Woods County board members used their regular meeting to plan outreach to state officials, describe ongoing ARPA-funded projects and preview two regional conferences aimed at conservation and wildfire management.

Speaker 2 said the lieutenant governor’s office requested switching the usual schedule so the lieutenant governor would visit Woods County in the mid-afternoon through early evening to tour local projects and attend the donor dinner. Committee members said the schedule change should not be assumed permanent and emphasized invitations to state agency directors and industry guests to showcase local projects.

Speaker 2 outlined local projects the county intends to feature: the arena expected to be near completion, the Avard rail park/industrial park, water and highway improvements in Alba, a senior citizen center and partnerships with the local university and technology center. He reported ARPA and related funding for the rail-park work, saying “we received the 15,000,000 in ARPA, 5,000,000 in prep,” and urged outreach to energy and manufacturing contacts to attract investment and retention efforts.

The board discussed website and registration logistics for the Southern Plains Grasslands Summit and other events, noting they will work with web developer Goose Media (Amanda Wheeler) and plan to put registration (Eventbrite or similar) on the county economic-development site. Speaker 3 described the Great Plains Grasslands Summit as a two-and-a-half-day gathering with academic, producer and agency tracks, field tours and a vendor trade show, and estimated 350–500 attendees.

Speaker 3 also announced the Great Plains Fire Science Conference, focused on prescribed fire and wildfire risk reduction, to be held at the Self Work Event Center in August; he described participants as rural fire departments, equipment vendors and university researchers. Board members framed the events as economic-development opportunities that will bring visitors who will spend on lodging, fuel and local purchases.

On fundraising and donor relations, Speaker 2 said the donor-appreciation mixer format cost roughly one-third of a sit-down dinner and reported two new pledges with two additional pledges expected early next year. He named Dream First and Next Era among donors who committed support for Woods County economic-development activities.

The meeting included brief updates on WCIDA revolving-loan repayments (three loans repaying; roughly $16,000 remains to allocate by Jan. 31) and a tenant (Arch Rock) that sold a property but remains in the local incubator building.

"This is a tourism builder," Speaker 3 said of the planned conferences, and the board agreed to begin invitation and registration work in January so state agency and industry guests can include travel in next year’s budgets. The meeting closed with routine administrative business and adjournment.