By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The League of Women Voters of Great Bend hosted a forum with all Barton County Commission candidates for Districts 1, 4, and 5 Thursday evening at the Senior Center in Great Bend. District 4 incumbent Jon Prescott and challenger Tricia Schlessiger were part of the panel that each answered four questions.
Both candidates said they would like to see increased involvement in Pawnee Rock. Prescott said he would like to see the community on the west edge of the county restored.
"We've already started over in Pawnee Rock," he said. "Three months ago, I formed a committee of six individuals in that area. We've already applied for a grant to start cleaning up that town and getting it back to what it was when we were kids. When I was a child, grade school, junior high, that was the field trip to go to Pawnee Rock. It was a thriving little community. We want that back.
"We've got a lot of things going on because there are some great historic sites over there, some beautiful homes that could be redone. We've already had meetings with the state historic preservation office out of Topeka. We've really got a lot of momentum going on."
Each candidate also spoke of housing issues in the county. Schlessiger said a data-driven approach is needed to fit the needs of a new generation of homebuyers.
"It's the data that's telling us that, for decades, it was you go to college, you leave, you're never coming back," she said. "This is no longer the case. Here in the nation's heartland, we're facing an unprecedented surge in housing demand. This is partly driven by the Millenials, which are those born from 1981 to 1996, which is now the nation's largest generation, and they're all becoming homeowners on a massive scale.
"This generation is different. We have to look towards them for the future. They desire different types of housing. They want clean houses with hard floors. Eighty-five percent of them want dogs and cats. They also want to work from home. They're bringing their jobs with them. This is not traditional housing needs. We have to follow the data we've been given, and there are huge amounts of that out there right now with all the surveys in place. This generation is going to be different, and it's going to change the landscape of our county."
Early voting in the county began July 18 and runs through Aug. 1 at noon. This year's primary election is Aug. 2.
Click HERE to watch the full candidate forum.
Eagle Radio will continue previews of each race/candidate throughout the next week.