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Bonner Springs — At the study session before its regular Monday meeting the Bonner Springs City Council met the new president of Wyandotte Development Inc., who told the Council about the organization's new mission.

Miles, who served as development director at Riverside, Mo., for five years, said WDI had recently broadened its mission statement to include residential, office, retail and industrial development in its mission to "promote and strengthen Wyandotte County's economy through innovative approaches to programs, partnerships and leadership :"

The group, which has an annual budget of about $350,000, is funded by its members: the three city governments in Wyandotte County, plus the Kansas City, Kan., Board of Public Utilities, area utility companies and members drawn from local businesses.

The development group works for business attraction, recruitment, retention and expansion; marketing and promotion; and workforce development and training.

Miles said Bonner Springs was "light years" ahead in its economic development policies and complimented Marcia Ashford, director of economic development for thee city, for her work in recruiting and retaining businesses.

Part of WDI's mission, Miles said, would be to "foster emerging markets" and spot emerging trends.

"The county is primed for bioscience," Miles said, because of its proximity to both Kansas University and University of Missouri medical schools, as well as Kansas State Schools, via Interstate 70.

Miles said one area that the organization "needs to work on" is employee training to make sure qualified workers can fill slots needed by current and prospective employers here. To that end, WDI will be working with schools and the state, Miles said, to ensure high schools will give students the necessary education "for four to five target industries" so that they can go on to vocational schools or other institutions "to make sure we get the kids back."

Also, Miles said, WDI would be working with Edwardsville on a master plan for the city. Other work Miles said the group would undertake would be assisting companies in determining whether specific locations would be good for certain kinds of businesses.

"It used to be simple," Miles said, and a business owner could just find a street corner and decide it was a good place to open a store.

But now, increasingly technical analyses go into such determinations, including demographic and psychographic analyses of local consumers, plus population predictions.

"We help with that," Miles said.

WDI also helps with what Miles termed "random calls," for instance, he said, a business piling up trash next a lot that the owner is trying to sell.

"'Can you help with that?' - 'Yes.'"

Lastly, Miles said, the organization would work toward developing solutions for mass transit in the county, which he described as a problem.

During its regular meeting the Council:

¢ Approved claims for city operations for $463,205.

¢ Approved public housing authority claims for $12,876.

¢ Accepted public improvements and approved the final payment to Miller Paving for $109,462 for the State Avenue Water Main.

¢ Approved an addendum to the Loring Service Area five-year inter-local agreement, adding the extension of payments to Bonner Springs by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County for street maintenance and emergency services. The UG will pay the city $91,923 each year for street maintenance and $23,555 for emergency services.

¢ Approved the renewal of the city's insurance policy effective Feb. 1, 2008 through Jan 31, 2009. The premium total was $188,149, which was $18,207 less than last year's.

¢ Approved a new policy governing maintenance of commercial grinder pumps by the city. See story, Page 2A.

¢ Approved an ordinance commencing condemnation proceedings for property located at 13550 Woodend Rd. The property, owned by Blankenship Homes, is needed for the construction of the new Woodend Bridge as well as the Wolf Creek Sewer.

¢ Approved a change order for data and telephone cabling of the new library. The change order was for $6,000, a price discounted through a library grant program, which comprises a significant savings over the estimated current price of $20,000.

¢ Heard a report by City Manager John Helin. The city will be changing its administrative policy dealing with the timing of environmental code enforcement, Helin said.

For first-time offenders, there will be no change - they will still get a warning first - but for repeat offenders, to whom Helin said he and codes enforcement officer Barbara Bille decided the city was being "overly generous with notifications" there would be less time between notifications and citations.

Council members approved of the change.

Council member Lloyd Mesmer said there were two types of people the change dealt with: those who follow the codes and those who don't. The latter category don't change their behavior anyway, he said.

"I was unhappy with the previous system,", Council member Bob Stephens said. "So many people play the system."

Helin also discussed the status of talks with Basehor vis-Ã -vis the future growth boundaries of each town. The Leavenworth County future growth map shows Basehor extending into area north of Interstate 70 to U.S. Highway 24-40, about half a mile west of 142nd Street. The present boundary for Bonner Springs is at 142nd Street and 24-40, with a section just about a quarter-mile north of I-70 west of 142nd Street about half a mile.

"I think we're dead in the water," Helin said, and that goes for an inter-local agreement with each city and Leavenworth County and authority over those areas.

The two cities held a joint meeting in November to discuss the issue and as well as two other areas: west of Bonner Springs' present boundary at 142nd Street, south of Interstate 70 and north of Loring Road - stretching from 142nd to between 158th Street and 166th Street;. and a piece of land shaped somewhat like a teardrop on its side, stretching about half a mile north of I-70 from 158th Street to about half a mile west of 142nd Street. Leaders of each city had agreed at the meeting that the latter two areas would be future growth areas for Bonner Springs.

Helin said the noncooperation of Basehor was nothing to worry about for now.

"All it is is a mark on the map," he said.

¢ Heard Mayor Clausie Smith's report. Smith said he would be attending a regional mass-transit task force being assembled by Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Mark Funkhouser. Smith said he was asked as the representative of the westernmost city in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

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