Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND — “We don’t create businesses, we help people create businesses,” LeAnn Baker Chenoweth Washakie Development Association executive director said.
According to Chenoweth, WDA is a private non,profit corporation that started in 1990.
Chenoweth said the WDA works with business retention, expansion and attraction in a variety of ways. “We might be working with a startup entrepreneur to build their first time business plan before they go to a lender, or we might be working with an existing company that is just looking to expand or add jobs,” she said.
“We’re focused on primary jobs those that would meet or exceed what the state believes is a self,sufficient wage and right now those jobs are more between $13.50 and $14 and up. We provide business counseling and we also end up with a role in the planning processes, which include the city master plan, the airport master plan, the health assessment needs, and the hazardous mitigation plan. I get involved in those types of things as well so that we are all on the same page and know all the aspects that impact our community,” Chenoweth said.
Another big thing that Chenoweth said she has been able to do is grant writing for the community. “In the 12 years that I have been here, we have been successful in about $5 million worth of grants of money that comes into our community whether it is for the Fairview Industrial Park, for the site building, for the hospital, or for the VA clinic where the lighthouse is. All of those different projects we did some grant writing for,” she said.
“It’s a buffet of services that we provide,” Chenoweth said.
According to Chenoweth, WDA has a membership and if they have a need, they try to offer resources to help. “We do referrals to the Small Business Development Center, the Women’s Business Center, and the Wyoming Business Council. We worked with Northwest College and UW Extension. We have a lot of resources that we can refer people out to,” she said.
“We continue to basically serve the community. We’re pretty optimistic for the opportunities that we can research,” Chenoweth said.
A lot of the things WDA does is work confidentially with businesses or individuals. “We get someone in here, a younger startup, and we sit them down. We talk about how to make a business plan, we help them go through the rough draft. Look at everything from marketing to market research to all the things it take to make a successful business plan or get them ready for a lender. So we continue to perform our basic services,” Chenoweth said.
According to Chenoweth, WDA has been involved in the healthcare needs assessment, the hazardous mitigation emergency plan, on the steering committee for the city master plan, and on the committee for the airport improvement plan.
“We are working with just basic ideas and trying to help people fill the needs that our community has. We work a lot with entrepreneurs. They have to have spirit and passion, an investment to make, and they have to have a huge appetite for risk. Lately, we have done some research on some big ideas. Often you spend a long time putting the puzzle pieces together and you think we are moving forward and doing great and then one piece falls out and it crashes the whole project,” Chenoweth said.
“We are so grateful to work with the community because our economy is so diverse and that’s a saving grace for us. It’s one of our biggest blessings and can be a challenge, but because we are so diverse we aren’t in the dire straits like communities who were totally dependent on gas and oil. We have Admiral Beverage that is so good for the community and continues to grow, Crown Cork and Seal, the sugar company, a large group of BLM, the hospital, and so many other businesses that help keep our community stable. Are we the most progressive, fastest growing community in the state? No, but I think we should really be thankful for our diversity and for those businesses that continue to call Washakie County their home,” Chenoweth said.
Chenoweth said their business is steady. “We have runs like anyone else. It’s a hard number that moves all the time, if I help someone today with a business plan they might use that information five years from now or they might get through their business plan and figure out their idea doesn’t pencil. We certainly see the impacts of the oil and gas and the shrinking sales tax and less revenues from the state, we see that in our community and always when you have an election year you see uncertainty. We do have a little bit of uncertainty right now because with entrepreneurs it’s a huge risk and so sometimes their conservative safe side overrules their entrepreneurial expectation side to do it now,” she said.
The leads WDA answers from the state are where they get the recruitment. When they get a lead from the state, they may be competing with every community in the state or the nation, according to Chenoweth.
The WDA Board of Directors is still focused on utilizing the Fairview Industrial Park and the site building the best they can. “It’s our inventory, it’s our tool that we can use should we get a business that wants to relocate or expand. We have these at our fingertips so that we can work with people and help them be flexible in how we design or sell it to them or lease it to them,” Chenoweth said.
The vision for the future of WDA is still the same. “We’re thrilled to have this asset as an inventory to help us recruit businesses. When we get a lead, they don’t want to move here in two to three years after you do all of this, they want to move here in 90 days to six months. We have come a long way in creating this industrial park and this building as an inventory. We still work with local people that own buildings, but because WDA is in control of this it makes it a lot better deal because we can use it as an incentive,” Chenoweth said.
WDA plans to continue to work on this and work with the county, the city, and the town of Ten Sleep should they need grants. They also continue to collaborate with the chamber of commerce when needed, according to Chenoweth.
“We plan to continue to provide our services to the community,” Chenoweth said. She emphasized that WDA is here to work with the community.
“We have a lot of resources and research. We want people to come help the community grow,” Chenoweth said.
The association has a board of 10 members and the board is elected by the membership at the annual meeting.
Current board members are: Tom McKinnon, McKinnon Flooring, president; Todd Scheuerman, Scheuerman Hospitality, vice president; Guy Charles, secretary; Tad DeBolt, Big Horn Federal, treasurer; Aaron Anderson, Washakie County Commissioner; Jack Haggerty, Ten Sleep Town Mayor; David Duffy, Worland Mayor; Matt Schneider, Security State Bank; Terry Sutherland, Sutherland Enterprises; and Ron Harvey, Ron’s Sanitation and Sprinkler Service.