BCEDC sets sights on long-term goals

SANDPOINT — The game is still on for economic development groups, but the playbook has changed entirely in a rough economy. Here in North Idaho, the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation (BCEDC) has gone back to square one to review direction, rethink priorities and revise its long-term strategy.

“Any business that’s out there operating in this economy can’t say, ‘We’re still working on the same business plan we were using a year ago,’” said Karl Dye, executive director for the organization. “You have to stop and do a gut check.”

Doing so has shown that the BCEDC, formed in 2001, has been effective in achieving one of its initial objectives — diversification of the local employment scene through the addition of good-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector.

In the past, any disruption of business in the timber industry or layoffs at a large employer like Coldwater Creek would have rocked the local job scene. They still do, as recent events have shown, but the impact has become less severe.

“Our biggest unemployment right now is in the wood products industry and construction jobs — areas that are totally tied into housing,” Dye said. “But on the manufacturing side, our big companies like Quest Aircraft, Litehouse Foods and Unicep Packaging are doing very well. We’ve got those base employers in manufacturing who are adding jobs.

“Our unemployment rate is at about 9 percent right now,” he added, “but without that base, it would easily be 12-15 percent.”

Manufacturing still represents a relatively small part of the area’s economy, according to Dye, but the strength of those jobs, based on their average pay and the benefits they offer, stands out in a downturn, he said.

In terms of things it can affect in the near term, the BCEDC punch list includes stopping job erosion, providing bottom line-oriented tools and resources for business and becoming a networking hub where ideas might lead to innovation. One concept already being considered is cooperative sharing, where small businesses combine their buying clout to cut expenses and improve profitability.

The BCEDC also is exploring supply chain development for larger companies and hopes to bring in a lower tier of entrepreneurs to provide them with goods and services they currently buy elsewhere.

Dye uses Quest Aircraft as an example of where that direction might save time and money while creating new jobs.

“Right now, Quest’s airplanes are flown over to the Puget Sound to be painted,” he said. “What if we had a paint shop right here? And what other aviation businesses could we bring in as part of a support network?

“Potentially, Sandpoint could someday become an airplane modification center with services for both paint and interior work,” he continued. “A customer could fly into town for a week or two of vacation and fly out when their airplane is ready to go.”

In Dye’s view, airport improvements, such as the creation of a west side taxiway, as well as the availability of affordable land and business incentives, will all be necessary to move the dial on job growth.

“We could spend all the money we can generate to bring people into town, but if we don’t have the right infrastructure and the right business environment, they’ll never stick,” he said. “It’s not a good spend of our dollar to take a shotgun approach and say: ‘Bonner County — Come on up for quality of life and a good deal,’ because we don’t have a good deal at this point.”

For now, the economic development group is working to rack up short yardage on running plays, but it has an eye on the end zone and the chance to throw a long ball or two when opportunity arises. Obama Administration initiatives could hold harbor potential for that to happen, especially in the areas of renewable energy and the creation of a regional fiber-optic network.

Renewable energy, according to Dye, could be the jump-start for a timber industry comeback.

“Our greatest opportunity there is using woody biomass — slash and brush — that today is being piled up and burned,” he said. “The technology exists to burn that energy in a controlled environment that takes out the bad greenhouses gases and produces energy.

“We have the resource and we have the transmission lines,” he added. “What we need to do is facilitate creating the market.”

Taking the idea further and latching onto the self-sufficient community model supported by the Sandpoint Transition Initiative, Dye envisions a grid that serves local businesses and creates “a community that becomes a showcase for renewable energy.”

A different kind of grid would serve homes and businesses alike, if grant dollars and stimulus funding can be combined to bring high-speed connectivity to Bonner and Boundary counties. Both areas meet the requirements of “unserved and underserved communities,” Dye explained. The BCEDC is working with the city of Sandpoint to create a public-private partnership that could provide a municipal revenue stream as a third-party provider leases the system from the city once it has been installed.

“A fiber-optic network would make a big difference for things like health care, education and library services,” the executive director said. “And it gives us a huge advantage in attracting new companies and helping our existing businesses grow.

“We feel like we’re ahead of the game on this one,” he added. “We’ve been working on the regional grant and we have a good shot at getting it.”

Despite high unemployment and a challenged economy, the BCEDC is keeping the long view in perspective, Dye noted, planning now for the opportunities that invariably come when the pendulum swings back toward growth and profitability.

“We have some great projects that we’re working on and the plan is to land them here and put people back to work,” he said. “Everything we do coordinates with creating local jobs in the local economy.”