Barbara Anderson expects ideas to make local communities more appealing to residents and more inviting to visitors to flow during a Day of PRIDE June 14 in Humboldt. The event will be in Humboldt High’s technology room.
The Allen County PRIDE committees from Humboldt, Iola, LaHarpe and Moran, as well as those in 18 other counties in southeast Kansas, will come together. Allen County commissioners agreed Tuesday morning to contribute $150 to each county committee to help members pay registration fees, $30 for each attendee.
Commissioner Dick Works proposed the support, after Anderson fleshed what was going to occur. Originally, commissioners were asked to contribute $240, the equivalent of eight registration fees.
“It speaks highly of Allen County that the PRIDE groups have a lot of local support, said Commissioner Tom Williams.
Anderson said the Humboldt meeting was one of three in Kansas on June 14, with others occurring in Larned and Rossville. A speaker will address each group simultaneously by Internet connection.
Humboldt was picked to host the southeast Kansas conference because of the accomplishments by its PRIDE Committee, including construction of Neosho River Park and erection of signs pointing to various town features, and banners. Moran’s committee was noted for arranging for a school bus to take local kids to Iola for swimming twice a week during the summer.
“The bus serves the whole east side of the county,” Anderson said. “Volunteers help out with driving” and act as chaperones.
“It will be a day of learning,” she added, with exploration of fundraising under the theme of “Dollars for Dreams.”
PRIDE committees have been in Kansas communities for more than 40 years, Anderson said, with support from the Kansas Department of Commerce, which she represents, Kansas State Extension Service and PRIDE, Inc.
COMMISSIONERS TOOK another step toward construction of a new bridge over Owl Creek three miles west of Humboldt in approving a contract with Schwab Eaton, a Manhattan civil engineering firm.
A construction contract is expected to be let in mid-June. Construction should start within a month after that, said Bill King, director of Public Works.
The old iron bridge that had been over the creek since 1909 was removed last Thursday. It will become part of a biking and hiking trail and an adjunct to the Iola-to-Humboldt Southwind Rail Trail. It will be along the south side of Elm Creek and wind through timbered areas behind the old Lehigh Cement plant.
King said base rock for improvements to Delaware Road east of Humboldt had been laid and it would be massaged and allowed to settle for a couple of weeks while county crews distribute dust-control material elsewhere.
COMMISSIONER Jim Talkington broached the thought of making all of Allen County a neighborhood revitalization zone.
Humboldt, Iola, Gas and LaHarpe have such zones, which gives tax refunds whenever substantial improvements or new construction occurs.
The threshold is $5,000, which leads to 95 percent refund of real estate taxes for six years and then has refunds decline by 20 percent a year until full taxation occurs.
