The Bureaucrats



ith their expertise and their continuity, staffs at the public agencies in Garden City play a critical role in carrying out public policy decisions. They also provide perspective and leadership in developing these policies. In many communities, the "bureaucrats" are the catchall targets of grumbling over what hasn't gone right. In Garden City, however, they are spoken of with respect and admiration.

Bob Halloran, City Manager
"The real issue is turnover," said City Manager Bob Halloran. "Monfort and IBP employ between 4,400 and 4,500 people, with 100 percent turnover in a year. We have 400 to 500 utility turn-offs and ons per month. If we can find ways to entice people to put down roots and stay, we'll solve many of our problems. Some immigrants have settled in, and some are good business people, but too many just come and go.

"If we can find ways to entice people to put down roots and stay, we'll solve many of our problems."

"Property maintenance is an issue," said Halloran. "People in Garden City are not living in cars, but we are concerned about the quality of housing. Sixty percent of housing is owner occupied and 40 percent is rental. Twelve people may live in a house, with eight to ten cars. There's a lot of turnover in the trailer parks, where people can rent either by the head or by the space.

"We were aware of most of the impacts IBP was going to have when we worked to attract them here," Halloran said. "In the early 1980s we hired the Battelle Institute to do a study in the city and county, looking at impact on school districts and hospitals. We set up a citizen's advisory board on cultural relations. We took care of the nuts and bolts, but the impact goes beyond the infrastructure. What's a surprise is the continuing turnover, which has a real social impact.

"What's a surprise is the continuing turnover."

"Garden City has a can-do attitude," said Halloran, who grew up in Longmont, Colorado and moved to Garden City in 1974. "People are willing to take risks. We're self-sufficient and growth-oriented. Garden City has a community pride that's not there in neighboring towns. At monthly chamber breakfasts, at 7:30 in the morning, every chair is full even if there's a blizzard.

"Local folks are anxious for visitors to like Garden City, and there's a downside you may not hear about," said Halloran, "but the town is overall successful. Garden City has an inherent esprit de corps. And one of the things we've learned is how to celebrate our diversity."

Pete Olson, County Administrator
"The biggest challenge Finney County faces is the need for more employees," said county administrator Pete Olson. "We have to find ways to compete and be a more attractive place to work. Remoteness is an issue for some. People grow up here, and if they go away for an education, they often don't come back.

"Some do return, however, to take over the family business or to open a professional practice. They come back because they want this kind of small town atmosphere for their family.

"I grew up in Manhattan, Kansas," said Olson. "I graduated from Kansas State University, then worked in Iowa for three years before moving to Kansas. I've been here 20 years and have no desire to not be here. We've had good leadership, and there's a western Kansas spirit that's contagious.

"Garden City has done well because local business people have a progressive attitude," said Olson. "They've had foresight. IBP was a shot in the arm, and that started a lot of things that otherwise wouldn't have needed to be done. People here are willing to look a little further down the road on what can be done. They don't accept just average results.

"People here....don't accept just average results."

"Seaboard is a two-edged sword," Olson said. "Employees would have to come from somewhere, and additional growth means additional diversity and additional problems. There's some backlash to growth, but it doesn't have racial overtones. Some native Garden Citians don't like what's happened to the town. There's a small group of people who are not progressive and are not happy.

"Seaboard would bring 20 years of growth, maybe make us large enough to get a Dillard's and an Applebee's. If Seaboard decides to come, Finney County can deal with it. We're not offering any economic incentives and Seaboard says they won't ask for any--but we know other communities have offered incentives. When IBP came here, they did get tax abatements. They located just outside Garden City in the Holcomb School District, and Holcomb got the tax base but Garden City got the impact.

"We don't know what the impact of Seaboard would be," Olson said, "but we know we would need all the resources we can get."

James Hawkins, Police Chief
With his tweed jacket, rimless spectacles, and generous mustache, James Hawkins looks more like the teacher he once was than the chief of police of a town in western Kansas. Hawkins grew up in Boulder, Colorado and spent several years after college traveling around the world. He came to Garden City 19 years ago to teach in the English as a Second Language program, but after four years, he decided he really wanted to be a policeman instead of a teacher.

"Ignorance of the law is the major downfall for the immigrant population," Hawkins said. "They don't know that driving without insurance is illegal. Someone may believe a car has been stolen when actually it's been repossessed. Reporting something to the police may be something that isn't done where they come from, where police are corrupt and to be feared. They may come from countries where the police are an arm of the government, not a local service agency.

"Garden City is real accommodating for a lot of diversity," said Hawkins. "It's been that way historically. The Hispanics here tell about discrimination they experienced in the 1940s, but as the level of people's understanding changed, prejudice decreased. Garden City has accommodated waves of immigrants, from all kinds of places.

"I have mixed emotions about Seaboard," Hawkins said. "I'm not sure Garden City needs it, but we could handle it. I don't think it would improve the economy that much. I'd like to see us attract other kinds of businesses. But it's not the people who come here to work in the meatpacking plants who cause problems. More often, it's the peripheral people who come with them--juveniles and others who don't have any attachment to the community.

"Everyone in Garden City pulls together," said Hawkins. "I've talked to colleagues from other cities who say, ÔWow, you talk to your county sheriff?' We talk all the time, and in fact, we share a building. It's not as if there is some magic line between the city and the county--all city residents are also residents of the county.

"Everyone in Garden City pulls together."

"All in all, Garden City is a pretty safe community," Hawkins said. "We believe in community policing. The police aren't there just to arrest people--it doesn't work that way. If you treat people properly, they'll be on your side when you need them."






"Living in the past is a dull and lonely business;
looking back strains the neck muscles, causes you to bump into people not going your way."

Edna Ferber