary evils of starting a business. Because the second day, you're in business, everything changes, and you can kind of the business plan may not be as appropriate, as applicable, as it was, when you thought you were gonna get started. But it is, it is something you have to do. And Rick does a great job with working with prospective business owners or business owners who are wanting to expand to actually crunch the numbers and put the components of the plan together, so that the bank can look at it and understand what you're trying to accomplish. And, and it's more likely to fund a deal. Very cool.
 
James Bell 
You know, I wonder if somebody out there is listening, and maybe their local, maybe they are out on the front range or somewhere else in the country. But if they're listening, I think and man, I think he's might be a place I want to check out what's the best and easiest way for him to get those economic resources? Is it just calling or checking out websites? Or a little bit of both?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, a little bit of both. But certainly calling our office is where we start. And that's as a connector to these resources, we're going to, we're going to ask him some questions about what they're trying to do and what their resources are and what their background is. And then from that we can direct them into and put them in the right direction, get them in touch with the right people. We don't do it all we do some of it, but we don't do it all. But we do know who does. And that's the key. And we can save people a lot of time and grief, I think if they would call us and allow us to help them connect with the right resources.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, I think about all those business owners that I've known over the years that when they launch their business or launch a new operation anyway, they try to reinvent the wheel. And I think oh my gosh, guys get go to get the help that is out there. That's what it's for.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Yeah, and we don't charge anything. SBDC doesn't charge anything, you know, this is all free stuff. So why not take advantage of the resources that are available to you, and can ensure your success?
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. Well, Doug, I tell you, we've got just about a minute or so left in the thing else that we want to hit on before we go?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, I think, you know, we talk about brief space all the time. But brace space is the microfactory for office workers. You know, we have space down there and it's really going well down there. We do still have space available for some people if they want to come down and check us out. The usage of the facility just keeps getting more and more the meeting rooms and the various our podcast station and all those things that we have for resources for people. So as always come down, check us out. We'll give you a tour and maybe it'd be the right spot for you

Hays City Commission recap: April 29, 2022

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Post reporter Becky Kiser recaps this week's Hays City Commission meeting with city commissioner Sandy Jacobs and city manager Toby Dougherty. 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
city commissioners discussed ongoing opportunities and concerns in pays. At their City Commission meeting this week as Post reporter Becky Kiser recaps that meeting with city manager Toby Dougherty, as well as City Commission member Sandy Jacobs, on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
There were excellent discussions last night Sandy have several things going on and recurring in the city and some situations that perhaps the city can help with. One of them was a report actually an update from gro Hayes, Executive Director, Doug Williams talking about what that organization is doing. And actually Doug will be talking to James a little bit lower or later this morning. So we don't want to steal his thunder. But he did have some really interesting things to talk about housing. And that's something that's been a priority for the city in recent times to get more of it. And it looks like we're in a pretty good place right now.
 
Sandy Jacobs 
The momentum is going in the right direction. I'll say that I don't want anybody to think that we need to stop thinking about it. Because there's so much going on, but grow Hayes has and I won't steal his thunder either, because it was the kind of a good news bad news night last night. And he certainly had good news on everything. The housing that's going on in the Tallgrass second edition, the RFID. We did last night, the other buildings that are going up, I think Toby checked how many actual were in construction recently, it was over 100
 
Toby Dougherty 
Your construction and or permitting were about 160 units. Wow,
 
Sandy Jacobs 
that's a big deal. That is a very big deal. And so the we're answering it, developers are stepping forward, the difficult thing that's happening, we have a developer in the Tallgrass edition that's ready to put in eight, and put eight more basements in while we were informed last night, his framework can't start until July. So it's and then then you worry about getting the bit the stuff you need the wood and the concrete and everything else that you need, because everything's backordered. So it's kind of a good news. Bad news
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser  
is we should also explain that and Doug, if you're ever around, Doug, and I'm sure he says it all the time is when he's talking to James is that this foundation of what builds communities and attracts people to haze or other communities, you've got to have housing to begin with before you get people here to accept jobs.
 
Sandy Jacobs 
Absolutely. And it's the basis of his triangle. And as he says, he carries that everywhere he goes. And I think we've all pretty much got that memorized. But he, he he and his organization. And I want to give credit to that board that has given him the liberty to keep moving forward and doing things and encouraging. Because that hasn't happened before with this strongly with economic development. And I've known it for a long time. This is the most active we've been with an economic development director for a very long
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
time. Well, I know over the past few years haven't covered a City Commission, there have been concerns by the City Commission about it, feeling like you know, you're just not doing anything for Should we continue to fund you. And you have seen a big difference. And in fact, last night, I think it was you Sandy, who mentioned that we as Doug said, there is an additional position another person there who really has made a difference in what is happening.
 
Sandy Jacobs 
David clang and has just been outstanding. When Doug hired him. He didn't have any economic development background, per se, but he had a lot of big box background. He'd been with some big box businesses, but he understood retail, he understood the environment. And he was very gung ho to make things happen. And as Doug announced last night, they actually, David wrote a grant that actually was awarded for 2.6 million and I don't want to take that thunder. So
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
Oh, okay. Well, that's good news tokens, right. I mean, we're talking about over in the heart of America area, correct. On the east side of town.
 
Toby Dougherty 
Yes. For the single family homes. We're talking on the east side of town. We do have some infill projects going on the former Washington school that's been converted to apartments.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
Are they actually not hiring? renting out now? Is that what
 
Toby Dougherty 
I've heard? I know there is an open house sometime early next month, early next month? Yes. I think maybe the 12th or 13th Air landing
 
 
now. Right. And
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
the St. Joseph former school I am and I've seen, you know, some people going in and out of there. So they're hopping around in that building now,
 
Toby Dougherty 
right, that'll be converted to 12, moderate income housing apartments. And then we have, as Commissioner Jacob mentioned, the RH ID for another 34 units. That will be behind Washington School. And that'll be coming coming later in the year. So we have a lot of stuff in the works right now.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
Let's talk about the RH ID we heard from Finance Director Kim Rapp. And there's always a little bit of a smile on everybody's faces because it is a very long process to make this happen. And just regulations that the city has to fall
 
Toby Dougherty 
it's it's state statute, you know, whenever you whenever you abate taxes for anybody, and that's what this is a tax abatement, it is a redirection of taxes to help fund a development. And so whenever that happens, there is a A lot of due process built in, there's a lot of public opportunity for input. And so it it, it delays the process. So there are publication requirements, there are public hearing requirements or public notice requirements. And that just all adds time to the process. I think it's needed because you shouldn't be able to abate taxes without adequate public input. So it is just a lengthy process. And I think Kim, the finance director said, we should be completed in August if the commission follows the calendar as presented. And then the developer would have to go ahead and start start construction.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
Another portion of this as he mentioned last night is there has to be justification shown that there is a need for housing and he talked about the housing survey that was done by Fort Hays State stocking Institute.
 
Toby Dougherty 
Yes, that was completed late last year. And it shows an overall lack of of a need for housing in almost all categories. But the types of housing that the archer ideas last night is going to consider as the top of the of the of the needs for housing, so it is definitely the most needed.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
Sandy The another thing that's part of Doug's Famous Pyramid is childcare. You know, many parents, if not most, are working these days and they need childcare. And at the quote that came from Sarah Wah, singer of the Hayes chamber, who has helped had this childcare Taskforce, one of her quotes was childcare is in a market failure nationwide. I mean, it's just not Kansas, and Hayes is everywhere.
 
Sandy Jacobs 
Well, and you agree, Becky, and it is everywhere, no matter where I travel, I hear the same stories. The only the many good things are happening, though, to try to relegate what's happening there. There's many different entities out there trying to find ways to incent people to begin childcare to start new chalker Whether it's in their home or or a childcare center. We have we have wonderful facilities in Hayes now wonderful homecare. And I think one of the very most important things I heard last night other than we have 800 kids in this community that we need to find childcare for that was important. But we had a wonderful contingency of child childcare professionals in our in our audience last night. And I think that's really important to understand. They made it very clear, they're not babysitters, they're childcare providers. And I think that isn't it, I feel differently, you know, if I'm looking at the process of that job as a childcare provider versus a babysitter. So I think that was important. But there is also part of all of the surveys we've come up with and in Sarah and her group have just done an outstanding job with this. They're really moving through this and they will make a difference. We have 151 people in this community that said in a survey that they will go back to work if they can find childcare for children, and they can
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
and that's, you know, again, it just kind of is this circle because it just about anywhere you look, you see businesses in Hays with signs up on their marquees hiring now. So you know that that just shows it's also Toby something again, it isn't just what's going on locally, there are a lot of regulations, and that the that the daycare providers last night talked about that come from the state, if not the feds, but especially the state that make it kind of difficult to do this in your home. And not everybody's really able to do that
 
Toby Dougherty 
difficult and and sometimes not profitable. So you're not running on high profit margin, I think I think that was one of the prevailing ideas that came out last night from the childcare providers who were in the audience was that they're not getting rich off of this. They are getting by at best, you know, most of them seem to be doing it because they like to do it. And they enjoy it. And they they want to provide the service. So the profit margins are small, it's very difficult. It is a highly complex regulatory environment. Even if you're a single person shop. It's a it's a highly complex regulatory environment. So it's difficult to get into and maintain.
 
Sandy Jacobs 
It is and I think I mean, there are so many things that we really don't even understand. I was saying earlier to Becky, if we don't say it, nobody realizes it's happening. We have no room, no room, we have childcare providers last night, they said their waiting list is three years, their first opening they have is three years from now. Every single one of them has upwards of 2530 on the waiting list. Wow. So I mean, it's it is it is it's getting dire I will say that and because it affects so many areas of the community,
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
one of the stearic talked about some of the things that they've done and and things that they would like to accomplish and ideas that may come into play, one of which is childcare centers, as opposed to someone who's doing daycare in their home. It sounded like some of the daycare providers feel like that might be more of an expensive option for some of their clients if they chose to do that. Maybe not super practical, but I don't and I don't have kids so I don't know but it seems like to me if we had things like that and businesses offering childcare you in their building would be helpful. I
 
 
think there's some of that being looked at right now.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
Can the city help in any way?
 
Sandy Jacobs 
We don't know. But are we looking? Absolutely. And I think that was made clear to everybody last night. We don't know what we can do, but it is on the table, and we will be having discussions about it with this group and others.
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
I like what you said last night. The city wasn't giving just lip service. You were you promised to the daycare providers that we are looking at. Toby I wanted to give a shout out to when we heard our progress report from assistant city manager. He noted that our parks director Jeff Boyle recently was acknowledged for his work out name is an award named after somebody that has been very had been very active in our haste community.
 
Toby Dougherty 
Yeah, it was named after Jim Strine. Jeff Boyle, the parks director received a forestry award at Arbor Day celebration a couple of weeks ago, and well deserved if there's a bigger advocate for trees in in Hayes and Jeff, I don't know who it is maybe Jim shrine. But you know it Jeff does a good job. We have a tree nursery that was also shown in the progress report last night. Jeff is very good at finding properties around Hayes out in the country where there are cedar trees and other types of trees that can be transplanted to city facilities. And we have a tree spade and it just does a good job. You know, we don't have a lot of trees in the High Plains out here. So it's nice to continually plant those trees and see them grow. And
 
Sandy Jacobs 
everyone if somebody's taking a tree down here with
 
Hays Post Reporter Becky Kiser 
these they, you know, I think that's really that's really neat because a lot of ag people don't like those red cedar trees, but they're good in town for a windbreak and didn't we put some out sports complex to
 
Toby Dougherty 
go Yeah, sports complex golf course we have them all over the place. And I would like to put a plug in for the tree rebate program. Yes. You know, if you are replacing a tree or planting a tree, you can go on Hayes usa.com and look in our parks department. They'll have the brochure for the tree rebate program where you can go to the city clerk's office and ask for it. We'll give you have $50 to help pay for the cost of your tree. And if you have a certain species of tree that is diseased that needs to be removed. We'll actually give you a little money to help you tear that tree out and then give you some money to help you replace it.

Forward Ever: K-State president Richard Linton

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times host Gary Shorman speaks with K-State president Richard Linton.

Warmer outdoor temperatures brings fire danger

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Fire Department chief Ryan Hagans shares tips on staying safe during spring and summer.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
As summer approaches new fire dangers also pop up paced Fire Department Chief Ryan Hagen's stops by to share with us some ways to stay safe this spring and summer as well as share updates from the department on this episode of the post podcast that we hit on this a little bit last month the fire hydrant testing was going on. I think that's still kind of wrapping up in it.
 
Ryan Hagans 
Yeah, it's still going on, we usually start that the first part of March because he knows well as I do. Springtime in western Kansas, flip a coin on the weather conditions. It's either gonna be nice, or it's gonna we're gonna have some cold weather. So we we just kind of picked march to get started on that so we can get it wrapped up before water restrictions kick in place. We're probably about three quarters away done. So we go around and pressure flow test every hydrant in town to make sure that they're working properly and kind of helps out to our water resources department by getting water quality back where it should be.
 
James Bell 
You know, I It's funny, you mentioned that you guys were over in my neighborhood the other day and did it and the the water went from it had kind of a murky gun, a fishy taste to that super chlorinated taste, is there backfill in the lines? And then now Yeah, absolutely. There's quite a bit better than a headache. And even really,
 
Ryan Hagans 
it's just the water moving throughout the town. Yeah, it definitely improves the quality.
 
James Bell 
And it's always good to have those ready and know that they work. If you're in an emergency. That's not the time you want to find out, hey, we don't have the proper pressure here.
 
Ryan Hagans 
Right. And so we want to make sure that the hydrants themselves are in good, good condition.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. Speaking of being prepared for emergencies, you guys recently conducted your the FFA Turner FAA. Yes, fire training.
 
Ryan Hagans 
On April 20. We conducted our annual our live burn requirements which are for AR f f, which is airport rescue and firefighting. That is training as mandated, like I said, by the FAA, and several years ago, we partnered up with the DoD City Fire Department and they they'll send anywhere between eight and 12 other staff up to join us as well. So that's a it's a good time it's an all day event but it's it's good training hot
 
James Bell 
that's what I went out there one year maybe not this last one but went out there one year to photography you guys working out there and holy smokes the the that simulated airplane fire you can feel it from so far away. And I can even imagine and all that gear, how hot that is. Even on a nice day.
 
Ryan Hagans 
You get the gear on then you go inside the plane and all that heats just trapped in its little warm.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. Let's see what else you also did some. What is this fact training?
 
Ryan Hagans 
Yeah, that was put on by Fort Hays State. And yes, and Debbie K. Fact was dead for a first responder art, collaboration and training. It was a four day event and what it does, it was a good interaction between how do how to interact with people with some cognitive disability. So we really enjoyed that. All of our guys have went down narratives and all that we had so much fun with the DSM Debbie Kay clients, for Hey, students, it was a good time.
 
James Bell 
Very cool, very cool. I know you guys really love to be out in the community and make your or be a positive presence in the community. And you got some events coming up to that kind of a center on that day idea as well. Right, right.
 
Ryan Hagans 
Earlier this week, Lieutenant Tim de tree, was invited to speak with the Hays High School jag class, which that jag J G stands for jobs available for graduates. He did an excellent job, I was up there with him and watched him do his thing. And just did an outstanding job and I think he is going to try and go back again next week.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. You know, I remember as a kid, I had a desire to be a fire firefighter. I think a lot of kids do and it's really cool that you can go in there and interact with them and maybe help keep that dream alive a little bit.
 
Ryan Hagans 
You know, was one thing that was interesting. When they were getting this all planned out, you know, they got it. How do how do you get involved in the fire service and Lieutenant d3 That gave a chance to tell his story you know, and what what led him into it? And it was it was it was good to hear it I got to witness his journey also but it was as good hearing his side of it. And as the kids I think really appreciated him sharing his story.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. And as picking up kiddos bringing back the front door Fridays we were talking a little bit before we got on here I got to bring in my four year old down there check out the trucks because what a cool way to interact with the department
 
Ryan Hagans 
Yeah, every starting in May through October the third Friday of every month 7pm to 9pm we'll be down in the apparatus Bay down there station one 1507 main doors will be up stop on by this for a quick drop into are we be glad to have anyone everyone come by.
 
James Bell 
Yeah love that. and it is that time of year that you know, the weather's getting nicer school is coming to an end those kiddos is going to be out more and more, aren't they?
 
Ryan Hagans 
Oh, yeah, we just want to monitor but just be paying a little bit more attention. Obviously the weather's turning Nice. Kids are going to be outside riding bikes running down the sidewalks out in the parks. Yeah, we can get to some days the winds not blown, though beyond about even more. This one reminder, buddy, it's that time here. Let's be on the lookout. And it's a crazy thought. But here we are about to wrap up another school year. You know, just be prepared. Once again, graduations are coming up. So we'll see an increase in traffic throughout the community.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. And you know, with the weather warming up to people will be out celebrating cooking barbecues and parties and all that as well. Right? That's
 
Ryan Hagans 
right. You know, this is if you haven't already, but a good reminder to make sure that that barbecue grills in good clean working order. Gas Grill, you have no leaks and everything. Just reminded Don't, don't try barbecuing in the garage unless you got some really good ventilation, but it still can build up carbon monoxide. So we want to just want everybody to be safe and have a good time.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. And if you're on a road trip, right, you need to be maintained on that vehicle.
 
Ryan Hagans 
Oh, that's that's for sure, too. We don't want to have anybody break down alongside the road. So if you got a good family vacation planned, now's a good time to make sure that vehicle is go get checked over. That way you know your road ready? Absolutely.
 
James Bell 
Already, sir. Well, we've got just about a minute or so left. Any last thoughts where we go?
 
Ryan Hagans 
Yeah, we still have a funny smoke alarms to give away. If you're interested in that program, and to see the qualifications for that. This give us a call at the office at 628730 glad to help you out.

FHSU Music depart wraps semester will final concerts for the year

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University choirs director Terry Crull shares information about upcoming university concerts.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
For the State University choirs are preparing for their last show of the academic year. Director Terry cruel stops by to share with us a little bit about what they're going to be performing and when, on this episode of the post podcast
 
Terry Crull 
and of the year concerts Yep, we're preparing last night the orchestra and I worked on our last piece. The Hayes Symphony Orchestra is the company my choirs on Frances pool onx Gloria, beautiful setting. And then hey, Symphony Orchestra will play. Very famous piece. Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique are very cool. Yeah, great piece, very picturesque, kind of the start of programmatic music where you tell a story with it, too. So they've been working hard on it. It's a it's a, it's a big bite for them to choose, hey, symphony orchestra, but they're working their tails off. So it should be a fun concert Sunday night 730 and beach Schmidt, free to the public.
 
James Bell 
I love that all of the concerts down there Fort Hays and you see me down there for almost every one I hit drag my kids down there probably two or three. It's such a great assets of the community to have those free concerts. And, you know, while it's not quite could not quite professional level, those students sure get darn close.
 
Terry Crull 
We think we think our kids are on the road to that if that's their career choice. And we hope people will come and hear it and say, Wow, those kids got some stuff going on because they do they work hard. And a lot of talent fun to work with them every day. So
 
James Bell 
yeah, it seems like this year you've had you had a really great group. I mean, every year is good. But this year, I don't know. It seems like there was just really a few field
 
Terry Crull 
trip like two why kind of bonds a group together. So he developed a spirit of esprit de corps that it's really fun to see they're working hard. No complaints in that group hardly ever. I mean. That's that goes to the concert choir and our bands and our jazz groups to Brad just gave his last performance. He's given up the jazz bands, turning them over to our new percussion and band instructor Ryan Pearson. So
 
James Bell 
young guy I don't know, guys
 
Terry Crull 
just out of graduate school. He's been here a year on part time, and now we hired him full time. And his wife was out. They did their joint recital. He's a percussionist, of course, she's a clarinetist. She played amazingly well, too. And I think they bought a house and hey, so hey, they're coming here.
 
James Bell 
They're here. They're stuck. Yeah, very cool.
 
Terry Crull 
Pass the bond issue they'll have a nice new school for when their kids get there. Yeah, well, we'll see how that goes.
 
James Bell 
But But yeah, so suddenly, so is all this piece is going to be set with the orchestra is just
 
Terry Crull 
the orchestra is grand finale concert, and every other year we join them for a combined orchestral work. And the concert is called voyage to France because Hector Berlioz for the orchestra and Francis Poulenc for the choirs, and we did his Gloria wants 10 or 12 years ago, was a guest conductor. Dr. availa Allen or soprano is doing the soul. The soprano solo work three of the six movements. So we'll start off with that plonk, Glory acquires behind the orchestra. And I bail out front and meet conducting. And then after intermission the symphony fantastic. It's 5055 minute work as long five movements but it's great story. If you know that piece. It's about a artist in France who goes into a drug induced trance and has this horrendous dream. When they first played Symphony fantastic. It caused a riot. I mean, they had to bring the police in because they really aren't used to that kind of grotesque in your face music you know, some of the harmonies some of the blasts of sound. The famous DS era that you hear do you do at the beginning of shining Jack Nicholson movie is a is from that work? The big brass sound. So it's a big orchestra, powerful orchestra. And the Poulenc is just sublime. I mean, it's beautiful melodies, great harmonies by the choir, they've had fun working on it. So we're excited. 730 Sunday night, voyage to France, free to the public. Love it. Love it. To the public. Do we say free to the public? Be free to them? Well, I don't know. Yeah. Military. I'm not used to this hour later time I spent the hour calling my 3200 listeners tell them I'm on at 845 instead of 740.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, there's a little bit different but but, you know, I also I wonder I count how much work has to go into put in one of these shows. And, and everybody knows, I think that you know, I was a music student. So I was on the band side. But for choir, you know, of course, the band side there's that little bit of rivalry sometimes Right, like, they have that
 
Terry Crull 
advantage of, you know, being able to pick stuff up more quickly. Although they have the disadvantage of not having all the parts in front of them, I'm singing a choir music, you've got the soprano part there as well as your tenor part or whatever. And when you're a bassoon as long as you have as your part in front of you, so you've got to listen hard and work beforehand to get familiar with the work so that you know how your, your part fits with the other parts. So there is that but yeah, the orchestra has been working, I think six rehearsals for this concert, which isn't very many four pieces complexes of the symphony. Fantastic. We even the choirs have been working while since our spring concert, which was March 10, I believe. So 340 minutes, 45 minute rehearsals a week and and to learn that it's in Latin. So the language presents a challenge, although it's pretty common Latin. So a lot of the kids have some of
 
James Bell 
like any Latin is common lap, rock breaking in Latin
 
Terry Crull 
text. I mean, Gloria in Excelsis day, I mean, every Christmas time. So they haven't had too much trouble with that. Poulenc is a little bit post romantic, a little bit modern, 20th century and that his style is classic in form. But his harmonies are more colorful, and lots of use of the woodwinds and the horns. And that's a great orchestra. They work so well. Brian buxted is our orchestra director, he's done. marvelous job at getting that orchestra, you know, up to snuff, so to speak, and, and playing consistently. Well always enjoyed their concerts. So
 
James Bell 
yeah, and he was I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but he came in right before that pandemic, right. And then
 
Terry Crull 
a lot of big concerts with them. Since he came in right at the end of that, yeah, so this year has been his debut year, I guess you could call it and they've done some great stuff. Of course, they have their children's concert in Halloween. We got that again next year. On Sunday, whatever, October 3 Year 29th, or whatever is close to Halloween. It's always a fun event. There'll be with us under cathedral concert next year, which was December 11. The strings Anyway, do some combined work with the choirs and then they always do their grand finale concert with some large works like this. And then every other year we joined them. So next year, I'll do my own masterworks choral concert with the choirs, and he'll do something with his orchestra. I don't know yet if he's got programming ideas, but for this year, it's voyage to France. Very cool. Again, it's Sunday at 730. Don't miss free,
 
James Bell 
free and free no excuse not to go.
 
Terry Crull 
No excuse not. Yep. NBA Playoffs aren't anywhere close to the end yet. So who's watching those? I didn't even know that was going on. Honestly, other in the early stages, you know, 28 teams that make the playoffs out of 29 teams. Oh, yeah. So yeah. Everybody makes up like not to select. But anyway, I watched when it gets down to the semis. There you go.
 
James Bell 
So well, already. Certainly anything else you think folks need to
 
Terry Crull 
know? Well, the last week of classes, the percussion ensemble will have their concert, and the bands will have their concert? Oh, let me see. What's the date? I think it's Thursday, which would be the 12th nor the fifth. So we exam week. Yeah, that's the last exam. So the fifth will be the band's concert. And I think the night before and Wednesday, the percussion will be in beach Smith. And those are all free as well. So wrapping up the year yeah, kids are excited the ball teams are trying to make the playoffs softball and baseball got a few those kids in my class. I gotta get to here in a few minutes. So it's always exciting at the end of the year when the weather turns nice guy. I wish we had some rain to soak us down a little bit good, but at least it's windy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, in Kansas with my big motorcycle on the road with those windy. Oh, yeah. So always good to be with you, James. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. So he's kind of like, Hey, we got a contract this week. Can I get on tomorrow or the next day and you always accommodate me. So thanks a lot. I love your music program. I know you're a student there percussionist were Yeah, I was. Yeah. So you enjoy. Did you happen to come down when Ryan gave his faculty recital
 
James Bell 
didn't I was I was wanting to I was so
 
Terry Crull 
remember, he's fun to watch to kind of dances up there. My wife turned to me and said, you know, you could lose some weight. If you were a percussionist. He's going to workout Oh, yeah. So having been an athlete, I know that sometimes. I work just as hard in certain aspects. You know, we'll have conditioning that it didn't was a basketball player. But you work hard when you sing. We could play an instrument because

Extension districts plan tractor safety course

On this episode of the Post Podcast Cottonwood Extension District agent Stacy Campbell shares information about upcoming events.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The area extension districts are getting ready for wheat feel the plot days cottonwood extension district agent Stacy Campbell stops by to talk to us about that and much more on this episode of the post podcast going on. But we want to talk about this first. We've been talking about this here on the go morning show for the last few weeks. This is the tractor farm safety course. Now this week, we haven't been talking about it because the deadline had come. Yeah, but you say there's a few spots left. You're gonna squeak some more kids. Oh, yeah.
 
Stacy Campbell 
Yeah, we can squeak some more kids in right. We put the deadline was last Friday. But you know, you kind of gotta have a deadline. I mean, we will still take more kids. Yeah. For that we actually call it hazardous occupation, safety training and agriculture. The acronym is hosta. But basically, yeah, tractor farm safety course that extension service offers every year around the state. For youth that are 14 to 15 years of age, if they're going to be working for somebody on a farm, especially other than their parents, or even if their parents I believe are in like a corporation or partnership. by federal law, if they're 14 or 15 years old. They're supposed to take this tractor farm safety course we have at this Saturday in Hill city, I'm going to be going, I am going there to to teach so I can gladly haul any kids that still need to get signed up and go to that. Very cool. And it was if I remember, right, it's like $10. Yeah, it's just $10. Right? In the end, yeah, I actually people's state bank, out of Hoxie is one of our sponsors, so that with them sponsoring, it's help reduce the cost. And then there's a manual that the kids get, actually, it's a big manual on loan that will take back, but they could still get registered, we just encourage them to do that today. Tomorrow, they can call the extension office at 6289430. For that tractor farm safety course this Saturday in Hill city, it is an all day event. And like I say, I'm gonna go so I can gladly haul any kids that that need to go. Very cool. Very cool.
 
James Bell 
But that's just one of the many things you've got going on down there this time of year, right?
 
Stacy Campbell 
Well, yeah, it's kind of always there's always, it's always busy. There's always something going on. Of course, we'll have the fair coming up this summer. And that's already on our books. And we're working on it getting the last of our judges and superintendents and you know, working all the details out on that. But also, we plot field days will be coming up here in May. Our first one is in Barton County on Monday, May the 23rd, starting at 830 in the morning, and the 23rd is a Monday, that's not a good time to be having a field day first thing Monday morning, but that our specialists have those all over the state. So they're quite busy. So I worked with them this year and said, Sure, I'll take Monday, I'll take the the bad day to kind of have a field day on Monday morning. But in Barton County, it's going to be Monday, May 23, at 830. And you know if which of course, I'm sitting here talking to Ellis County, folks, so they're probably not too interested in that one. But the next one is in Ellis County, and it's going to be on Wednesday, June the first. So that's Wednesday, June, the first will be our annual Ellis County wheat demonstration or wheat variety plot field day, it's going to be in the evening at 6pm. We do have it at a different location. It's south and little west of Hayes at mangiare and 230th Avenue. And we're going to kind of do the same thing. We'll have a meal afterwards. So we do ask that you RSVP that's appreciated by Tuesday, May 31. For our wheat Demonstration Field Day on Wednesday, June the first and then our number is 6289430.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Very cool. You know what those wheat field days I imagine a lot of the folks are listening probably either they're their producers, and they already know these events are happening and they're going or they're not. I'm curious, you know, is there is there any benefit for those that aren't maybe producers to check this? So
 
Stacy Campbell 
I mean, it's a good question. Actually. Sometimes we have a landlord's you know, they're not farming the ground and they have it rented out, but sometimes they'd like to come and listen and hear what's going on and, and just kind of visit with other farmers and stuff they know, in all oftentimes, you know, landlords may be in what's called a crop share leasing arrangement with their tenant to where they actually get a percentage of the crop. So it is good for them to try to you know, stay up on things and understand about diseases and insects and, and the new varieties and things like that. So yes, we welcome anybody to come to those to our wheat demonstration plot field days and yeah, sometimes we have landlords come to those. Very cool. Yep. Well,
 
James Bell 
what else could have going on? Well, one of the things I
 
Stacy Campbell 
might mention is just kind of did a newspaper article about it. But unfortunately, since we're, we've been dry and looks like we may continue to stay that away. So quite a few of our farm ponds are getting pretty dry, if not already dried up. So this is a good opportunity to if you need to clean that farm pond out to do that. If it's leaking. I would advise you After you've cleaned it out, or maybe before you clean it out, you could take some soil course around on the pond area about zero to four to six inches down and you can bring those into the extension office, we can send them off to get a soil texture test. And that soil texture test will tell how much clay is in the soil. So if your ponds been leaking, I would advise you to do that. Because if it comes back and it's got close to 30% clay content or higher, you can alter I mean, you can take care of that leaking problem after you've cleaned that pond out by just really really packing it well with what's called a sheep's foot roller. I mean, that's really what needs to happen. So if you've got enough clay in the soil, but the pond is leaking, take a soil texture test, bring it into the extension office, give us a call, we might be able to help you there in that, you know, maybe it's just the deal where you really need to pack it really, really well while it's dry. And then that may take care of any leaking problems. And you don't have to go and try to dig a new pond. And then there's some products you can use to put into the soil, but they get kind of expensive. So that's why I encourage folks to clean out their farm ponds. And then if they're leaking to do a soil texture test, also when you're cleaning them out, sometimes people don't think about that it's very advisable to put that dirt that you're taken out on the backside of the of the dam. Because sometimes you see of just they clean it out and they put it all kind of around the pond. Well, where's it going to ultimately go down the road? Yeah, it's gonna go back in we hard rains and the cattle and stuff. So put it on the back of the dam, okay. Plus your dam usually needs a little extra work and some in some, you know, dirt work and things like that to shore it up. So anyway, if you if you want some more information about that soil texture test for your leaking pond, give us a call at the extension office 6289430 We can gladly send that soil land and do that just recently had somebody do that. It was leaking. We discovered that it had I think exactly 30% CLAY So it was dry. So they got that sheep's foot roller on it and packed it really good. So I'm anxious to see once it fills up if it won't leak anymore. I suspect it won't. Yeah, very cool. Yeah. Yeah.
 
James Bell 
Well already, sir. Well, we got less than a minute left. Any
 
Stacy Campbell 
other last thoughts where we go? I think that's it. Yeah, the tractor farm safety courses this Saturday and Hill city. If you got a kid that's 1415 years old got to be working on a farm they need to take the course they can still get signed up. Just give us a call today at the extension office 6289430 We'll get him signed up. I'm going to it so I'll gladly take any kiddos with

Weekend Setlist April 29, 2022

On this episode of the Weekend Setlist host Jeffery Leiker details events around the Hays area this weekend.

Hays Chamber begins search for next Administrative Assistant

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Hays Chamber president and CEO Sarah Wasinger, along with vice president of marketing and communication Mariah Leglighter, share information about the search for the Chamber's next administrative assistant.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Hays chamber is on the hunt for their next administrative assistant from the chamber president and CEO Sarah Wasinger along with Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mariah Legleiter stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Our dear friend Marlis Fletcher, she's our current administrative assistant is taking a position at a chamber member location. So we are actually in the process of looking for a new administrative assistant.
 
James Bell 
Okay, well, I mean, okay, well, this is great. She's amazing. And it says over here, and you guys, there's no replacing her?
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Well, you know, they say everyone's replaceable, she just holds a very special place in our heart. She's literally the glue of our office. And she's that first point of contact when people come visit us at the chamber. So definitely will be difficult to replace her. But we feel like we have a pretty fun team. I mean, I'll say that I brought Mariah so she could actually validate if
 
James Bell 
you're the boss to say like, yeah, we have a great time at work. Everybody loves me.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
I can I paid Mariah extra, she'll say nice things.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
It has been, it has been fantastic. Um, the last, what, five months, six months has been just, it's gone by incredibly fast. I've learned so many new things. And I've just gotten to dip my toes in a lot of different aspects of the community. And I've gotten to talk to a lot of different people and learn new things. And it's just been really fantastic. And, you know, working with Sarah, and working with Rhonda and working with Marlise has just been fantastic, too. I mean, they're fun. I don't think I've had a day that I haven't laughed, probably for half the day. I mean, it's it. Yeah, it's a great environment. And it has been fantastic.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. You know, and I got to imagine much like kind of my job here. It's one of those positions that it changes everyday, it's a little different.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Yes. If you don't like what you're doing just sneeze and you'll be doing something different. Yes. That's for sure. Yeah,
 
Mariah Legleiter 
I would like to say it changes by the day, but sometimes it's by the minute.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Wow. But we get to work with a lot of wonderful people, I think the biggest thing that I wanted to communicate about this position is we are in a very special place in our community that we get to impact a lot of different things by the work that we do. And so it's not just how you get paid by the benefits. But I think internally, the paycheck that you get to sign right at the end of the day for doing things like addressing child care, helping get the school bond passed, all those different things, the work that we get to do on a daily basis, supporting our local businesses, advocating on their behalf, really desperately your bucket.
 
James Bell 
So yeah, and I think you know, especially for young folks, when I say young, I'm thinking younger than us, we're Sarah, we're about same age, Mariah is clearly younger than
 
Sarah Wasinger 
obviously, she has less wrinkles.
 
James Bell 
But for younger folks, it's a lot of it's about that it's about the difference you can make in the community paychecks are great, and everybody you know, at the end of the day, has to make money to live. But you know that that sense of belonging that the ability to make a difference is tremendous.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely. So I just wanted to kind of point that out. Um, you know, we did talk about Marlis being the glue for our team. And that's very much true, I'm just kind of wanted to give a glimpse as to what maybe the average day looks like. So obviously, you're the first point of contact when coming into the office. Um, she Marlise currently does a wonderful job answering the phones. So this person would help be that first point of contact, we have chamber checks, of course, and this position would kind of manage that program, and assist in doing the bulk of processing those orders for folks, when they come in. We do have a software called chamber master. It's kind of our database that we use to track our Chamber members, excuse me, I've got a frog in my throat this morning, that they would be taught how to utilize that system to kind of keep track of different events and things of that nature. Obviously, we're very event driven at the Chamber, because about 45% of our total budget comes from the income that we earn from those events. So they would definitely help us assist and organize and coordinate those things that we have going on. Whether it be an appreciation and appreciation the banquet, so and then of course our regular events that we have to like chamber chats, ribbon cutting and some membership lunches, they'll help get those things on the calendar for us and make sure that we're not overlooking any important details.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
Yeah, we, um, you know, working working at the Chamber has been really fun. And being able to work with Marla. She's been really organized and really great. And I feel like that's also something that that's really important to this role is just being really organized and being able to keep us kind of organized and help With our calendars and just kind of do those, those things for us and keep us on our toes as well,
 
Sarah Wasinger 
yeah, someone who's an effective communicator and fearful of a fast paced work environment would definitely probably thrive in this position. So,
 
James Bell 
and correct me if I'm wrong, too. But we have we, as I've watched the you fill positions like Moriah, here over the last few years, the job is kind of also tailored to the individual, right? Because it's a small team, there's only the four of you folks down there. So it kind of builds around that skill set that they might bring in, right?
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely, we definitely want to make sure that people are fulfilling their purpose. I'm at the chamber. So we had this defined set of job descriptions. But if there's a passion that someone brings to the table that maybe we haven't considered or done before, and they're going to be a part of that team, they're going to be given the opportunity to give feedback to help really guide and mold the purpose of our direction going forward. Okay, cool.
 
James Bell 
Well, we got to probably talk about some of the specifics here, because it is pretty, some pretty good list of benefits that come with this job.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely. So some of my favorite things are, you know, we pay full coverage for a single person's insurance. So that definitely is a strong benefit right now, because the cost of health care is significant. And we also have the 3% retirement contribution match. And one of my favorite things is a flexible work schedule. Mariah, you're a young mama, do you want to talk a little bit about that.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
So we actually open at 730 Every morning, but I can't drop off my kid at school until 730. So they've been really, really great about working around that schedule. I'm able to drop Olivia off and then go straight to work. And I mean, it's been seamless, like it's just worked out really, really well. And yeah, we, anytime Olivia Has anything at school, or if there's something in the community that we need to go do, as long as you know, we're communicating with each other. And that comes back to that good communication. As long as we're doing that, then we make it work. And it's very flexible. It's been really fun.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Work life balance is a very important thing that I always want to provide for my team. Because I feel that the more that you can take advantage of enjoying your family, the better position that you are to be effective at work. So that's definitely something that we've tried to champion over the past couple of years. Another thing that is wonderful too, speaking of family time is our paid holidays off. We have New Year's Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving. So if you want to shop local, you can do. And then hint hint, wink wink there. And then also Christmas Eve New Year's Day, we actually get that full kind of week and a half off, and from our chamber board of directors. So we also accrue sick leave on a regular basis. And after six months of consecutive employment, you earn one week of paid time off. And after one year, you get two weeks of paid time off. And then of course every year after that, I think five years you get to move up. But that's definitely something wonderful just so you can have that work life balance. Like I said, it's really nice to be able to enjoy the time away with your family, and then be refreshed and come back ready to work.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
And I know that you know, talking about the week off, um, that was super, super helpful for us. Because then you only had to find one week while the kids are out of school for Christmas break. You only had to find one week of childcare versus two weeks of childcare or we can you know, two and a half weeks. And it just made everything run so much smoother. Oh, I bet yeah.
 
James Bell 
One thing we hear it's Oh,
 
Sarah Wasinger 
yeah, we're working on an issue. The biggest thing I would take away though, too, that surprised me I think the most about this job is really the friendships that you make, and the connections that you make that are truly lasting. And I've met some of the most wonderful people that I've ever met in my entire life just by working at the chamber. And so getting to work side by side with people who are like minded and want to make a difference in our community has been so empowering and just a blessing really,
 
James Bell 
very cool. Now, before we run out of time, we should probably tell people, you know, if they're interested how they can apply for the position.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely. Thank you for nice segue there, James. So they can call the chamber office that 785-628-8201 If they want to ask specific questions, we would request that folks who are interested that they email, Hey, CeCe at Hayes chamber.com with a resume and a cover letter. And then we're asking for at least three references, not reference letters, we would be happy to call and get the references from those folks over the phone. But yeah, the information can be found on our chamber website at Hayes chamber.com/news-announcements. Very
 
James Bell 
cool. And while you're there, check out all the events you guys got going on this week because you do have a lot going on, right?
 
Mariah Legleiter 
Oh, yeah, we do. So tomorrow, April 27. At 4:30pm There's an H yp MDC meeting at defiance the downtown location on Thursday, April 28 at noon, the is going to be a ribbon cutting for the Kiwanis Club at the Welcome Center. If you RSVP to Sarah at Hayes chamber.com There is going to be a lunch served for that one, but we need a headcount to let everybody know or to know how much food to make. Also on Thursday at 5:30pm, the H yp is having an X yp event at Siena's massage, education and retail at 106 West wealth. Alyssa Owens is going to be talking about self care. Friday, April 29. At 9am. There's going to be a chamber chat for the TMP Marian ace auction at 1701 hole Street,
 
Sarah Wasinger 
and that is one of their biggest fundraisers for the year and talking about the importance of quality schools and the facilities that we have a wonderful opportunity to support them and all the good work that they do to educate our area's children. Absolutely.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
Yeah. And after the chamber chat on Friday, April 29. Well, during the chamber chat at 930 will have the Dale Carnegie self awareness, insights on personal leadership and workshop at the Rose Garden banquet hall and catering 2350 East eighth and Friday, April 29. At noon, we will have our monthly membership luncheon at the Rose Garden banquet hall and catering at 2350 East eighth.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
And one final plug tomorrow is administrative professional state. So if you have an administrative professional like our Marlis Marlis if you're listening we love you and thank you. Please make sure that you thank them for everything that they do to support your organization your business

USD 489 approves Russell schools admission to special education co-op

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays USD 489 Superintendent Ron Wilson recaps this week's Board of Education meeting.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Hays Board of Education voted this week to allow Russell to join their Special Education Cooperative superintendent Ron Wilson chats with us about that. And more as we recap, this week's Board of Education meeting on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Ron Wilson 
Hays is the host district for a special edcooperative, which is a combination of school districts of LaCrosse, Ellis, Victoria and Hays. And we we provide special ed services for all kids in this area. And provide services at all those all those other districts as well as Hays. I think we've we've entered we have we've started this conversation probably, I would say over two years ago with the Russell School District, their unique to the in the state of Kansas is that they are a kind of a standalone Special Ed service in their own just district. And that's pretty rare in the state of Kansas. Usually, there's cooperatives that are established in different regions. And so they reached out to us we've had conversation for two years, of course, there's lots of things that you have to consider, you know, when when inviting someone into a cooperative, because, of course, there's additional costs that will come with that. But also, we felt like it also gives us some additional stability, Russell would be the second largest other than Hayes in that cooperative once they join ours. So it does give us some stability in terms of just kind of spreading the cost out across to everybody, and maybe reducing some risk for some of our smaller districts. So through those conversations, that's where we have proceeded we now have finalized all the districts have agreed for Russell to enter the cooperative. And now it's just kind of a in a sense of three year plan to finally get full implementation. We'll start adding pieces in every year. different pieces we've we've been working with them in the from providing gifted services for the last few years. So we've already kind of started that those steps, but we'll continue to add pieces each year. So we're excited about the possibility of adding Russell on I think it's good for the cooperative, it's good for our district in terms of, of just not just being the big guy on the block and taking on all the risks sometimes.
 
James Bell 
Sure. You know, and I was actually because I do cover the Ellis Board of Education meeting and I was there when they voted on on this measure as well. And one of the things the the big concerns that I heard there was was exactly that is the cost what if Russell has a particularly as a student in and particularly that that requires a lot of funding? And exactly that they came to the conclusion that yes, maybe that would hurt them in a short term, but the long term, everybody will kind of benefit from this partnership.
 
Ron Wilson 
Sure. And I think it's also just being able to provide those kinds of services that sometimes we don't necessarily need that that one service in a particular district all the time we can, we can spread those services across all districts and with some travel, and those kinds of things. And the location is close enough, it gives us those abilities to do that.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, I was gonna say historically, this this program has been or this coop has been relatively enjoyed by the districts. I don't know that there's been any real concerns in the years that I've been covering the school board. And I
 
Ron Wilson 
think our history is we've had a very strong Special Ed cooperative, who have provided some great service to our kids who have some disabilities. And so I think we can be proud of that. I think Kyle Carlin the director has done a really good job and in continuing that tradition. So what we're we feel very fortunate, and we're really excited to have Russell be joining us here and in full, full implementation here in a few years.
 
James Bell 
Good. And I look forward to hearing some more updates is that partnership comes to fruition. Moving on here, the we did talk or they did speak about some other things last night, one of the things that I thought everybody would like to know about is they are adding in some security cameras. I think this is maybe the last piece of upgrading those security at some of the entrances at our schools here, right.
 
Ron Wilson 
Yeah, this is and this you know, that's the world we live in, we just expect to have video of almost everything that that happens. And I think that's important. And so we started an upgrade last year, we did three buildings last year we did the high school, the middle school, and Roosevelt Elementary. This is the last piece we will be adding in all the remaining schools in our in our district to have cameras. That would be Wilson, a Laughlin Lincoln and west side. And so of course, you know, we have cameras currently in all those locations but they're are approximately and we don't really know. But they're, they're pushing upwards to 20 years old, forever when he asked about something like, yeah, technology has really improved. And so we found that out just this year with putting in the new cameras that haze high haze, middle and Roosevelt, just the improvements that have been made. So this is just the last piece. And we think it'll always it's always helpful to have cameras to, it's not necessarily always to protect against crime, sometimes it just helps us be aware of where everyone's at, and what's needed at certain times. So
 
James Bell 
yeah, and that was I thought it was really interesting from the the tech director for the district, he was there speaking about these cameras, and was talking about that resolution, that clarity. And I was just imagining situations where, you know, not necessarily thinking about worrying about people coming in. But that situation where it's two kids and they're picking on each other, or whatever it might be having that resource there, I just, I imagine is super helpful to help clarify the situation and address it correctly.
 
Ron Wilson 
It really is. It's kind of it's, it's really amazing how we've been able to sometimes we might get reports about something happening. Many times, we're able to look at cameras, and we can say a lot of times we can verify that it has happened. But then sometimes we can say, well, this is what we're seeing. And we're not seeing that. And sometimes that also clears up so it sort of works both ways. Definitely. And like you mentioned, the clarity is just unbelievable. With some of this new technology that they've put into surveillance cameras. Very cool.
 
James Bell 
There was something else last night that I thought was kind of interesting. And there was a the board kind of talked about and clarified their position on therapy dogs in the district. I imagine that's probably not an everyday occurrence that we were having to deal with something like that. But I thought it was pretty cool that they were able to clarify that situation and talk a little bit about that. You bet.
 
Ron Wilson 
That is something that I think, you know, it's not necessarily new, I think we've had animals in our schools for various reasons. But what we're seeing is more requests for actual therapy animals that provide a lot, not necessarily in terms of they of course, they provide comfort for an individual, but they also provide some stability in terms of when the maybe they become dysregulated, and things like that. And so we've had some requests here in the district recently, and then it seems to be increasing. And as we looked into our board policy, in terms of how to handle therapy, animals, we didn't really have a distinct policy that really kind of clarified some of the things that are important in terms of making sure an animal who comes into our building is vaccinated and, and has some training and things of that nature. So last night, we just visited with the board about putting in a policy that will just help us kind of guide us through how we how we can handle and administer the use of therapy dogs in our school setting.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Then I think the last thing we want to talk about today you are the board brother voted to re up into the Kansas Association of School Boards, they they went through with our annual membership. And then they also that provides legal services to the district. And I thought this was kind of a part of a bigger conversation during the meeting about the the lawyer for the district and how that all works. I thought maybe you wanted to clarify because one of the comments that was made, I think last night, but maybe even by a community member was Why pay for a lawyer if you're going to join this legal membership group? And I don't know, I maybe want to clarify all that.
 
Ron Wilson 
Well, I think yeah, that was that was a public comment. But on the on the Kansas Association for school board, we we do pay a fee $2,300 for the Legal Assistance Fund. And that's, you'd be surprised how many times we did call them specifically just on school related matters. Now, when we call them we're not getting in depth lawyer work. It's not they're not reviewing contracts and things of that nature. And sometimes, that's where, you know, having our own school lawyer and with what the district has had in place for many years. Were a lot of times we're utilizing those more for contract language, working on specific personnel issues that our district may deal with from time to time that sometimes need some legal assistance. So there is the need for both. And I think that's important to understand. It's it's worked well for the district. I think it's kept us out of legal issues that have cost the district in the long term. So I think it's something that I'm happy that the Board approve the KSP and we do appreciate what Mr. Jeter who works has worked for the day st for many years and what he does his service to the district. Very good.
 
James Bell 
You know, I thought about I frequently get into a conversation. My wife, she's an educator and I college educator. So I always tease her about well, you know, you're really only on campus three hours a day. And that was kind of the same tone that was was discussed with Mr. Jeter was, well, you really only at the meetings a couple hours a month, but really the work, the time invested. That's happening behind the scenes, right. It's not just going to the meetings.
 
Ron Wilson 
No, absolutely not. He we, as as a district administrator, I'm visiting with him many times on issues throughout the app the month and, of course, many times I've sent him documents that I've asked him to weigh in on and he's helped us in numerous times to just help us navigate through some things and our world has become very legal. And so we it's definitely a benefit to our district. Very good.
 
James Bell 
Oh, well, sir. We've got just a few seconds left. Any other last thoughts or anything you want to hit on before we go?
 
Ron Wilson 
No, just early voting started yesterday and then we continue to ask people to get out vote, bond issue. Final bond, election day is May 10. Looking forward to the results that come from

2022 ACE Auction underway

On this episode of the Post Podcast Thomas More Prep-Marian advance director Troy Ruda shares information about the 2022 ACE auction and dinner. 
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Hays Catholic Schools Ace auction is firing up this week advancement director with Thomas Moore prep Marion Troy Ruda stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Troy Ruda
Yes, and we're excited this year, because for the past two years, let's see, two years ago, we canceled all together and went fully online. And then last year, we tried to bring just a small group of people back together, but the auction was still online completely. And then this year is the first year that we're going to be a full in person auction with a portion of it being online and a portion of it being in person and the oral auction that that folks are accustomed to. So it's gonna be fun to have it. Welcome everybody back into the LBL in your Fieldhouse, very cool. I
 
James Bell 
love that. And you know, it's it's so neat to me, as you know, we're all kind of coming out of the pandemic, to hear about all of these organizations are these things like this fundraisers that have really kind of embraced the digital along with the in person?
 
Troy Ruda
Yeah. If you would have asked us three years ago, would we ever take the auction online, we probably would have said, Heck, no, it would have been a hard no for us. Because it was so successful the way that we were doing it. But the circumstances forced us into a response of learning how learning how the online auction can work. And it turned out really well, I don't know that we'll ever go back to the full in person auction where you have to be there because this is able to let so many more people become involved around the world if they would like to. So it didn't, it just all of the supporters can come out. And so the online has its, you know, we learned something in the last couple of years on on how we can, how we're going to be able to go forward in the future with this auction.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. But you know, in the but the online to me, it never takes away from the excitement, the energy of doing something in person. So let's talk some details, right, because people are coming back and you've got some tickets still available for this event, right?
 
Troy Ruda
We do. There are a few tickets left to attend the in person auction, which begins on doors open for that at five o'clock on Saturday, at the Albion, your Fieldhouse there on the campus of TMP Marian. So if you would like to attend those tickets, the general admission seating is $100 per person. And that gets you a bid number to be able to bid on the oral auction items, as well as your dinner and beverages for the evening as well. And then finish off the evening with cinnamon rolls that are made by our kitchen. And there's also some fun games and things that throughout the evening that you'll be entered into, to win some prizes as well for attending. So if you would like to still attend, you're welcome to you can contact our alumni office at the school, and they'll get you set up with tickets.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Very cool. So you know, overall, you know, maybe we should back this up a little bit. This ace auction, it really is. It's one of those things that we talked about this all the time on the Catholic schools report how important these fundraisers are, because this is operating costs. And, you know, it's you guys do amazing things for the community and for the schools that you need these funds to keep it going.
 
Troy Ruda
Yeah, so there's two components to the auction. And it does benefit both Thomas Moore prep Marion as well as Holy Family Elementary, a portion of the funds that we raise will go to the operations at Holy Family. So when you support the auction, you'll support both schools. And so the two components of the auction are the operational fund itself, which is going to be the ticket sales and what and the the revenue that's generated by the items and the raffle tickets and those things and then everything that pretty much everything that's outside of the item was item number 60. Item List. Item number 60 is what raises funds for capital need of the school that are outside of the general operating budget. And we can talk a little bit about what that is this year. So traditionally, the auction will raise with both of those components over $700,000 for all of the things that all of the things that are going on. So it is a major. It is a major component of of our schools budget every year.
 
James Bell 
Wow. Yeah, I want to talk about that. I am 60 though because that is such a cool program every year and you know, I'm curious what this year what what that's going
 
Troy Ruda
towards Well, I before before we talk about this year. I'd also like to talk about a big success that we're going to have coming this summer that started last year's auction. Last year's auction was to raise funds to begin repaving the the roadwork, the roadways at the school. It's an extremely expensive proposition. To raise to fund the entire project of the roadways would be about $1.7 million to do all of the parking lots and the driveways there. So we were able to raise money for phase one through last year's auction and see if worth on. Our maintenance team is putting up a banner today that we'll see from Wall Street that says coming coming summer of 2022 the first phase and so right after graduation you'll see machinery out there tearing out the entrances of 17th Street and Hall all the way past the field house and then making the round and going all the way down to on Victory Road to where we connect with a Laughlin. So that's going to be a huge, that's a huge thank you and a huge success for the funds that were given last year at ACE item 60. It always takes us about a year's lag, because we can't go forward with contracts and things until we have the funds raised. So once we get the funds raised, and we know that we have those, then we can go out to contractors and get the project actually scheduled. So it's about a year lag from when we raise the funds to when the project is going to start. So this year, we will be in advance of moving the sixth graders from Holy Family Elementary to TMP in the fall of 2023. We need to add classrooms to the junior high floor to accommodate the approximately 50 or more students that will be bringing into the into the junior high. So we will be using we will be renovating an unused wing of the third floor of the school. It used to be the dorm rooms where the Capuchin Franciscans lived when we had residents on campus. Since the captions moved out that wing has been unused and it's still the it's still the dorm rooms that they slept in. So now those rooms will all be taken out and three new classrooms will be added. And the existing restrooms that are there will be renovated into a new boys and girls restrooms. So that's pretty exciting for this year, because not only are we going to be able to welcome those sixth graders onto our campus, we're going to be able to have a little bit of room to move around at Holy Family that's busting at the seams. As well as, as those sixth graders are going to be able to have that junior high experience, which is going to be pretty, pretty fun to see them over there and they're ready by the time they get to sixth grade at Holy Family, they're ready to they're ready to go. So it'll be really fun to welcome them. The other great part about the item number 60 Is that when you give $1 to that that dollar turns into two, because we do have matching funds available from the DOJ on albino Dreiling trust, and they're matching all of the gifts that go into item 60. So your $1 becomes two your $100 becomes 200 so you can do double the you can make double the gift with their double the impact with your gift item number 60.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, I love that. That's so great for for the school and for the county as well.
 
 
Troy Ruda
So we're you know, if if the funds are available, we'll begin some of the demolition work this summer. And then the completion of the work on the classrooms next summer at the summer of 2023.
 
James Bell 
Awesome look forward to that. You know it's funny in the huge conversation right now in Hayes's is the USD 49 bond issue and, and how expensive it is. And it I think, for a lot of folks, when you when you put dollars like that on on on just projects like fixing the roads, it's like Holy smokes, I know, no wonder we talk about such big amounts, because it's just so expensive to get anything
 
Troy Ruda
these you think three classrooms, right. And it's not like you're building a whole new building with three classrooms and two bathrooms, it's estimated at over $492,000 Just to do those three classrooms. And it's just to do that now. It's everything is incredibly expensive. But you know, there's no signs that it's gonna get less expensive. You know, two years ago, two, three years ago, almost now, when we had a project to build the Learning Commons. I mean, all it was was tearing out and building a room, right? Building a big open room, in theory. It was it was approximately the same amount as it's going to be to do three classrooms. And that was almost three years ago. Wow. So there's no sign that it's going down.
 
James Bell 
All we can do is help support things like the ASR.
 
Troy Ruda
That's exactly right. And you know, these are just great things for for the for the mission of, you know, of Catholic private education. And it's one of the great things that make Hayes great is the diversity of education that we have in our, in our city. Plenty of success to go around.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, anything else folks should know about this ace auction before we go? Yes. The
 
 
only other thing that I want to say is, raffle tickets are still available, as well. The raffles are a huge part of the auction for $100, you can get a ticket to win a nearly brand new car from autoworld a 2022. I believe it's a Hyundai beautiful car. So $100 will win your raffle ticket. There's also two $5,000 drawings. There's, I believe, to $2,000 drawings, or maybe just one $2,000 drawing and for $1,000 drawings. So you can purchase your raffle tickets if that's the only way that you can be involved in the auction. That's a great way to do it. And the raffle tickets are always, always a great thing for us. The other thing too, is that the online auction will be available to preview starting today, later this afternoon. So later this morning, we'll have it online, you'll be able to go to Hayes Catholic schools.org Just click on the menu and you'll see ace 2022 Click there and it'll take you right to the auction. You'll be able to preview all the items and register stir yourself with a bitter number. The actual online auction to be able to start bidding on will be this coming Friday, at nine o'clock, we'll kick that off with a chamber chat there at the field house. And we'll have an open house all day long. So anybody that would like to come out and see the items in person that they're bidding on their welcome to that we'll go, I believe until five o'clock on Friday. The other cool thing that we're going to do is if you come to the open house, and you would like to see the area that the competition's used to live in, it's an area that most people were never allowed to go into. And so if you would like to see that area, that's going to be turned into the classrooms, we'll be able to take you over there. And we'll have an open house in that area, as well as what's going to be renovated. So that's starting at nine o'clock on Friday, we'd invite anyone to the campus that would like to come. And then the other thing I want to mention is if you have bought a ticket to attend to the auction, you do not need to register yourself for the online auction. We'll do that for you. And you'll get a text message on on how you can with a link you can click right into so you have the same bidder number for the online as well as the in person. It's taken care of. Yeah, I love that. Yep. So we're excited. It's gonna be a busy week. But it's one of those things I told. I told the team over there in the advancement alumni office today as like, you know, this is the week that you get to enjoy the fruits of your hard labor. It's gonna be a hard week and it's gonna be a lot of hard work. But every once in a while, I'll step out and look at the great successes and look at how amazing of a project this is. And look at the big picture rather than just faced with the challenges all the time because if it's it's a really hard week, but it's also should be a really fun rewarding week.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. Very good. Again, more information. If you're curious about that on the website, right?
 
Troy Ruda
Yep. Hays Catholic schools.org Just click on menu

Stress and nutrition go hand in hand

On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University instructor, Jessica Phelan shares information about stress and nutrition.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Stress and nutrition can go hand in hand to impact health from Fort Hays State University Health and Human Performance instructor Jessica Phelan stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Jessica Phelan 
I was really excited to talk about stress and nutrition. This is an area that I think right now, I don't know about you guys. But as school people, we're having some stressful moments, we've got graduation, there's prom, we're wrapping the school year up, which is so exciting. But you know, that does come with some positive and negative stress as well. So I thought today, we could just talk about stress in relationship with nutrition in general. So yeah, I
 
James Bell 
know, in my world, and absolutely, I think for just about everybody, it's a busy time of year because if you've got a parent or even if you're an aunt or uncle, oh, my goodness, so much school stuff going on, and music performances and downtown arts things and all kinds of good stuff. But I know that yeah, in my world, as soon as that starts to hit, it's we're grabbing for the pizza. You know, we're getting the McDonald's, we're getting the chicken nuggets, the the health or the food, that's not necessarily the healthiest
 
Jessica Phelan 
for you. Yes. So love that you brought that up. So whenever I think about stress and nutrition, I think about it in kind of three ways. So the first that you said, when times get stressful? What do we choose to grab? Well, if you're like me, I'm dropping my coffee, my pizza, you know, the easy and quick things. And so here's the thing that's completely normal. And you know what you got to do what you got to do. But, you know, there are a couple of tips that you guys that I would love to share with you about, you know, how do we plan for those stressful moments. And so, a couple of things that you could do that I've actually been doing lately, which has been really, really fun, is I am fortunate to live in a town where I have siblings close by and you know, my family close by. And so it was about a semester ago, I called my sister and I said she, she's a teacher, too. And he said, I need some help, I'm stressed, I'm grabbing these things, I'm not feeling like good, it makes me feel, you know, kind of kind of gross when I'm eating that way. And so we started to actually assign days where we share meals. And so a kind of a take home tip for you is if you are a college student, or if you're somebody that you have some support in your town, one thing that you could do to potentially help with that relationship of, you know, when I'm stressed, what do I grab those convenience things are set up some shared meals, we've been doing this where I think I cook on Tuesdays, my sister cooks Mondays, and let me tell you, it has been changed my world just to know that, you know, I really have some time to think and plan out a really nice healthful meal on Tuesdays, and my sister does the same for Mondays. And then my brother and sister in law. And my parents also do too. And so it's been really fun. And I was thinking about this before it came in. And you know what if you're a person that maybe you have one family, and you don't have the accessibility of a sibling, you know how lucky that I am, somebody that you might be able to do is in your family unit event. So say you have husband, wife, you've got an older kid, say let's make this really fun. And let's assign one day that we get to cook. And so that person kind of takes that responsibility for the day. We've been doing that lately, and it has just been like world changing. Fabulous. So that's kind of a suggestion for maybe, you know, when you're stressed, and you're trying to grab something quickly. Let's have a game plan and plan. Yeah,
 
James Bell 
so thinking ahead really is and yeah, you have to have those connections too. But, you know, I think that's maybe true, kind of in a lot of stressful situations, right. With planning, you can alleviate some of the stressful parts of the situation.
 
Jessica Phelan 
Yeah, absolutely. And I think to that, healthy doesn't have to mean fresh, like, you know, there's like this continuum of balance, right, where, you know, you can still eat well, and use those conveniences. And so I always like to think about, you know, my time as it's so valuable. And sometimes we just don't have the time or to pre plan. And so, you know, frozen foods are great, don't discredit those canned foods are awesome, too. And so I think that that's one part is that not being quite so rigid that you can definitely, you know, use those conveniences to your advantage as well.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And then if you have to grab some fast food now, and again, that's really you know, it's the moderation piece. It's the not doing it every day that really gets people into trouble.
 
Jessica Phelan 
Absolutely. Another way that I really like to think about stress and nutrition, and this is a kind of a relatively new area of study, I would say is does what you eat. So is your nutrition going to increase or decrease your stress?
 
James Bell 
That's exactly what I was curious about looking my little I drew a little circle chart here as we were talking, because I was what I wanted to know about is like because I imagined it does worse you feel the more stressful you're going to be and then the worse you feel, then you're doing it again and it just gets it's a cycle,
 
Jessica Phelan 
isn't it? Yes. And so I'm so excited you brought this up because this is something that I find so interesting that if you know if you are feeling stressed and you're thinking okay, what can I do? I don't have more time in the day, I can't eliminate these things. Let's look at our diet, that might be a stress management technique, which I think is just radical to think about that if we can potentially choose things that are more helpful, your fruits, your veggies, dairy products, lean proteins, you know, everything that you've been hearing for forever, if we can start to potentially eat more healthful, would it help with stress? Would it help with mental health, depression, etc. And right now, evidence is low studies are still being conducted. But man, there are some really exciting evidence that suggests Yeah, Heck, yeah, if we can start eating well, then maybe that could potentially reduce your stress. And so that could be a potential technique, for those of you that are really feeling overwhelmed right now. That that are maybe having some mental health type of issues that if we can change our diet, it might potentially help us to feel better. Yeah. So cool.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, have an impact, at least I mean, and why not? I like to think of it in terms of well, what's the worst case scenario you eat better? Maybe you get a little bit better shape? It's it? No, there's there's no losing in that situation?
 
Jessica Phelan 
Yeah, exactly. And, and that's the thing is, the best that we can do is just try. And so I always like to talk with my students, and I'm in the classroom of, you know, it's a tough nutrition is tough. There's a reason that, you know, I pursued this area, because it was something that I struggled with, too. And then over time, I think that you just become better at it. You become better at understanding, you know, what's happening in my body. And when I eat that food, how do I feel? Does that make me happy? Do I feel bloated, and sluggish? Because I don't know about you, it's we're getting ready for summer, I want to be outside more, I want to feel good. I want to have less stress. And so yeah, I think that that's another tip that I have actually is, you know, if possible. If you're feeling overwhelmed, or feeling depressed, try to grab those fruits, those vegetables first and then reevaluate, see how you feel, instead of eliminating maybe some of those fun treats, just crowding the good, and then see where that takes you. Because here's the thing, it's all about moderation. Nobody's perfect. And I think the best that we can do is try.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. You know, I'm curious too, about the nutritional aspect. And Glenn is always we talk a lot about this in this segment, you know, the the fat soluble vitamins and how important they are to keeping yourself healthy. And I think, you know, this, a lot of those convenience foods that we think of their nutrient deficient, there's not a lot of good things there. And I wonder if you wanna talk a little bit about that, like, how does that impact wellness as well?
 
Jessica Phelan 
Yeah, sure. So I like to think about our diets as this really integrative process of looking at, you know, what's your, your environment? Like? What are some social factors that are gonna influence what you eat. And at the root of that, though, we have to make sure that we're getting those essential nutrients. And so we know we have these macronutrients that provide us with energy that are really positive, those are your carbohydrates, your fats, your proteins. But sometimes those vitamins and minerals are overlooked. And it's overwhelming. If I'm going to be completely honest, it is overwhelming to think about where are all these vitamins and minerals located? And how do I get those in my diet. And so I was talking with my sister who again, she's another educator, and I said, when in doubt, eat your dark leafy greens, choose fruits and vegetables, from, you know, all colors of the rainbow. And when you're doing that, and you're listening to your body, you're gonna get those vitamins and minerals in. And so even when you're trying to, you know, do things at a convenience, if you can, try to pull in those, you know, richly colored fruits and vegetables, those lean proteins, because those are going to help you with your micronutrient intake. So your vitamins and minerals. And over time, if you can do that, then those are going to help with your general functioning. So your health preventing sicknesses, how your metabolism works. And so those are also a major and essential part of just being healthy in general. And so, you know, there's a lot of science that goes behind micronutrient metabolism and how they interact with the macronutrients in the body. But my best advice for just the layperson and my students and how I like to think in my head is eat variety, moderation, have an adequate diet and try to be balanced. So those are the four things I like to remember. Righty moderation, adequacy and balance.
 
James Bell 
Easy peasy. Easy peasy. You know, we've got, we've got just a minute or so left here. But I also wonder about, you know, one of the things that I have a nutritionist friend and she's kind of trying to guide me down this the same path that we're talking about today. And one of the things that she is quick to point out is it's the activity pieces, well, if you eat better, you're going to feel more energetic and you're going to you're likely to move more, which is another benefit of delimiting stress. You sure is a helpful way to help mitigate that stressful feeling, I guess I might say
 
Jessica Phelan 
Yeah, absolutely. So in HHP a we are are incredible supporters of just movement. And so I love to just say just, you know, try to move as much as possible. You know, in your day, if you can go and go on a short walk for five minutes to your car to grab something and come back to your office, that's going to improve your mood. When you're exercising, it makes you happy, it releases these happy endorphins. And it that's gonna help with your stress relief as well. Also, if you can get outside with your exercise, that's a good double bonus, because you have the vitamin D, and it just makes you feel good. And so I think what is so fun about this topic is that there's so many interrelated parts that really, if you want to start to become healthier, and reduce that stress, be active, try to eat a little bit better drink your water, you know, have conversations with your friends, there's so many things that are interrelated, that anything that you do is really going to help your stress levels. Activity is so powerful and movement is so powerful for your energy, your happiness, fighting off chronic diseases, you know, there's just so many benefits that if you can, you know, in your schedule in your head, trying to plan those 510 minutes. Research suggests that 10 minutes of activity three times per day is sufficient in order to improve your health. And so you know, I was talking with my mother and I was we were just talking about how sometimes it's hard to fit that in and when went to research and found that yeah, if you can just do 10 minutes so 1010 minutes of activity three times per day, that's still going to give you as much benefit as if you were exercising for you know a long long bout. You know anything is better than nothing and it is going to help reduce your stress in the long run.
 
James Bell 
Excellent and moderation small bits. Make the difference Exactly.
 
Jessica Phelan 
Little by little and hey, we can all be healthier.

Enrollment for next year ongoing at Early Childhood Connections

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Early Childhood Connections director Donna Hudson-Hamilton shares information about enrollment.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Enrollment for next year for the Early Childhood connections is underway. Director Donna Hudson-Hamilton stops by to tell us a little bit about that. And more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
 
Early Childhood connections we are located out across from Hayes Hi 2501 easterton Street. And we serve families prenatal to age five, we have a variety of programs in our prenatal to three age range, we have parents as teachers, which is a home visitation program that is open to anybody that would like those services. And then we also have an early headstart program. And within that program, we have a home visitation, we partner with some family childcare partners to provide services children to children. And then we also have a center based program there where children come every day. And then in our three to five program, we have our preschool out there, we offer full day sessions out there. So we're serving children, um, you know, at 330. And then we also have a home based option. We also do provide services in outlying counties. So not only do we serve Ellis County, we serve rush, Russell and rooks county as well. Very cool,
 
James Bell 
very cool. So you know, if you're a parent out there, and you're kind of like, again, like me, and you're thinking, Oh, my goodness, what am I gonna do with my kiddos next year? What's the process to start that either enrollment or getting more information from you guys? Well, we
 
 
have just launched a new online enrollment process. So if you are interested, you can go to the USD 49 website, and then click on the schools and click on early childhood connections. And right there, you're going to see a green button that says enrollment information. And you can start your enrollment right from that, right there online, we've really tried to make it a lot easier for families to get enrolled. So we've moved to this online process. Another piece that has really changed for us is that especially in our three to five suit, children that are aged three to five, is now we're going to be able to serve more children age three. And so if you're looking at enroll, enrolling in that program, the guidelines have now changed so that we can serve children. Three and four year olds that have are either eligible through a single parent, a teen when the child was born, if either parent is lacking a high school diploma, if the family is eligible for free lunches, if the child does not speak English, or if they're migrant status, so that has opened up for us this year. So I really encourage families to they're not sure if they would be eligible to give us a call, and we can kind of walk them through that.
 
James Bell 
Sure. Oh, no. Is that the only or I can't think of the word qualifications maybe for the kiddos or is there others as well? Well,
 
 
that is that is the requirements for eligibility. Now also housed in that building is the USD 49 for PE preschool, and that is open to anyone. And so that is an option that's also available out there. The other option is at no charge to families.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. And you know, and I do believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but there are some spots open in the paid version of the preschool because we I was on the phone with him the other day, like it? Yes, but not very many. There's only a handful
 
 
of spots. I sometimes think oh, I'll wait to August to get my children enrolled in I just wanted to put it out there. Now is the time now's the time to be thinking about getting getting everything set for August now.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. You know, and I am curious, we've heard a lot in the recent months about the lack of daycare here. Yeah. I mean, does that extend to early childhood connections as well?
 
 
Well, where where it impacts us is is that we do especially for our program for prenatal to age three. We'd like to partner with some family childcare partners. And that has been difficult for us just because of the decrease in the number of family childcare partners. I'm on the childcare task force that we're trying to encourage more individually It was to look at that as a profession and help support them. Because we have had a significant decrease in child care in our area.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. And you know, it is great that I love to hear that you're on that committee as well. It's it's been one of those things that I've seen kind of grow and expand and, and really being being tackled head on by some of the interested parties here in the community.
 
 
Yes, it is a need for this area. And and we are working hard at trying to find resources, not only to start a childcare, but also workforce to make sure that we have the people to work in that and that they can make a livable wage and doing that. Absolutely.
 
James Bell 
Now, before we run out of time, Donna, we got to talk about this too. What about those kiddos that are starting to age out of your services or similar services here in the areas?
 
 
Well, I just I know that children or parents get a little nervous as their children start to enter kindergarten. So I just wanted to let them know that on our website, we do have a section for families for children that are transitioning to kindergarten, and on that you're going to find say you're going to Lincoln our Roosevelt Elementary you will find a little notebook on there that has the pictures of of the staff there the playground, the lunch room, anything you might want to look over with your child. We also have activities on there how to help your child prepare for kindergarten, we have books on there that you can audiobooks that you can read to your child so we just have a lot of resources as your child moves into kindergarten if if I just want people don't know just check it out. There's there's things there for them.

Apartment construction in Hays to help housing shortage

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about the ongoing apartment construction in Hays.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Over 100 apartments will open soon in Hays, Grow Hays, Executive Director Doug Williams shares with this that impact of those apartments on the housing market and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
turnkey properties LLC has brought forth an application for an Rh ID, which is a rural housing Senate District, which is a program that helps pay for some of the infrastructure and that type of thing. These type of projects and it's a, it's a 36 unit apartment complex, at the corner of fourth and fourth, which is right behind the old Washington school property. In South Hays, it will be 36 units for buildings with nine units each if I've got my math right, so much. And they will be both one and two bedroom units with garages and multi storey with garages on the main floor, because it's in the floodplain, you have to do some things a little bit differently. And so there will be garages on the main ground level, and then apartments above. So a good project and should be should be a very positive addition to that part of town.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, very cool. Very cool. So you know, RH IDs, we've we've talked about these a lot. And I think it was maybe two or three segments ago, we talked about kind of all of these tax incentive districts, but this one that gets seems to be getting used pretty regularly here in Hays,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
it is it's, it's a good tool for a developer to use to try and recover some of the infrastructure costs that they have to incur in putting in a development. So that can be sewer water, Electric Gas, some other costs are eligible to be recovered, and it's recovered through the tax increment, meaning today, the taxes on that property are zero, it's been a school, when that apartment complex is complete, and it's probably 36 units, you can just take that easily, probably times $100,000 per unit, that's $3.6 million dollars, the property taxes are going to probably be 30 to $40,000 a year, well, a portion of that can come back to the developer to pay for some of those infrastructure costs until he is recovered his costs on those. And so it's a good program really doesn't cost the taxpayers anything. Because it's all based on the creation of taxes and not taking any of the property taxes that are currently in place. So it's a good program, it encourages development that we badly need. And so he was taking the first step last night with the City Commission next Thursday, they will adopt a resolution to start the process of acquiring that RH ID designation, which is about a 90 day process, it has to be approved by the Kansas Department of Commerce, it is in approved by the city that we have to bring forth the housing study that shows the need, which we have a say that shouldn't be too hard. That's not That's not a tough requirement to meet. And then we have to get that it has to go to the county in the city, or I'm sorry, the county and the school district, both of which have to approve it as well. So it's a process that has to be gone through, but we're confident that it will happen. And we'll see some activity down there sometime in August or September is when the plan would be to start.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, I really like on these deals, it seems like everybody is willing to accept that the RHA D programs are are a necessity. And to me, it's a win win win. Because just as exactly as you say, it's not taking away tax revenue. It's just using that tax revenue to offset the cost of the infrastructure and everybody or nobody's losing any money. It's all it's all net gain.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, that's That's correct. I mean, the only way that you would say that, that it's a loss of any tax revenue is if you think that this developer would do this project without this particular incentive. 99 times out of 100. That's not the case, they would just not do it, because it doesn't make economic sense. So these things have to be put in place to allow them to recover these costs. And these are, these are things that are going to be in existence for decades, you know, the infrastructure, for example, the heart of America Tallgrass addition that those streets and the sewer and the water that'll be in place for a long, long time. And it really cost the taxpayers nothing. Because the development just wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for these incentives. And this this program for the developer to recover some of these costs. So they're good programs. They don't take any existing tax revenue, and they're accomplishing what they're they're set out to do, which is to provide housing in a market in a market that's much needed. And that's why they send in the application to the Department of Commerce, because they assess whether or not you You truly have a housing need. Now we, we can say this is obvious, and it is here. But still they go through the process of making sure that this isn't something that's been given when there really isn't a need for this type of housing.
 
James Bell 
Okay, you know, also we talk a lot about, you know, housing, like homes, but the apartment piece is something I think that it kind of is been maybe overshadowed by that lack of available homes for sale. But this project is just one of many that are going on. And I think if I'm let me check here, oh, yes, the there's over 100 or nearly 100 apartment units that are about to be completed here in Hays, right.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
There are there there are, I think 102 or 104 units that are either currently under construction, or that will be started in the near future. This been 36 of them this project at fourth and fort, of course, right in front of it is the Washington school renovation that Oberlin property group is doing. And that's 14 units. And they're there right at the end of that I believe they're having an open house here in the next week or two,
 
James Bell 
I was gonna say I think I was speaking to somebody in the community not too long ago, who had toured one and said it was just a amazing apartment, maybe a little bit on the pricier side for a college student. But what a great location.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, the good news, I guess for that is that they're not eligible to rent to college students, Oh, those are income regulated apartments and they to hit the income qualified and to hit the price, the demographic that they have to appeal to it's not students that people have to be non students. And they're, they rent below market rate to certain amount, that's one of the factors to that program that the developer has to comply to is they have to rent them below market rent for a certain, I think believe it's 15 years, in order to get the tax credits that they got that allowed them to construct this thing, but I'm eager to see it, I haven't seen it. And that's a great repurpose of a building that in a great location down there by the aquatic Park and that kind of thing that that really should be good. And then there are other projects around town as well, Ellis estates on 33rd Street, that's a project that geared towards retirees and seniors, they've got 42 units under construction, if you've driven over there, as of late, you can see the steel starting to come up out of the ground and a lot of activity over there. And then there's a couple of duplex projects in town going on to so it's over, I counted, it's about 102 or 104 total units going up right now or in the near future will be being built and we we have a strong need for nice apartments in this community, we don't have enough. And consequently, it that does drive rents up, you know, real estate, housing markets are supply and demand based. And when you don't have enough choice, you know, rents go up. If the demand is high, and the supply is low, that's what causes rents to go up. So if we add some supply, it should soften those rents a little bit and give people some choices.
 
James Bell 
It helps to on the the home buying piece, right because those folks that we talked about a little while back about your housing rehab program, and the housing that might be eligible for those programs are just getting rented right now there because there's such a need that they're just rent, they're turning them out. So I wonder if you wanna talk a little bit about that as well how that might affect the overall housing picture?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Well, you know, when you add inventory to a market, whether it's rental property, whether it's new homes, it does free up other property. And that's the argument that everybody likes to make when they when they say that the $225,000 is not an affordable home. Well, that's very subjective, everybody has a different opinion as to what is affordable. But the reality is, when that $225,000 home is completed, and somebody buys it, they probably have another home, that they're moving out of maybe for 125 or 150, or whatever, they may move out of an apartment that somebody can then rent and that opens up. And so when you add inventory to a market, you soften the pressure on these upward prices of both the cost of housing in terms of buying as well as renting. So inventory added to a market is a very good thing. Now it's it's always a challenge to balance that because you you really have certainly I've been in the other side of that as a landlord and it's not a fun place to be when there's nobody to rent it and rents are continually dropping and and you know that that's you've got a payment to make and you don't have enough rent coming in to make that payment. That's not a good situation. So we strive for that balance but we're way out of balance right now with way too much demand and way too little supply of both apartments and homes.
 
James Bell 
How long you know, with this 100 units coming on, how long will the impact take to really kind of, as you say, you know, soften out even out across the, I don't know, Ellis County, I guess you might say,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I think that we've got so much pent up demand that it's going to take a while, you know, we've got these 100 units that are going to be constructed. But it's going to take a couple of years to get these constructed. We've got 10 homes in the Tallgrass second edition that are nearing completion. Actually, a couple of them are closing, I think this week, I was told by the builders, the others will be closing pretty quick. And there's another 14 or 15 that are going to be you know, if you go out there right now, there's a lot of dirt flying around because they're digging basements and putting in basements. So there's going to be another 1516 homes constructed in the next six months. So that that will help add to it. But I think we're still a ways away from meeting the demand as well as the opportunity for people who are looking to relocate into our community, we're still not even with all these apartments. And with this construction going on, I don't believe we're still getting to the point where we need to in terms of having sufficient inventory in our market to meet the demand.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, you mentioned those builders, we were Are you are kind enough to host a tour with the city leaders down there. Oh, I think it was maybe two weeks ago now. Yes. And I happen to go down there. And I got to the opportunity to talk to a couple of those builders. And yeah, they were more or less saying many lots as we can get our hands on, we're ready to go.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Yeah, the challenge right now is, you know, we had 36 lots in phase one. And there's 29 of them are spoken being going to be built on right away here. And so we're trying to get the engineering done for the next phase of 18. Lots and hope to start that this summer. But I know we're gonna run out of lots, I can just see that before we can get the next phase up and going. But we're going to try real hard to get there before we do run out. But at the pace of things are going we're going to run out a lot. And then we're going to be wishing we had done more to begin with.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, I'm wondering, you know, I know, there's always stuff bubbling under the surface that you can't talk about, but are there some similar projects kind of in the works or, and I know, there's there's also the private construction going on as well, in Ellis County, right, a little bit of
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
that the challenge with the private construction is that they build one at a time, typically. And this is the first time in, I would say 40 years that I have seen in our community. And I've been here for all of them, that I have seen a builder building at this scale like they're doing in the tall grass edition, you know, we're eight at a time six at a time. We haven't seen that for a long, long time. So we're starting to see some some that are building the way that builders need to, to hit certain price points, you know, they need to build at scale, you build them one at a time. And that that doesn't. You can't get any economies of scale, any efficiency. But if you've got eight of them in a row, you can make a deal with your foundation guy. And he just comes in and does all eight of them in a row. And then your framework follows him man and building more in the way that they do and metropolitan areas. In terms of building scale. Yeah,
 
James Bell 
you know, you drive towards the Denver on i 70 used to see him break rows and rows of these houses, they're cookie cutter, they look exactly the same. Well,
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
not not really what we're after. But we're certainly after, you know, some scalability and getting some inventory to the market. And that to when when you can buy a brand new house for $225,000. That's absolutely going to cause some of the other inventory to have to soften. Just because people always like new. Same with apartments, people like new it makes sellers of homes have to step up their game and maybe do some updates before they sell it makes apartment owners have to clean theirs up and have their you know, maybe do some maintenance things that they don't have to do right now. Because they rent either way, there's no choice. So if we can add some inventory to the market, that will be a very good thing.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, and again, going back to the tour of these houses, I don't think we've got to talk about this yet at least not on air. I was really impressed with the builds on all three but also the take the three builders had were so very different. And it I mean, they're all kind of a similar size. But the very different have a very different personality in the builds. I think
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I agree. You know you've got some with basements, you've got some without, you've got different floor plans different ways they have finished it out. And so and that's great that diversity in the options out there is terrific. That way we can appeal to you know, maybe a family who has a growing family who wants some more room so that a basement might be important for future expansion. They're not finished but at some point in time they can finish the basement and add some additional living space. They're the one the basement houses have egress windows and the things that you would want in a basement but by the same token, the slab homes are all zero entry. So Though if you've got somebody that is older, that doesn't want to deal with steps and that kind of thing, they've, they've got us an option for them too. So lots of options out there. That's going to continue, I think they're going to continue to see some slab, some basements, different types of floor plans, the one thing they all have is at least 1000 square feet and at least a two car garage because we want to get the cars off the street, as opposed to lots of street parking, which makes it a little bit difficult on those streets to go up and down when there's cars on both sides on the street.
 
James Bell 
But again, really good homes and I think, are you planning on another tour out there where people might go check those out in the near future?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I'd like to that I'd love to have a public open house out there. The problem is that they're all sold ahead of time. And so once people are wanting to move in, I hate to traipse people through, you know, three fourths or 90% done house because it's it's hard to see what it's really going to be like when there's no countertops or the flooring in in yet or what have you. But I'd love to get ahead of the game where we could have a public open house and people could really see what's happening out there. Because it's it's pretty cool. I mean, I have not taken anybody in any of those houses out there that have thought that this isn't a good thing. You know, I think everybody that went through from the city, the county or anywhere else school district thought that hey, this is this is badly needed. And this is a great development. Absolutely.
 
James Bell 
Well, Doug, I can tell you, we got to get over the news. But any last thoughts before we go?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I just I just encourage people to drive out by the Housing Development at 22nd. Wheatland and see what's going on because it's impressive. And also keep an eye on these other projects we talked about as they go up because they're going to be exciting. They're going to be great addition star community

Forward Ever: Kan. 110 District Rep. Ken Rahjes

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times host Gary Shorman speaks with Kan. 110 District Rep. Ken Rahjes.

Hays Arts Council’s Spring Art Walk anchors busy month at the Arts Center

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Arts Council executive director, Brenda Meder shares information about the 2022 Hays Spring Art Walk.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Hays Spring Art Walk is on the calendar for later this month and there's going to be a lot going on. Hays Arts Council Executive Director Brenda Meder stops by to share with us the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Brenda Meder 
The Smoky Hill art exhibition is in its 53rd year, and it always opens as the anchor of the spring Artwalk. So that's an amazing day because our Smokies pretty spectacular. And it's going to be pretty spectacular again this year. And last year having moved the spring Artwalk with the the kind of the the chaos of scheduling that happened during the pandemic. We put it on a Saturday, there's a lengthy audience, but we found out that a lot of people really really enjoyed the more leisurely pace they enjoyed, they had more time to see everything including going down to the college, they enjoyed being able to also patronize and frequent the retail establishments, the restaurants, coffee shops and breweries in downtown Hayes. And so it's like we're gonna we're gonna give that a shot again, and let people just really relish and enjoy everything that is about you know, arts culture in our downtown over the course of that day. And that is on Saturday, April the 30th from 10am to 4pm. So a week from this Saturday, Saturday, April the 30th. And there is just a wealth of everything in addition to the to the Smoky Hill exhibition, which is the state's oldest juried Fine Art competitive. I think I counted I probably am missing some, but there are at least two MFA thesis exhibitions big important shows, you know, with wonderful bodies of rich contemporary artwork, but I mean, they put a lot on the line when these masters students are doing their MFA show. That's a big deal. And they bring out they bring out all the stops, and both crystal Hammerschmidt and Tanner Hoffman will be having their crystals it'll be down at the moss Lawrence gallery, Tanner's will be at our annex. And I think I counted four or five BFA exhibitions. So students who are finishing their their undergrad, their bachelor of fine arts programs, they, the visual artists, they need to mount exhibitions, or at least should for fulfilling all their requirements. And between some places on campus, both the Taylor Gallery and the Robbins center at the public library. And I think another couple of places, I think there's at least four if not five, BFA exhibitions, and then there's also just a variety of community artists and professional artists, and photography and programs that allow organizations like options, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Janis campaign, those three important community organizations will be having features out that are, you know, arts and culture based, like Big Brothers Big Sisters is going to do a display of creative things that have been done by these collaborative partnerships. So to bring some awareness to get people excited to see what kind of things it is that people engage in, and quite frankly, just a great showcase for some of the great creative fun things that some of these pairings have done together. And there's, for instance, in the Chestnut Street building, which is where they're housed out of. And so you've got a little bit of everything that goes from North Main, the style stand center, which is where Janice campaign is located all the way to seventh in main Dallas County Historical Society, which is hosting a wonderful two photography exhibits one of them, one that Dr. Laura Wilson from Sternberg Museum is doing with some sort of abstracted photography that has to do with the natural world, and various scientific components that they're working with out there. But it's creating art out of these very unique, almost micro views of interesting things. So that's going to be fascinating. And a whole bunch in between including defiance brewery has been really wanting to get on the art walks for a while. And so they are going to be hosting a body of work that we still have from Gordon Sherman, with some frank nickels pieces in there. So anybody just going there, as a matter of course on Saturday will see things in there. But other folks may just want to migrate down that way. Because again, you've got six hours on Saturday. I do want to remind everyone that I mentioned the campus exhibitions, they are just 10am to 2pm. But otherwise, everything else is 10 to four, we've got a new art car that's going to be over at the Pavilion. I'm so excited. It's called spellbound and a gentleman who just moved to Hoisington from Trinidad, Colorado, an incredible artist, but also an art car enthusiast. He's organized tons of them all over the country. He has a couple of them. And this one is covered in in fabulous artwork and a gazillion scrabble tiles in phrases and words and quotes and statements. There's places on the cars where people can do their own, you know, make their own words and phrases and contribute to you know, with the Scrabble tiles, but it's covered. It's awesome. And that will be over there as will be a ceramic show and sale from Fort Hays State students that was very popular last spring over at the Pavilion and John makings from Great Bend will be back with his handcrafted drums. So we'll have three interactive drum circles at 11am 1pm and 2pm. There in the pavilion, and then another student coming from the performing arts, Danny Zhang will be having sort of his graduating undergraduate special, or I don't know if this is his masters, but his special jazz concert showcase performance. That'll be at three with Brad Dawson, Josh Duran and Spencer wheat corn, so no slouches there. And so that'll just be a wonderful free concert at three. And speaking of concerts on Friday night, we have our opening events at the downtown pavilion will be the Fort Hays jazz band spring outdoor concert, and it will be the final time that the jazz bands will be under the direction of Brad Dawson. He's still here still going to be doing music, but he will be conducting the jazz bands as the director for the last time in this wonderful open air concert at the Pavilion at seven o'clock on Friday night the 29th. The same night that the Encore series has their final program of the season. And of Green Gables the ballet, of course, there are tickets that you need to purchase for that. But I thought it was exciting that on that, you know pre Artwalk nights sort of the pre event, we've got these two amazing performing arts events. And this information that I've just shared is not on our website yet it will be on our website this weekend. And it's just a nice eight and a half by 11 sheet of information, easy to print out. So be watching for us on Facebook and our website because this will be available to you for the entire week before the Artwalk happens. So you can plan your attack and not miss a thing. But it's going to be a really, really amazing event. The Smoky Hill itself will run through June 4. So if you do have to miss the Artwalk weekend, still take time to come and see the smoke because there will be our amazing artwork there in so many different styles, genres and sizes from artists all throughout Kansas. And we will be dispensing $3,000 in cash awards. Don't know yet who's getting those. But that's something that'll happen right before we open. So a lot going a lot going on there. Good event.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, excited for that. But that's just a fraction of what you got going on here because it's this time of year, the kiddos wrapping up their school year and I know you specifically especially love to be involved in
 
Brenda Meder 
some stuff. We love working with the schools and getting involved with the kids in the schools. The schools love it. We try to bring things to them as often as possible. Just some of the things like today is high school art day. So we know there's some people out there that love seeing that and there's a few people who do go down and traipse around gross Coliseum. That's where all these I think there's something like 64 high schools represented I think I saw on Fort Hays website. This is Fort Hays, our high school art day. So it's not a haze Arts Council event. But we will have hundreds of students who will be visiting the Hayes Art Center to view our current exhibition for which it's the closing day of the Fort Hays State University departmental showcase faculty and graduate and undergraduate students that we've got there. So we'll be hosting tons of them today. Tomorrow, I'll be hosting about 1000 Kids in beach MIT for an outreach that we are doing with the Encore series for fourth and fifth grade students from 12 different elementary schools in our area. And then on Sunday, the day after the Artwalk. We have our big creative writing award ceremony. invitations have gone to the schools hopefully they've come on with winning students, families to know about that. Just a reminder, I've because I think there's almost 100 students from kindergarten through seniors in high school in both pose and poetry. In fact, I know your wife was one of the judges for us again this year. The English department is so kind and generous with their time to serve as the judging panel. And because it's 13 grades of you know, three to four places because we do a lot of honorable mentions in both prose and poetry. So about 100 young people will be honored and recognize so about 300 guests in the ballroom on Sunday afternoon for that. And then from Sunday, May 1 all the way through the end of the week, we have a residency with Che and Leslie Katie laughing matters that amazing, wonderful duo. In fact, on Thursday night, may the fifth Anyone is welcome to come to the Hayes Public Library at 630. Because Jay unless they will be doing their public showcase. We want to make sure everybody can see them, even if it's adult soup aren't part of the school systems because there's nothing better and more entertaining, and more professionally well done than Jay and Leslie Katie's laughing matters performance and famous figures finals are going to be on Friday May the sixth in the Beechman Performing Arts Center. So that kind of overlaps during the week that we've got these residencies with J and Leslie Katie. I also want to remind people that are wondering about our summer classes, we will be having our summer class program again. And we are working on getting things arranged. We know we'll have theater classes we know we're going to have classes in two and three dimensional art. We'll have a stained glass class again, things are looking good for another one of the Sternberg outreaches with those critters classes that we have. But those classes will not be ready for for public review and enrollment until probably the middle of that first week in May. It takes us a long time to get those together because all our teachers who are amazing people fit us into their schedules, they value this, they want to do it right. But they have a lot of items they have to check. So it will be the middle of that first week in May before you will find this information on our website, or announced through our Facebook page. But yeah, so just tons of stuff. Oh, and then I just want to give them a plug. Finishing the weekend, I talked about the performing arts that kicks off on Friday the 29th. And then Saturday, the Artwalk itself Sunday, not only will there be the creative writing award ceremony, late that afternoon DSM Wk is inviting to the public to their event with Jay and Leslie Katie, we're helping to serve some of their specific clients and constituents Sunday night at 730. Again, free because of their sponsorship support, the amazing Hayes Symphony Orchestra will be having their final concert of the season at 730 in beach, MIT. So this amazing, wonderful rich community has no shortage of different areas in the Visual Performing and literary arts for people to be engaged from the youngest of children, through the most senior of citizens, and throughout the community on campus. And I just want to remind everybody to keep your eyes open for that, again, if you follow us on, on Facebook, the Hayes Arts Council, we try to share as much as we can for not only our events, but events that happen for other elements of the community as well. So be watching and looking for that and definitely come out. It's all free on Saturday, April, the 30th 10am to 4pm to just enjoy the best and the most exciting that our community has to offer in the most wonderful environment possible.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. You know what else? If you want to find out more, I always like to talk about this, you got your website,
 
Brenda Meder 
we do. And there's a lot of stuff on our website, even exhibitions that close, but you just want to sit around and look at artists, you got nothing else going on. That's up there. The famous figures videos from last year still there, they'll be there till we get this year's up. And in fact, it gives me a chance to give a plug to Tiger media network is going to film everything for us this year. So even though we get to go back to a live competition on stage and beat Schmidt on Friday, May the sixth people will be able to watch those videos, all the videos of them after the event on our website. It'll take us a little while to get them up there. But yeah, there's so much on our website, the exhibition that's up now if you don't get in since it closes today, every single piece and every artist that's featured in there is up on our website. There is information on those people so that you can really understand where they're coming from their backgrounds and their views as they make their art and yeah, a lot of stuff on our website. And it you know, I'm always afraid I'm not getting as much up there but it's already full so what the heck

Hays Chamber: Shopping local can make a big difference

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Chamber, president and CEO Sarah Wasinger along with vice president of marketing and communications, Mariah Leglighter stop by to talk about the importance of shopping local.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Choosing to shop local can have a significant impact on the local economy. From the Hays Chamber, president and CEO Sarah Wasinger along with vice president of marketing and communications, MariahLeglighter stopped by to talk about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
It's been a while since we've really focused our message on the radio of shop local. And I think you hit the nail on the head, there are so many big events coming up Mother's Day is just around the corner this weekend as well. Or no, sorry, three weeks from now.
 
James Bell 
I don't know why you're looking at me, I have no idea.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
I'm thinking about the golf tournament. And that golf tournament, Friday leads into Mother's Day weekend. So I'm already there. I'm at the time, but too much. But no. So we've got a lot of important and fun things coming up. And our business community does so much to support, whether it be our local schools, our sports teams, our arts programs, and things of that nature. And so just a good reminder to slow down. Um, instead of pushing, instead of going online and clicking a cart online, we want you to go push a cart somewhere in Hays somewhere in Ellis County, where that tax base that you're paying for your goods that you're purchasing actually goes back to reinvest into your community, our roads, our schools, our infrastructure, things that help us have good quality of life here.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, and I, there's been a couple of situations real recently with myself, where I've realized that things that I were buying online, you can find locally, and, yes, slightly more expensive, um, but it's just so like, not even enough to really make it a consideration. But I found that it you know, it feels better, because you're out there. And you, you know, when you when you lay down that $10 bill for whatever it is, it's supporting the local community.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
While there was a statistic back in 2017. That said, for every dollar that is spent in haste, it reads circulates an average of seven times. So think about the power of $1. And how many dollars we spend on a daily basis, we have to talk a little bit too about our cost of gas right now. Right? So for people that are considering shopping out of town, because they just want to go someplace else, you have to add the cost of your gas in your time into that trip, as well. And when you look at the cost savings that you could have by just staying here in Hays, um, it really adds up very quickly.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And for those that are in those towns that scattered around here in Hays, I know Hayes's your your deal, but you know, think like Ellis Victoria, those little small businesses there, same kind of deal. And this was, especially in the Victoria, you were at that meeting where we heard that, you know, they really want to support the community, it's a vocal and, you know, almost tangible desire there in the community to keep that money locally.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely. So I think the more we reinvest in ourselves, the more we help ourselves. So I'm just thinking about those businesses again, that, you know, I was surprised, we looked everywhere in town for a couple of items for the chamber A few weeks ago. And finally, I just said, You know what, we can't find it here right now. But let's just see if they can order. So sometimes, maybe you don't actually see the item on the shelf, but give that business owner an opportunity to share with them what you're looking for nine times out of 10, they're going to be able to find something for you and probably get it in just as quick as if he would buy something from the evil word amazon online. So when I hear people talking about Amazon, I just want to beat my head against the wall, because Amazon is not investing in our schools, they're not supporting local initiatives, and making our community a special place to live work in place. So please, please, please keep that in mind as you are making your purchasing decisions this spring.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I think to about, you know, in the, in the historical kind of nature of shop local, you know, at least in my head, I still think about supporting those local business owners, you know, the main street businesses and not going to those chain stores. But even when you if you have to make the decision between going to a chain box store here in Hays, and going to Amazon, the chain box stores still better in terms of supporting the community.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
They are, you know, they, Mariah, I think you have some, you know, we've been talking a little bit about this, and the actual chamber office, you know, Walmart, I think this was two years ago, give a very wonderful donation to the ark Park. You know, it's not just the mom paws, it's everybody that comes together in our community to make a big difference. So we don't discriminate between smaller big businesses at the chamber. We support them and love them all, that they're local. And we're our job is to make sure that people keep that in mind when they purchase.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
Absolutely. And like you said, I mean, that was something that kind of surprised me is that you can go in and if you can't find something that you're looking for, you know, just talk to the owners and usually they can get you what you're looking for just as kind of a deterrent to go to evil Amazon.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
And we talk about it too, you know, just planning in advance. I think our society has become very good about instant gratification. And delayed gratification can be something you can do with as long as you're planning ahead. So, um, just make sure that if you're looking for birthday presents, like we talked about this wedding presents, graduation, Mother's Day, all those things you know, just put Ain't ahead and you can make sure that you're supporting your community while taking care of the people you love all at the same time.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely, you know, and a great way to do that we've talked about this before, but the chamber checks, get that and whether or not you're using them, or giving them as a gift that ensures that that money is going to be used locally.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Well, if you're like me, and your mom and dad literally, like buy everything they need themselves, and don't give you the opportunity to buy them something for them, just to say thank you, um, chamber checks, do you make a great option because they can be spent at almost 500 locations, you know, across Ellis County. And, you know, that's a great way to make sure that that money is staying local chamber checks can't be used and other communities. So that's really the big benefit. They spend like cash, and they don't expire. So you can take them in at any time and go ahead and use them to purchase whatever you want. So and the nice thing is, is, you know, because they have that choice, and that flexibility, the sky is really the limit. And you know, whether they want to go out to eat at one of our wonderful restaurants, that's a chamber member, or just do some shopping or maybe get gas or groceries. They're all options.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. You know, and I like that too. Because it's, it's one of those things, you know, when I think about gift cards, right? Gift cards are can be so handy, but also so annoying. Because if it's something that's not local, you got to think about it. Like I'm trying to think of a restaurant that is not in haste schlocky Sovran slide forgot a gift card to schlocky is it to remember to take that with me all the time. Or remember that I'm going to be stopping in schlocky wallum in Salina later this afternoon. So I should grab that gift card. But a chamber check, you choose it anywhere. Exactly. And for the experiences, I love that, you know, it's not just the shopping, it's the you know, doing things as well, you could use those for
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely. So just a friendly reminder, chamber texts do come and 510 and $25 increments. And if folks do want to make any orders for their upcoming gifts and things of that nature, if they can just give us a call at 785-628-8201. We'll go ahead and get those orders ready for you. That way we can make sure that they're I'm ready to pick up when you come by the office. Oh, quick and easy love. Very easy. Yes. And we do also include a brochure. We tried to have our brochure be as up to date as possible. But the best way to figure out and which businesses do take chamber checks is usually by visiting our website, Hayes chamber.com. And clicking on our membership directory.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
I just updated that shop local brochure. So it'll be updated for about three days about how long that lasts. So what's a good thing though, that
 
James Bell 
means businesses are coming? Joining up? Yes,
 
Mariah Legleiter 
absolutely.
 
James Bell 
Well, guys, we want to get into this too. There is there's a lot going on. Now. There's always a lot going on down the chamber, but this week, especially Holy smokes.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
We were just talking about that on the way here. Today. We actually today, Tuesday, April 19 at 10am. We have a ribbon cutting at my town media. They are a new member at 1105 East 30th Street Suite. See I've heard that's on the north side of the building. Tuesday, April 19. At noon, we have the H yp connection lunch at thirsties venue Wednesday, April 20 at 8:30am. We'll have the leadership Hayes group at the Welcome Center. Thursday, April 21 at 8am. We'll have the downtown dialog Friday, April 22. At 9am. We will have our regular chamber chat over the USD 489 Bond opportunity at Rockwell Administration Center 323 West 12th Street, and on Friday, April 22. At noon, we will have our monthly Ambassador luncheon at the Rose Garden banquet hall
 
Sarah Wasinger 
and a few quick clarifications. We will have Joseph Glassman, he is the president CEO at Glassman Corporation, he will be our guest speaker for the hrrp lunch today. And the downtown dialogue event of course is sponsored by the downtown Hayes Development Corporation. And they always had that event down in the basement at breathe coffee house. So um, it's a great opportunity for us to get to sit down with the downtown business owners. And one final point of note is today is a big day. And for people who have possibly been paying attention to the USD 49 upcoming bond election today is voter registration deadline. So if you have not already verified if you're registered to vote, you can go to 489 bond.com There's a link to verify that you're registered.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. And it's not hard to get registered, just sit down to the county chamber or the county whatever that what's the building the administration's county administration center, yes. And get yourself registered if you're not even for this election or for the next one.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Absolutely. And a friendly reminder to folks to that this week and next week and they can still purchase raffle tickets in our Avalon of Hayes and CO patio party tickets that are in conjunction with our golf tournaments. So always a lot going on and as always make sure that you check out his chamber.com/events for all of our upcoming them and that's what we have

Race for Education fundraiser date set

On this episode of the Post Podcast Holy Family's Race for Education co-chair Taryn Crawford shares information about the upcoming event.
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Holy Family elementary race for education fundraiser is quickly approaching. Co chair Taryn Crawford stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Taryn Crawford 
Actually our 18th annual raise protein fundraise. Wow.
 
James Bell 
Yes, racing must work. I guess I
 
Taryn Crawford 
Yes, yes.
 
James Bell 
So let's just start off with the basics. What is the race for education fundraiser?
 
Taryn Crawford 
Basically, what we do is, we send out flyers for sponsorship to friends and family of our students on behalf of our students, and just trying to raise funds for our general operations at our school. So the funds are imperative, but the kids, people can either send in a flat donation, or they can donate the students to the students on how many laps that they run, it's in one eight mile lap that they run or walk around. And so that's how they raise the funds. Okay.
 
James Bell 
So it's like, when we were kids, they had the the get on the bikes and would do the similar thing. Well, what am I trying to think? What's that called? It's like that for life or jumping for life. Yeah, bike for but was the bike for life. I don't know. It's
 
Taryn Crawford 
like it might be. And most people actually now instead of doing the per lap, say send us flat donations, which we love, but the kids get so excited about the per lap. So on that day, which it's Friday, this year, the 22nd. They go out, they raise for about an hour, and try and get as many laps as they can for people that have donated on further prolapse.
 
James Bell 
Simple and easy, but very cool. Very important. And I like you know, you mentioned that the fundraiser it's for general operations, I don't like to talk about this with any of the fundraisers down there at the Catholic schools. It's exactly as you mentioned, it's for operations. It's not for trying to, you know, put in a fancy new pool or something like that. It's actually what keeps education going. And right,
 
Taryn Crawford 
if we schools, it's not fun, money, it's imperative, it's very, very important. It keeps the lights on at the school, it's a part of what keeps a little thumb to school, I should say. And this year, our goal is 60,000. In years past, we've our goal has been about 50,000. But last year, we were able to raise 62,000. So he's over 62,000. But so we raised our goal this year to 60,000. And I will say the flyers have been going out, we've been getting lots of donations in we've been tallying our dollars that we've raised so far, we have 38,000, so far this year, wow. But we continue to receive donations. So if people would like to donate, they can go to Holy Family pick up a form in the office, or they can go to HFP hayes.org. That's the Holy Family website, and click on our race for education page. And they will find a form there that they could fill out and send in. We like this fundraiser, because it's a way for kids to ask family and friends that aren't necessarily in our community to help donate because they're able to send these all over the United States. I mean, the world really if they wanted to, but they can send them to, you know, people as far away as they want, and we get funds in from people from far away, because they love their they love their students.
 
James Bell 
Well, sure, sure. And you know what I also think, gotta believe that for those kiddos, it's a it's a kind of a fun way to be involved in this process. Because you know, it is important that everybody steps up and does a little bit of work. And what a great way to take some ownership of your education. Absolutely.
 
Taryn Crawford 
They get so excited. They love it.
 
James Bell 
Now, I am curious if anybody's wanting to actually, you know, watch the kiddos run, is it open to the community? Or is that close to the school because it's a school?
 
Taryn Crawford 
You know what it's absolutely, I mean, if you want to come and watch, they raised just right in the parking lot at Holy Family. So you can drive by and Honk if you want to. But if you want to come and participate, you're more than welcome to come and walk with the kids. It starts at 830 is the first race that's for our fifth and sixth graders at Holy Family. The next time slot is 945. That's our littler ones a preschool, kinder prep kindergarten, first grade, and then at 115, after lunch, second, third and fourth. And they all just run for an hour.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. And again, you said that this Friday, right is this Friday. All right. So if anybody's out there listening right now and they are do want to get involved again to donate or whether it be the five donation or find a student to sponsor what's the easiest way for them to
 
Taryn Crawford 
do so. I think the easiest way would be to go to the website and look up that form yourself. But like I said, you can go down to Holy Family's office or give Holy Family a call and let them know that you're interested in donating we can direct you the right way.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Yeah, I tell you every time I call down there, no matter who picks up the phone, Oh, he's so helpful. Right. I love it. Well, all righty. Anything else that you think folks need to know?
 
Taryn Crawford 
Just that we are so thankful for? Any type of contribution whether it is Just in prayer and thoughts or if it is a monetary donation we appreciate any, any thought towards our school and our students and what we're trying to do here

Ellis County Commission recap: April 19, 2022

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Hays Post reporter Jonathan Zweygardt recap this week's Ellis County Commission meeting with County Commission chair Butch Schlyer.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Hays Post reporter Jonathan Zweygardt recaps this week's Ellis County Commission meeting with commission chair Butch Schlyer on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
not a huge meeting last night by any means handful things on the agenda. And kind of the the one thing I guess we'll start with the budget discussion, because that's going to be something that you all talked about last night. And it's going to be a continued kind of process through the next several weeks and months. And I know, a week ago, Commissioner, Rutherford County Administrator, Dr. Meyers kind of laid out the the calendar. And then last night was the first opportunity to kind of start to direct how the commission would like the budget to look. And I guess that's kind of where we start. So it's an opportunity for the commission to kind of lay out their vision for what the department head portion of the budget budget and elected officials looks like,
 
Butch Schlyer 
right? Last night, we were to start to give them direction on what the budget should look like, and what department heads elected officials should try to do with their budgets. And of course, as I reflected on that, through the week, our budgets are going to go up, we know that going in. And they're gonna go up because we had additional personnel, we added, I believe our IT department added a person we added an assistant to our admin administrator, we've we've increased a clerical position from halftime to full time and we just increased an appraiser position for three quarter time to full time. So we know that personnel wise, we're going to have an increase. And we know given the inflation on things, we are going to look at an increase in supplies and increase in equipment. And on top of that everyone has had their homes valued at a whole new level, mine went up 19.4%. So that just going to impact people's wallet and trying to make sure people are aware that what what we definitely came to a conclusion last night is we want the department heads and elected officials to bring in a budget that they believe they need to provide the services necessary in their departments. And that includes their supplies and their equipment, we know the cost of fuel is going to go way up. That's even going to be real hard to budget for. But But looking at that, it just comes down to a matter of what we can do with the dollars we're going to get. And we're going to pull them. And we're also looking at trying to increase money into our public works department for road and bridge projects. Currently, we're allotting one mil for Bridge Park project, specifically, which gives us about 450,000 a year that we had one bridge failure on the saline river this year, that costs us $900,000. So we feel like we really have to put more money back for that. And then addition, as we look at personnel, we have been giving them the same cost of living increase that Social Security recipients get, we don't know where that's going to fall either. So the budget, we're going to look at where the budget kind of comes in at and then see where we can best to reallocate funding resources wherever we need.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
It's interesting to talk about so road and bridge Public Works and the revival of a old fund to now make two funds where there's a highway fund road and bridge fund that, as you mentioned, is funded $400,000 each in each fund. So combine $100,000 A year ago, but as you mentioned that that won't replace a bridge. I mean, if we have, and we have some bridge that bridges that are extremely old and the county is structurally deficient is a is a is an interesting term, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's actually you know, going to fall down tomorrow. It's just a tech, technical term. But there are bridges that the county and rows of the county has to look out for in the future. And so it's important to start to set money back in case there are big projects, big failures and bridges,
 
Butch Schlyer 
right, like I say with that one bridge failure versus $900,000. And that should be finished up here this year sometime. But it when a bridge fails like that it does cause an inconvenience to the users of that bridge. And this bridge that did fail. The oil industry is really harmed by that bridge failure. They have a big detour they have to go around.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
And I know that something that with the road and bridge, the road tour coming up next week. That's something with that we wanted to hit on Well, let's keep talking about the budget but obviously that's an opportunity for the commission next week. was part of a special session to take a look at some of those bridges, right?
 
Butch Schlyer 
They do take our the commissioners around and shows the various projects that are going on and the projects which we may be facing in the future. And that's always an eye opener.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
When you look at the budget budget process, we talk about some of the unknowns, the inflation, the price of fuel, the cost of health care may change as well. You talk about the direction that the Commission talked about last night and keeping it as you know, make sure you keep the services that you want. That's something that as you've been a part of the commission that the you guys have, really, I don't want to champion to the right word, but making sure that you keep the level of services that we have in Ellis County at the level we have,
 
Butch Schlyer 
right? Well, well, county government is governed by statute from the state. And the state really tells us what we're going to provide with most of our departments, there is an exception with just a couple. But we have to provide certain services for departments, and with with the elected official departments, we have to provide them adequate funding to provide those services or else they could come back and take us to court on those kinds of issues, which I hope that never has to happen. So it can get. We've had budget sessions in the past, I'd got quite intense.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
And I know to you being a part of the Commission, as part of the discussion for the sales tax, and it went past and the Commission, you can only through the sales tax or tax directly a certain portion of that specifically to one which the commission elected to do health care, which we can talk about in just a moment, but also then kind of earmarking saying, Okay, we have a percentage that needs to go to road and bridge. And that probably goes more to what we were talking about earlier, too,
 
Butch Schlyer 
right? Yeah, that what we've done with the with the portion for road and bridge, is we did take out a bond for certain projects. And as as we start down that list, if a project is overrun, comes in more than it should have or what we anticipated, then the list just gets shorter. So list doesn't go away. It just shortens up and we have to make a new list next year. And I
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
know Darrin County Administrator, Dr. Meyers talked about it a week ago with the sales tax and how much that has helped on the budget, with the being able to fund the health through that. And then also with Raja road and bridge. So that's a big part of the success that the budget has had for the county.
 
Butch Schlyer 
Right. Without that sales tax, Ellis County would have crashed and burned, we would have had to have layoffs service, whether it had been curtailed, probably would have had to cut hours for existing staff, it just wouldn't have been a good outcome at all.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
I'm curious to in your position with the as the commission chair, and with kind of those numbers and understanding that that will sunset in 10 years, obviously, under 10 years now. But and looking at it as far as who knows what happens the next time you go to the voters? Is there also that way in the back of your mind that you have to find a way to set aside money and and start to make sure that you don't get back in that situation? As before.
 
Butch Schlyer 
We're trying to build up the reserves for it for the LS County.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
Yeah, I'm curious. That was something that you guys kind of talked a little bit about last night. Right. And so any particular reserves, we talked about Rowan bridge, but is there any other than that you think that you want to highlight as far as from your chair?
 
Butch Schlyer 
Well, our reserves, our capital equipment fund, just our cash carryover balance. And anything we can build up to help sustain this, should we not have quite the revenues we think we need is going to help and maybe get us by a year. If we run into a situation in eight years where our sales tax doesn't pass, we're in bad shape immediately. That's that's just going to be that effective.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
And obviously, that's something that Darren had pointed out and you see an ad budget, and there's some things that you just can't control, as we talked about before. One of the things that came up last night. So your director was talking about outside agencies, and as a whole, those are agencies of the Commission and the county of funds. Is there anything as far as director that you're talking about with them that, that you think that won't be related? As far as well.
 
Butch Schlyer 
We we talked about the outside agencies or the agencies what just enhanced quality of service or quality of life in Ellis County. And we talked last night, we just wanted to see them bring in pretty much flat budgets. And as we look at our county budget comes in, look at the subsidize agencies that will determine if we're going to increase decrease or allocate different agencies within those outside agencies different funding, so it's something we just got to look at the big picture when we start getting the pieces put together
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
and This is going to be a process that will go all the way to September because there will definitely be an increase in the budget. And so that takes an extra step. Yes, absolutely. So I know we'll be talking more and more about that. So we look forward to having more of those types of discussions. Anything else from last night, it's a meeting that kind of stood out to me, we got an update from the health department. I think that was something with Kim mareel, the Director of Health Department talking about a couple of different things
 
Butch Schlyer 
we did, we did send the health department back to the governor's Public Health Conference, the whole staff went, they closed up the department for a few days, it sounded like it was very beneficial for him. We have completely redone the health department as to what it was, when I retired, we brought it back to that same level with with an administrator directly into the department, running things on a day to day basis, instead of having us split administrator, that just doesn't seem to be working well. So I think our health department is kind of getting its feet back under him. They're looking at expanding some programs with the maternal child grant, as well as with the family planning grant. So that's all helpful. And then they're trying to find ways to spend some of the COVID grant they had with with some remodeling and some signage and things like that. So we'll see how that turns out. Yeah, I
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
know, that's something that I think we'll definitely be hearing more about as far as maybe a little bit of a different look. And it's because of safety issues that have been brought up within the departments, that new location is not new anymore. It's been settling for a while, but that's something that I know that the the remodel and kind of making it a little bit safer, and then also more efficient. Right. Absolutely. And we'll look forward to hearing more about that. I know Kim presented last night and as you mentioned some COVID money that has to be spinner. It it goes back to the federal government. So I think the odd the, basically the understanding was this is your chance to use that money or you will never get it again.
 
Butch Schlyer 
But you have to lose it according to certain contingencies. So sometimes that can be hard to sort it all out.
 
Jonathan Zweygardt 
Very good. Well, um, that kind of wraps it up. I know, there was, as you mentioned, an approval of a little bit of a change in income, kind of some of the positions there through the appraisers office. That was some personnel change a little bit and then more about the Katherine township that was one of those that was out for dissolve nine, but it looks like that some folks have stepped up and decided that they want to keep their township running. Yeah,
 
Butch Schlyer 
I guess according to the county clerk if they don't file the budget or the proper reports, we can dissolve the township and the Catherine township I believe it was decided they didn't want to do that. So they got some offers. We got everything renewed last month. Great.