Lyon County Commissioners have reached a consensus as to the future makeup of the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas board of directors. What remains to be seen is how other RDA member organizations will vote.
As KVOE News reported Wednesday, RDA membership, which consists of the City of Emporia, Lyon County, the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Emporia Enterprises, was presented with a new potential board structure during a members’ meeting. The new proposal would see the board increase from seven to nine members rather than 11 as was originally proposed last month.
The nine member structure would include two representatives for the city and county each, rather than three, as well as single representatives for the Chamber and Enterprises as well as the addition of voting members for Emporia State University, Flint Hills Technical College and Emporia Main Street which would take over the RDA’s at-large position. While there appeared to be a consensus among the member organizations towards this plan during the Members’ meeting, Emporia City Commissioner Susan Brinkman, during the city’s regular study meeting later in the day, expressed displeasure with the proposal saying she preferred the 11 member proposal saying two votes rather than three went against the city’s desire to have a larger representation on the board for which it provides 100 percent of funding for.
Brinkman also stated that while some claimed the 11-member board was “too large,” she never heard an actual explanation as to why. Both Wednesday morning and Thursday, Commissioner Doug Peck, who made it known he did not favor the 11-member proposal, says he believes 11 members would simply “clog the drain” for progress in the future.
Commissioners ultimately agreed to support the nine-member structure, with all three indicating that their main focus is putting the issue to bed so the RDA can move forward with finding a new leader, a process that has been on hold entirely too long in the opinion of Chairman Ken Duft.
Commissioner Chris Bartel agreed, saying the pause on the president search is only negatively impacting the community.
The RDA membership is set to vote on the matter during a members’ meeting Friday at 7 am inside the Trusler Business Center ahead of the regular monthly Board of Directors meeting at 7:30 am.
