Based on documents secured by the Sun Advocate last week, some Carbon County officials feel that the present Business Expansion and Retention program is not working the way it should and they want to take over the program and change it.
A report by one of the executive BEAR board members that was sent to all Carbon County commissioners says that there are a lot of problems with the present program and that if the county took it over and revamped it it would be more pertinent to getting businesses to grow in the county.
“It was the first program in the state and has been the ‘golden child’ program for all other counties to follow,” wrote Tami Ursenbach, the Economic Development Director for Carbon County and a member of the BEAR executive board in a May 27 email to all three county commissioners. “Since starting the organization, several counties have created processes that are receiving stronger results than Castle Country BEAR. Our BEAR organization is not able to support the businesses and the growth needed in Carbon and Emery counties.”
However, Karl Kraync, the present Director of BEAR says there are a lot of things that are misleading about the contentions Ursenbach made.
“It’s true that our numbers are down in some areas, but that is a function of a lot of things,” he said on Friday. “Carbon’s economic director was not active in the Management Information System and some of this was due to the void that was created when the former person left and the spot was not filled for some time. It also happened with Emery County as well, because they were without someone in the same position for almost a year. The fact is that our visits to clients is higher per capita than most of the rest of the state.”
List of problems
In her correspondence Ursenbach goes on to describe what she sees as an organization that is full of problems and is not fulfilling its mission. She points to the following.
• The executive board meets every other Thursday for breakfast at a local restaurant. She says that breakfast is purchased by the organization for the executive board and that there is no agenda. She also says in her view very little business is discussed at these meetings.
Kranyc also says that the morning executive board meetings at JB’s in Price are brain storming sessions and nothing more.
“A great deal of positive work comes out of those sessions,” said Kranyc. “For instance the outreach that has been done with Helper City concerning the reconstruction of Main Street next year is an example.”
• Surveys done by by the outreach specialist are sometimes done without an appointment with a business and many of the questions that should be asked are not asked. She says this results in a lack of information, poor documentation and that the businesses are not getting the support they need. In addition she contends that the specialist visits businesses that do not qualify and give referrals to businesses that don’t want them or to someone who can’t help the company.
Kranyc contends that just because the outreach people are not asking the exact questions on the survey doesn’t mean that the system is faulty.
“Basically I would refute all of that,” he said. “BEAR specialists, after years of experience, have learned that using a conversational method of interviewing works better than just running through the survey questions.”
• She also says that the general meetings are largely conducted by speakers who cannot help individual companies, such as government agency personnel. She also maintains that most of the attendees are from government and service agencies. In addition she stated in the correspondence that GOED (Governors Office of Economic Development) had spoken many times before, and is scheduled to speak again soon. She also pointed out that much of the audience at the general meetings are from government agencies and other organizations and not from businesses.
Kraync says that the government speakers are all there for various aspects of supporting business, and in fact it is their mission to get information out to business.
“These agencies have a mandate to educate business on what they do,” he said mentioning a speaker that came from the State Labor Commission recently and who spoke about Workers Compensation. “As for speakers from the same agency presenting multiple times, each of those meetings they conducted had relevant information that was different from the other sessions.”
He pointed out that the GOED speakers had been there multiple times, each time they came that spoke about different things concerning business in Utah.
As for who attends the general sessions, Kraync says no one can control that. It is up to businesses to come or to not come. Invitations go out to everyone who is on the list.
“If you look at those that attend there are a lot of businesses there,” he said.
• She says that some of the money and time are not used toward the vision of what BEAR should be, but for other purposes. She contends that money and time has been used to make political phone calls against local candidates, that executive board members show a lack of teamwork and support of each other and that the board has talked about recruiting elderly people from southern California to relocate to Carbon County to improve the economy here with their money.
Kranyc says the telephone calls made by BEAR during the last election were not concerning supporting one candidate over another, but a survey to see if there was any predictability to how voters would vote.
“BEAR wanted to determine if telephone polls, not one on one contact, could measure what is going on in the community,” said Kranyc. “The intent was benign. Despite pressure I received from a couple of different directions the data was never released. We did not realize just how emotionally charged that event was. In reality, this was a misstep. Not in intent or outcome, but, in perception. One misstep in 10 years(of the existence of the organization) is not too bad.”
And the contention that the board actively looked at recruiting people from southern California to bring their money here is ludicrous said Kranyc.
“I just said in one meeting that maybe we need to look at other angles on how to help our economy,” he stated. “I brought up the fact that I had met two people who had sold their homes in California for a lot of money and had been able to come here and buy houses. I met them because they also bought cars from my dealership. It was just a discussion point, not a decision to recruit.”
• Ursenbach says she feels the wrong people are on the executive board to run it properly. Presently board members consist of a Price businessman (Kraync, who she said is in a paid position with BEAR), one Price City official, the director of SEUALG (Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments), one Emery County commissioner and the Carbon County Economic Director. In a proposal she put forth in the same email to Carbon commissioners she says she thinks that the board should be instead a steering committee with a Carbon county commissioner, the county economic development director, the outreach specialist, local city community development directors, one person from a retail setting, one from a service company, one from the Chamber of Commerce, one from the Small Business Development Corporation, one from USU Eastern, one from the telecommunications industry and one possibly from a utility company. She says the chair and co-vice chair should be the counties economic development director and one from the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) or the AOG (Association of Governments). She contends that if Emery County is to be part of it one of their commissioners, their economic development director, an outreach specialist for their county and one person from the Emery Business Chamber should be on it as well.
“This organization has functioned well since 2005 and is totally a group of volunteers that get no pay for what they do,” said Kraync. “It is not political in any way.”
He also pointed out that while Ursenbach claimed that he was paid, he is not. He does write out checks for refreshments for the general meetings and some other things from his own coffers, and does receive reimbursement for that.
“The fact is that I spoke with both Commissioners (Casey) Hopes and (Jake) Mellor about three weeks ago and asked them if they had any problems with me or BEAR and they said they did not,” said Kranyc.
He wonders where the county’s ideas came from so quickly and why present BEAR officials were not contacted to discuss any doubts county officials might have about the program.
“The BEAR Executive Board is our own biggest critic,” said Kranyc. “We constantly discuss flaws that have been discovered in the system and devise ways to correct them. In my opinion an executive board member took the data and manipulated the data to try and justify the creation of an alternative BEAR program with her in charge. It is my belief that this will make the program a political entity. The proposed administrative structure of the new BEAR lends credence to my believe.”
He also said he is concerned that the county proposal mostly leaves out Emery County.
Ursenbach recommended that the county apply for the funds for the BEAR program with the state, an application that needs to be in June 12. Kranyc said that the present BEAR program would be applying for funds at that date as well.
What the state will do if two applications come in from the same county is not clear and in fact it may present an unprecedented situation when it comes to the BEAR programs in the state.
“There is one thing that appears quite clear to me,” said Kranyc. “In my opinion, the county wants nothing less than to do away with the BEAR executive board of the current program.”
[dfads params='groups=4969&limit=1&orderby=random']
[dfads params='groups=1745&limit=1&orderby=random']