ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
There has been a lot of work going on throughout the Liberal community lately and earlier this week, Liberal citizens got to hear some updates on that work.
“In terms of what’s been done this quarter, one of the first big things was we did adopt a new slogan, and you might have noticed our logo is slightly different,” Communications Director Keeley Moree said. “For the longest time, Liberal’s slogan was ‘Crossroads of Commerce,’ but as we continued to reflect on what our community identity is and where we come from, we did identify our new slogan ‘From Generosity to Prosperity’ as the one that would work best. That had floated around the community for a while, and eventually, we got to the point where we felt we were in the right place to adopt a new slogan. While we won’t be doing an immediate, massive change in everything, you will see a gradual change in a shift from our old logo to a new logo. We did also recently launch LiberalGolf.com for the golf course, and that should allow everyone to be able to go on and sign in to book tee times, manage their membership, view different events, and many other tasks, and we do encourage everyone to take a look at that.”
Moree talked about more updates that have been made so far in terms of housing.
“We did also approve a Rural Housing Incentive District (RHID) this past spring, and we did approve a bid from OC Quality Homes to start working on the infrastructure for the Ortuño Addition, which is located in the south part of Liberal close to the movie theater and that Big R Standard Supply store. People will start seeing dirt work there before too long for the infrastructure, which is the part the city’s invested in,” Moree said. “Normally, developers would go in and be the ones building the streets and infrastructure and the homes, so for us to be able to go in and do this RHID and help with that up front cost, we will be able to collect that back over time, and that’s just one way we’ve been able to help push forward on some of the housing projects we know are greatly needed in the community. Some of the structures with this addition will be multi-family homes, which we know will meet a lot of needs in the community. Overall, across all the different housing projects we have either going on or in the pipeline or have begun discussions on, it will add up to 300 to 400 units, which is more than we’ve ever had at one time. Then, with the Doll Holiday Estates, we did have to do a replat there due to them having some difficulties with the street layout as it was because it was tying into Country Estates Road, and KDOT didn’t want to see all that extra traffic and stopping on that roadway. So we did work with them in order to do a replat, and we’re going to continue to have developers work on housing due to some of those different replats there. We know housing has long been a hot topic, and we’re very glad to be moving on some of these projects.”
Another hot topic that has seen much discussion, Moree said, is in regard to Animal Control.
“As many know, the Liberal City Commission did recently pass an ordinance, which had been heavily discussed with the community over time. This ordinance would, starting in January, require every cat and dog 6 months old and older to have annual registrations so we know who these pets belong to, what their vaccination status is, etc.,” Moree said. “This ordinance is about being able to protect not only the health of the animal, but also individuals in the community who are out and about and want to avoid conflict with stray animals they’re unsure of. It’s a health and safety issue for both the humans and animals, and it will also allow us to reunite pets with their owners much faster if they happen to get lost.”
Moree said there have been some other safety projects completed.
“We did recently complete some AED installation and training, and that concerns the apparatus you put on someone if they’re experiencing cardiac arrest or some other similar issue(s), and they can get that initial assistance until paramedics arrive,” Moree said. “We have those available at the Recreation Center, City Hall, and some other city properties, and staff have been trained to use those. Our Regional Drug Task Force was also recently formed comprising of the Liberal Police Department, the Seward County Sheriff’s Department and the Haskell County Sheriff’s Department this past spring, and that partnership is intended to help those agencies work across their jurisdictions to work on cases that cross those county lines, so we’re happy to be part of that.”
Recent work done by the city’s Finance Department was also praised in regard to financing and purchasing policies, as well as a new Language Access Plan. Moree also talked about a recent primetime documentary and ad campaign put together by Commissioner Janeth Vazquez.
“The documentary series we participated in, which was called ‘Viewpoint,’ aired on Fox Business Network in June, and Janeth did a great job highlighting the community and talking about what it’s like to live here as well as the resources and assets we have to help with recruitment and retention of residents,” Moree said. “That segment, plus the ad campaign, should really be beneficial to our economic development efforts and do some messaging about why people should visit and live in our community.”
Liberal City Manager Rusty Varnado then shared some of his thoughts on the work that has been done this past quarter and the partnerships formed.
“With the new slogan, we need to give a special thanks to Pastor Rex Petty of Faith Tabernacle Church, he’s the one who found a Bible verse that was very appropriate to our community and brought it to the commission’s attention with a very well done presentation,” Varnado said. “With the work going on with the Ortuño Addition, we greatly appreciate the investment from all the involved parties and their patience with the City as we’ve worked through everything that’s needed done, we’re happy to see that housing going up in the community. I know the Animal Control ordinance has gotten some flack, but frankly, there were really only three major changes made, and there were also parts of the ordinance that simply need more enforcement, so it’s truly not as drastic as some people in the community thought it would be. Overall, there’s been a lot of great work going on this past quarter, and we’re reaping a lot of benefits from that work.”
