RUSSELL IS... A City Commissioner (and Honorary Mayor!)

EDITOR'S NOTE - THIS IS PART ONE OF A THREE-PART SERIES.

On the evening of December 5th, 2018, the moment most Concordians didn't think could happen but feared might, did happen. In the meeting room at City Hall I took my seat at the podium with the elected officials who govern this town. I was, unofficially, an official city commissioner for a day.
To make matters worse, I was also named Honorary Mayor.
Before anyone starts to panic, my new titles came with no real authority. I couldn't vote on anything, propose legislation, or pass a statute. Still, my hands were tantalizingly close to the reigns of power, so I milked it - and continue to milk it (more on that later) - for all it's worth.
The purpose of this RUSSELL IS... story is to provide a glimpse at the inner workings of a small town government, and talk about the issues Concordia has to face. The intent of the story is not to paint a bleak portrait, but rather praise those who have stepped forward to help lead this community through the challenges now confronting all of rural America. Parts of the story will focus on some sobering statistical data and financial facts that will almost certainly influence how the taxpayers of Concordia, and all of Cloud County, deal with these challenges.
Concordians and Cloud Countians have been bred with a proud tradition of rural toughness and a generational spirit of getting things done. The community, as a whole, has marshaled its survival instincts to endure in a modern era when many small towns are vanishing. At the forefront of this fight are a group of elected officials who chose to assume the mantle of leadership because they care about the future of the community in which they live.
To research this story, I was granted access to Concordia's governmental processes and the people who manage them: city administrators, city employees, and the city commissioners.
Whether it's the city commission, the county commission, the board of education, or the boards of other municipal entities, the jobs are all risk-adverse. No populace is going to be 100% satisfied with a elective decision made on an issue, so assuming a leadership position in a small community often means you paint a verbal bullseye on your back. Taking a stance means opening yourself to the judgement of those who are opposed to that stance, especially when the issue involves how taxpayer revenue is spent.
The challenges faced by Concordia residents are not unique, nor are they without solutions. There are difficult issues looming, but they can be overcome, and that is what makes the efforts of this citizenry and the elected officials who serve them all the more extraordinary.

THE CHALLENGES
Concordia is a graying population. Almost 27% of its citizens are over the age of 60, well above the state average of 19.8%, and the national average of 20.3%.
Concordia, and all of Cloud County, is dwindling. From its heyday in the 1970's, Concordia has lost almost 30% of its overall population.
Cloud County is also one of the poorest counties in Kansas. There are 105 counties in the state, and Cloud County ranks 100th in per capita income.
Yet Cloud County's overall tax rates place it in the top 25% of the highest-taxed counties in Kansas.
There are many reasons for this economic disparity, including the fact that Cloud County taxpayers support a community college. But this educational institution is vital to the future of Cloud County, and the town of Concordia. The college employs a substantial number of faculty and administrators who live in the community and pay taxes. Every year the college brings an influx of new people to the community - 678 for the 2018 Fall semester. Most of them are from out-of-town, out-of-state, or even from out of the country.
Granted, these are college students, so their expenditures are lower than average, and the vast majority are not homeowners or property owners, so they are not helping to shoulder the property tax burden. But they are spending commodity dollars here - food, gas, clothing, entertainment - and their contributions account for a significant percentage of the sales tax paid in Concordia.
Concordia, itself, is also aging. The town is over 100 years old, and much of its infrastructure - water lines, sewer lines, roads, buildings - is decaying and in need of repair. These repair costs are not cheap, and they will almost certainly increase in the years to come.
Another 23.4% of Cloud County residents are under the age of 18. Most are either children too young to work, or they are school kids employed in part-time, minimum wage jobs which do not generate a significant percentage of taxable income. So this leaves a smaller than average percentage of the population to shoulder the tax burden in a county with an above-average economic disparity.
Now it seems likely that city and county taxpayers will be asked to shoulder an even larger tax burden. There is a proposal in the works for a new type of hospital facility in Concordia. On top of that, USD 333 entered into an agreement with the Ebert Mayo Design Group to develop a plan for potential improvements to district facilities.
The initial cost presented to the board of education was nearly $43 million.
The school proposal has since been whittled down to approximately $34 million, but it still begs the question: how does a poor community with a shrinking population pay for that? More importantly... WILL they pay for it?
A recent CloudCorp survey of various community leaders and business entities found that the number one priority for the town was a hospital. City Manager Amy Lange explained the economic liabilities of having a full-time surgeon and anesthesiologist and OB-GYN, versus the availability of local family doctors and emergency and urgent care facilities. This is the modern-day reality of rural health care all across America.
Still... nobody is being born in Concordia anymore.
The newest citizens of the flagship town of north central Kansas are delivered at hospitals in Salina, or Beloit and Minneapolis. Even Belleville. No slight against our northern neighbor and one-time arch-rival in sports, but really, who wants to be born a Buffalo and then raised a Panther?
In all seriousness, not having the type of hospital care in Concordia that is available in other small communities may be creating a larger negative perception of the town than realized. Concordians have learned to navigate around the available medical services for their needs. The perceptive difference is how others who don't live here - businesses and new families that may consider moving to the area - view the hospital issue. Not having the type of facility they think is necessary might be creating a negative perception that is as relevant as the reality.
The USD 333 school system is also an aging infrastructure, and in some places not compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA). Yet the initial cost for the proposed renovations and the building of new facilities was staggering for a small rural populace.
This new proposal came on the heels of another expensive, and for many taxpayers, polarizing outlay: the estimated $1.3 million spent on a new track and football field.
Whether its the hospital issue, or the tens of millions wanted for school improvements, or the money needed to maintain Concordia's aging infrastructure, these are all spiraling costs that must be paid from a tax base that is dwindling.
Of course we all know the answer to the problem: the town needs more jobs. Not more service industry jobs that pay minimum wage, but manufacturing and technology and agricultural-related jobs that pay a wage respectable enough to attract new employees - and their spouses and families - to Concordia as permanent residents. When that happens, a ripple effect occurs throughout the entire economic chain, and the new residents eventually help lessen the tax burden on everyone else.
America is a great country. USA stands for freedom, and freedom equates to a remarkable quality of life for most. But there's nothing 'free' about freedom, and there's also nothing free about the rural way of life. Many locals speak glowingly of the quality of life in north central Kansas: fresh air, lots of water, low crime, no traffic, good schools. But recent statistical data now makes it apparent that maintaining a rural lifestyle is going to become more expensive for taxpayers.
These are some of the challenges that Concordia's leaders face, or will have to overcome, in the months and years ahead.
The four men and one woman who currently sit on the city commission must deal with the most immediate and on-going challenges that confront Concordia: how to keep the town operating on a day-to-day basis, and how to maintain and repair a decaying infrastructure, with a budget that never seems large enough to meet all the needs.

TOMORROW - PART TWO: The City Commissioners