Patience is a virtue, but patience is hard. When I first started at Republic County Economic Development (RCED) in 2004, patience was the hardest part of the job. An example that I always use is that when someone works in a restaurant, they wash a table and the table is washed. The worker can check that off of the list. In Economic Development, something that is started one year might take ten years to be “complete”.
One example is the NCK Industrial Park where the non-profit group bought land approximately twenty-five years ago to make sure that there was affordable land for development. The land was marketed with a sign and by different economic development boards/directors over the years, but it took until 2014 to actually land the first business on the Industrial Park land. It took fifteen years to develop the area and the plan is still going on in 2023.
RCED was an integral partner in securing Love’s Travel Stop for the Industrial Park. Then Republic County Economic Director for JenRus Freelance, Luke Mahin, worked hard on this project. He spent countless hours in meetings with Love’s development team, Republic County Commissioners, the City of Belleville representatives, engineers and surveyors on the property, and the Kansas Department of Commerce seeing the project through to fruition.
Once the building was open, RCED’s work did not stop there. When the City of Belleville annexed the area into the City to be able to reap the benefits of the tax increase for City funding, RCED helped notify and have the City be awarded a $1 Million Kansas Department of Transportation grant to extend the road for the property.
Love’s Travel Stops was more successful than predicted and the number of cars/trucks passing the site increase daily. Having Love’s as the first business in the Industrial Park helped to make the area more appealing to other businesses. Hoge Crete was also right there as one of the first businesses in the Park. In 2022, Rolling Hills Electric Cooperative purchased land there and is currently working on the third building on the land.
The work continues in 2023. The RCED Board paid for a hotel feasibility study to share 
with potential developers and we share it regularly as we talk to investors with a local contact interested in getting a hotel built in Belleville. In the RCED goal-setting meeting in January 2023, the RCED board slated this project as a top goal for the group. Along with the hotel, more restaurants, industry, and other businesses are also being sought for the area. One such business requested a Community Improvement District (CID) as a potential incentive for locating to the area, so in 2023 RCED worked with the City of Belleville to get this process started.
The City of Belleville is currently extending utilities in the Industrial Park and soon there will be even more opportunities for even more businesses. Stay tuned, have patience.
– Jenny Russell, Republic County Economic Development Director, 23-24, 2010-present