The economy for Manhattan is looking up as Lyle Butler, Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, spoke to the Riley County Commission about economic development.
Butler brought up a number of topics for the commission to hear and to question.
NBAF was a short topic of conversation as Butler said there isn’t much new as most are waiting to see how the election in November turns out.
Forbes has again ranked Manhattan. Unfortunately, Manhattan isn’t number 1, but it is still ranked number 5 this year.
Butler said this still makes Manhattan look appealing nationally as companies and businesses look at the rankings to see which are growing and which have things to offer.
Air traffic also was talked about briefly as Butler has just returned to Manhattan after a week trip and he said that both leaving to Chicago and coming back his flights were sold out.
This is encouraging to commissioners as they made mention of possible other destinations.
Though a number of topics were mentioned, Butler’s ultimate emphasis is that Manhattan’s economy is doing well.
“Our local economy continues to do well,” said Butler. “I think you get a chance to see the statistics on unemployment rates and those kinds of things continue to perform very well.”