By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
The Barton County Commission is looking at spending money to improve the look of the downtown areas in the four largest towns in the county. That information was discussed at a meeting Wednesday morning in Hoisington with local citizens and business leaders. The meeting was hosted by County Commissioners Kirby Krier and Shawn Hutchinson.
Hutchinson talked about how he first viewed the downtown areas of Barton County towns when he moved from Salina in 2003.
“One thing that I did notice though when I turned onto Main Street in some of these communities are that some of the buildings are kind of rundown,” Hutchinson noted. “When you think about selling a house and the value of a house, you think about curb appeal and location, location, location, right? So location, we can’t change location. We’re in the middle of Kansas, but we can change our curb appeal.”
Hutchinson explained that a plan to upgrade the appearance of downtown businesses is currently being considered by the County Commission.
“We are going to basically help business owners and building owners. So whether they’re the business owner or the building owner – landlord - help them improve the facades of their downtown properties in targeted areas,” Hutchinson explained. “That is Great Bend, Hoisington, Ellinwood and Claflin. We’re talking about doing a $15,000 match to the end of the year. We’re talking about doing a 75 percent on our end match. So this is a big deal. We’re anticipating a vote Monday. We’ll be able to give you a lot more details after Monday. But right now, this project, we’re going to fund it somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000.”
If the plan is okayed by the County Commission, Hutchinson said applications for grants would need to be approved by the end of this year and projects would need to be completed within 12 months.
The Barton County Commission meets at 9 am at the courthouse on Monday morning.