Dear Editor,
After I read Dennis Keenan’s letter last week, it has compelled me to write a letter addressing (Great Bend City Administrator) Howard Partington’s missed opportunities for Great Bend. Howard, I have several questions for you and (City Attorney) Bob Saulter. Since both of you have taken complete charge of the Transload Facility and surrounding businesses directly related to it, how is it that you have managed to lease the property to Watco Companies to store wind turbines for the price of around $400 per acre +/- per month, but you managed to let over 1,000 +/- acres slip out of the lease that could have been utilized inside and outside the airport’s triangle area?
Using $400 per acre as representation of what our town could have received if the rest of the property leased at 1,000 acres equals $400,000 per month in revenue for the City of Great Bend. That would equal $4.8 million per year in lost revenue for the City of Great Bend. Even if we only would have received half of that it would be a staggering $2.4 million. We would have been ecstatic as a community! Was this proposition ever brought to the city council’s attention? What about the mayor’s? Other department heads’?
After speaking with two city council members they were completely unaware of this option. From a logistics standpoint, putting the rest of these wind turbines in a main distribution center makes the most sense. Instead, it looks like you have allowed a local company to get the contract and now wind turbines are being trucked between Pawnee Rock and Larned to benefit a corporation that saw an opportunity too good to pass up.
I am confused as to how Great Bend missed out on an opportunity such as this. I feel that you have both over-extended your authority and have caused a great burden on the city from missing the boat. This is just one of several opportunities that I know of. I hope the two of you have not managed to throw away any other great opportunities that we do not know about.
I also hope the taxpaying citizens of Great Bend will call you and ask you to answer these exact same questions. I feel that we need and demand answers as to why such a HUGE opportunity slipped away. If you’re a citizen of Great Bend or Barton County give your city administrator a call at 620-793-4111. Ask for Howard or Bob and demand the answers you deserve. Is it time for these department heads to hang up the ropes? Resignations? I do not feel that Great Bend can grow with the lack of leadership that has been shown here.

Shane Suchy
Great Bend