By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
ELLIS—The final of three town hall style meeting soliciting feedback and ideas about the future of Ellis County took place at Gigi,’s Café, 816 Washington St., late Thursday afternoon.
The feedback provided by the packed diner clarified the growing picture of what residents see as priorities and problems for the county and its communities for the Imagine Ellis County Committee.
“The concept behind the committee is to look at the county as a whole, and try and envision where we'd like to be in five, 10, 20, 25 years, and go into the communities and ask the people what they feel like we're doing right, what they feel like we're doing wrong, and the type of things they'd like to see,” said Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams.
During the meeting in Ellis, the town’s historic stops, were identified as a valuable asset to the community, along with the new pool, expanded campgrounds, good schools and small-town living.
In the larger view, Fort Hays State University, Hays Med, infrastructure and recreation options were cited as benefits to life in Ellis County.
But along with the positives, opportunities for the county mirrored the previous two meetings, with a lack of housing and childcare noted as particularly critical concerns.
“Certainly, as you look across all the communities, there are very common themes as well as the business community,” Williams said. “Housing is a constant, no matter which community you're in. Childcare is a constant, no matter which community or what your workforce is, it is a constant. So that's across the board.”
“We heard that from the business community and all three communities loud and clear,” he continued.
A combined focus from all three major cities in the county – Hays, Victoria and Ellis – was discussed as a way to improve Ellis County as well, as participants in Victoria and Ellis both noted sometimes Hays dominates conversations about the future of the area.
“I do think that each community, for the most, part understands their role in the county,” Williams said. “Somebody that's looking for small town living and that type of thing is going to be more attracted to Victoria or Ellis. The people that live there, live there for a reason.”
“Hays on the other hand is the commerce center for the county and where most of the jobs are. Most people commute to Hays to work. Not all, but a lot of them do.”
He said he understands that some of the feelings that Hays gets more attention than the other communities are tied to it being the center of commerce for the county, but working together is in the best interest of everyone.
“More and more people recognize that we're a community, we're an entire county, and really, when you get right down to it, we're an entire region,” Williams said. “We're tied together a lot more than we think sometimes. And we have to recognize that in many cases, what's good for Hays is good for WaKeeney, or Stockton or whatnot. And what's good for those communities is good for Hays.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
Now that all three meeting in the series is complete, the committee plans to compile what was learned into a report soon, but while the takeaways are being compiled, the goodwill and actionable ideas linger in the participants.
“We get together, we talk about things, and then we all go back to our daily lives, and nothing happens,” Williams said. “And that's what we can't let happen. We have to identify which of these ideas which of these issues are important. And then we have to engage in the people that were at the meetings… We're going to ask him to take it to the next step and get engaged in resolving some of these things or making some of these things happen.”
The work of the committee will also continue as they develop plans to address the work of the groups.
“There's an obligation on our part to make sure that we circulate the information that we gathered,” Williams said. And we're working on that.”
Overall, Williams said the meetings reflected the positive nature of Ellis County residents and a strong desire to solve problems facing the county and it’s communities moving into the future.
“By and large it was it was very positive,” Williams said. We heard “some good ideas, and that's what these sessions are. They're really idea sessions to take off the limits. You know, the last question I think that Betty (Johnson) asked was, ‘With no obstacles, what would you like to see this community look like in 25 years?’ And, you know some crazy stuff comes up, but out of those kinds of ideas and that kind of thinking, you can get a lot of positive things done.”
