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Work in progress to improve Fort Scott
mbers braved the frigid temperatures to gather Tuesday morning to work on ideas for making Fort Scott's downtown a better place for business. This group, the Quarterly Downtown Meet and Greet, meets about four times a year and is sponsored by the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce. The breakfast was hosted by Papa Don's Restaurant.
Several items were on the agenda for discussion.
Parking spots for downtown restaurants
Lindsay Madison, Chamber executive director, led the discussion on an idea for letting customers get curbside services at the downtown restaurants.
"We'd like to get feedback on signage for short term curbside parking service. We thought this Meet and Greet is the perfect way to get feedback," Madison said.
A designated parking spot for people who may have kids in the car or are unable to easily get out of their vehicle is the target population for the parking spot, she said. Madison said any signage would have to be uniform and approved by the City of Fort Scott Design and Review Board.
Dave Martin, Fort Scott City Manager, commended the idea and suggested drafting a letter to all businesses to give input for the idea.
Window treatments for downtown second story buildings
A discussion was then led by Melissa Wise, representing Rotary Club, about making the second story of downtown businesses look uniform in presentation.
"Elaine Buerge, Diana Endicott and I got together and we thought the downtown businesses were in need of window treatments to make it look nicer up top," Wise said. "We are contacting some downtown business owners to see if they would put curtains up. Rotary and a couple of area churches will fund putting curtains up."
"I'm on the Rotary Board. They had some extra money. I see such a need downtown to help the windows upstairs look nicer," Madison said.
Kevin Allen, Chamber board member, said he thought advertisements for businesses in second story windows would also be a plus.
"The Downtown Visioning Committee has an opportunity for grants that would provide a money source of funding to replace the windows," Gary Palmer, a downtown business owner, said.
Following much discussion, the group will start with the owners of La Hacienda Restaurant, who had indicated to Madison that they were willing to take advantage of the offer to improve the second story windows in their restaurant.
Future projects
Martin used the opportunity of the downtown gathering to highlight projects the City of Fort Scott is working on in 2014.
"The city has 18 projects going on, from trails to street projects to highways, to businesses. Everybody has asked about Casey's," Martin said. "Casey's easements have been signed. Dairy Queen is looking at possibly moving along the (Hwy.) 69 corridor. Workforce Development is another thing that has stepped up, the community college has stepped up. What we have in Fort Scott are great companies that want to expand here, but we've got to have the workforce."
Heather Griffith, Economic Development manager with the city, added that the labor force is up over 400 people and the number of employed workers is over 500 people for the period between November 2012 and November 2013, according to Kansas Department of Labor statistics she noted.
Other matters
In an unrelated matter, Madison said Spoiled Brat, a beauty salon, is moving to a downtown site, 19 S. Main St., next to Main Street Gifts.
In addition, there will be a Community Conversation update at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Fort Scott Community College, Madison said.