Kansas Secretary of Commerce, Pat George, spoke to members of the Rotary Club, community members and select groups of high school students on Monday.
George was born and raised in Dodge City.
Introduced by Dr. Roger Marshall, George said that he was humbled to serve in the position of secretary.
George was complimentary toward the positive changes in Barton, specifically mentioning the success of the Fuller Brush plant. “Something sets this community apart from average,” said George. He praised the city leadership for taking a proactive stance against the negative changes and population losses that are occurring in parts of western Kansas.
George said that Kansas is pretty average on many measures concerning business development and commerce, but that Gov. Brownback did not want to be average.
“We want to win,” he said.
Gov. Sam Brownback has lowered income tax rates for small businesses with the goal being they will hire more employees. George said predications of where the state revenue would be are accurate.
The state makes headlines when a company moves into Kansas. However, George said, “We all know it’s more important to keep a customer than to get a new one.”
“We have all these great business in Kansas,” said George. “They compete on the national and international  level. It is truly a global economy.”
In addition, the state of Kansas has implemented the Career and Technical Education programs for high school students, emphasizing tech degrees for students so they can graduate from high school career ready.
Incentives are provided to high school students to take training that would normally be taken after high school.
“We have seen a doubling in tech degrees,” the secretary said. “Businesses want someone ready to go.”
The state is also working with Kansas engineering schools to increase the number of engineers, since there will be a shortage of 60,000 engineers over the next five years. The state’s goal is to increase the number of engineering graduates by 30 percent.
Another incentive, Rural Opportunity Zones programs, have been established where students can either take advantage of student loan repayment of up to $15,000 and/or receive Kansas income tax waivers. “It’s wildly successful,” he said.
The ROZ counties are those that have had declining population.
Although Barton County is not a ROZ county most of the counties surrounding it are.
Finally, “We have been successful in working over 240 deals,” in business development, said George. “We are doing something right.”