Agency offers answers to help preserve small communities

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Local News

October 1, 2018 - 11:02 AM

LAHARPE — A glimpse at LaHarpe is a glimpse at countless rural communities across America, Harry Lee Jr. noted.
“We’ve got a lot of homes that need replacing, and we need replacement homes,” Lee said. “And we need businesses so that we can have jobs.”
He’s not sure which need is more pressing, calling it a chicken-and-egg scenario.
“I don’t know which happens first,” he said, “but we need to work on both of them.”
Lee spoke at a small gathering Tuesday of USDA Rural Development officers, including state director Lynne Hinrichsen, and representatives of LaHarpe, Bronson, Uniontown and Thrive Allen County.
The impetus for the meeting, Lee explained, was to share ideas on how small communities can maintain viability.
Hinrichsen kicked off the round-table discussion, featuring Shekinah Bailey, a general field representative for Rural Development, Randy Snider, an RD program director, and Dan Fischer, Rural Development’s community program director.
“It comes down to what the secretary of USDA asked us to do, to help rural areas remain prosperous, growing and thriving,” Hinrichsen said. “I don’t want to hear communities losing people.
“We’ve been asked to be innovative,” she continued. “It’s not business as usual, and that’s coming straight out of D.C., which may surprise a lot of people. The government is not going to do business as usual. We’re going to be proactive and not reactive.
We’re here to answer questions and find solutions.”

EACH of the Rural Development visitors touched on a number of programs, how they function, and what communities might want to target for specific needs.
Each avenue follows the “I-P-I” model, Hinrichsen said, referring to infrastructure, partnerships and innovations.
Infrastructure covers a wide area, from roadways, water and sewer treatment, telecommunications and electric services; “anything needed to keep a community going and connected, and to remain a draw to make people want to live there,” she said.
Partnerships are the second leg. Rural Development deals with other governmental agencies, private businesses, lenders, communities, non-profit organizations and residents.
“There’s not much you can do in today’s world, in USDA world, that does not involve a partner, when it comes to leveraging support,” added Snider.
Bailey noted Thrive Allen County is an ideal partner with Rural Development because of the myriad services it can assist with.
“A program like Thrive can bring some great grant possibilities,” Bailey said.
The final portion, innovation, involves a little bit of everything, Hinrichsen said.
“What the the best practices in other communities across the nation can we replicate?” She said. “What can we do differently. Thinking outside the box is how I look at it.”

BAILEY touched on the partnerships and collaboration aspect.
He pointed to examples in Alaska and Maine — states on opposite sides of the continent, but with several similarities to Kansas.
Rural communities in Maine, for example, have set up a telemedicine network that’s exponentially more far-reaching than Kansas’ with half the infrastructure.
A specialist can do a remote examination, consultation and follow-up appointments.
That would allow a rural community — say LaHarpe or Uniontown — to offer a virtual medical clinic, Bailey said.
“You don’t need a full-size clinic,” he said. “All you need is equipment,” which in turn could be funded by a USDA grant.
That’s where the partnerships and innovation come from, to find ideas to bring services to rural areas without related construction costs.
Alaska follows a similar model for its schooling. Interactive distance learning ensures remote schools still have qualified instructors.
“There’s a lot out there,” Bailey said. “We get too set in our ways in what we can and can’t have. The Internet has opened those doors wide open.”
The same goes for commerce. A small mom-and-pop shop could sell its wares online.
“I know several businesses where their warehouse is bigger than their store,” he said.

SNIDER noted one of Rural Development’s primary duties as a guaranteed loan program for businesses and homeowners.
“We’ve done a lot of single- and multi-family housing, community and business programs,” he said.
Snider also spoke about the rural economic development loan program — the “Red Leg” program — which utility providers can serve as a conduit to secure USDA loans for public projects. LaHarpe Telephone is one such company because of its work with USDA Rural Development a decade ago install citywide fiber-optic service.
“It’s a very, very powerful deal,” Snider said. “You’re borrowing money to build your infrastructure.”
In response to a question from Lee, Snider conceded the Red Leg feature would not allow communities such as LaHarpe to refinance loans, like the one the city secured to help pay for its electric service upgrade project.
Fischer also touched on various types of loans available through Rural Development.
“Congress put together these programs for a reason,” Fischer said, “to get the funding allocated. It’s our job to do our best with your tax dollars.”
The same goes for housing. Snider noted USDA’s home repair program, earmarked for low-income homeowners.
“USDA can help fund repairs so someone doesn’t have a leaky roof, or if they need new windows, or some other structural foundation things,” Snider said. “Yes, it takes the initiative of the person to fill out application. The programs are out there to help them get through it.
“To me,” Snider said, “this is a very powerful program.”
As community programs director, Fischer oversees funding for such things as water and wastewater system upgrades, community facilities, such as fire barns — “anything essential to a community, aside from recreation,” he said.
And even then, there is some flexibility.
Communities seeking funding for a swimming pool, for example, could sell it as a health care rehabilitation project.
“That’s where we start to think outside the box,” he said. “Sometimes we have to be creative.”

EXPANDING further on the partnerships theme, the Rural Development officers were asked en masse about Allen County’s Regional Rural Technical Center in the old Diebolt Lumber facility.
The school offers specialized training in construction and welding, with instructors coming from area community colleges.
Finding additional partners is essential to securing additional funding for more programs, such as a planned wind farm engineering class scheduled to open next fall.

THE KEY, all agreed, was for communities, residents and business owners to be patient, and thorough.
“You can call our office, 365-2901, extension 4,” said Snider, who works in Rural Development’s Iola office.
Many times, funding solutions can be found through a little investigation, and finding additional partners, Bailey added.
“If you get the right people in the room enough times, the answers will start to flow,” Bailey said. “Somebody may say something, that may not be that smart, but it’ll lead somebody else to have a little smarter spin, then somebody else says something another little bit smarter. Eventually, it’ll get you where you want to go.”

 

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