By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
The development of an overall vision for the future of junction City began Friday when a group of officials from the city and county commissions and school board met to begin discussions.
A member of the Geary County Commission, Keith Ascher, called it a good brainstorming exercise to talk about the positives and negatives in the community, "plan to do something more down the road, have more meetings like this. I think this was a good kickoff. "
County Commissioner Alex Tyson noted it will take money for projects such as parks and roads, and he noted that there are many grant opportunities. He offered three ideas including obtaining a grant writer, forming a parks and recreation committee and development of a community action committee.
There will be a facilitator in the future to help oversee the community vision meetings.
Other suggested ideas included a need for staffing for the municipal swimming pool so it can be open at times in August when the weather is extremely hot, in the area of civic pride engaging elementary and middle school students and churches , expand the model that helped upgrade the popular 5th Street Park to other local parks, creating trails, development of ballfields and a soccer field and the hiring of someone to oversee scheduling to help bring people into the community and incorporate ideas.
Other ideas include the need to ensure kids in Junction City are taken care of and possibly adding one or two turf fields if necessary plus an indoor facility for gaming competition and e-sports since one does not exist.
It has been challenging to raise funds, but the need to move on the new library project was stressed. The overall need for staffing in the community was also mentioned.
The possibility of a one cent increase in the transient guest tax that is paid by users of lodging facilities was mentioned. The TGT is currently set at 6%.
The condition and quality of housing and the number of vacant lots is another challenge. It was noted when people are looking at community safety and security, police and fire are priorities. Affordability and quality schools were also mentioned.
Fiscal sustainability, infrastructure needs that can be addressed as city debt is reduced, and a lack of electric vehicle charging stations were topics.
The largest segment of the community, nearly 30%, is 18 and under. It was also noted that there is a need to get information on resources out to the public. The community must be engaged and their input is needed.