Diverse voices needed to aid development, council is told

Posted 10/24/13

Building Communities Inc., which is based in Boise, Idaho, will be paid about $59,000, according to LaPlante, with most of that, around $50,000, coming from the Wyoming Business Council, and the rest from PEP. Including food and other costs, the …

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Diverse voices needed to aid development, council is told

Posted

Nov. 4-8 meetings planned to collect public input; search for executive director continues

Building Communities Inc., which is based in Boise, Idaho, will be paid about $59,000, according to LaPlante, with most of that, around $50,000, coming from the Wyoming Business Council, and the rest from PEP. Including food and other costs, the local group will spend about $16,000, LaPlante said, and that money comes from the city, Park County and local individuals who wanted to assist in the effort.

Building Communities Inc. staffers will come to Powell three times to help come up with a economic development plan, LaPlante said.

“We want to know, are we moving in the right direction?” LaPlante said. This will prevent PEP from heading down a road and later finding out it has little support in the community.

However, LaPlante said not all the news was good.

PEP has offered its executive director job to two people and both have turned it down. The first choice, Jeff Reed of Halifax County, Va., accepted the position but days before he was set to come to Powell, his father grew seriously ill, and Reed withdrew his acceptance.

The next choice, Scott Bowles of Florence, Ariz., declined the position last week to pursue other options.

“Recruiting this level of talent and experience means you are in a very competitive situation with candidates having multiple offers,” LaPlante said in a statement. “Being that close to the finish line with such high caliber candidates but not being able to close the deal is certainly frustrating, but it does show that we’ve got a lot to offer.”

He told the council PEP will now look for candidates already in the region. Several good candidates have applied, he said.

The job will remain open until filled, LaPlante said, and he is eager to see that happen, as is Anna Sapp, the interim executive director who is also serving as the project coordinator for Northwest College’s Center for Training and Development, who was also at the meeting. Sapp said NWC has been very gracious to allow her to wear two hats.

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