The local jobless rate was a main focal point for interim RDA President Lyle Butler during his comments as part of the final Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas Board of Directors meeting of the year Friday morning.
As KVOE News has reported, Emporia and Lyon County both saw impressive declines in jobless rates in the month of September, going from 6 percent to 4.9 percent for the city and 5.6 percent to 4.6 percent for Lyon County. Butler says recent hires by large-scale employers helped make the difference.
Butler also stated this is a trend in the right direction; however, there is still a lot of work to be done, noting the area still has over 800 individuals seeking employment based on the latest potential workforce numbers. While that number may be a negative for those seeking employment, Butler says it is a positive for attracting new businesses to the community, as they can see there is an ample supply of workers available.
In addition to Butler’s comments on Friday, the meeting included comments from RDA Board Chair Jeff Williams and two executive sessions with no action taken following either. There was, however, no public discussion or update on the search for a new permanent RDA President, much like previous meetings in recent months, with the search now approaching the two-year mark following the resignation of Chuck Scott back in February of 2024.
KVOE News did speak with Williams following the meeting and asked if there is any end date in sight for the search. Williams stated they are anticipating having an announcement of some kind in either January or February, but not for a new president; rather, he says that announcement would deal with efforts to broaden the search.
Williams says the RDA has spoken with many candidates in the past month; however, he did not say whether or not those discussions were in the context of a formal interview and he did not give an exact number of candidates. Noting he had hoped to have a candidate selected by October, Williams says he is disappointed that goal was not achieved, but indicated he has a high level of optimism for the coming year.
The RDA Board is next scheduled to convene on January 9th for its first meeting of the new year, which will also include the annual membership and reorganization meetings. This is the time where board leadership is appointed for the coming year and KVOE News asked if a change in leadership for the board would be the best decision given the ongoing search, asking Williams specifically if a new board chair could set back progress further.
Williams, who still has another year left in his term as a representative on the board, says that whether he is the chair or not, he will still be actively involved in the search and will lend assistance to new leadership should it be appointed next month.
