There seems to be no dispute between members of the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas that changes are needed. However, there does seem to be some dispute as to where exactly that change should start.
During their regular meeting on Thursday morning, board members received a comprehensive report from the Economic Advancement Committee, which had developed a new board structure for review and possible approval. The proposed restructuring would see the board’s membership increase from 7 to 11, with the city and county receiving three voting members, the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce, Emporia Enterprises and Emporia Main Street all having a single voting member and both Flint Hills Technical College and Emporia State University being added as voting members.
During discussions on the report, RDA Board member Brad Kraft stated he felt the committee had missed the mark in terms of its mission, saying the report was too “fixated on the RDA structure.” Kraft stated the committee’s charge was to implement suggestions from the Vision First study conducted last year and not change the makeup of the board.
That said, City Manager Trey Cocking did note that a change in structure was one of the recommendations included in the study and stated he felt the new structure would help move the board in the “right direction” by including new voting members. RDA Board Chair Jeff Williams, however, stated it was not that simple as a change in structure would require consultation with an attorney and additional conversations amongst voting membership to approve.
With that in mind, each of the current voting entities is set to further review the committee’s study, with Corey Haag asking for 30 days to do so. KVOE News requested an interview from Haag and Kraft following the meeting; however, both directed questions to Williams, who says he understands the desire for additional time to review the report as there was a great deal of information to “digest.”
The discussions on Thursday come as the search for a new RDA President is still on hold at this time, which was another talking point during the meeting. Some members had expressed a desire to move the search forward without any changes to the board structure, however, others stated they were concerned that if the aforementioned changes were not made before resuming the search it could impact the number or quality of candidates who apply.
The RDA is next scheduled to convene on Friday, May 9, inside of the Trusler Business Center unless a special meeting of the board is called beforehand.
Cocking will discuss the RDA process from the city’s perspective during the monhtly Q&A With Trey Tuesday at 11:05 am.
