Dodge City ? What southwest Kansas cities tend to lack is a sense of perspective – at least, according to Liberal Mayor Larry Koochel.

Through the efforts of Garden City Mayor Reynaldo Mesa, the leaders of Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal are tentatively planning to form ties that were abandoned in decades past.

Leaders from the three cities will begin their plans Thursday at a meeting.

The three largest cities in southwest Kansas – Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal – face similar problems, including crime rate, drug trafficking and gang violence.

“Sometimes a community thinks that they’re the only ones with certain problems,” Koochel said. “It’s nice to get together with similar towns and find out that maybe you’re selling your own community short.”

Koochel said a common complaint among his constituents was a lack of development in Liberal and the surrounding areas, a complaint that is also found around Dodge City.

Dodge City Mayor Kent Smoll said he wasn’t expecting anything of great importance to be accomplished during the first meeting but was confident it would serve as a good foundation for future relationships.

And if the meeting goes as well as Smoll hopes, perhaps it will give the cities a bit more clout at the capital.

“Hopefully we’ll gain some notice in Topeka,” he said. “They tend to ignore us out here.”

All three mayors expressed optimism for talks among the three cities.

“You can’t imagine what you can learn,” Koochel said. “I just hope this isn’t a one-time thing. It would be nice to meet at least four to five times a year.”

Leaders are expected to discuss economic development, attempts to draw more tourists, crime problems and the continuing problem of recruiting and retaining a full police force.

Dodge City Police Chief John Ball said during several city budget meetings that the police force in Dodge City falls several officers short of a full staff, leaving the gang and drug task forces woefully understaffed.

And in a recent interview, Garden City Police Chief James Hawkins said as long as he’s been with the police department, they’ve always had problems recruiting new talent to southwest Kansas.

“Occasionally we get really close to full staff,” he said. “Then more leave.”

Hawkins attributed the continual lack of officers in the three cities in large part to their relative isolation.

“Unless you’re really into small communities, it’s harder,” he said. “It’s especially hard for younger folks looking for bigger and better things.”

The demographics of the cities are similar. All three have a population of between 20,000 and 30,000 people. The cities each have a large Hispanic population, with close to 50 percent of the population claiming Hispanic heritage.

The cities suffer similar educational problems. Ford, Finney and Seward counties all rank in the bottom five for reading proficiency in Kansas, with Ford and Seward taking up the bottom two positions.

The cities also form what has been dubbed the “sewer line” or the “meth triangle,” due in large part to drugs being trafficked from Texas, California and Mexico up north to Minnesota and Michigan.