Group mulls economic development

Group mulls economic development

Aug 18, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

Twelve county-wide representatives met for the first time on Wednesday to help plan the future of economic development in Montezuma County.

At a July public meeting, the Montezuma County Economic Development Council tentatively agreed to fold its public-private partnership in the wake of its director, Bill Argo, announcing his resignation that became effective July 31.

The new steering committee, made up of representatives from the Cortez Chamber of Commerce, Mesa Verde National Park, the Cortez City Council, Dolores and Mancos town boards, county commissioners, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, MCEDC, school districts, and Umbrella Tourism Committee, hopes to come up with a revised economic-development strategy and the funding for it.

From this committee, a smaller committee made of up of Chamber of Commerce representative Dan Avery, Cortez Mayor Pro Tem Fred Torres, Mancos Town Manager Tom Glover, and Dolores Town Board member Val Truelsen was formed on Wednesday.

The new committee plans to meet with City Manager Hal Shepherd, Lynn Dyer and Kristine Acott to examine the economic council’s budget and devise a way to fill the former economic director’s shoes. Dyer is an employee of the economic council, and directs marketing and tourism for the Umbrella Tourism Committee.

Dyer and Acott, the chamber director, offered to split Argo’s duties between them several months ago, but now that the UTC is in the process of splitting off from the economic council and becoming a separate non-profit, the plan would have to be reworked.

The other option under discussion is to hire an economic director who would answer to the city manager and a county-wide board.

"In the longer term, a year, a regular person to coordinate efforts for EDC is going to be needed. You can only use part of two people for so long, and if successful, you’ll need another person," said Avery.

The city is the primary public backer of the economic council, contributing $60,000 annually. The council was formed in 1987 by a group of private investors, and in 1994, the city of Cortez and other local public entities agreed to contribute to the organization, which has since remained a private corporation.

The council currently has 11 private-business voting members who pay $2,000 each for the privilege, but Mayor Joe Keck said at a recent city-council workshop that he would like to see membership fees lowered to $500 so more private businesses could afford a seat at the table.

The city council is also concerned about bearing the full financial burden of financing an economic director, especially since there is some question about what will happen to the MCEDC’s assets if the board decides to dissolve.

"When you start looking at the implications on our budget, it’s scary," said city-council member Jim Herrick at the last city workshop.

None of the county commissioners attended the meeting, but their recent statements about county economic development left a poor impression on the committee. At a July commission meeting, Commissioner Gene Story was discussing county economic development when he stated, "I like Montezuma County the way it is now. I don’t think we need to spend a ton of money trying to make this a utopia for everybody."

"With that tone we won’t find the leadership for economic development coming out of the county, but they need to be at the table and be involved," said Shepherd on Wednesday.

The steering committee also discussed the lack of industrial building sites in the county, transportation difficulties, and assisting local businesses.

"We need to communicate to existing businesses that we can help," said Avery.

A Georgia company that made cabins and employs 30 to 70 people recently chose to relocate in the city of Delta rather than Cortez.

The next steering-committee meeting will be held at the Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 19 at noon. Shepherd was elected chairman of the committee. Shepherd plans to also serve as the contact for businesses interested in relocating to Cortez in the interim.