BEDCO approves strategic action plan

The Bourbon County Economic Development Council approved a strategic action plan Tuesday afternoon which is geared toward the development of the Fort Scott Industrial Park.

BEDCO President Steve Buerge said Richard Caplan & Associates, Prairie Village, was hired to assess the different industries in Fort Scott, Bourbon County, and surrounding communities to come up with a plan to boost economic development in Bourbon County.

According to Richard Caplan, of Richard Caplan & Associates, the strategic action plan is broken down into three main goals:

1. Recruit new industry that builds on Bourbon County's existing clusters and labor force characteristics.

2. Actively work to retain and support existing industries.

3. Actively encourage local entrepreneurship and new business development.

The primary implementation partners of this plan are the City of Fort Scott and Bourbon County. BEDCO, the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce, Fort Scott Community College and other industries would also be helping to achieve these goals, according to Caplan.

Caplan said the goal of this action plan is to encourage the attraction, retention, and expansion of business to increase employment opportunities in Fort Scott and Bourbon County and, thereby, strengthen the community's economy and tax base.

Caplan said priority the different actions have been categorized into three different time frames, High Priority, Moderate Priority, and On-Going Priority. The categories were created in order to better focus on local resources.

The High Priority category refers to actions that can be easily implemented over the next two years, require limited economic resources, or need to be completed in order to complete larger actions. Examples of High Priority actions would be to emphasize the excellence of the area's labor force skills and productivity, highway accessibility and cost of doing business for community promotional efforts; to streamline the permitting process and create a "development fee free zone" in Fort Scott Industrial Park; to encourage and utilize Fort Scott banks to participate in funding relocation programs for companies and their management employees; to continue active efforts to improve U.S. Highway 69 to Oklahoma; and to stimulate community dialogue and creative thinking about new businesses for Bourbon County through media, events and speakers.

The Moderate Priority category refers to actions that may require two to five years to be implemented. An example of this category would be to actively seek to expand housing supply through recruitment of residential developers and offering financial incentives such as NRA to induce new residential development and renovation.

The On-Going Priority category refers to actions that are recommended to be institutionalized into the Fort Scott and Bourbon County approach, policies and practices to enhance the community's ability to more successfully carry out the objectives of this plan. Examples include the development of a plan to target former Fort Scott area residents during reunions, home comings and other special events to relocate back to Fort Scott and to capitalize on U.S. Highway 69 improvements and continue pro-active efforts to complete improvements.

"(The categories) are all important, but you can't do everything at once," Caplan said.

Through analysis of the area and surrounding communities, Caplan has targeted several industries which he believes would be the best fit in Fort Scott and Bourbon County. Those industries include printing and publishing, industrial machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, instrument and related products such as surgical and medical instruments and supplies.

"We wouldn't mind diversifying into other categories, but we also understand what our strengths are," Fort Scott Director of Economic Development Dale Bunn said.

To help target these industries Caplan is also providing a list of companies Southwest Missouri, Northeast Oklahoma, and other parts of Kansas which might be interested in expanding or relocating in Fort Scott or Bourbon County.

"There is list of about 40 companies right now that we have identified," Caplan said. "Our goal it to expand the industrial base and the employment base in Fort Scott and Bourbon County."

In efforts to bring in new businesses, Caplan suggested the use of tax incentives. According to Bunn, property tax incentives would most likely result in a sales tax increase. He said another option would include providing utility connections. Currently the city does offer a tax abatement for new businesses in the form of industrial bonds. Bunn said that anything purchased using an industrial bond would be exempt from property tax for 10 years if approved by the Fort Scott City Commission.

"We are already doing some things with property tax to incentives companies to come to town," Bunn said.

In addition to attracting new business, Caplan said it is important to generate new business from inside the community. He suggested the use of the NetWork Kansas Web site which provides resources for new business start-ups.

"One of the most important ways for a community to expand it's base is to start new businesses in the community rather than necessarily bringing in a new business from another town," Caplan said.

Downtown Fort Scott is a key area for new businesses to develop and would benefit development of the industrial park, according to Buerge. He said that is the reason BEDCO awarded Jim Pitts and Cynthia McFarlin a $10,000 grant to develop a new retail store in downtown Fort Scott.

"There's more than just having an industrial park," Buerge said. "You have to have jobs, you have to have a vital downtown ... when the downtown is crashing it's going to be hard to get any new companies to look at your community if they see a major weakness like we presently have with downtown."

Despite the downturn in the nation's economy, both Buerge and Caplan say it is important for the community to put together a plan now for when the economy rebounds.

"Right now no body is looking to expand, but we have to be there and be prepared and get ready for when thing do turn around," Buerge said. "We can wait until things are booming again, by then it may be too late."

Caplan added, "I think we all expect and believe the economy will rebound ... when that economy turns around Fort Scott will be better positioned than other communities that have been sitting there waiting for the world and the national economies to improve."

Also adding to the promptness of the plan is the recent improvements to the U.S. Highway 69 Corridor, according to Caplan.

"That has caused some of the activity and effort in this area," he said. "The expectations with the highway improvements is that there is going to be more traffic between Kansas City (Kan.) and Tulsa (Okla.) using (U.S. Highway) 69 and that makes this effort also timely."

Buerge said the next step is for BEDCO to decide how to approach the prospective companies provided by Caplan. He said they are hoping to use volunteers within the group with added help from the Young Professionals League. BEDCO will also be deciding which companies should be contacted first.

"The next step is to try to get a group of people that's going to actively work on this list of prospects," Buerge said.

Buerge said BEDCO is always looking for help from the community he said that any one who has ideas and wants to get involved should contact him.

"If there is any citizen that wants to get involved ... we always welcome people's ideas," he said.