Goals for Bottom Up economic development initiative set at county level

Survey results key in creating plan

By Adrianne Carter Journal-Advocate staff writer

STERLING – Community members and leaders gathered together at the Logan County Court House Thursday night to discuss an economic development plan that has been in the works since March 3.The Logan County Bottom Up initiative is part of a statewide initiative out of Governor John Hickenlooper`s office to develop a state economic development plan by starting at the local level and working up.

Over the past month a local team headed up by Rich O`Connell, executive director of the Logan County Economic Development Corporation, has been gathering data and brainstorming on what Logan County`s top five economic development goals should be, and what will be needed from the state in order to put these goals into action.

The goals developed by the committee were the creation of new jobs, growing existing business, increasing access to capital, revitalizing downtown, and developing more site locations for commerce and industry. The key piece of information used to determine these was an online survey developed by the governor`s office to get individual ideas on what the goals should be for Logan County.

The meeting Thursday was an opportunity for the team to present the goals to the community as well as get further input on the best way to achieve these goals.

With 33 members of the community present, the goals were presented to the group and the floor was open for discussion.

Much of the discussion centered on statewide public policy issues that could help in achieving these goals, including giving small businesses financial or tax-related incentives for hiring new employees, and the enactment of neighborhood revitalization legislation on the state level.

Also discussed were current policies that hinder the acheivement of these goals. An important policy that many agreed puts a barrier on growth is the flood plain regulations and insurance requirements for business owners.

John Wray, owner of Marsau`s Auto Parts, brought up the subject of restrictive regulations on drilling and how it hinders development of the oil and natural gas industry in the area.

Other policy issues included the implementation of sales tax for online purchases to encourage people to buy locally, policies requiring state employees to live in the region they work and promotion of education and training for employees at existing industries.

When dealing with the goal of revitalizing the downtown area, many ideas were generated that would require not the state, but the county, city and each individual citizen to take action. One important topic was that of the encouragement of young entrepreneurs. The group discussed at length the idea of a community-run entrepreneurial mentorship/internship program.

To encourage the start-up of new businesses, the group discussed the idea of a small business incubator downtown. An “incubator” could be set up in a downtown building in which new small businesses could set up a booth or kiosk in the same space as others to build a client base and gain capital before moving into a larger space.

The next step is for the committee to take the input received at Thursday`s meeting and form a cohesive plan to be finalized by May 15. Once complete it will be combined with the goals and strategies of the surrounding counties to form a regional plan.

The regional plan will then be presented, along with the plans from the state`s 13 other regions, to Hickenlooper`s office. The governor`s office will then roll these regional plans up into a statewide economic development plan.

For those in the community who were unable to attend Thursday`s meeting, the survey will be avaliable online for the next 15 days at advancecolorado.com/bottomup. Click on the “Online Survey” link to participate.