Ark Valley News - Council members scold business for Wichita ties

Council members scold business for Wichita ties
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: November 23, 2022

Members of the Park City council took a local business to task for associating itself with Wichita instead of Park City.

The city council approved an ordinance authorizing taxable industrial revenue bonds to Pratt Industries late last month. However, they weren't happy that the company used Wichita instead of Park City in an advertisement.

"We are very excited to be in Park City," said Dustin Carver of Pratt Industries. "It has been a project getting that thing built but Park City has been great to work with and (city administrator) Sean (Fox) has been great to work with. … We had a recent dedication event that our owner, Anthony Pratt, put on with the governor. There was some media that came out and that's really the reason our owner does that — to get the press on the new buildings."

Carver acknowledged that some information released about the event referred to Wichita instead of Park City. He pointed out that the business recently relocated from Wichita after operating there for several years.

"Concerns came to us from Sean from several of you that some of those things mentioned Wichita instead of Park City, and we want to apologize for that," said Carver. "I have quite a few articles and most of those are all Park City but a few of them have Wichita. … The challenge is we've been doing business as Lovebox Company and Pratt Industries for 65 years in this area. … The challenge is that since Pratt bought us in 2005 — in their system we're Wichita and that's the plant name. We've got a lot of software systems and reporting systems that say Wichita and that's probably not going to change because we moved the plant. It's the same team and to just undo all that in the systems is difficult. Internally, as corporate knows us, we're the Wichita plant. But we're in Park City and that's what we're conveying to all of our customers. That's what's on our business cards now."

Carver said Anthony Pratt is aware of the situation. He said some signage is being replaced and that all future information should refer to Park City instead of Wichita.

Multiple council members expressed disappointment in the situation but the strongest rebuke came from council member Ben Sauceda. He said it is a violation of the city's IRB agreement to claim Wichita instead of Park City and said he felt it was a deliberate act.

Sauceda motioned to table the ordinance until someone from corporate could appear and answer to city council, but the motion failed without a second. Sauceda said approval of the ordinance was a "slap in the face" to taxpayers. He also scolded Pratt at another recent council meeting because the city wasn't included in the event with Gov. Laura Kelly.

Others who expressed frustration also expressed confidence that the situation could and would be rectified. Council members Brandi Baily and Tom Jones both said that they have faith that Pratt will make things right going forward.

"We had this happen several years ago, and all we had to do was make a comment to the bond counsel and the company," said Jones. "Within a month, the name on the side of the trucks was changed. He hadn't even thought about it. I think these gentlemen were probably the same way, working through the process locally and then corporate came in and helped them out the wrong way. I think it's fixable."

City Administrator Sean Fox agreed that the situation can be resolved. He said he'll continue working with Pratt to make sure it gets done.

"I'm certain that we can sit down and talk about it and come up with an acceptable timeline, as well as what we would consider appropriate," said Fox. "They are the Lovebox Company and they've been operating in Wichita for 65 years. It would have been perfect if they would have said the Wichita division or the Wichita district — but don't say Wichita, Kansas, when you're truly in Park City, Kansas. I understand that their software systems are going to change at whatever this council behest. So I do believe staff should be able to work with them to come up with something that is acceptable."

Baily motioned to approve the ordinance. The motion received a second from council member Jim Schroeder, who also expressed disappointment. Sauceda and council member George Capps voted against the ordinance.