All eight candidates for Shawnee City Council agree: Increasing commercial development is crucial to Shawnee’s future.

But the question is, how can the city do that in a time of economic recession when most companies are shrinking, not growing? This week, candidates shared more of their views on economic development, discussing what individual Council members and the Council as a whole should do.

Ward I

Jim Neighbor has previously discussed the possibility of creating an incentive program for small businesses, an idea he still stands behind to fill in empty office and storefronts.

He suggests the city look into grants available for small businesses and make as much information available to the public as possible.

“Get the people that might have the idea that ‘I want to start a business,’ but have no idea how to do it — give them the tools, and the city can maybe be a facilitator,” he said.

Neighbor also supported the idea that residents Shop Shawnee, and said open and honest communication among Council members was still necessary to promote development. That’s why he says a Council member wouldn’t be able to improve economic development on his or her own; they need to work together and create a synergy.

“If the Council’s perception is one of being thoughtful and progressive and moving forward, that would be better than what it’s been in the past,” he said.

Dan Pflumm, incumbent, could not be reached for comment, but he has previously stated that he would like to increase support of the Shawnee Economic Development Council’s efforts and help them to broaden the promotion of Shawnee, with the goal of filling the four big-box store spaces currently sitting empty.

Ward II

Frank Goode, incumbent, says he has always supported actions the city has taken to increase development, and in his view, the only way to increase development was to continue to support it.

“I’m the biggest supporter of economic development there is,” he said.

He acknowledge that with economic uncertainty, the city was not doing well attracting new development, but the main thing for the Council to do was to have a positive view of potential new development.

“There’s people on the City Council who don’t understand tax abatements yet,” he said. “If we have a negative Council who won’t push tax abatements, there’s not much I can do. I’m going to support progress — and people know it — and take the burden off the people who own houses.”

Goode’s opponent, David Morris, said he would like the city to look into changing its Community Improvement District policy so that it doesn’t require approval from 100 percent of the property owners in the district. He thinks this would make the development tool easier to use in the city’s downtown area.

He also promotes looking into the idea of “freezing” property taxes in improvement areas to allow developers to expand, improve or build new with their current taxes for five to 10 years.

While both those ideas could require approval at the state level, he sees them as necessary to help out Shawnee’s current development incentive offerings.

He also supports giving more funding to the Shawnee Economic Development Council, and he is aware that may require cuts elsewhere in the city budget.

“I think we as a community or the Council have to decide what priorities are, and I would like to see that be one,” he said. “So there may be areas that can be pared back, funds that can be shifted; there may be some grants out there. Ultimately, the Council has to figure out what their priorities are. We need to have the tools and the manpower to make that happen.”

He said as just one Council member, he wouldn’t be able to do it alone, though he said he could contribute ideas on how to work with a limited budget from his experiences in the Kansas City, Mo., business community.

Ward III

Dennis Kissinger has stated he thinks the city and Council should strengthen partnerships through the Shawnee Economic Development Council, make sure land use, zoning and infrastructure plans are up to date so the city is prepared when development comes, and present a untied front with local partners on tax incentives.

He said it would be hard to improve upon the tax incentives program the city has for economic development.

“I think it’s a pretty comprehensive program that’s in place,” he said. “It’s not so much that we need to offer more, it’s just assuring that we have everything in place so that as people look for locations or are trying to make choices in the area, they find a city that is ready to offer the infrastructure and has a competitive incentive package.”

He also agreed that improving economic development would boil down to teamwork among Council members.

“It’s a matter of assuring that we’re on the same page as the Economic Development Council, that we have the same goals, and that we’re ready to implement things when they come along,” he said.

His opponent, Jeff Vaught, agreed that the Council needs to work together, but he said there are times that individual Council members should be working to promote development.

Vaught said his work in commercial real estate would allow him to help with the city’s economic development and help the Council understand a developer’s point of view.

“You can work on having a lot more communication with them, bringing them to the table on a lot more projects, and connecting them to the right people in the city,” he said.

He gave one example of how he had tried to help connect the city with a developer looking to create an arena on the western side of the metropolitan area similar to the one that just opened in Independence, Mo. He said he would like to see a STAR bonds project put together along Interstate 435 that could include this arena, a new home for Wonderscope Children’s Museum and other possible retailers.

He said there was an idea among developers that Shawnee wasn’t open to development.

“One person can change perception, and it’s gotta be a person who understands what the development community is saying, and what they are looking for,” he said.

As far as development itself, Vaught said the city also should look for more light industrial warehouse development to increase daytime traffic, because retail development is eight to 10 years out and office development is similarly stalled.

“What’s really viable in Shawnee is the things the city isn’t going after, the flex light-industrial space,” he said.

Ward IV

Lori Barngrover also suggested that the city aggressively pursue more developments, and she said the city had taken the right steps with its branding, “Good Starts Here,” which gives “a name and a look to Shawnee.”

She said the city also could review its current package of development incentives.

“I think the ones in place are good, but I do think we need to review them and make them more specific to what we’re trying to target,” she said. “Tax incentives are good, but we want to make sure that it’s a good quality development we want in Shawnee.”

But it still takes the cooperation of the whole Council, she said, not the work of just one Council member. It’s a collaborative effort, and the Council members need to be on the same page.

“Developers don’t want to come into the city if they think the Council doesn’t get along, don’t agree, and will make it hard for a development to get approved,” she said. “It just needs to be a cohesive atmosphere. They want to know they have a council that’s aggressive and goes after development.”

Michelle Distler, incumbent, said she would still like the city to explore some alternative means of supporting development, like becoming a Certified Local Government. She said this would allow the city to designate areas as preservation districts, allowing them to receive state funds.

As far as the city’s development incentives, she said she would like the city to explore giving higher percentage tax abatements for a shorter period of time, rather than a lower percentage over 10 years.

New developments put stress on city infrastructure, she said, noting to studies that show commercial developments typically cost a city 85 cents for every tax dollar brought in.

“Even though it would be a little stress for a shorter amount of time, at least it’s a shorter amount of time,” she said.

She pointed to Olathe, which gave out several tax abatements in the last decade but now has the highest property tax rate in the county.

She said that individual Council members can’t do much to change development on their own, but they did need to stand strong in their support of it.

“Individually, I don’t know much that can be done, but as an individual, you can support positive things,” she said. “It would be more how you react to things as an individual, as opposed to what you can get done alone.”