By KALEY LYON

klyon@dailynews.net

The Hays City Commission soon could be asked to make a final decision on how to use the former Army Reserve center.

While a final vote has not been cast, commissioners have expressed interest in allowing North Central Kansas Technical College to use the space to house expanded course offerings.

The issue will be addressed at Thursday's 5:30 p.m. commission work session.

"In all, it does help our downtown, and we've been making a conscious effort to improve, to grow in our downtown area," City Manager Toby Dougherty said. "One of the fundamentals of a successful downtown is you've got to have people down there."

NCKTC expects as many as 50 students to attend the new building -- dubbed Big Creek Campus -- by August. Administrators also hope to recruit five full-time staff members.

In addition to bringing more people downtown, an agreement is in the works calling for students to provide free labor on city projects.

City staff already has identified several projects the students could help with, the most urgent being an addition and renovation to parks department offices, Dougherty said.

This department has nearly doubled in size since moving into its existing facilities near Old U.S. Highway 40. As a result, employees are cramped for space and valuable equipment is stored outside, he said.

Several proposals for the Army Reserve center were presented to commissioners -- another possibility was the idea of relocating the parks department for a cost of about $70,000.

While this option could prove less costly than renovations at the current location, commissioners have expressed hope that using student labor for various projects could save money in the long run, Dougherty said.

But whatever decision the commission makes, city staff is hopeful there will be a timely solution for the parks department's space needs, he said.

The city and NCKTC have been working to outline a sample project -- parks department renovations -- to determine how much savings the city could expect from student help.

"In order for the commission to be confident they're making the right decision and be confident the technical college will actually save them money down the road, this really needs to be completed," Dougherty said.

Mike Michaelis of the Ellis County Economic Development Corp. said he has been working with NCKTC for about a year, helping them to find the space they need.

By filling a vacant building, attracting more students to Hays and creating more local jobs, the project could be a good opportunity for economic growth, Michaelis said.

"The more skills people have, the more money they can make and the more opportunities they have to do things," he said.

While local unemployment rates are up to 3.9 percent, Ellis County remains far below the national average. However, technical training is a good opportunity for individuals who find themselves looking for work, as areas such as oil and manufacturing might look to cut back.

"That's an opportunity for people to make decisions as to what they need," Michaelis said. "Most of the time that means retraining for skills of the future, or skills that will be in demand."