Fort Scott coordinates community revitalization

Sunday, December 25, 2005

By Michael Glover

Herald-Tribune

Reporter's note: The following story is the first in a series of articles describing the ongoing community revitalization project in Fort Scott facilitated by Terry Woodbury, president of Kansas Communities L.L.C. The following articles will be published on Jan. 8, 15 and 22. The stories will lead up to a "community vision retreat" held in Fort Scott on Jan. 26. The report on the retreat will be published on Feb. 5.


Fort Scott, Kan. -- At a conference last month in Great Bend, Fort Scott leaders gained experience and learned new ideas that they might apply to Fort Scott's community revitalization project underway.

Forty-seven leaders from six rural Kansas communities spent Nov. 18 and 19 at the Highland Hotel Convention Center in Great Bend to attend the Kansas Communities Conference. Delegation members Richard Nienstedt, Jamie Armstrong, Dean Mann, Jeff Davis and Gary Emry represented Fort Scott at the event. They are also key players in a long-term revitalization effort in the community.

The purpose of the event is for the five delegates to meet with other community leaders who have already experienced or are in the process of a community building project being led by Terry Woodbury, president of Kansas Communities L.L.C.

Since August, Woodbury has been conducting interviews and gathering information from Fort Scott residents to reinforce a vital component that has been lacking in smaller towns throughout Kansas and the United States -- communication.

"This is an effort to sort of redefine the public square image," Woodbury said during a city commission meeting in August, where he outlined the overall idea of the program. "This works by having citizens engaged and to have leaders from around the square learning how to work effectively together."

Woodbury said he imagines the public square as four entities: businesses, education, health and human services -- mostly made up of non-profit organizations -- and government. He said these are key sectors to a small community like Fort Scott.

Woodbury has said repeatedly, since the project started, that the ultimate goal is to refocus and reenergize communities so they can move toward a hopeful future.

Chanute City Manager Randy Riggs attended the conference. Riggs said in statement after the conference that he is "very satisfied" with the community-building process in his city. Goals established by citizens, much like those that will be conceived by Fort Scott citizens in the following months, have been adopted by the Chanute City Commission.

City Manager Richard Nienstedt wrote through an e-mail interview that Fort Scott residents generating grass-root ideas can learn from Chanute's experience during the revitalization effort.

"It was interesting to note (at the conference) what assets were identified by other communities and compare them to those in Fort Scott," Nienstedt said. "We truly have a lot of tools at our disposal, and I am convinced that this process will bring new community leadership involvement and build for the next generation."

Mann, a Fort Scott businessman, said one of things he found interesting about sharing ideas at the conference was comparing the community profile of Fort Scott with those of Chanute and Girard. The two Southeast Kansas cities are going through the project.

Mann referred back to survey results, compiled by Woodbury, which show Fort Scott having only three perceived assets rated as excellent or good while Chanute had 16 assets and Girard has 11 strong assets, Mann said.

"This is particularly ironic, because they view us as having all the real assets -- a restored historic fort, a Victorian downtown with brick streets, a college, a new health facility and a four lane highway leading to a major city that is under construction," Mann said.

The community assets rated by residents were a strong presence of traditional institutions, a strong support for education and acceptance of women leaders, according to data collected by Woodbury.

Woodbury said each community has its own strengths and weaknesses.

"Fort Scott is in a unique situation, because they get to see progress being made by the five other communities that attended the event," Woodbury said. "They got to share ideas about where they're at concerning the process."

Chanute is about one year into the revitalization effort. Girard is roughly two months away from its vision retreat.

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