In a Roundabout Way

Leaning on his 25 years working at Missouri State University, Springfield City Manager Greg Burris has developed a way to keep the city’s 45,000 college students interested in putting down roots in Springfield post-graduation.

In May, he introduced the Living Laboratory program that seeks student input on city initiatives and projects as a way to prevent “brain drain,” or students leaving Springfield for employment opportunities upon graduation.

“The side benefit to that is we might get some really great ideas,” Burris said.

SGF consideration
This summer, Burris sent letters to the presidents of MSU, Drury and Evangel universities and Ozarks Technical Community College to ask if they had classes willing to address one of five issues Burris identified as areas where students could provide input. One of those requests, and the work that followed by a management class in the MSU College of Business, could result in the Springfield-Branson National Airport leasing land to a developer of a convenience store.

On Dec. 13, students in Brent Kinghorn’s upper-level management class presented their findings from a semester-long study on the feasibility of the airport leasing the northeast corner of the East Division Street roundabout to a gas station and c-store operator.

Brian Weiler, director of aviation at the city’s airport, attended the presentation along with several members of the airport’s board of directors.

The students identified Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores Inc. (Nasdaq: CASY) and West Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go LC as the most likely candidates to build near the airport based on their market penetration – Casey’s runs 16 Springfield area locations, while Kum & Go operates 48.

Weiler said in his 15 months as director, many of the airport’s 1,800 employees have remarked about a need for a nearby convenience store.

Weiler said the airport does not wish to sell any of its land due to federal restrictions, but leasing land to a developer or convenience store could create a new source of revenue that would benefit employees and many of the 800,000 passengers traveling through SGF.

“We were looking for an honest evaluation. This is something we’ve been talking about for some time,” Weiler said.

The students recommended land lease terms with a monthly base rate and a percentage of the traffic the store could expect – a scenario that could net the airport $13,000 per month based on comparable arrangements.

The students pointed to two potential stumbling blocks: Casey’s typically builds in smaller communities – 60 percent of its stores are in towns of population 5,000 or less – and owns its own stores, spending about $1 million per store; and Kum & Go operates five locations within five miles of the airport.

Appeals to the chains are in the traffic counts – about 4,000 vehicles per day travel the roundabout during the airport’s off-season – and rental car volumes – about 65,000 contracts are signed annually at airport rental companies, according to Weiler.

Weiler met with the students a handful of times during the semester to help guide their research.

“They were very optimistic early on, but as time went on, you could see them running into some of the realities,” he said, pointing to the expenses franchisees would face.

Ultimately, the students found it is worth the airport’s time to pursue a land lease or build its own gas station.

Board members on hand said the group’s work likely would lead to the airport issuing requests for proposal to gas station and c-store operators by mid-2013.

Board member Tom Babik, executive director of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic, said he didn’t expect the airport would want to build its own station and compete with private operators.

Of the five issues Burris pinpointed for the school involvement, two other projects were for the airport: developing a road signage plan and conducting an employee satisfaction survey.

Weiler said SGF officials had some minor interest but decided against pursuing the sign project and employee surveys with student help.

Further study
For the Springfield Fire Department, Burris also requested research on the impact of modern construction materials in fires and a review of the effects of physical fitness and rehabilitation on staffing levels. Fire Chief David Hall could not be reached for comment on those requests by press time.

With the Living Laboratory program off the ground, Burris said next year he plans to review the early results and would consider making additional requests from educators.

Kinghorn said his class regularly works on projects for local businesses – another 300-level management class handles four projects per semester – but he declined to disclose examples citing confidentiality agreements with the companies.

Burris said the city’s goal is to create in students a sense of belonging through more intimate knowledge.

“If we’ve got a project that students can get involved in to get some real-life experience to take the academic learning out of the classroom, then the students benefit and we benefit,” Burris said. “Maybe projects like this help slow the brain drain.”