ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The City of Liberal has been partnered with Watkins Public Strategies for several months now to help get the community more representation in Topeka. Tuesday evening, the Liberal City Commission got to hear an update on how those efforts have been going from Watkins Public Strategies Vice President Jessica Lucas.
“As you all know, we were retained last year to represent Liberal’s interests in Topeka, and this was our first venture into that,” Lucas said. “We did have a productive session, and I’m really excited to share some updates and share what some things will look like as we go on. It’s kind of two buckets when you think about what it means to represent a client. There is the bucket of things you do not want to happen, and we’re going to talk about what we were able to make sure didn’t advance and what we recognized as not being in the best interests of the community. Then, there’s the bucket that’s really exciting, and that contains the things everyone hopes will happen, and that’s what you’re leaning into trying to bring to fruition. In general, I feel like you all recognize the need to invest in representation, because you want to make sure Liberal has a higher profile in Topeka, so as we think about what these past few months have meant, I feel very good about how Liberal has elevated its voice by virtue of having people who were in Topeka talking about the community and what is needed.”
Lucas said there were some surprises.
“I don’t know if I would have guessed, when we were hired last year, that part of how we were going to be leaning into the conversations at the Kansas House would be on the issue of homelessness, but that did indeed end up being rather a niche opportunity,” Lucas said. “To give some background, Gov. Kelly made a recommendation in her budget, when she announced it in January, that included $40 million in money that was intended to match one-for-one dollars to help support homelessness infrastructure. When that announcement was made, we immediately engaged City of Liberal leaders around what does the need look like in the community. That conversation happened the whole session. We testified in a couple of different scenarios about what the homelessness situation was like in Liberal and the need for repairs on the Stepping Stone Shelter building that’s serving that population. We also talked about commercial kitchen expansion, the HVAC and roof upgrades, and that was very well received. The issue with that topic, however, was how other entities throughout the state have different needs, bigger needs, and some of that was not as well defined. We were running with our request for money to help support that infrastructure need right up until the end. I was disappointed that did not get across the finish line this year, but that issue is not going away, it’s going to continue to be discussed, and I’m hoping next year, we’ll be able to secure the money that’s needed here. That ended up being one of the bigger ways we were leaning in.”
Lucas said there is some other work to be excited about, particularly with the Build Infrastructure Grant Fund.
“When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) – which is comprised of the infrastructure money that was approved by the federal government – was passed a couple years ago, the state put some money into a fund to help support cities and counties throughout the state that were making applications for infrastructure money,” Lucas said. “There are other federal programs that are out there, so when Keeley [Moree] is looking at making applications, the state money isn’t eligible as match for that, so it was rather a last-minute, Hail-Mary approach that hadn’t been vetted as much as one would like it to be, but we pushed really hard to have language included in the budget which would allow the Build Infrastructure Grant Fund, which is a total of $200 million, that would allow that money to be matched with other funds. Unfortunately, Gov. Kelly vetoed that language, so that tool is not in our toolbox for this year. I have since spent some time with her team talking about, again, why we pushed for that to be included and why we were disappointed it was vetoed. I had several conversations leading up to the actual decision of the veto, and I do believe there is interest there. They have a new person leading that hub, so it felt more like they didn’t want to overwhelm that person with additional opportunities, so we hope they’re as committed as we are next year to seeing that broadened. But I think that should continue to be a focus of what we’re working on because it will give the community additional resources to tap into when you’re making application, and fewer of the city’s resources when you’re trying to make a match. Those were the two big pieces that were very specific to the City of Liberal, so certainly everyone will benefit.”
Lucas talked about some other work that has recently been done.
“We saw the expansion announcement for U.S. Hwy 54. There was a large project slated in the Kingman area, but it’s not nearly enough resources for this area specifically,” Lucas said. “I know the Regional Expansion Study will be taking place and will be published and put out for bid. That means we’ll begin having that robust conversation we’ve been promised by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) to really study and examine Southwest Kansas’ infrastructure needs and what highway expansion would look like, and continue to lean into the importance of U.S. Hwy 54 and having that roadway expanded to four lanes from here to Wichita. Something I’ve discovered that’s been a really compelling argument is how there is no east-to-west four-lane highway in this part of the state, so when you’re talking about Wichita and there not being a four-lane highway on each side of there, people suddenly realize that, and it’s kind of startling to them and doesn’t really make sense. That’s a powerful talking point, among many others, especially with the heavy truck traffic around here and being woefully under-invested in regard to highway funding for this part of the state, are discussions we’ll continue to lean into and push for.”
Lucas also talked about a pair of bills she hopes will see more discussion soon.
“One of the bills we’re hoping doesn’t move to the end of the line is Senate Bill 522, which would create the crime of unlawful entry into the state of Kansas and require notification of federal immigration authorities upon arrest for such an offense,” Lucas said. “This was one of those immigration bills that could certainly cause a lot of issues and a lot of concern around its enforcement and implementation, etc., and we had several conversations, and we’re pleased to know the Senate Judiciary Chair chose not to even have any hearings on that bill. We also saw the City of Liberal sign a letter to Gov. Kelly urging her to veto House Bill 2096, also known as the Government Competition Bill – Genesis Health Clubs in Wichita has long been trying to get some points in their favor because they feel they’re unfairly having to compete against YMCA facilities, which do not charge sales tax. So every year, there’s some version of something they’re trying to push through that runs the risk of eroding the resources you have to take care of services in the community. This is another one of those instances and fortunately, Gov. Kelly vetoed it for the second year in a row, and I’m foreseeing that continuing as time goes on, and it’s something I hope we will never see signed into law while she’s governor. We also didn’t see anything happen on property valuation caps – I know that wasn’t really as large of a concern in this area of the state compared to other regions, but there was a resolution that had passed the Senate that, had it passed the House, it would have gone directly to the ballot box, which would have put some caps on how much property tax could be raised, and we’ll bring that up again.”
After some other quick questions regarding some other tax legislation, Lucas’ presentation was concluded.
