Always Seek Legal Advice — BEFORE signing Land-Leases
March 22, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Wind development can be a BIG benefit to you as a landowner, BUT be careful NOT to sign land-lease agreements immediately. Phillips County Economic Development (PCED) encourages landowners to seek their legal counsel’s advice prior to signing any land-leases agreements offered by a wind development company. With “green” energy development, such as wind, solar, and biomass projects, on the rise across western Kansas, it is more important than ever for landowners to take precautionary measures in protecting their landowner rights before making long term commitments to any development company. A typical pressure tactic by some questionable company representatives visiting landowners in person has been, “If you don’t sign now, your neighbor may get the development and not you.” Because of the potential for additional income, sometimes it’s hard to wait for the agreement to be reviewed. But in the long run, your decision to make a “pause” may save you a lot of heartache. Tapping our local wind resources as a commodity will be positive for our county. It has the potential to help our landowners, create development activities, create jobs and create potential financial resources for our school districts. The PCED committee and its staff look forward to having wind development within Phillips County. Our intent and goal for providing this notice is to protect Phillips County landowners from speculators or inexperienced representatives of newer wind development companies. For more information visit our website at www.DiscoverPCED.com or call our office at 785-543-5809.
Posted by: Jeff Hofaker – PCED Director
Phillips County Wind Development Project
February 19, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Everyone is talking about wind development nowdays! Well, Phillips County has been for a while, as well. There continues to be activity for wind development in our area on several fronts. The most noteworthy is the Pleasant Ridge Wind Project. Pleasant Ridge Wind, LLC is an organization formed out of a collaboration of landowners across portions of 8 townships in the northern section of Phillips County. Roughly 33,000 acres cumulatively through these landowners have agreed to utilize Bannister Capital Advisors, LLC as a direct liaison and negociator for wind developers to be recruited into the area. Bannistor Capital Advisors, LLC is a private consulting business which has experience in negociating in legal terms with wind developers. At the present time, Mark Bannister and his three brothers (Joel, Grant, and Ted), have started the process of soliciting wind developers through an offiical RFP (request for Proposals) process. This process includes all the specifications wanted and agreed upon from all the landowner members of the Pleasant Ridge Wind organization (landowner group).
While this process continues, the PCED staff has continued to create tools which may help with the marketability of Phillips County for wind development. Letters were sent out in late 2009, to all landowners in Phillips County, with an “Endorsement of Wind Development” committment sheet. With the return of these “endorsements”, a map of landowners “for” and “against” their land being considered for wind development has been constructed and updated daily. This provides a ready-to-use tool (information) for wind developers. Out of the 1700 letters orginally sent out, we have recieved 264 “endorsements” back to the PCED office. The majority of the “endorsements” have been positive. There was no deadline for returning this information, but we have recieved about 15% back after two months; we would encourage all Phillips County landowners that have not sent in their “endorsements” to please do so.
Most recently (within the last three days), we have had two inquiries for this information. It is exciting to know, we have most of the information readily available to immediately scan and send out to a possible wind (green) developer. This does not necessarily mean development will happen, but it does allow the developer to have additional information abuot the county to help make a more informed decision. PCED will continue to work with these groups toward the end result hopefully becoming wind development in our area.
Posted by:
Jeff Hofaker
How is your Customer Perception?
February 12, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
As a business owner, one of your first priorities should be customer satisfaction. This is a very broad area. It is not just … for the customer to get my product/service TODAY. Yes, the customer is usually interested in something you have, or they would not be there, but creating a communication with the customer is very important to know how they feel. Hopefully, they will not leave your business without having made a transaction. But, the real questions a business owner should want to know are: Was the customer’s experience in my store a pleasant one? Will the customer come back again? Was there customer satisfaction with the entire shopping experience? Will this person recommend the business’s services to another? Receiving the answer to these questions are sometimes very obvious. Though keep in mind, in this modern day setting, having a courteous smile returned from a customer doesn’t always mean their experience was a positive one. Most local business owners have their own unique ”saying” to invite the customer to share their experience. Training of your employees in public communication is very important . As your employees , they are a strong reflection of your business and “you”. If there is communication training or other employee training provided in your region, encourage your employees to attend. Help pay for their training, if possible. The long term, positive impacts on your business will far outweigh any short term costs. The type of service given is always remembered by the customer, especially if it is negative. Think of the service satisifaction issue “you” personally had as a ”customer” at a business other than your own. How did that business react to “your” issue? If they did not react in the best way for you as a customer, I bet you had several “ideas” you were ready to suggest to them … “That they should have done”. These are the same answers you can implement in your own business, either by you personally or by instructing your employees, which will improve customer satisfaction. The Kansas Small Business Development Center has classes throughout each year that cover many areas of interest for businesses, including customer service. Also, the E-center located in the Fischer building of Phillipsburg, Kansas has periodic classes for different business development activities, if enough businesses have a particular educational interest.
Posted by Jeff Hofaker – PCED Director
Wind Power For Schools
In light of the increasing utility costs, expanding schools needs, and deminishing revenues, schools across the country should consider (if possible) a new and forward-thinking solution with countless benefits: renewable energy from wind power. By harnessing the wind that blows across playgrounds, school buildings, and parking lots, the administrators and communities could realize the immediate rewards of a community-sized wind turbine brought to their facility.
From lower energy bills to hands-on energy education, schools win when they implement wind power.
- Educational opportunities: Having a turbine in your backyard – and even the process of planning for it – adds an experiential dimension to your school’s science, math, and civic classes. What better way to train the technicians, engineers, and leaders of tomorrow?
- Lower utility bills: Your electrical costs drop the second your blades start spinning.
- Taxpayer benefits: Lower facility costs for your public schools can help balance budgets and lower the tax burden on community residents.
- Stable cost of power: You’ll know what your wind-powered electricity will cost you for 20 years or more so you can safeguard your school’s budget against the volatile and increasing costs of energy. In a way, making your school financially independent from most of your energy costs, if planned out.
- Green economy: Your school-based wind turbine – and each new installation it fosters – will bring high-value jobs to your community.
Turbine considerations
When considering which turbine to purchase, schools should think about their setting, local permitting regulations, and economics. Here are some of the issues that schools consider in making their turbine choice.
- Load matching: All else being equal, schools will want to choose a turbine – or 2 or 3 – that can support as much of its electricity needs as possible so it can gain the greatest benefit from site-based generation.
- Aesthetic fit: The turbine’s height profile and operational sound levels will be a consideration if it will be located near neighbors and/or classrooms.
- Educational support: Educators will often create their own curriculum around their turbine, but it can be a big help if the turbine supplier can provide supporting materials and ideas.
- Technology: Not every wind turbine is created equal. A turbine’s technology and design can affect many things including energy capture, maintenance requirements, and sound performance.
- Proven operation: Like any major capital investment project, you will want to know that your wind turbine is not a concept waiting for a test site. Proven results are very important.
The first step of project is difficult. Wind projects take funding, and in today’s economy that can stop most decision makers in their tracks. Though, if nothing is done now to help, we will probably be dead in tracks in the future. Proactive thinking is the solution. Kansas now has a grant program provided through the Kansas Corporation Commission to assist with ONLY State agencies, counties, cities, and unified schools districts for upgrading to green energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal. This grant has many requirements and will not pay for the entire project, but it definately is an avenue consider. More information can be found at KCC’s website.
Helping your Business & Community!
December 17, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
The end of the year is very quickly approaching. Have you considered a business donation toward a local community foundation? It is a great way for a business to get some tax deductible benefits, while helping out the community. Most of the community foundations in Phillips County have specific projects they are currently working on. A business or individual donation can be given directly to a specific project “designated” or given to the foundation in general. Both types of donations given by the business/individual is tax deductible, the only difference is how the community foundation can utilize your donation (specifically or generally). In any economy, the more dollars a business or individual can keep locally, the stronger the economy is. In the case of giving to a local cause through a community foundation, the benefit is expanded. The donation actually is used toward a project which improves the atmosphere (business or community environment), which in the long run helps bring more people and businesses to the area.
The community foundations in the area, which are currently working on projects are the Phillips County Community Foundation, the Logan Community Development Foundation, the Huck Boyd Community Center, HOPE Foundation, and the Kirwin Community Foundation. Make contact with these foundation’s board members and see if their projects may be something that you may be compelled to support. If they are not currently working on a project that you may have interest in, make that project suggestion to them and a donation to that specific cause. Projects take a while to complete or even start working on; especially since all these foundation’s enlist volunteer time to raise the funds and work on projects. Al-in-all though, they are very excited when businesses and/or individuals suggest ideas with donations of funds and volunteers to get the job done.
The overall point is: Giving to a local community foundation helps the community, its residents and YOU!
Shopping Locally for Christmas !
December 11, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This is the season of giving. There is nothing quite like shopping in a rural town with the perfect Christmas atmosphere. Local retail shops offering hot cider to people walking in the door. Music playing in the street. Local residents smiling and talking to you as they shop. Always a parking place nearby and never having to wait in line very long, if ever. There are many reasons for shopping in the small town and having a GREAT experience is definately the first thing that comes to mind.
Additionally, we need to keep in mind the economic support given to our small entrepreneurial businesses. By shopping local, we keep a larger portion of our money in the local economy and support jobs through these businesses. The business owners and the salaries toward their staff allow for those families to continue living and surviving in our area. It is understandable that from time to time, some items need to be purchased from stores out of town, BUT many of those goods we need or even want for Christmas (or during the year) can be found or ordered locally. Sometimes the item price will be same, higher or even (yes!) lower, than purchasing out-of-town goods. Also, when you figure gas and incidental spending (food, movies, other), more often than not, a trip for buying out-of-town goods can cost a resident more than shopping locally. Yes, there are exceptions. I will not list them all, but the primary reason used seems to be the “I just want to get out of town! ” . Although this is the most used reason, it usually equates to the most expensive trip for the resident and/or family (due to unexpected and unneeded goods/services) and also takes away critical, financial support from smaller local businesses.
Because of the economy and challenging times, many residents have been very frugal and pro-active in their shopping this year. Buying earlier in the year through payments at a local store. Utilizing some of the out-of-home entrepreneurial businesses, such as candles, home decor, quilts, or other items, for stocking stuffers has been more popular this year. Gift certificates toward local grocers, fuel, or essentials have been talked about a lot this year as well.
Christmas is definately the time for giving, as we are reminded by “the reason for the season!” As we all look at our neighbors across our towns, consider giving gifts acquired from those local and small town stores, which in turn support the local community and families. In these challenging times, we should also focus our attention toward supporting our local non-profit organizations, who work diligently toward improving our way of life and the basic needs those in need in our area.
Thank you all for supporting our local businesses! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
FREE COMMUNITY MURAL PROJECT:
December 10, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Mid-America Arts Alliance, in partnership with the Kansas Arts Commission, seeks communities and artist-apprentices to apply for a community mural-making project led by Kansas artist David Loewenstein. One Kansas community and one-to-two artist-apprentices will be selected to participate in the July — September 2010 project. For more information and to apply, visit www.maaa.org/muralproject. This information was acquired through the Office of Rural Opportunities Director, James Foster.
Murals are a fantastic way to improve the atmosphere of your community, while at the same time encouraging youth and residential involvement. Walk through your town and see what walls are available for the posibility for painting a mural.
Kansas Marketplace Update
November 16, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
On November 9 & 10, the first ever Kansas marketplace event was held in Hays, Kansas. This event was spearheaded by the Center of Rural Affairs (based in Nebraska) and Kansas Commerce. There was an advisory group of twenty some representatives from across the state working for about a year on developing and advising on ideas to make this one of the best avenues of educational and real world networking assistance for small business development.
There was just over 250 registrants to attend the marketplace event. Over the course of two days, there was 42 breakout sessions for business owner and community organizers to acquire new information on events, activities, programs, projects, and ideas to improve their own situations in this time of economic challenges. Networking seemed to continually come up as a key question and information point. The new generation’s way of marketing was incredibly interesting. Although old school marketing was not “kicked out the door” by any means, the new tactics and avenues was a means by which to promote community, product, and services. Working in conjunction with traditional marketing, these new social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Blogging, and others) are becoming the premier way the youner generation communicates and is educated about services/products/communities.
There were two special event speakers whose emphasis was on setting the right environment for business development. Although, this aspect of business atmosphere or environment has been mentioned many times in history, it is an essential part (basis rule) of a business and communities which seems to be undeveloped and often the easiest forgotten in the long run. It may be started in the short term, but often never grows to the peak level of marketing it should.
Plans for next year’s second Kansas Marketplace are already on the drawing board, For our Phillips County and regional businesses who were able to attend, I would ask that you share the information acquired with those businesses and community leaders that were not able to attend. This will help the entire environment for the area. I encourage all businesses not in attendance this year, and even those that were in attendance, to make plans for attending next year’s marketplace, if possible.
Many say “Knowledge is power”, but “Knowledge is only acquired through active pursuit of education, and only education applied (acted on) benefits”. Always strive to improve your businesses edge, through applying new proven (real world) information/education that works. Networking is very important to marketing as well.
PCED has some of the information acquired through the breakout sessions, but the majority of great information came from networking (questions and answers) during sessions and between sessions. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help with your business. We may not know all the answers, but we will definately use our networking to try to find someone or group that can help find an answer.
Endure, Grow, & Prosper
In challenging times…Beware Free Money calls.
July 27, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
In these challenging economic times, businesses and residents alike are having a tough time making ends meet. It is during these times, we have to be careful about spending friviously in the HOPES to get money back. This is specifically written to make honest, hardworking citizens and business owners aware of the many SCAM’s and miss information out there today on “Grants” or “free money from the government”. I was always brought up in a culture that nothing is “free”, you must work for it or it will have a gotcha of some kind. Most recently, there has been a larger amount of calls from soliciters that sell their professional talents as grantwriters. Yes, of course there are legitimate grant writers in the business realm. As I have been in that realm for more than 10 years, I can tell you there are very few that do a GREAT job, and those that do are so busy that they don’t need to be soliciting. This should be your first “red flag”; the phone soliciation.
Many of these “so called” grantwriters will promise you a huge grant, if you only put down a huge amount of money. They say there is a lot of “free money” out there. This should be a second “red flag”; the statement “free money”. All financial assistance of any kind, has requirements on it. Many times it is that the money must be given out to an individual or business as a “loan” through a non-profit or governmental agency. If it has to be paid back, it is NOT free. Most of these types of grants (loans) come from the government. There is another source of “grants”. These funds come from private and community foundations; but, it is illegal for them to give grants “free money” to businesses (for-profits). They can only give to other charitable programs and organizations, which excludes any of that money getting to (for-profit) businesses or individuals (directly).
There are some programs out there in business development circles, such as the Phillips County Economic Development, which offer special programs which provide assistance toward business development and expansion; but they have their own guidelines and regulations. Every area is a little different in these programs, but usually these programs are offered through a non-profit or county/city government.
I am sharing this information, so that in these times of need our local businesses that need the most help will know where to find it or ask for help. Common Sense as my grandfather said to me, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Watch out for phone calls from professional grantwriters willing to find you thousands of dollars for a nominal fee. Ask them questions, get information on their company, and what they do. If you must (and feel compelled), do a better business bureau search for them. You will probably be very supprised at what you find. Keep a level head and don’t let anyone get away with taking your money; especially in these difficult times.
Independence!
Speaking as a current business owner and an economic development director, owning and running your own business is still one of the most independent activities an American can do in this country. On the eve of July 4, 2009, it should be remembered that most of the founders of our country were business owners. In every circumstance I have known, business owners are very independent and passionate about their actions to succeed. That is not to say that entrepreneurs can’t stumble and fall, from time to time; but, they most certainly never give up. In times of trials and failure, it is usually the entrepreneur (business owner) that will make the extra effort toward attaining their goal through using another tactic. If the business fails, they learn from their mistake and grow another business by becoming stronger the learning experience. Think about the number of failures that Edison went through on “one” project, “the light bulb” before success in his business. Think about the number of challenges and heartache Abraham Lincoln went through before he became the President of the United States.
America has always been a country of leaders with an entrepreneurial spirit. With the challenges facing our country right now, it is important for business owners to stand firm. It is important for these current owners to share the experience of freedom they have (although difficult) with their prodogies (the younger generation). Working in a smaller rural community, I have been encouraged by our small town business owner’s leadership for our communities, their passionate leadership to create a better environment for the next generation, and their desire to share and help the next wave of business owners. Most rural communities have lost a vital asset over the last 50 years, many of their youth. These graduating youth have wanted to become free and explore the world outside the rural (small town) environment. Many of our youth, (even myself), throughout our childhood were inspired by business owners (mentors) in our area; though, encouraged by others to get an education and leave to get a better paying job (career), which all seemed to be in larger (urban areas) at that time.
Everyone has to choose their own way and experience different areas, BUT, I feel very strongly that as citizens, educators, business leaders, and parents; we need to share the positives about living and working in small town America, about owning or developing their own business, and about becoming strong servants to our community. Even when I graduated and worked in a larger city for five (5) years, I only then started to grasp the positives that I gave up by working and living in a large town and leaving my Hometown area. One primary reason I came back to live and work in Phillips County was the friendliness of our people; but another was that ability to start a new business at a minimum cost. With that being said, the cost of living was more economical, as I grew the business as well. Yes, I know, many may say — “Well, he just could not make it in the large town atmosphere” or “He just needed to stay longer to experience the true urban setting”. I did have several people say “I had failed, because I had moved back to the area.”. And it may suprise you to know that individuals saying this were not just those I thought I knew in the large town, but those in my HOMETOWN!
Gratefully, there were many more within Phillips County that saw, what I may have not at the time, an entrepreneurial spirit, in myself. To them I say “Thank you!”, and you know who you are! Business owners, residents, teachers and parents, all us have had our own mentors that have inspired us to become leaders for our community. At this time in our country when entrepreneurism and foundational truths are mocked, we all need to realize that our youth is looking for someone to be their mentor. If they know and understand that running a business is challenging, but very gratifying; they will consider pursuing that path. If they are encouraged and supported in their defeats, that is ok to lose a battle, from time to time, but you must always focus on winning the war (long term goal). Encourage someone that may be considering a move back into the area and given them an inspirational boost of support. Especially now, I am sure they probably need it. I will leave with two thoughts. May everyone enjoy their celebration of our independence as a nation on July 4 AND, may all our new citizens moving back to the area have strong mentorship (through you) to become business owners, community supporters and servant leaders.