Area stakeholders meet to discuss new economic development study

‘WEAK, CYCLICAL AND DEPENDENT’
More than 1,800 residential units in Carbon County sit vacant.
That’s one in five homes.
The number of building permits the county issued fell 87 percent between 2010 and 2016.
The number of jobs in Carbon County within the mining, oil and gas, or quarrying industries fell 44 percent since 2010.
Enrollment is falling at the local college campus. Population growth is stagnant or declining. Unemployment is 2.2 percent higher than the rest of the state. And 10 percent fewer jobs were available in 2016 than in 2010.
The pressure is on local business owners, elected officials and other stakeholders to reverse these trends, the success of which could remake the entire area.
Reviewing a plan for just that several dozen of the area’s most prominent business and government leaders met last week to review an economic development strategy produced by a Salt Lake City consulting firm.  
“The overall goal of our strategic plan is to transform our current economy, which our consultants describe as weak, cyclical and dependent. We want to turn it into a more diversified and dynamic economic engine,” said Gina Gagon, chair of the county’s Strategic Planning Committee, which is an economic development subcommittee.
Carbon County Commissioners authorized spending $50,000 in November 2016—$25,000 for the study and $25,000 to implement recommendations growing from it.
Lewis, Young, Robertson and Burningham (LYRB) were chosen to produce the economic analysis, focusing on multiple areas, including housing, demographics, employment, industries, infrastructure and taxable sales leakage—the amount of money people earn locally but spend elsewhere,
The study was completed in February.
Gagon said her subcommittee’s chief goal was to find a way to create jobs in Carbon County paying at least $50,000 a year, plus benefits.
“So those are jobs you can raise a family on, starting wage. Hopefully you all support that goal,” said Gagon, who is a practice administrator for Gagon Family Medicine.
The consulting group compiled data from a variety of sources, including from a visioning workshop involving more than 30 people. Local businesses were asked for information; the mayors of nearly all the communities in the county were asked to participate as well. One large focus area also included examining the economic impact of Utah State University Eastern in Price, which was identified as being a key player in the area’s potential future growth.
“We identified lack of a skilled workforce and overall community and attitude and stability as our biggest economic development concerns,” Gagon said. “I can second that. I’ve been looking for a receptionist for six weeks now. I get one I like, can’t pass a background check. It’s a struggle.”
Community stability and attitude refer to a combination of factors, including beautification efforts, or lack there of. According to the study, workforce issues and community attitude weren’t the only weaknesses identified. Two other main obstacles to economic growth are lack of strategic vision and a lack of focus on existing businesses, as in helping local companies expand and retain their workers.
The strategic plan, once weaknesses were addressed, and a host of factors analyzed, included a number of potential remedies to the Castle Country area’s general malaise.
Developing and recruiting a skilled workforce was the number one item. A more industry-friendly curriculum at USUE, better recruiting tactics, and beautification efforts in the county’s communities were all cited as possible steps.
County Commission Chair Casey Hopes spoke to attendees of Tuesday’s summit meeting and reiterated many of these points.
“What we are doing now and the pledge we have from the university is to develop (programs) to the needs of industry rather than more of a pet program or something that doesn’t fit the actual need.”
Improving community stability was second, with recommendations to work toward enhancing Carbon County’s image as well as creating better communications between county leaders and their counterparts in all of the area’s cities.
Developing a strategic vision was another recommendation. Targeting industrial manufacturing companies, diversifying outreach efforts to lure in new businesses, and spending more on developing economic strategies were keys to addressing this.
A fourth recommendation was retaining and expanding local businesses.
“If we increase our population by increasing our manufacturing jobs, the increase in population will naturally drive restaurants, retail space and so forth,” Gagon said, explaining the ripple effects that any new economic activity can have in an area.
One item not addressed by the study, but brought up by some attendees was developing the area’s tourism attractions.
Gagon said she appreciated the discussion and welcomed any ideas to help spur economic development in the tourism sector. She said it was not a primary focus of the study, mostly, because jobs in the tourism industry do not pay as well as position in manufacturing.
“This plan does not include a plan to address tourism,” Gagon said. “The reasoning, right or wrong, is we want jobs that pay a higher annual salary than jobs do in the tourism industry. Tourism, and I’m not the expert, tourism is happening already and is going to happen. But it is not something that is really necessarily going to contribute to the foundation of our economy from the perspective of high paying jobs.”
At the end of last week’s meeting, Gagon urged attendees to sign up to be a member of any or all of four committees created based on the four main recommendations generated by the study. These committees will make further recommendations on how to implement solutions to problems and obstacles to growth identified by the consultants.