Business Prospects
Initial new business contacts since April 9, 2001: Sabetha 10, Bern, 1; Baileyville, 1; Corning, 1;

Existing business contact count since April 9, 2001: Sabetha 7; Horton, 1; Goff, 2; out-of-area, 3; Everest, 1;

RDA is in discussions with a new manufacturing firm that could employ 20-30 people in the area to start with. If successful, the new venture may begin construction by spring 2002.

I met with a Nemaha County group that wishes to develop a plan for restoring some old buildings for tourist attractions. Nancy Gafford and Carol Hughes from Glacial Hills RC&D are working to restore Marion Hall, located nearly Baileyville, as a tourism center and study center for the Glacial Hills. The Seneca Chamber of Commerce is working with Frank Lindemuth to relocate and restore an old schoolhouse as a visitors/tourism center for Nemaha County. The schoolhouse is located about 10 miles north of Seneca. The purpose of these meetings was to discuss how the two projects can work together and to decide what funding to pursue for each project. The current plan is to relocate the schoolhouse to an area adjacent to Fort Markley outside of Seneca so that the attractions can benefit from the presence of one another. RDA will form a preliminary plan for the restoration and operation of the schoolhouse project. Once the plan is finalized and approved, we will begin to seek funds to begin the restoration. Marion Hall is on the State and National Historic Register of Historic Places and therefore can apply for funds in that category.

RDA hosted a USDA Rural Development business lending programs seminar on May 8^th. Randy Snider discussed the USDA Business and Industry (B&I) loan guarantee program. The B&I program is similar to many Small Business Administration (SBA) guarantee programs. However, USDA programs can allow for larger guarantees than SBA. Our goal was to increase awareness of USDA programs so that northeast Kansas businesses may have access to more capital through these programs. We had eight lenders from seven different banks at the seminar.

Local Government Relations
I attended the Kansas Center for Community Economic Development (KCCED) conference in Manhattan on April 18-19. Ernesto Sirolli, the keynote speaker, spoke of his concept enterprise facilitation, which is offering one-on-one coaching and information services while not actually "initiating" anything. Sirolli, founder of the Sirolli Institute, believes that economic development strategies that use policies such as industrial parks and tax abatements are outdated. He believes that communities see little reward from investing money in recruiting outside firms. He believes that local governments can use funds more efficiently by investing in local economic development officials that offer free business development services to emerging businesses. Sirolli believes an organization with a sound budget can maximize their results by focusing on local entrepreneurs rather than by recruiting outside businesses. Sirolli outlined many steps that can be taken by an ED person to help a business succeed.

I spoke at a public forum in Tonganoxie on a proposed casino development in the area. The Delaware Tribe is currently looking at two sites in Leavenworth County for a new casino. I spoke on the effects that the casinos in Brown County have had on indicators such as annual wages, per capital income, unemployment, and crime.

On Monday, June 4, the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing (KDOC&H) notified Nemaha County that its CDBG application for emergency vehicles for Nemaha County Fire District No. 1 (Goff area) was successful. RDA will soon meet with the district to discuss procurement policies and begin the process of obtaining new vehicles. RDA prepared the application on behalf of the district.

Fred Bentley from the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing (KDOC&H) contacted the Everest Housing Authority and RDA about revising its pro forma slightly. KDOC&H would like the pro forma to include a developer’s fee in the project. This would allow Everest to qualify for a larger portion of tax credits. Meanwhile, because the project does not have a developer, all of the extra equity could be devoted directly to construction costs; thus lowering the debt for the housing authority. RDA takes this message as a positive sign that KDOC&H plans to award the project with a tax credit allocation.

The Everest Housing Authority is involved in a pilot project with the Kansas Department of Aging. The agency is launching the Partnership Loan program, which is targeted to nursing facilities and senior housing projects in rural areas. The program does not officially begin until the next fiscal year. However, the Everest project may get priority status as the first of its kind for the new program. This program will allow the project to obtain low finance rates on its permanent debt, relative to a private financier. This will make the small project more viable. The success of this project may determine the availability of these funds for future senior housing units through this program.

The City of Reserve contacted RDA about restarting a potential sewer project in the city in conjunction with the Sac and Fox Tribe. We met with the city council on June 4^th. Engineers Galen Lay and John Ladson from Bartlett and West Engineeers also attended the meeting. Galen conducted a survey of the city in the early 1990’s when the city first discussed the prospect of a sewer system. Galen informed the council that he is retiring from Bartlett and West but he will provide John Ladson with all of his previous studies. The city will hold a public meeting on Wednesday regarding to gather public sentiment for the project. Reserve currently has no sewer system.

The Mary Cotton Public Library in Sabetha is seeking funds for structural repairs and renovation. I provided information on how to apply for Historical Register status. I am continuing to seek other grant funds for them. RDA hopes to be an integral part of any project they undertake.

Miscellaneous
I attended the American Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) conference in Oakland, CA. Much of the conference focused on varying techniques to start and improve microlending programs by improving technical assistance and planning advice offered to potential entrepreneurs. Most people in the group representing Kansas were very surprised by the great number of microenterprise programs that exist throughout the country. The concept is very new to Kansas.

I attended a meeting of the Kansas Microenterprise Opportunity Network (KMON) in Russell. KMON is a group of economic development officials and microenterprise service providers that work together to form new strategies to help upstart businesses. The focus of the recent meeting was the lessons learned at the AEO conference in Oakland and how they can be implemented in Kansas. One of the first endeavors that may be undertaken by KMON will be to set up a state marketing campaign with a telephone service that can refer local entrepreneurs to microenterprise service providers in their areas. This will not only help the entrepreneurs but also give the service providers much more exposure to their program.

RDA is nearing completion of its new web site, www.rdanek.com. Although not finished, it is currently available for viewing. We encourage all interest parties to view the site and give us feedback. We hope to use the web site as a multi-faceted tool for many purposes including business recruitment, local business expansion, expanding RDA’s client base, and as a public community information tool.

Respectfully submitted,

Scott M. Huizenga
Executive Director