This past weekend saw a big milestone for the Miller family, as my youngest sister followed in her siblings' and parents' footsteps of being a college graduate (photo here). All three of my sisters and my mom graduated from the University of Central Missouri. We’re so proud of Alivia and all she has accomplished over the past four years. And knowing her creative mind, this is just the beginning of being wowed by the work that she’ll do!

City Commission Hears Updates on Proximity Park and City Manager Transition

This week’s City Commission meeting had a few notable items that I wanted to report on (view that here). This includes an update on Proximity Park and the short-term replacement for City Manager. Proximity Park would have entered into a contractual relationship with Lightfield Energy a year ago. Lightfield has intentions of building a data center and natural gas power plant to fuel said data center in Ottawa’s south industrial park. This process has not been without hiccups for Lightfield, as they have had to jump through several hoops at the state level to make this project feasible. The first hurdle was due to legislation passed in the spring of 2025 that affected the power generation process for the future facility. Andy Talbert from Lightfield shared that this challenge has largely been resolved and that they see a way forward. However, there are new concerns revolving around water treatment/usage for the site. As a result, their proposal to the City Commission is for an additional 6 months extension. Instead of issuing a full 6-month extension at Wednesday’s meeting, they offered a one-month extension to allow the five commissioners to have further discussion after the holiday season and then make a final decision in January on the potential partnership with Lightfield.

In other news, the City of Ottawa has engaged Strategic Government Resources, a talent agency, to support its City Manager search. It was mentioned that they have already gathered a group of potential candidates, which was reviewed in an executive session at the tail end of Wednesday’s meeting. This process appears to be progressing well, but the current City Manager, Brian Silcott, will be leaving the city at the end of this month. It was shared that if this search continues at the current pace, the City would hope to have someone in the role sometime in March of 2026. Because there will be a small window of time with a vacancy, commissioners discussed an Interim role to ensure that business does not come to a halt in the first quarter. In a unanimous vote, Blaine Finch, City Attorney, was named Interim City Manager.

Relocation Program Gains Momentum and Visibility

Following our interview with KSHB TV last week, I wrote in my Friday column about how our Chamber received a state grant focused on out-of-state relocation (you can view the newsletter here if interested). If you happened to be tuned in on Tuesday morning, you may have caught that piece live. If not, check it out here (KSHB TV interview here)! Following this, numerous radio and news outlets covered the story, and social media saw hundreds of interactions with the interview; thousands more would have seen it on their feeds. I think one of the key benefits of a program like this is the ongoing exposure our community will receive from participation. Beyond this single interview, MakeMyMove has a national reach that will continue to put our community in front of out-of-towners. We are able to track how many individuals have clicked through to our MakeMyMove profile to date. That figure continues to grow, but it’s currently sitting at over 2,300 unique visits (you can view that profile here).

The Chamber is excited to bring this program to the public, but we also recognize the importance of ensuring people understand the facts, not just the headlines. Here are a few things to note about the grant, MakeMyMove, and how we think it will affect our community.

The grant funding awarded to the Chamber to run this program is over $146,000 from the state, in two phases. A significant amount of money that would not have landed in our community otherwise. This grant funding does not go to the Chamber overseeing this operation, but rather to the partnership with the MakeMyMove platform and the mover incentives.
The grant application process required setting recruitment goals for our community over the one-year period (October 2025-September 2026). The Chamber believes it can help relocate 10 households to our community. Following ten successful households, our community will still have the opportunity to connect with interested movers, but the grant funding will no longer be available past that point. We’ll cross that bridge once we get there, but I see it this way: our community will still receive significant publicity and exposure even after we hit our goal, which is extremely valuable.
Over a dozen businesses and organizations have already committed to providing incentives to the ten moving households (and this list is still growing). What I’m hearing from participating businesses is that they see this opportunity as a way to expand their reach to new customers, allowing them to start a new relationship with the incoming citizens on day 1.
We have had over 85 families express interest in our community to date! This expression of interest is submitted through an application process, but there are still several steps to complete to be officially selected as one of the ten. Though we do not yet have an official mover, we are highly encouraged by this response.
Though housing is indeed a challenge in our community, and one that we still need to prioritize, we have inventory for these ten households. My conversations with realtors and landlords indicate that there are houses sitting, waiting for these movers. Unlike a couple of years ago, the housing market is shifting. As of the end of November, there were over 70 houses on the market listed in Franklin County.
Our local school districts all have stated the seriousness of declining enrollment in their elementary schools, up to senior high. This trend has been coming for some time and will impact our teachers, programs, and facilities. This relocation program has the very real potential of recruiting families who will contribute to our school district by enrolling their kiddos.
So many of our member employers are in need of good help and are actively hiring. One of the program’s main objectives is to bring in workforce for our community businesses.
Our local nonprofits, civic organizations, and community boards are all saying that they need more volunteers. I hope that a byproduct of this program is that these households see the need and want to play an active role in our community’s future.

Along with exposure to potential residents, I also believe our participation in this program sends a message to prospective residential and commercial investors that this is a community that is moving forward, not backward. Though this program does not attempt to fix all of our community’s problems, I do believe that moving ten highly engaged households to our community will have the opportunity to bear fruit for generations to come. I would encourage anyone who has more questions, concerns (maybe even gripes), to come and have a conversation. The Chamber is committed to supporting our community, and I believe this program has the potential to do exactly that!

Everyday Auto Opens Its Doors—and Gives Back

This morning, we held a Chamber Coffee for our newest member, Everyday Auto, located at 436 N Main Street (picture here). Eric is the owner-operator of this detailing, repair, and car sales establishment. This business venture began two years ago, after Eric’s hobby outgrew his home garage. Along with his passion for the automotive industry, Eric recognized a need for affordable transportation in our community. This business started as a way to fill a gap, ensuring that those who cannot afford a new car off the lot can still find a vehicle that supports them and their family. Although Eric still has a day job, with the help of several staff members, the company has continued to grow exponentially over the past two years. What started as being open just 4-6pm Monday through Friday with him as the only “employee”, has transformed into the shop being open six days a week! If you’re in the market for a new-to-you car or need your current vehicle repaired/detailed, Everyday Auto is at 436 N Main (view their website here).

Eric shared that his first two years being open have been a great success. His expectations for the company have been exceeded, and he looks forward to another great year in 2026. With that success, he believes the business model from the start has been to support those in need. This holiday season, he made the decision to donate a vehicle to a deserving individual in town. What an incredibly generous idea that is sure to make anyone’s holiday extra special! After a nomination period that lasted a couple of months, they announced the winner at today’s Chamber Coffee. The winner of the Dodge Journey is Arlie Sawyer of Pizza Time (pictures here)! Unbeknownst to her, her new car was sitting on the other side of the garage door. When Eric raised the door and announced her name, everyone was overjoyed―none more than Arlie!

Arlie shared that this couldn’t have come at a better time in her life. She has had extensive car trouble recently, and this is really a Godsend. This year, after finally paying off her “forever car", the engine failed with no way to save it. With a friend's help, she briefly borrowed a vehicle, but it is currently in the driveway and unable to run. She has since gone without a vehicle for months now, until today! What an incredibly generous gift from Everyday Auto.

There’s really no better way to put a bow on our 2025 networking events than this! Today’s event marked 45 different Coffees, After Hours, and Groundbreakings in 2025. An extraordinary number of events because of our extraordinary community. We hope you continue to connect with other businesses in 2026 at our regular networking events!

Still Time to Get Your Auction Donation In

Although our annual banquet and auction are still a month away, the holidays always cost us a few weeks, as it is challenging to receive donations during the week of Christmas and before the new year. As a result, the Chamber’s Ambassador Committee is working to wrap up these collections prior to the 25th this year. All the while realizing that the holiday season is one of the busiest for most of our businesses! If you haven’t dropped off your donation just yet, we’d love to have an Ambassador come and snag it today! I imagine we’ll still do some follow-ups after the new year for those who don’t make it in before today’s deadline. As always, we appreciate the many gracious businesses that support our largest annual fundraiser each year.

Less than a week away from Christmas! If I don’t see you before, I hope you and your family have a lovely holiday. Makayla and I will be out after Tuesday next week to spend time with family until the new year. With that said, we will keep the office open from December 29th to 31st, thanks to my great team. If you need a quick response, email chamber@ottawakansas.org or call the office at 785-242-1000 so someone on the team can take care of you. See you in 2026!

Ryland Miller

President/CEO

Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce

ryland@ottawakansas.org

785-242-1000