Senator Jerry Moran comes to Belleville, announces fund for new courthouse steps

Last Friday morning, Kansas Senator Jerry Moran was at the Republic County Courthouse. He announced that $250K had been designated to fix the stairs for the Courthouse, which had been in poor condition for some time. Fellow journalist, Giada Smith and I went to check it out.

We learned that the money came from the federal government through legislation in Washington D.C.. Every year, there is a big pool of money that all the Senators can claim part of to benefit their States. Staff at the Republic County Courthouse reached out to Senator Morran, about the courthouse. Then, Senator Moran brought up our Courthouse in Congress, and $250K was granted to fix our stairs. This is a beautiful example of our Constitutional Republic in action.

Senator Moran said that this kind of thing is important because “Kansas and the country have benefited whenever we are able to keep rural communities across our state alive and well, that they're doing good things for their citizens. People want to live there. There's opportunities for growth. Somebody who comes to Belleville and other communities in the county wants to know that they are going to live in a place in which good things are happening. So this benefits the local citizenry by improving the quality of life and opportunities for people to find Belleville and Republic County a pleasing place, a place to live. And when I say that, we're really trying to help the taxpayers, who otherwise would be paying the taxes, to pay for this project.”

We also asked him how he felt about this project personally, and he responded by saying that “the fact that people are here and care about this, that's a big deal. a nice feeling that you're doing something that the community really does care about. There's lots of things that government does that always don't seem to have the right priorities and things that really matter in our lives and they're often accompanied by all kinds of rules and regulations and stuff that make it very difficult to utilize those dollars and so I'm pleased that we're able to help and I'm pleased that we're not, I wouldn't want to be doing this if we were adding to the country's national debt but this doesn't do that. It just says we're going to spend the money in Republic County, not some other state or some other county.”

The Link to the full audio of the interview is below.

Senator Jerry Moran’s visit to our Republic County Courthouse shows the importance of keeping small towns like Belleville thriving. The $250,000 federal grant for the courthouse steps not only fixes a safety issue but also shows that rural communities matter. Moran’s focus on helping local citizens and taxpayers shows that he’s dedicated to making sure places like Republic County remain great places to live. As the repairs begin, it’s clear that even small projects like this can have a big impact on the future of our community.

-Samuel Anderson and Giada Smith