By NATE KING
Salina Post
With the recent departure of former president and CEO Eric Brown, Salinans can rest assured knowing the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce is in the safe hands of interim CEO and president Renee Duxler. During an interview with Salina Post, Duxler discussed the chamber's 2023 legislative agenda and the selection of the next chamber CEO/president.
2023 legislative agenda goals
The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce's legislative agenda focuses on eight priorities for regional growth, economic development, community health, and overall quality of life for Salina and the area. They are listed below.
-Drive regional success and economic development
-Strengthen a skilled workforce
-Establish affordable, quality housing
-Fortify transportation
-Invest in education
-Enhance quaity of life and community amenities
-Ensure affordable healthcare and mental health resources
-Secure access to early childhood programs
K-AIRES project proposal, Tyrell Corporation
One of the largest items on the chamber's agenda is the Kansas Advanced Immersive Research for Emergent Systems Center (K-AIRES) project with Tyrell Corporation and their commercial operation, Pure Imagination Studios, and the Salina Airport Authority.
"This is really exciting. There's just a lot of innovation that's happening over at Kansas State University Salina anyway, definitely with the big money that General Atomics is giving to the organization and all of the capital improvements that they're doing over there," Duxler said.
Duxler said a competitive recruitment package from the state is required to secure Tyrell’s relocation to Kansas. The comprehensive package should include efforts to address facility needs, equipment, technology, and workforce and staffing incentives to successfully compete with the other states courting the company (New Mexico and California).
"If we are able, through this legislative agenda, and through talking to our legislators and our administration at the governor's office-incentivizing this company Tyrell to come in and essentially start, the Kansas State University campus there at the airport authority, it would mean a lot for Kansas State University and the airport authority, not only in jobs creation, but also just putting Salina on the map in terms of AI and those sorts of technologies."
Duxler said by attracting Tyrell Corporation to Kansas and specifically the Salina area, an estimated creation of 100 new jobs at an average salary of $150,000 per year ($72 per hour) within five years. The company will also see an ability to attract Fortune 100 technology companies to utilize the K-AIRES and invest in Kansas.
According to the proposal, the K-AIRES center will bring a heightened focus on aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and defense. Anchoring the south side of K-State Salina's Innovation Ramp, the K-AIRES Center will couple K-State Salina's existing expertise in crewed aviation, non-crewed aircraft systems, robotics, automation, and machine learning with Tyrell Corporation’s strength and reputation in immersive environments and simulated training and entertainment.
West Magnolia Road project
Another project the chamber has its sights set on is improving the section of West Magnolia Road located between between Interstate 135 and the K-State Salina campus.
"That section of the road is just very basic doesn't have a lot of access for multimodal biking, walking, there's not a great connector there, along Magnolia," Duxler said. "So trying to create something that helps connect the campus to the rest of the community and vice versa. Which means adding those sort of bike trail walking trail, being able to do lighting, public art, and those sorts of things that just make it a more attractive and connected."
The City of Salina is seeking $10 million for one mile of improvements to West Magnolia Road. In addition, a new residential subdivision is expected to be developed in this area that will add over 12,000 trips a day. The chamber views the West Magnolia road improvements as necessary to connect students, residents, employees, airline passengers, members of the military, businesses, and industries throughout the City and region.
Funding would specifically address:
-Upgrading 4,200 feet of three-lane roadway with medians and turn lanes.
-10 foot hike and bike trail (south side)
-5 foot sidewalk (north side).
-Street lighting, landscaping, public art.
-Bridge and culvert replacements.
-Channel realignment.
-Railroad crossing widening and improvements
Mental health
A report was released last year listing Kansas as 51st in the nation, following the District of Columbia, when it came to access to mental health resources.
Even Governor Laura Kelly addressed the ongoing crisis in her recent State of the State address, saying that her budget would expand Mental Health Intervention Teams in Kansas schools, provide funding for adult psychiatric services in the Wichita area and funding to address the shortage of mental health workers across the state.
Duxler said that local entities like Central Kansas Mental Health and the Salina Police Department are teaming up to better respond to those in crisis.
"Here in Salina the critical intervention team is starting up soon," Duxler said. "These critical mental health responders will go out with law enforcement on calls that seem to seek or actively say they're seeking some mental health service and help law enforcement with what they're be able to do. It also keeps people out of getting engaged in the criminal justice system, when they maybe don't need to be."
Strategizing for success
Before stepping up as interim leader of the chamber, Duxler worked as the economic and workforce development director for the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. In her previous role, she lead the chamber's efforts to attract new business expansions in the Salina area, meet labor demands, and oversee the Imagine Salina program.
"So a lot of what I do at the chamber is both economic development that's with entrepreneurship and helping startups and expansions as well as that workforce piece, which is encompasses a lot because we're talking housing, we're talking childcare, we're talking all sorts of different things that influence our ability to keep and retain workforce," Duxler said.
Duxler said that the board of directors is "definitely taking a hard look " at what the skill set of the next chamber leader should look like.
"One of the big things that we're having conversations about is relevancy. As a member organization, maintaining our relevancy in the community, and to the activities we're doing is important," Duxler said. "we are going to be surveying our membership, asking them about the importance of the activities we do, what they'd like to see, what they'd like for us to do more of, versus things that maybe aren't as important to them."
Duxler said that a job posting for CEO/president would be made in the coming months.