Grant County Commissioners Mark McGaughey and John Martin attended the 2023 Western Kansas BIL Summit in Scott City March 9.
Presented by the Southwest Kansas Coalition – a group formed of community leaders and entities in the City of Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal – the one-day conference informs and educates city and county governments about the Kansas Infrastructure HUB and the many funding opportunities relating to water and sewer projects, transportation, energy and broadband projects and needs, and most importantly, encouraging the building of partnerships between western Kansas communities.
There is power in numbers and cooperation between communities in successful grant and funding applications. The conference was open to all counties and incorporated cities west of HWY 183 and included presenters from all across the state—speaking on subjects concerning energy grid modernization to natural disasters and extreme weather to transportation funding for railroads and airports and EV charging stations.
Speakers included state energy and utilities leaders, fire management officials, USDA and Kansas Water Officials, Kansas Department of Commerce, and broadband experts from Grant County: Catherine Moyer and Kasey Krueger of Pioneer Communications
Impressive dollar numbers available to Kansas communities include approximately $454 million for water and sewer infrastructure and improvements, $100 million to increase high-speed Internet accessibility, $145 million for Kansas road projects, and there are billions of dollars available across the country available for transportation, water infrastructure, electric grid projects and more.
It was stressed that smaller communities in rural communities like western Kansas need to learn how to work put their differences aside to secure these monies.
Conference attendees came away from the conference intending to commit to working together to obtaining more of these opportunities.
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