Reports to Economic Development board.

Works closely and cooperatively with various county entities, including: Chamber, city council and county commission, along with state and federal legislators to continue to develop economic and community development programs, assist in the rebuilding of Greensburg and the growth of Kiowa County.  Position requires regular and ongoing communication and relationship building between boards, city and county. Requires good public relations and marketing skills.

Duties to include but not limited to:
Coordinate the Economic Development loan program(s) and be aware of other opportunities for job growth and financial assistance.

Work with city, county, state agencies and others to recruit new business to the county.  Includes both business recruitment and retention activities.

Help coordinate meetings for the Chamber and Economic Development Boards and assist with committee meetings.

Help coordinate publications of business directory or other publications as deemed necessary.

Communicate through the media, such as newspaper columns, membership newsletter, web sites, press releases as deemed appropriate by the board.

Participation in organizations such as Kansas Economic Development Association, Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Western Kansas Economic Development Alliance, and others as approved by the board of directors.

Coordinate activity in the business incubator with the city.

To apply:
Prior experience with volunteer boards is a plus. Salary is negotiable and includes health insurance subsidy and vacation. For a job description, go to http://www.greensburggrows.com.

Please submit a cover letter listing salary requirements, resume and three references no later than October 1, 2010 to: Rick Sherer, President, Kiowa County Economic Development Corp., 101 S. Main St., Greensburg, KS 67054. No phone calls, please.

Now, a partnership of museum designers will try to add more wonder to one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas.

They plan to build a below-grade, high-tech, interactive museum around the rustic World’s Largest Hand-Dug Well, which was formed with stones hauled by wagon from a river.

Designers say the museum will tell Greensburg’s multiple tales — the tale of the well, the tale of the tornado, and the tale of the “green” rebirth of the community.

The city is allocating $3 million for it, hoping that the well and museum will draw tourist dollars to help it grow.

“We’ve all been down the well,” said Steve Hewitt, city administrator, “but this will be something new and different, and capture a new audience.”

BNIM Architects of Kansas City, Mo., which did the master plan for rebuilding the town and designed many of its new buildings, is designing the structure of the museum. Project Explore Inc., an Overland Park nonprofit museum consultant, is collecting stories and artifacts to provide the content.

They needed somebody to design the exhibits, and decided to aim for the top, so they approached Ralph Appelbaum Associates Inc. of New York.

That firm designed exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock.

It didn’t take long for the firm to decide to join the project in Greensburg.

“It’s the stories that attract us to a project, “said Tim Ventimiglia, an associate at Ralph Appelbaum who is directing the project.

“We don’t think of it as a small town as much as we think of it as a big story that happened in a small town.”

Ventimiglia was impressed by Greensburg’s effort to rebuild after a 2007 tornado destroyed 95 percent of the town.

“We’re very interested in the kind of endurance and stamina and all the vision that represented,” he said. “Like the traits of early pioneers, that character is somehow evident in this will to rebuild and re-think the town.

“It’s like a second settlement.”

Ventimiglia called the Big Well “a terrific historic structure” and a “remarkable engineering feat in its day.”

“It’s a terrific space. You almost don’t have to do anything,” he said. “But we’re interested in making it accessible and inspirational for people who stop in Greensburg.”

READ COMPLETE STORY

In just a few weeks, one of Greensburg’s most recognizable community landmarks will reopen.

But the Kiowa County Memorial Hospital won’t be in the same location and it will look nothing like the 1950s-era hospital that was destroyed in the May 4, 2007, tornado.

However, it will have much of the same staff and the same values, more deeply instilled through the tragedy of the tornado and the ups and downs of rebuilding.

The new hospital, while smaller, will offer all the services it did before the tornado, with the exception of a behavioral health department, which has moved to Kinsley.

It also will boast new services such as an employee day care center and space for a third-party retail pharmacy.

Like many of Greensburg’s “landmark” buildings, the hospital has been built to LEED Platinum standards, the highest-rated certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Form and function

The hospital’s design has both form and function, allowing it to look like a piece of art and also efficiently serve the purpose of a hospital.

The hospital is built mainly of pre-cast concrete. It also includes a lot of glass, including banks of windows on the outer walls and an upper level “clear story.”

Interior rooms feature glass walls that allow sunlight to filter through to the center of the building. Because of the building’s design, sunlight can even make it into the basement.

The natural lighting makes the hospital feel more cheerful, and it has a marked effect on patients.

“The American Hospital Association did a study on patients after surgery,” hospital administrator Mary Sweet said. “Those recovering in lighted rooms needed 22 percent less pain medication than those recovering in darker rooms.”

The hospital’s 10 patient rooms are arranged on the southern wall of the hospital, each with a floor-to-ceiling window.

Cleanliness and sterilization also are important, all countertops and the floors in the trauma rooms are seamless.

But the hospital’s atmosphere is anything but sterile, with warm yellows, blues and greens incorporated in wall paint and floor designs.

The new hospital also addresses many of the challenges presented in the old facility.

“The tornado was bad, but it enabled us to do things we’ve always wanted to do,” Sweet said.

For example, before the tornado, the Kiowa County Rural Health Clinic was across the street from the hospital. Patients needing services at both facilities had to cross the street.

Now, the rural health clinic is included in the hospital. It contains five doctors’ offices and seven exam rooms, including one built to Americans with Disabilities Act standards that features a barrier-free exam table, which lowers to 18 inches.

The rural health center’s layout addresses privacy concerns by placing the nurses’ station on the opposite side of the clinic from the waiting room.

The layout of the hospital portion of the building also addresses efficiency.

The main nurses’ station sits between the emergency department and patient rooms, which allows staff to tend to both areas. In the old hospital, the two areas were on opposite sides of the building. Because only one staff attends both areas, it caused an obstacle to efficient care.

The hospital is roughly the same size as before, but it encompasses many new and exciting features, including a daycare.

Situated at the west end of the building with a bank of north windows, the day care center includes plenty of room to run and is decorated with cheerful, bright colors. And, its ceiling tiles are stamped with images of “things that fly,” like airplanes and kites.

“We have really enjoyed having the day care and have already had to apply for a license to handle more kids,” Sweet said.

“Plus, it helps with staff relations. There is something special about watching each other’s kids grow up.”

The day care also has become somewhat of a draw for new employees, Sweet said.

Before the tornado, the hospital used the services of a physical therapist who traveled across the region and was only in Greensburg twice a week; now they have a full-time PT.

Also new is a Specialty Clinic, which includes four exam rooms outfitted for various specialists who regularly visit — including a dentist, optometrist and cardiologist.

Finally, the hospital includes a space on its eastern edge that can be leased to a retail pharmacy.

The area has its own entrance, too, so pharmacy clients don’t have to walk through the hospital.

Sweet said she’s still looking for a pharmacist to rent the space.

The first annual Solar and Wind Expo (thesolarandwindexpo.com) will convene at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium this May 7 to 9. The indoor and outdoor event will be the first consumer show in the state devoted to renewable energy.

“Never has there been a better time for this kind of show,” says its founder and executive director George Lopez. “With all the technological advances, the government-sponsored incentives, and desire of so many to save money on energy and reduce their carbon footprint, all that was missing is a place for all parties to connect. Now we have that!”

Keynote speaker will be Bob Dixson, mayor of Greensburg, Kansas. The city made national news when it was destroyed by a tornado in 2007. Dixson has been recognized for his leadership role in rebuilding every structure in Greensburg to meet the highest U.S. Green Building Council certification, LEED Platinum, most notably by President Obama with an invitation to address a joint session of Congress. Greensburg, the first city in the country to go entirely green, is an example of how becoming sustainable is both viable and economically beneficial.

The goal of The Solar and Wind Expo is to “make green a reality” by bringing the most instrumental groups together for the first time in Maryland in one location: leading manufacturers and suppliers of green technologies, representatives from government agencies promoting the use of green technologies, and financial institutions providing special financing for green building projects.

Expo attendees will have the opportunity to interact with the actual energy- producing products, and have their questions answered by experts in the alternative energy field. In addition, electric-powered vehicles will cruise around an Electric Car Loop, and renewable energy experts will conduct seminars and meet one-on-one with attendees. “It is exciting to give those like me who are passionate about reducing their carbon footprint and living in a more environmentally friendly way an opportunity to interact with the product and become educated on issues surrounding building green, like tax and other incentive programs,” adds Lopez.

The 1,000 pound Space Wanderer Pallasite Meteorite recently returned to its home in Greensburg. The meteorite will be placed on display in the newly completed City Hall, 300 S. Main, until the new Big Well Museum is constructed.

The Space Wanderer was recovered following the May 4, 2007 tornado that destroyed Greensburg. It was found mere inches from its home in the former Big Well Gift Shop. The meteorite has made a tour of Kansas since the tornado, first to Exploration Place in Wichita, then making a longer stop at the Sternberg Museum in Hays where it has been on display for two years.

“We’re excited to bring the meteorite home to Greensburg,” said Stacy Barnes, Big Well Manager. “This is just another sign of progress for our town and will allow visitors to see a piece of our county’s history. We are so grateful to the Sternberg Museum and to Don Stimpson, owner of the Kansas Meteorite Museum, for their help in moving it back to Greensburg.”

In 1949, H.O. Stockwell, with the aid of a modern metal detector, unearthed the Space Wanderer Meteorite east of Greensburg. The meteorite was placed in the Big Well Museum in 1949 where it was viewed by thousands of visitors each year.

“It’s great to have part of our history and heritage return to the community. We appreciate the Sternberg Museum and Don Stimpson taking care of the meteorite until we were ready to display it again. It is wonderful to see part of not only the city’s heritage but the county’s returning to the community,” said Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixson.

The public may view the meteorite in the lobby at Greensburg City Hall during normal business hours, Monday-Friday 9 am-5pm.

By Edie Ross – The Hutchinson News

Greensburg residents are noticing – joyfully – that a community staple since the May 2007 tornado is starting to disappear.

As more businesses and public buildings are completed, the doublewide trailers that temporarily housed city offices, businesses and even the hospital are headed out of town.

The Greensburg City Hall project is completed and the Kiowa County Memorial Hospital building and the Kiowa County United strip mall building are wrapping up soon.

On the heels of that will be the new Greensburg school building, which should be ready to house students next fall.

And, after enduring pothole-ridden streets for two and a half years, residents are looking forward to a street reconstruction project that, depending on weather, should wrap up next spring.

Each new building or project is being built to varying degrees of sustainability, progressing the community’s green initiative.

And, the community continues to set its sights on economic development, although Greensburg leaders acknowledge that the recession has slowed progress in that area a bit.

“We have people every day who are investigating opportunities here,” said Mayor Bob Dixson. “We follow up with each one and we believe that when the timing is right, we’ll see more progress in that area. We’re very optimistic about that.”

READ COMPLETE STORY

In the wake of a tornado that leveled Greensburg, Kan., in May 2007, local residents forged an ambitious plan to rebuild the small agricultural town with a focus on sustainability. For a group of Princeton students who traveled there over fall break, this effort became an important lesson both in environmental awareness and civic engagement.

Parsons said the students came away with more awareness of how “going green is not hard to do. It’s about, in many cases, making the little changes that will pay off in the long run.” She added that she and the other students, most of whom come from urban communities, were struck by the community spirit they witnessed in the rebuilding of Greensburg.

“What I personally will take back is an appreciation for rural communities like this and the degree to which these people, after coming out of their basements that night and seeing the destruction, actually had the foresight to imagine a town like this,” Parsons said. “I think that’s really an incredible accomplishment and something that we can look to as a model for other communities in the future.”

READ COMPLETE STORY

The three winners are, in order of their placement, Steven Learner Studio; a New York based architecture and interior design firm, Stuttio Workshop, a Los Angeles and Chicago-based, full-service design house, and Daniel Day Studio, an architecture and design studio in Dallas, Texas.

See all entries here.

Meadowlark House

Steven Learner Studio’s 1st prize winning design, the “Meadowlark House”, will be built as the model green home in Greensburg, Kansas, with the construction project commencing in early November. Additionally, the studio will receive the grand prize of $10,000, while Stuttio Workshop and Daniel Day Studio will both receive $1,000 prizes for their designs.

“Our goal was to design a house to meet the needs of the people of Greensburg. We wanted to provide a sustainable, comfortable home that can be built quickly and affordably, with flexibility to accommodate many families` different needs,” said Steven Learner about his winning design. Learner`s Meadowlark House includes the use of the sustainable and recyclable HIB wall system, numerous energy-saving features which take advantage of natural airflow and sunlight, as well as a compact floor plan that will cut construction costs considerably.

“Homes should look great, of course. But they also need to perform,” explained Michelle Kaufman one of the judges and a leading sustainable house designer. Kaufman disclosed that part of her criterion for choosing winners was based on esthetic utilization of space and natural resources, as well as the long-term energy efficiency of the house plans. “The Chain of Eco-Homes competition is a great opportunity to show that we can have it all with our home designs; smart, efficient, functional and beautiful”, added Kaufman.

After Greensburg, Kansas was leveled by a tornado in 2007, its citizens committed themselves to recreating their town as a global model for green and sustainable living. As a part of the town`s initiative this past September, FreeGreen and Greensburg Greentown, sponsored the Chain of Eco-Homes Competition, with hundreds of entrants from 13 countries submitting their vision of how “green” homes should look and function.

The public was invited to vote together with a panel of eight “green building” experts, with the results highlighting what might become the new standard in sustainable living. In the spirit of sustainability, even the judging process itself was environmentally friendly that eliminating the geographic and technological barriers of connecting rural Greensburg to cities across North America. All collaboration among the judges was conducted using AT&T Telepresence Solution enabled by Cisco TelePresence technology. This “face to face” meeting solution combines innovative high-definition video, audio and interactive elements to create an “in-person” meeting experience across companies and locations. The use of telepresence helped reduce costs and carbon emissions associated with physical travel to Greensburg. Specifically, the use of this technology saved nearly eight metric tons of carbon emissions and saved the participants an estimated $13,000 in travel costs.

“This Chain of Eco-Homes contest is a great way to show how the concept of crowd sourcing can help advance green residential design. With over 439 participants in this contest, Greensburg, Kansas was able to gain access to the world`s best green designers”, noted David Wax, FreeGreen`s CEO and founder.

The Award Ceremony and Public Display of Winning Entries are tentatively scheduled for November 15th in Greensburg, Kansas.

“This project will not only enhance our country’s long-term energy security by producing clean, renewable energy, but also create green jobs and generate income in the local community,” said Vilsack. “As the Obama Administration continues working to rebuild and revitalize rural America, Greensburg stands out as an example of the promise and potential in communities throughout the country.”

The total project cost is estimated at $23.3 million. Approximately, $17.4 million will come in the form of a loan to Greensburg Wind Farm, LLC, a subsidiary of John Deere Renewables, with the remaining $5.8 million, or 25 percent of the total project cost, being provided through an equity investment by Deere & Company. The loan will support the 10 wind turbine project that will generate 12.5 MWs of electricity that will serve the electric needs of the City of Greensburg and other rural communities through the Kansas Power Pool.

READ COMPLETE STORY

The Hutchinson News

It was billed as a lecture, but corporate executive David Dillon’s remarks Wednesday in Hutchinson at times sounded like a love-letter/thank-you note to his hometown.

“This really is coming home,” the Hutchinson native and chairman and chief executive officer of the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. told those attending Hutchinson Community College’s Dillon Lecture at the Sports Arena.

Greensburg lessons
Talking about lessons learned, Dillon started with the 2007 tornado that wiped out much of Greensburg, including the Dillons grocery store and a Kwik Shop.

Immediately, company officials determined, the Kwik Shop should be rebuilt. But what about the grocery store?

READ COMPLETE STORY