Economic development roadshow makes rounds

Coming soon to a professional group near you

Gunnison County commissioner Paula Swenson and Housing Authority executive director KT Gazunis presented a dry run of the Gunnison County Economic Development Plan roadshow on Tuesday, July 12. They met with the Board of County Commissioners and county staff, outlining the plan’s five main goals as well as strategies and actions for achieving them—and measurements of success.

The Economic Development Plan, which grew out of Governor Hickenlooper’s Bottom’s Up Economic Development Initiative, identifies five key goals: encourage the growth of existing businesses, diversify the economic base, increase tourism activity, create a more business-friendly climate by getting rid of bureaucratic red tape, and create new, higher-paying jobs.
“As you know we fast-tracked this between March and May [to meet the governor’s timeline] and are waiting on the subgroup to come back to us with recommendations,” Swenson said.
A working group led by Gunnison Chamber of Commerce executive director Tammy Scott and Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce executive director Richard Bond will create the strategy for implementing the plan.
In the meantime, economic development members like Gazunis and Swenson will hit the road to invite feedback on the strategies and action plans. They invited feedback through the meeting, and according to Gazunis, the goal “is to get this exact type of interaction everywhere, so once we’ve done this eight or nine times we’re really ready to [share the plan].”
The ideas in the plan are not necessarily new. As Swenson noted, items like establishing faster Internet and more Internet providers has been talked about for a long time. And increasing the availability and affordability of year-round air service is a familiar topic, too. But the hope is that in identifying strategies for each goal, and then specific actions that can be taken, the plan will act as a roadmap for actual economic development.  
To create a more business-friendly climate, the economic development plan identifies steps like cutting red tape, crafting a community marketing plan and giving businesses more information about existing state programs. Some of the ways to do that? Create an informational web site and establish communication between local businesses and support organizations like the Small Business Commerce Association. The creation of the web site and tracking visitors can provide measurements of success.
A diversified economic base includes strategies such as exploring new and renewable energy development, developing an innovative foodbase and fostering rural and urban enterprises. Creating new, higher-paying jobs focused on the health and education industries as well as creating more and better part-time jobs. And the infamous air program? The plan includes the idea to look at a regional air program, partnering with Montrose to create a more sustainable program.
In response to the presentation, commissioner Hap Channell suggested lining up each strategy with its specific actions to make sure that each strategy has an action and each action has a strategy.
“It’s a meaningless strategy if it doesn’t translate into an action,” he said.
Swenson and Gazunis agreed, noting that the working group will also be thinking through exactly how each action can and should be carried out.
In addition to figuring out the details for moving forward, a couple of themes rose to the surface as critical to ensuring success: educating the public on the importance of economic development, and better understanding what businesses and the community need to thrive. Needs assessments surveys will attempt to understand what businesses require in order to thrive.
“What it would take for you to hire two people—what would it take to hire 10?” asked Gazunis.
And according to Swenson, one idea includes partnering with Western State College students to map out county and town permitting processes—to see where they conflict, where they work and better understand potential roadblocks for business owners.
“Did I miss a proposal on funding?” Channell asked.
“Nope,” Swenson answered. “We haven’t gotten to that yet.”
Funding, Swenson said, will be addressed by the working group, which is planning to report back to the larger economic development group in September. The timing will allow their suggestions to be taken into account during the annual budgeting process.
In the meantime, the road show is planned for the town councils, chamber of commerce meetings, and the local Rotary Clubs. Based on suggestions during the trial run, the Arts Council will be added to that list in an effort to reach a broader audience. There will be no meeting for the general public until the plan is ready to launch, but it will be made available on the county and chamber of commerce web sites.