Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
In Addition To New Hospital Ribbon Cutting, He Takes Look At KCTS, Kimball Schools
Pictured at a meeting Monday at KCTS are, from left, Paul Whiting from Clean Harbors, Inc., Department of Transportation Vicki Kramer, Governor Jim Pillen, Kimball County Commissioner Carl Stander, Jeremy Borrell from the Nebraska Division of Aeronautics, and Jodie Gibson, local assistance division manager at Nebraska Department of Transportation.
Gov. Pillen arrived in Kimball for the Kimball Health Services hospital ribbon cutting on Monday, Feb 26, but he also tended to other business.
The governor and his entourage landed on the newly resurfaced Kimball Municipal Airport runway 10/28 and found the landing was incredible. The resurfacing project recently received a 2023 Project of the Year award from the state.
Before the ribbon cutting, Pillen met with KCTS staff and toured Kimball Public Schools.
Pillen and members of his Department of Transportation cabinet met with area transit directors, officials and former officials to learn about the fast paced history of KCTS.
Pillen understands the pride of Nebraskans, and he congratulated KCTS for having a "get it done" attitude. He noted that Nebraskans are not ones to ask for help; Nebraskans are too independent, and that is reflected in the ranking of 49 out of 50 states in obtaining federal funds.
Pillen has met with officials in Washington, D.C., and he stressed that we need to get more federal dollars, such as the transit has done.
From 1975 to 2017, KCTS was a one-horse show. The one bus operated five days a week within the confines of the city and county of Kimball to help people age in place.
In 2017, as the need arose, KCTS received permission to leave the county's boundaries and purchase two more vehicles under Christy Warner's leadership.
Adding to the transit, the Nebraska Department of Transportation requested that KCTS take over a troubled Chappell transit. The Chappell vehicles were gifted to Kimball and services provided to the people of Chappell.
Warner said the "phones just kept ringing." Pillen listened intently to the Cinderella story of KCTS. There was no advertising and no vision for growth in the early going, but there was a need to provide local transportation to local residents – not just for the aging but for everyone.
Paul Whiting from Clean Harbors, Inc. said, "This transportation system has been a godsend to us, recruiting. We have regular routes that run to Scottsbluff, Gering. Sidney and Cheyenne daily." Whiting told the governor that Clean Harbors has a major hiring and housing initiatives." According to Whiting, KCTS has been a great help to Clean Harbors.
Today, KCTS runs 16 routes a day with 16 drivers. Weekends are a little lighter with six drivers, and the popular DIA routes include feeder routes from the Sidney area.
Kimball is one of 63 elite communities with a transit system. An individual can get from DIA to Rapid City, South Dakota, using the Panhandle transit systems.
In his final remarks, Pillen stressed the hardcore reality and challenges with young people. Thse include poverty and drugs, issues Pillen said are very important to him.
Living within our means is another issue Pillen stresses. As a fisical conservative, Pillen touted Kimball Public Schools Superintendent Trevor Anderson and the Kimball School Board for their property tax relief. State aid provided to the schools by the legislature helped the Kimball School reduce its property tax levy.
And finally, Pillen briefly talked about expansion of broadband throughout the state and his recent trade mission to Vietnam.
