CDL program (Photo: Seward County Community College)

Focus on Liberal, Kansas: Energy, agriculture, and trucking are pathways for residents, including its immigrant population

Mayor Jose Lara: ‘I would prefer Liberal to be home… where people are comfortable’
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In our “Focus on” series, WorkingNation looks at cities and towns around the country to highlight the ideas and efforts that are creating jobs and giving opportunity for family-sustaining jobs and economic mobility. In this article in the series, we Focus on Liberal, Kansas.

Liberal, Kansas – in the southwestern part of the state – is about 40 miles east of the Colorado/Kansas border and two miles north of the Oklahoma/Kansas border. It sits at the intersection of US-83 and US-54. Founded in 1888, Liberal is the county seat of Seward County and home to about 20,000 residents.

With the oil and gas industry carrying the local economy in the past, the larger employers, these days, in Liberal include National Beef Packing Company, Liberal USD 480, Seward County Community College, and Southwest Medical Center.

Mayor Jose Lara is currently serving four years on the Liberal City Commission and, after being appointed by his colleagues, is also serving a one-year mayoral term. He says the city is working on its Launch Liberal 2035 Comprehensive Plan and hopes “to have a bit more of a positive outlook. Our social self-esteem is one of the biggest issues that I would say we’re having within the community.”

Lara sees these challenges when he is out in the community, including during visits to the high school. “I ask, ‘How many of you plan to leave town when you graduate?’ It’s always about 80 to 90% of the hands go up.

“Sometimes I’ll ask the 10% that didn’t raise their hand, ‘Why do you want to stay?’ Those are always more interesting answers. The ones who want to stay always say that they want to make the community better and then we can always flourish a conversation around them. We should always be looking at, ‘What would it take for me to want to stay?’”

Lara says it’s key for community stakeholders to work collaboratively which, he explains, has not always been the case. “Good chunks of it have been because different entities have sat on an isolationist mentality where, ‘If it benefits one of the other entities, we’re not going to do it.’ We’ve been trying really hard to break through some of those walls and say, ‘We need to work together, regardless.’

“So now the next step has been letting the community know, ‘You should be reaching out not only to the City Commission but to all the entities and let us know what it is you want the future to look like.’”

Lara says Liberal is not lacking for ideas but needs to make better use of networks to work out, “How do we do this and not reinvent the wheel.”

The mayor dropped out of high school and did not attend college but says he has always been resourceful learning on his own. Lara says one thing he’s figured out, “Networking is almost as important as knowing how to address a problem, so by all means, ‘lifelong learner’ is definitely a title I would take.”

He notes progress is being made, “Those conversations are relatively new. But our administrators have been much more open with each other. By that, I mean the college president, the superintendent for the school district, the city manager, and the county administrator. The four directors for each entity are much more engaged than they’ve ever been before.”

Another breakthrough for Liberal – due to recent funding – is greater community access to broadband. “We’re nearing 100% where high-speed internet will be throughout all of Liberal. My optimism there is Liberal produces a good workforce.”

(Photo: City of Liberal)
‘I prefer Liberal to be home’

Who lives in Liberal? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population includes more than 66% Hispanic or Latino, more than 25% white alone, over 3% Black or African American alone, and less than 3% Asian alone.

The Hispanic/Latino majority is a major shift since the 1980s when this population numbered about 20% of the residents in Liberal.

“Our population has very much been first-generation immigrants whose kids grow up here, go away to college, then maybe come back, raise a family. That’s kind of the stage where we’re at,” says Lara.

He says Liberal’s sister cities – Garden City and Dodge City – offer large retail shopping and entertainment, respectively. “People always say, ‘So what is Liberal?’ And I’ve always said, ‘I would prefer Liberal to be home.’ By that, I mean in its most technical term, we need more houses. I want it to be a residential zone, but I also want it to be where people are comfortable.”

Focus on Liberal, Kansas | Mayor Jose Lara

Founded in 1888, Liberal, Kansas, is a small town of about 20,000 residents. The oil and gas industry carried the local economy in the past and now there is a struggle to keep local residents, particularly the younger residents, to stay in the community.

Energy Production in the Region

“The county itself was built on a two-legged stool, and that was oil and gas, and agriculture for a long time,” says Eli Svaty, executive director of the Seward County Development Corporation (SCDC).

Eli Svaty, executive director, Seward County Development Corporation

He explains oil and gas carried the local economy through the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, but notes a significant number of jobs were lost when companies left for other parts of the country.

However, energy still holds a position in the area. “We manufacture large tanks for the oil industry. We have new manufacturing coming to town that will build component parts for the oil and gas industry, and it’s still energy,” says Svaty.

“We have a great new partnership with Southwest Airlines and SAFFiRE Renewables where they’ve partnered with our [Conestoga Energy] ethanol facility to pilot renewable jet fuel.”

Astri Martin has multiple roles including senior manager of strategy and operations for Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures and senior manager of strategy and operations for SAFFiRE Renewables. Martin explains that SAFFiRE is a “startup focused on enabling efficient production of renewable ethanol.”

She says, “Our value proposition is to enable production of low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from cellulose ethanol. So cellulose ethanol is a Gen Two (2G) ethanol … and it’s made from non-food biomass such as agriculture residues, cellulose, things that make the end product more sustainable.”

Astri Martin, senior manager, Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures and SAFFiRE Renewables

Initially, National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), 3DMAX, and SAFFiRE received conditional award funding.

Martin continues, “This is applicable to Southwest Airlines because we are working to decarbonize the industry. Having low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel would be great. Southwest invested as a minority partner at first – went through some diligence to understand more about SAFFiRE, more about the process, and then we fully acquired SAFFiRE Renewables in February of this year.”

She says, “We could not have found a better partner than Conestoga to help host us. They’re willing to innovate, they’re willing to give us guidance, they’re willing to work with us, and they’re able to move quickly and nimbly.

Groundbreaking was recently held in Liberal with construction getting underway at the SAFFiRE pilot site at Conestoga’s Gen One Arkalon energy site.

Groundbreaking, Liberal, KS (Photo: SAFFiRE Renewables)

Martin expects a number of green jobs during the construction phase. “Some are more direct jobs such as skilled labor – those that can participate in the construction. We also need construction management, architects, engineers, environmental and safety experts.”

The goal is to have operations running by the beginning of 2026. She says, at that point, “We’re definitely going to need engineers, more lab techs, operators, things like that. Jobs that we are hopeful to source directly from the Liberal, Kansas community.”

Pilot site rendering (Photo: SAFFiRE Renewables)

Martin is quick to note, “I completely fell in love with Liberal. The people are amazing, so hospitable. First and foremost, we knew we wanted a partner that had strong community involvement.”

Looking forward, she says, “Ultimately this SAFFiRE pilot project in Liberal coming to fruition and working opens up an additional pathway for domestic feed stocks that are low-cost, abundant. It really grows the pie for the industry, meaning farmers are involved here in America, the ethanol producers are involved and the SAF producers are involved. We want this to be an opportunity for everyone.”

‘A great draw for the immigrant population’

As Martin notes farmers are an important component in SAF production, Svaty says many residents have settled in Liberal because of its agricultural sector, “We do have a great draw for the immigrant population. A lot of them have established roots and they’re now in multiple generations here. It really creates an awfully unique community in an awfully unique environment.”

He says in Liberal, there are large cohorts of people from Mexico and Central America, including Guatemalans who are working in the dairy industry.

Svaty explains, “We have all the subsidiary businesses. It’s a lot of value-added agriculture in terms of the dairy industry or the beef industry. And everything that comes with that – all the feedlots, all the grain production that’s tied to it.”

Support for Small Business

“We are trying to be as proactive as possible and get some of that information out there to let people know if you bring in an idea into Liberal, we’re going to try and find a ‘yes’ for you. It’s no longer the place where ideas go to die,” stresses Lara.

Svaty notes, “We created our own business incubator program where they can pick their own locations. We will supplement their rent for the first few months. Then more so, we have wraparound services through the entrepreneurship component of our office. The SCDC brings all we have in the office in terms of financial management, cashflow projections, any sort of small business guidance. We meet with them quarterly throughout that process as they open up to ensure that they are as successful as possible when they launch that business.”

He points out an opportunity for aspiring business owners who have faced barriers, “The EMPOWER Loan Fund is designed to be a small cash infusion for business owners who aren’t traditionally bankable. Maybe it’s due to credit scores, maybe it’s due to a lack of tax returns, if they try to get a small business loan, they just can’t do it. We can come in with up to $15,000 and help kickstart or get that other piece of equipment that they need.”

Edgar Ortuno, design lead, OC Quality Custom Homes

Edgar Ortuno is the design lead for OC Quality Custom Homes – an example of an entrepreneurial business that was built up by his father Manuel Ortuno. “My father founded the business doing part-time cabinetry work from his garage locally here in Liberal.” That business evolved into carpentry work and today includes home construction and commercial remodels.

Ortuno says, “Growing up in carpentry and all that great stuff, I just fell in love with it. And one day my father told me, ‘You should really seek a career not only for the company’s sake. But if you see yourself in this industry in a better position or in a position that you could perhaps grow – maybe if you like, you can see yourself coming back and help this business grow.”

After earning two associate degrees, Ortuno transferred to Kansas State University for its five-year master’s in architecture program, which involves three years of undergrad studies and two years of graduate school.

Edgar (l.) and Manuel (r.) Ortuno

Much of the Ortuno family is involved with OC Quality Custom Homes with about 250 employees – including carpenters, framers, plumbers, electricians, and HVAC. “So, it’s a one-stop. We do it all,” says Ortuno.

“We come from an immigrant background,” he says. “My family comes from Mexico. My dad jumped the border to get here. Really seeing everything that he overcame made me want to become part of that.”

The family also owns a building supply store – Horizon Stone and Cabinets. Meanwhile, Ortuno has taken and passed one of six of his required board exams. Once he’s passed all the exams, he plans to open an architecture firm in Liberal.

(Photo: OC Quality Custom Homes)

He notes the company is about to build a 47-home development. “We’re pioneering in that sense of becoming the first ones to begin doing developments here in Liberal. Hopefully, we want to continue bringing that same spirit and culture to other rural communities around the area.”

Education Addressing Workforce Needs

“We provide tons of technical education for the workforce in this area,” says Brad Bennett, president at Seward County Community College (SCCC).

Brad Bennett, president, Seward County Community College

Lara says SCCC is definitely more proactive about recognizing the community’s needs. “They have a technical school for welding. They’ve expanded their CDL program because that is one of our biggest drivers here – whether it is to haul cattle, haul dairy products. Once again, we have two major highways [so there’s] lots of opportunity for over-the-road hauling.”

Amber Jones, Ed.D., vice president of career and technical education at SCCC says, “We are in the process of revamping a big box company’s building and making that diesel and truck driving.

“We’ll be able to double our capacity every year so that we can get more students through. We have a waiting list. We need students to get through quicker, but we don’t want to diminish the importance of training them well because they’re going to be on the roads with us.”

CDL program (Photo: Seward County Community College)

In addition to CDL and welding training, the school has programming including agriculture, allied health, drafting, diesel technology, HVAC, corrosion technology, natural gas compression, auto mechanics, and auto body.

Jones says, “We have advisory boards for our programs. A couple times a year, industry can give input. If we’re looking at a potential new program, we’ll pull an advisory board together so we can get their input of what is really needed before we move forward to make sure we’re headed in the right path.”

Amber Jones, Ed.D., V.P. of CTE, Seward County Community College

Bennett notes, “We are lucky in that the aspect, and this is not picking on our four-year friends, but we can pivot and change directions very quickly. We don’t have a lot of stuff that we have to do to make a change of program to make sure that we’re meeting those needs.”

Regarding the area’s largest employer, he says SCCC partners with National Beef Packing Company to provide programming for employees. “We have programs geared towards their workforce to help them have a more qualified workforce. That’s everything from teaching their employees adult education programs to actually college-level tech programs.”

With a Latino student population of about 72%, Bennett says with a number of Spanish-speaking employees, SCCC has a lot of Spanish language programming. “We’ve changed our marketing towards students to marketing to a family because of Hispanic population is so family oriented.

“So instead of bringing students on campus, we try to bring their entire families on campus. And that’s been huge.”

Jones says, “I believe the economy of a rural area survives by the support of a college, especially a career in technical education that helps educate our workforce. Working together to provide workforce helps sustain us as a community.”

Bennett adds, “We always say that ‘community’ is in the middle of our name for a reason. That’s why we’re here. We try to serve that community in any way, shape, or form that we can.”

‘Quality-of-life issues’

Svaty says the focus on community collaboration is a reason for progress in Liberal, “That’s due in large part to leadership like Jose Lara with the city and just getting the right people on the City Commission and the right people on the County Commission to say we need to be more progressive.

“We need to be very proactive as a community if we want to attract additional manufacturing, additional residents, things like that.”

When his current mayoral term ends, Lara will continue his role as city commissioner. “I plan on spending the last three years of this [Commission] term – and will probably run for another term for city commissioner – focusing on quality-of-life issues.”

A self-professed introvert, Lara says he is a homebody, “I’m going to be inside my house. One of my strengths is I’m not doing any of it for myself.”

WorkingNation producer Deidra White contributed to the reporting for this article.

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