By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Following Barton County’s change to funding Great Bend Economic Development, Great Bend City Council member Davis Jimenez brought up questions on the city’s role in Economic Development going forward. Instead of automatically allocating $250,000 to Great Bend Economic Development, Barton County will go to a project-base funding, choosing projects that benefit the entire county.
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The City of Great Bend still allocates $250,000 to Economic Development and used to have city council members serve on the Economic Development Board. Mayor Cody Schmidt said he still serves as an ex officio board member for Eco Devo.
"Economic Development did come to me and asked about removing elected officials from their board and asked how I felt about that," said Schmidt. "When I had City Attorney Allen Glendenning dig into it, there was nothing we could do...I shouldn't say nothing we can do, because there is something we could do to prevent that, but I gave them the blessing. I still don't have any concerns with it."
As of Jan. 1, 2025, Barton County stopped releasing funds directly to Great Bend Economic Development. The county now prioritizes funding based on project selection with the highest priority given to the completion of the Hoisington child care center.
"When I served on both boards, sometimes it was very difficult when I was there to take my city hat off to make sure I was looking out for the best interest of Eco Devo," said councilmember Jolene Biggs. "When I'm here, I want to make sure that I'm looking after the best interest of the city. It gets very difficult to maneuver those hats."
The Great Bend Chamber of Commerce used to handle Economic Development until 2020 when a city-appointed committee recommended the economic development services should become an in-house service.