BY KEITH LIPPOLDT

klippoldt@gbtribune.com

There’s something inviting and welcoming about a downtown that has been spruced up. It looks clean and inviting to visitors passing through. Maybe even enough so to make them want to stop and check out the businesses, and best case scenario, spend some money in this town.

That was the thought amongst the Barton County Commissioners when they initiated the Facade Improvement Program (FIP) in 2021. At that time, grants were provided in the cities of Great Bend, Ellinwood, Hoisington and Claflin with the purpose of renewing the appearances of buildings and businesses on their respective Main Streets. A second round of grants was extended in 2023 and, that time, it was not only for Main Street – but also for those businesses that can be seen on side streets from Main. The FIP for 2025 will once again be in place but, this time, the county will be asking the cities to match grant monies of $10,000 each, up to $120,000.

The project was discussed at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

“Just thinking back to when we first started this, I thought, well, there’s got to be something we can do to improve our downtowns,” Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson said. “And our grant writer at the time, Sue Cooper, said, there’s something called a Facade Improvement Grant program. We figured out that was something that we could dedicate some money too, that would actually improve the overall appearance of our downtowns in all four cities. Not only that, but it helps improve our community spirit. It improves shopping downtown. It improves sales tax collections, it improves property taxes. It improves so many things, and it goes to our local business owners, people that own the properties and the businesses on Main Street. Those are our taxpayers. So it goes to support the people that are helping pay for this.”

With the improvements the program has made in the appearances and sales tax revenues in the smaller Barton County cities, the commissioners believe that the cities could ante up some funding to keep the program going even stronger.

“We were thinking that maybe it’s time that the cities help us pay for the cost of this,” Hutchinson said. “So we allocated $120,000 to the Facade Improvement Grant program for 2023. That’s one per month on average, somewhere in our county getting a face lift. And we ask that the smaller cities – Ellinwood, Claflin and Hoisington – each allocate $20,000, which would do two projects. Then that leaves six for the city of Great Bend. So the city of Great Bend matches with six projects for a total maximum of $60,000 or $20,000 from the smaller communities. If it doesn’t reach that level then they would still have that money in the bank. But other than that, I think this is a good thing. I think this is a way to keep it going forward without costing the county all of the money.”

Commission Chair Barb Esfeld agrees with Hutchinson’s assessment and is in favor of seeing the program continue and expand.

“We really haven’t put the pencil down to do the math, but this is a great idea,” Esfeld said. “And I really feel like it’s paying for itself in increased valuations and taxes. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much, because you can’t just go on the dollar amount that they spend, because appraised values doesn’t always equal dollars spent, but it’s definitely rewarding, and it is paying for itself, but this buy-in will help. And I know people appreciate it.” 

Hutchinson added, “I’ve always thought that we all want to have bigger companies come to our communities, but when a bigger company comes to a community to check it out, one of the first things they do is drive down Main Street and see how well the main streets are taken care of. And so I think that this is kind of a step one into a much larger plan that would help grow our communities.”

Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger represents Ellinwood and Commissioner Duane Reif represents Hoisington and Claflin. Both commissioners see positives in the program and also want to see it grow.

I would like to say, I’ve definitely seen an impact in Ellinwood,” Schlessiger said. “I think we have seven total projects in Ellinwood. I think you can see the impact it’s made immediately when you drive downtown. There’s several really nice projects that have been completed. I think you can see it in Great Bend as well. It’s just a longer corridor, so it takes more projects to make that immediate impact. But I think we’re definitely making an impact in Hoisington too.”

Reif commented on the how he believes the program has worked to this point and how he sees it helping in the future.

“In Hoisington and Claflin, it really has improved it,” he said. “And I think that when you fix up one, it seems like the ones beside it decide that it would be something to do, too. And it just improves it, like Commissioner Hutchinson said about big corporations coming to town and checking out Main Street. But also, just individuals driving down Main Street. I think they look around and say, ‘Hey, I know this would be a nice place to live, just by driving down Main Street and looking at shops and windows and things.’ And we definitely made an improvement. And we’ve got more room to make improvements also.”

Commissioner Donna Zimmerman made the support unanimous.

“We’ve had an awful lot of positive feedback from it,” she said. “And I notice as I drive through other communities, you really do kind of drive down their Main Street corridor and you think this community has a lot of pride. They’re networking, they’re together. This is a place I wouldn’t mind being. And then they’ll drive through another community. It kind of seems tired, and so forth. And so I think it means a lot.”

Hutchinson concluded the discussion by saying “It’s like the downtowns are a barometer of the economic mental health of the community.”

By the time the third round of projects have been completed, the county will have contributed $1 million with 37 of the projects completed in Great Bend, nine in Claflin, seven in Ellinwood and 10 in Hoisington.

If the cities choose not to participate in the matched funding, the county will still offer the $10,000 per project. If they choose to be a participating city, then they will match the county’s portion.

Schlessiger made a motion to suggest to Claflin, Ellinwood, Hoisington and Great Bend match the County’s $120,000 and pledge $10,000 each for up to 12 projects. Zimmerman seconded the motion and it passed 5-0.