Finding employees topic of future meeting

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Fort Scott City Commissioners were briefed during their Tuesday meeting on the early stages of a plan to try to improve the workforce in Fort Scott.

Director of Economic Development Heather Griffith told commissioners she had recently attended a workshop in Iola where the issues of economic development and finding skilled workers to fill jobs were discussed.

"It was a great workshop," Griffith said. "It's about finding the resources in the region and connecting them."

Griffith said one of the city's main challenges is improving the city's labor pool. She said a meeting is scheduled Tuesday, Nov. 12, to "brainstorm and address workforce issues." Griffith said she is working with Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lindsay Madison to organize the meeting.

"I hear all the time there are no jobs here, and there are jobs here," Griffith said. "We need to focus on getting kids who want to stay here, to stay here."

The meeting is expected to include Fort Scott Community College and USD 234 officials, city and chamber officials, as well as representatives of local businesses. No other details on the meeting were available as of press time.

"We have businesses here that want to grow," Griffith said. "We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in Fort Scott ... We've added jobs but the problem is filling them, and where to find workers."

Griffith said she learned through the workshop in Iola about plans of actions such as "connecting resources" and "talking to other counties" about their methods in improving their workforces.

"We have an aging population," she said. "We need to keep people here. It's not something that's going to change overnight."

City Manager Dave Martin said the understanding is that "we have businesses that want to expand if we can work together."

In other business Tuesday, the commission:

* Approved a request from Fort Scott Fire Chief Paul Ballou to spend $6,000 from the 911 fund to cover the cost of an additional repeater to improve communications among first responders in the southeastern portion of the county. Ballou said countywide communications have become more difficult after the recent move to narrow-banding.

* Approved a quit claim deed of property from Lawrence and Julia Mewhinney to the City of Fort Scott. Codes Manager Brent Crays told the commission the property, which has never been built on, was deeded by the Mewhinneys to the city and it was up to the commission if they wished to accept the property. Crays said he recently talked with Chad Brown, the city's streets manager, and they agreed that it would be better if the city owned the property and took on its care and maintenance. Crays said it is likely nothing will be built on the property since storm water runs through it. The property is described in the quit claim deed as the Catholic Church Addition.

* Heard a proclamation read by Mayor Cindy Bartelsmeyer declaring November as National Hospice Palliative Care Month.

* Were introduced to Slayden Davis, the city's new director of information technology, who recently started in his position. Davis and his family are from the Dallas, Texas area.

"I'm looking forward to working with the city of Fort Scott," Davis said.

"We're excited to have Slayden here," Director of Finance Jon Garrison said.

* Approved the consent agenda, which included appropriation ordinances totaling $896,101 and an application for a Christmas parade to take place at 6 p.m. Dec. 3.

* Approved the low bid of $95,450 from Home Center Construction of Pittsburg for repairs to the sludge holding basins at the wastewater treatment plant. The bid is below the engineer's estimate of $114,130.

* Following a 5-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel, approved offering Martin an additional three-year contract. More on this will appear in a future edition of the Tribune.

"Thanks for all the things you've done for Fort Scott," Bartelsmeyer told Martin.

"It's the staff," Martin said. "I have a great team."