By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A month after appearing before the Great Bend City Council to discuss updates at the Innovation Center on West 10th Street and his organization's role in the community, Great Bend Economic Development Director Jason Kuilan again appeared before the body Monday night to provide more updates. Kuilan opened his statement by explaining the role of economic development organizations.
"Economic development is the process of improving the economic well-being and quality of life for the community by creating jobs, bringing new money into the community, increasing incomes, expanding business activity, and enhancing conditions that support long-term, sustainable growth," he said.
Kuilan then discussed how Great Bend Eco Devo is meeting each of those goals. In terms of job growth, Eco Devo runs a free job site for job seekers and providers. To date, the organization has posted more than 580 jobs, has more than 280 resumes on file, and has filled 403 jobs. More than 120 companies have registered to use the feature.
As for expanding business activity in the area, in the past two years, Great Bend Eco Devo has helped Freaking Delicious Cheesecake, K9 Training Academy, Tankquility, First Response Cleaning and Restoration, Rhue Rituals, and Proper Boards through its IGNITE Rural Business competition. Countless other local businesses have benefited from Eco Devo's various entrepreneurship programs.
Then there's the big one: how much do the programs cost and what value do they bring to the area?
"In the past two years, we have received $758,000 in funding from either the city or the county," said Kuilan. "That $758,000 has turned into $9.5 million. That's a 12.5x multiplier. As a business owner myself, if I received $12.50 for every dollar spent, I'd continue to invest in that pretty heavily."
Much of that money has been generated via grants to support the creation of multiple childcare centers, downtown projects, the Innovation Center, the hotel project in Great Bend, and more. Kuilan also highlighted the various projects that have helped bring life to downtown and support local businesses.
"That said, there is plenty more work to be done," he said. "We need to focus on continuing to bring in grant money to the region. We need to find solutions to the housing challenges. We need to continue to entice current businesses to reinvest back into the area, while also finding the right incentives to bring in new businesses. We need to continue the momentum that our downtown currently has and find the right businesses to reinvigorate the entire downtown. We need to do a lot of things, but none of this will happen overnight."
Finally, Kuilan provided an update on construction work at the Innovation Center. He said winterization of the building should be finalized in the next 2-3 weeks.
Councilman Gary Parr raised concerns about the general contractor for the project, Seaton, possibly pulling up stakes Monday morning.
"He said they had no plans in that because they didn't know what was going on, and they couldn't leave their resources sitting there, which is their job office, so he said they're not left any choice," Parr said. "I said, 'What about the roof blowing off?' He said, 'I've been on those guys for weeks, now, about getting that secured.' He said, 'I don't know what's going to happen after this point because I'm not scheduled to come back here anymore.'"
Kuilan confirmed on Wednesday that Seaton has relocated its mobile office to another location while the Innovation Center project is on pause, but is still otherwise involved with the Great Bend Project.
Parr also asked when the council would receive its quarterly financial report from Eco Devo, and why the body has not received reports for the last year.
"If you asked and didn't get them, I don't know the answer to that," said Kuilan, who was hired near the close of 2025.
"Somebody from your organization is supposed to show up here and give us one of those," Parr replied. "We shouldn't have to track anybody down for that."