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Hard Hat tour brings the collective scope of projects into focus On June 29 community members gathered to take a hard hat tour of seven major construction projects underway in El Dorado.

At no other time in El Dorado’s recent history has there been so many major construction projects underway at the same time. El Do-rado Inc. organized a tour of the projects for its members and other invited guests. Ap-proximately 60 people braved 100+ degree temperatures, donning hard hats at times, to get a look at the projects which are chang-ing the face of El Dorado.

“It’s really a testament to a combination of volunteerism, a progressive community

mindset and a fertile business community, along with expertise and support from our public/private economic development ef-fort,” said Vince Haines, principle of PKHLS Architecture and tour guide.

Historically, building permits in El Dorado in commercial devel-opment have averaged $4.8 million per year. Starting in 2010, there has been a drastic increase. The total in building permits for the seven projects on the tour total $71.2 million so far.

“The projects that we have been working on since 2004 are now coming to fruition. El Dorado has many elements that create a

favorable climate for business—our location, rail service, plentiful water and a reliable workforce,” said Linda Jolly, Executive Director of El Dorado Inc., El Dorado’s public/private economic

development organization.

“El Dorado is growing. Even with the economic downturn, we’ve come out strong with continued investment by the public and

private sector,” continued Jolly.

The projects on the Hard Hat Tour were:

BG Products Veterans Sports Complex, 4,000 seat stadium and track facility which will serve Butler Community College, USD 490 and host community events. Opening August 31.

$100 million in capital investment

represented in projects

A B I - A N N U A L N E W S L E T T E R P R O M O T I N G T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F E L D O R A D O

EL DORADO YMCA

Community holds 10 year birthday anniversary

EL DORADO RAIL PORT OPEN

Savage companies providing shipping solutions for area businesses

FIVE THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT EL DORADO

Five facts you might not know!

NATIONAL SHOWING

EHS forensic students make El Dorado proud at national tourneys

Vol. 6 Fall 2012

El Dorado Today

continued on page 2

El Dorado Railport open for business

El Dorado YMCA celebrates 10 years Members gather to commemorate community asset

In October 2011 Savage Com-panies announced the start of operations of its new multi-user El Dorado Railport just outside of El Dorado at 3050 South-west Haverhill Road. The terminal is served by the BNSF Railway and currently provides daily rail service and car storage to HollyFrontier's El Dorado refinery.

The transload facility is located along the south side of the HollyFrontier Refinery and is currently transloading crude oil. But, as a multi-commodity transload, the facility is avail-able to all customers in Butler and surrounding counties that are interested in taking advantage of rail transport economics.

For more information contact Gary Willhite at Savage Services Corporation in El Dorado

316-321-3184 www.savageservices.com

To those volunteers who worked to make the El Dorado YMCA a reality, the facility is more than a fitness center—it is a symbol of what can happen when a com-munity—citizens, government and organizations—pull together for positive results.

Today, the Y serves nearly 8,500 members each year and hun-dreds of additional non-member program participants. This equates to more than 50% of the greater El Dorado region, reach-ing far beyond the original expec-tations.

In addition, the El Dorado YMCA sees a total of 250,000 people walk through its doors or onto the fields of offsite Y activities each year.

MORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO, COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS ORGANIZED TO RAISE FUNDS FOR A NEW COMMUNITY HEALTH

FACILITY. WITH HELP FROM THE CITY OF EL DORADO AND A MULTITUDE OF PRIVATE DONORS, THE 43,000 SQUARE FOOT

YMCA WAS OPENED IN 2002. TODAY THE EL DORADO YMCA SERVES 50% OF THE POPULATION IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

Savage Services

Among them in the past year were participants/visitors from 24 states outside of Kansas and 159 differ-ent zip codes within the state.

Approximately 140 second graders learn to swim each year through the SPLASH! Pro-gram.

Over $1 million has been raised by members in the annual Strong Kids Campaign in the ten years of opera-tion. The money goes to support kids programs such as SPLASH!, youth sports, and youth scholar-ships.

A month-long birthday celebration was planned to commemorate the milestone. Activities were planned for nearly every day in July includ-

ing daily trivia contests, free open houses each Sunday, a birthday party with cake, a goodie bag giveaway day, sidewalk chalk art contest and activities for teens and families.

Culminating the cele-bration were two events. The first was a YMCA Block Party on July 20th in which the Y’s downtown neighbors and Y members were

treated to free food and family activities. A Middle School Night at the Y followed.

On July 27th a celebration was held at the El Dorado facility for original donors appearing on the Wall of Champions, charter and current board members to mark the ten-year anniversary.

How many have checked in at the front desk of

the El Dorado YMCA in 10 years?

2,113,547

The Villas, apartment complex designed for Butler Community College student housing, built by Oxbow Development. To be open for the 2012 fall semester.

Barton Solvents wholesale chemical mixing and distribution plant with onsite rail service. Now open.

BG Products manufacturing facility, 168,000 square foot state-of-the-art

chemical manufacturing plant with on-site rail service. Projected finish date is late 2012.

El Dorado Fire Sub-station and Butler Community College Training Facility, a joint project, will enhance BCC’s fire sci-ence program and increase city fire pro-tection coverage.

Skelly Grade School, as part of the 2010 school bond issue, this state-of-the-art

continued from page 1

school will house 360 pre-K through 5th grade students with three classrooms per grade. Open for the 2012 fall se-mester.

220 Central Building, built in downtown El Dorado on the site of a burned out building, the innovative three-floor struc-ture will house offices and upper floor apartments.

Five things we love

about El Dorado

On July 21 the national spotlight

will shine on the Coutts Museum

of Art in El Dorado as they hold

the second annual Coutts

Museum National Art Auction

in El Dorado. The auction will

be simulcast live online, using

the services of ProxiBid, as well

as live at the museum.

The auction will feature up to

100 high quality works by some

of the top nationally recognized

artists in the country. To see all

auction offerings, visit

www.proxibid.com/coutts.

All sales will benefit the museum.

Estimated price ranges are from

several hundred dollars up to

$20,000.

The auction is in conjunction

with PaintAmerica Association,

a not-for-profit organization

which provides opportunities for

artists across the country.

PaintAmerica operates the

PaintAmerica Top 100 National

Touring Exhibit, debuting at the

Coutts Museum June 5 through

August 11, and the Paint the

Parks National Touring Exhibit.

For more information visit

www.360ElDorado.com/

AttractionsandEntertainment, or

contact the Coutts Museum at

316-321-1212.

NATIONAL SHOWING: EL DORADO FORENSIC STUDENTS

SCORE BIG AT NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS

Funnel cakes at the Star Vu Drive-In Theater, 1010 S. Haverhill Rd. in El Dorado. The Star Vu is one of the last remaining drive-in theaters in the country, and shows quality first-run movies Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights during the season.

Municipal Band summer concerts at the El Dorado Band Shell, 9th and Taylor in El Dorado. Local volunteer musicians put on free pubic concerts each Thursday at 8 p.m. through July.

Free to low cost health screenings offered by Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital. Choose from osteoporosis, blood pressure, lipid profile and others. Check the hospital’s page on 360El-Dorado.com for dates.

Fresh sushi at Beijing Bistro, 1905 W. Central in El Dorado. Made fresh per order, stop in on Sushi days—Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Very good!

Free Brown Bag Programs at noon every third Tuesday at the Coutts Museum. Interesting live music, art talk or other demonstration. It’s fun! It’s free! Go!

National Art Auction focuses spotlight on El Dorado

5 FACTS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW THIS AUCTION FEATURES APPROXIMATELY 100 WORKS BY SOME OF THE COUNTRY’S TOP CLASSIC AND

CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATIVE ARTISTS, INCLUDING TONY EUBANKS, BOB QUICK, JIM CLEMENTS,

PETER JOHNSON, JOSEPH ORR, RALPH OBERG, PHIL STARKE AND EVA VAN RIJN

All is Well by John Pototschnik

The Yellowstone Café by Reid Christie

In 2012 El Dorado High School students

qualified for two national forensics tour-

naments. At the end of May, students

traveled to Baltimore, MD to compete at

the National Catholic Forensics League

Grand National Tournament. EHS junior

Allison McKibban finished fourth in the

nation in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Kristina Brown and Nick Fowler ranked

in the top 50 in Policy Debate.

In June three EHS students competed

at the National Forensic League National

Tournament in Indianapolis. McKibban

finished third in the nation out of 497

entries in Impromptu Speaking. She

also ranked 15th out of 250 competitors

in International Extemporaneous Speaking.

Kristina Brown completed four rounds in

Expository Speaking and Jessica

McClure completed five rounds in Poetry.

E L D O R A D O I n c . 201 E. Central P.O. Box 350 El Dorado, KS 67042 316-321-1485

F O R A C O M P L E T E C A L E N D A R O F

E V E N T S V I S I T :

El Dorado Open Car & Bike Show Saturday, September 15, noon to 6:30 p.m. Always an attraction for car and bike enthusiasts in downtown El Dorado! A wide variety of different makes and models of all ages for all ages. The 2012 show will be a charity event benefitting the Family Life Center in El Dorado. An El Dorado Chamber of Commerce event. For complete information and current updates visit them on facebook or go to 360ElDorado.com and search El Dorado Open.

To sell or not to sell...

City leaders commission water study City of El Dorado administration and elected city officials commissioned a study by Black and Veatch to determine how much water from El Dorado Lake is available for sale, and the costs involved in selling the water.

The study was done in two parts. Part one of the study revealed that El Dorado Lake has the capacity to sell 22 million gallons of water per day while staying within the level of 3 feet below conservation level. If the level dropped below three feet, the city would stop selling the water.

The study also indicated selling this amount of water would not negatively impact wildlife or recreation at the lake.

From 2007 to 2009, the lake was at or about normal pool, with approxi-mately 164 million gallons of water a day released downstream.

The second part of the study will evaluate the cost of water treatment and delivery options in order to establish a final estimate of cost per thousand gallons.

Arial shot of El Dorado Lake