GARNETT Political differences took a back seat Monday night in Garnett as a crowd of roughly 100 people met at Anderson County Junior – Senior High School to visit with Lieutenant Governor Lynn Rogers as part of a Summer Listening Tour which encourages people to come together and discuss quality of life in rural Kansas.
The Office of Rural Prosperity was formed earlier this year by the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly, in part to give rural communities a seat at the table.
The goal is to make small towns more prosperous and allow those in rural areas know that their voices are heard.
Monday nights forum divided the crowd into groups, with each going over three questions.
What does prosperity look like? What has our community done well? What are roadblocks standing in the way of prosperity for our citizens?
Most attendees agreed that they were proud of their schools and hospitals. They were proud of the rail trails. Most also agreed that the Brain Drain where students head off for college and do not return because of a lack of high-paying jobs was the biggest roadblock in potential growth opportunities in their small towns.
A general lack of engagement by members of the community in both local and broader efforts was cited as the biggest stumbling block.
We have been taught that our voices and opinions do not matter, Iola High School student Lexie Vega said. Being from a small town, we dont think our vote matters. When in fact, if we all just came together we could do some really great things and progress faster as communities. In Iola, local businesses really support our youth programs. They provide internship opportunities for high school students that give us a chance to learn new skills.
One attendee said a major hurdle for farmers are property taxes and what he feels is an undue burden.
We need larger businesses to come in. We need manufacturing plants and other businesses to bring some relief to the farmers. We are the biggest landowners in our towns and counties and every year they raise our property taxes, the man said. And if we had some manufacturing plants that offered high-paying jobs, we wouldnt lose our youth to larger communities. Instead, people would be coming here.
Farmer Arlyn Briggs of Colony said the meetings that were held earlier in the day were successful, and though there were disagreements, he felt every side was heard.
We can disagree. But as long as we respect each other, some good can come from it, Briggs said. We are so wrapped up in our political sides that we dont even want to hear what the other party has to say. People think discourse is a bad thing. Sometimes the best solutions to the problems we face are formed out of disagreements.
Rogers said the plan was to take the top concerns from each of the 12 meetings he has on his tour, and to put them on the governors desk.
I just really want to thank everyone in the area that I visited with today. We discussed taxes, we discussed healthcare, and the many things that are holding us back. We discussed the lack of broadband internet in rural communities. We talked about the importance of the ethanol plant to this community. We talked about the lack of affordable housing in small communities. I take this job very seriously. I grew up in a small town of just over 700 people and the problems that we faced back then are still problems we are facing today, Rogers said. I was able to see the Prairie Spirit Trail today, which is a prime example of what can be accomplished when small towns come together. We need to promote tourism to these areas so that we can support our local businesses.
