Economic development Montezuma County needs local plan that addresses regional realities

Economic development
Montezuma County needs local plan that addresses regional realities

Aug. 21, 2001

As the economy twists and turns, as our airline service ebbs and flows, as our summer visitor season wanes without ever reaching a satisfying peak, Cortez is once again talking about economic development.

Montezuma County doesn’t have the advantages that La Plata County enjoys. It’s short of both water and transportation, and its work force is not ideal. It doesn’t have a college. Its main tourist attraction is out in the middle of nowhere, rather than conveniently situated in a city that can support it and take advantage of it.

Yet it’s an important part of the larger economy of the Four Corners. A sizable fraction of the money earned in Cortez flows through Durango and Farmington. Montezuma County serves as a bedroom community for people who drive elsewhere to work. Counties aren’t islands; their fates are intertwined.

And right now Montezuma County doesn’t have an economic development director. The latest person to fill that position has resigned, the Montezuma County Economic Development Council largely disbanded.

The local perception, at least outside the business community, is that the economic development effort never did much good anyway. For years it seemed as though money was spent to court businesses and industries who were not likely to come to southwestern Colorado anyway.

That’s not quite true, nor is it fair. When someone expresses an interest in relocating a business to this area, or starting a new one, we need an agency ready to respond with facts and figures, and to serve as a liaison with local governments and service providers, to make the transition go smoothly. We cannot assume that anyone able to run a business will be able to find his or her way through the confusing welter of systems that serve rural Colorado, and we don’t want them to become discouraged and turn tail. Yes, it’s true that Cortez doesn’t have extensive air service; who will explain how the rest of us manage to get in and out? Yes, it’s true that our sewage treatment system has some limitations; who will steer industry toward the areas where it can best be accommodated? What are the options for a spouse who cannot continue his or her career in Cortez?

The cliche’ that suggests we either grow or die is not without truth. Some of the businesses we now have will eventually wither, for numerous reasons. Economies change. Consumer preferences change. Generations retire, and new generations come of age. Nothing stays the same.

That’s an important fact to remember when we insist that we like the region just the way it is. We can’t keep it this way without careful nurturing; we may not be able to keep it this way at all. Some of the realities aren’t pleasant. One of our primary exports, for example, is high-school graduates, and that’s not a good thing. We want them to leave home, see other parts of the world, and then decide this is the place they want to come home to. Then we want them to have careers that will support them and their families. Those things don’t just happen.

Economic development is an essential system, and it has to be a regional system. The entire region benefits if it’s done well, and the entire region suffers when it is not. It requires coordination and cooperation, and most of all, it requires care in designing it. We can learn from what we’ve had before — what worked, what didn’t — and change what needs to be changed, but we cannot make the mistake of believing we can do without it entirely.