Garden City staff report several major projects, workforce efforts and school enrollment decline

Garden City economic development staff reported progress on several business attraction and community development items and flagged a new state transparency requirement for local incentives during a meeting. Staff said they are coordinating roadwork and state incentives for a large agricultural facility they referred to as “Prospect 9 25,” and that an Amazon hiring fair is scheduled to begin Sept. 29.

The update came from Lana Duvall, who summarized current projects and workforce efforts. “Prospect 9 25. This is a new facility that we're working with,” Duvall said. She told the commission the city is collecting project data to coordinate with the Kansas Department of Commerce on state incentives and is talking with the Department of Transportation and the county about necessary road improvements.

Why it matters: several projects described are large capital investments that could create jobs and require intergovernmental coordination for road and incentive support. Staff also reported a recent approval of a low-income housing tax-credit project that will move forward pending developer follow-up.

Duvall summarized workforce and business-support items: “Amazon warehouse, their hiring fair is scheduled to begin September 29,” she said, and she noted the city was working to identify a location that could host the multi‑week recruitment event. She also said the city “did get the approval for the low income tax credit project,” and that staff are awaiting follow-up from the developer.

Staff highlighted philanthropy and workforce training: Duvall said the community college won “over a $400,000 grant from the Patterson Family Foundation” to support construction trades programming. She said the foundation’s engagement could lead to more impact investments in Kansas communities.

On community indicators, Duvall told the commission that USD 457’s enrollment is “down again this year” and that preliminary staff analysis suggests part of the change reflects demographic shifts and increased local economic opportunity, which can delay family formation. “Holcomb and Garden City, both school districts have experienced almost identical reduction in the number of students over the last 15 years,” Duvall said; she added the city will prepare a fuller report after further data analysis.

Duvall also briefed the commission on homelessness work in the riverbed area, reporting that the task force reduced the population they were working with. “They believe they had gotten that population down to 2 groups,” she said, describing coordinated efforts among social services and law enforcement.

Finally, Duvall discussed a new reporting requirement from the Kansas Department of Commerce. “The legislature, in the last session created a requirement that the Department of Commerce publicly post all of their incentive tools… they have created what they're calling a transparency database,” she said, and warned local governments that they will also be required to post incentives the taxing entity has entered into, retroactive in part to 2019.

No formal commission action on these items was recorded during the update; staff said they will continue to assist developers and coordinate on incentives and infrastructure and will provide additional data and follow-up reports.

Less critical details: Duvall also mentioned an upcoming stakeholder meeting in October for a large commercial project and a hospital CEO hiring process in which the St. Catherine Hospital Foundation has hired a new director.