Edwin O. Roberts is a candidate for the Great Bend City Council, Ward I. Below is a biography he submitted.
Realizing I am not as well known as the majority of the city council, I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am retired (KEPERS and Social Security) and work part time as an oil and gas landman, I have my own business, (Roberts Land and Mineral Service) which I operate from my home at 2916 Paseo Drive. In 1976 I was first acquainted with Great Bend, while working for Rains and Williamson Oil Company; they were pretty active in this area at that time. They had sent me here to put together another drilling rig for them at Southwestern Supply’s yard on Patton Rd.
I was here almost a month and stayed at the Holiday Inn on 10th Street, located where the Highland is now, (which I understand is one of the proposed sites for a new convention center). At that time it was a very nice facility, inside rooms facing the swimming pool all around, it had an excellent restaurant in the front, and many other amenities that made it comfortable and convenient. The Black Angus Restaurant was just down the street; they had  very tasty steaks and was a very good restaurant.
I have worked in this area several times since then and noticed the changes as they were slowly happening. It was at that time I decided that I would make my home in Great Bend when I was ready to retire. When the oil boom was over in 1981, I sold my interest in (New Horizons Exploration) a drilling and production company and started a new career in Law Enforcement,
During those years I worked closely with city and county municipalities, acquiring a lot of my experience and knowledge of municipal process and procedures and the importance of a good sound infrastructure. I’ve seen the mistakes that were made when hasty decisions were made, which usually was caused by not taking the time to get all of the facts pertaining to the issues. I spent many days and hours attending meetings when Sumner County was working to get the Kansas Star casino to locate beside 1-35 at the Wellington exit. Only after the city of Mulvane annexed a piece of farm land on the Sumner-Sedgwick County line to the city of Mulvane, the State of Kansas awarded the location to Mulvane. (Half of Mulvane is in Sedgwick County and the other half is in Sumner County), these negations went on for several years. I’ve also seen city counsels that seemed to be deaf to the ideas expressed by the voting public. I’ll be fair to everyone, listening to my constituent’s ideas and/or complaints. For the past two years I’ve been considering the need to attract new businesses and manufactures to Great Bend, new jobs would be created and people will come to work those jobs, with that comes extra cash flow into the city.
A problem facing additional growth is there is not enough suitable affordable housing available to accommodate much population growth. I know because I have been looking for decent houses to buy for rentals or re-sale and there are not many. I am ready to join with the other counsel members and together work on the issues that are facing our city.
Great  Bend has a tremendous upside. Let’s keep it that way.
Be sure to exercise your right to vote on April 2.