FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 26, 2007
For more information contact:
 
Tom Lacock
Senior Marketing and Public Relations Specialist
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2834

Steve Achter
Director, Investment Ready Communities Division
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2811

Wyoming Business Council Board of Directors to meet in Cheyenne

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Business Council’s Board of Directors will convene in Cheyenne at the Plains Hotel at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6 to consider funding applications for Business Ready Community grants and Community Development Block Grants.

The board will consider grant applications, totaling $11 million, to Laramie, Douglas, Lusk, Natrona County, Tiger Joint Powers Board in Lander, Cowley, Green River, Albany County, Hot Springs County, Pine Haven, Powell, Uinta County, Torrington, Burlington, Superior, Goshen County, Johnson County, Evanston and Chugwater.

The staff’s full recommendations to the board for Business Ready Community grants and Community Development Block Grants are available for review at www.wyomingbusiness.org. To listen to the board meeting via streaming audio, click on www.wyomingbusiness.org/livemeeting.aspx. The tentative agenda for the meeting is located at the end of the press release.

BUSINESS READY COMMUNITY GRANT & LOAN PROGRAM (BRC) APPLICATIONS
Seven Business Ready Community grants worth $8.9 million will go before the board. The Business Council board’s recommendations of BRC applications will be forwarded to the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) for final decision at their Jan 24, 2008 meeting at the Herschler Building in Cheyenne. SLIB is made up of the five statewide elected officials, Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Secretary of State Max Maxfield, State Treasurer Joe Meyer, State Auditor Rita Meyer and Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jim McBride.

The board will consider the following Business Ready Community Grant and Loan projects:

LARAMIE: The city of Laramie requests a $3 million BRC Business Committed grant to construct a 16,000-square foot office building in the Laramie River Business Park to facilitate the expansion of Trihydro Corp. and to provide speculative office space for future business Development. Trihydro intends to purchase a 1.67-acre lot in the business park adjacent to the company’s existing facility from the Laramie Economic Development Corporation. The lot will then be conveyed to the city. The building will be partially occupied by Trihydro, about 10,000 square feet, and the remaining 6,000 square feet will be used as speculative office space leased out by the city until Trihydro’s staff grows large enough to occupy the additional space.

DOUGLAS: The city of Douglas, in partnership with the community development organization CANDO, requests a $1.5 million BRC Community Readiness grant to construct an addition to a future Eastern Wyoming Community (EWC) College Douglas branch campus. The addition will be a business incubator and workforce training center. The combined EWC and CANDO facility will be located in the new Douglas Business Park.
LUSK: The town of Lusk requests a $1.5 million BRC Community Readiness grant for the purchase of 38.7-acre tract of land and installation of infrastructure for a new business park. The grant funds will also be used for the construction of internal streets, connections to sewerlines, waterlines, and electrical hook-ups. These infrastructure improvements will develop about half the 38.7 acres, and the new infrastructure will stub into the back half of the property making that land easily developable in the future for additional business space or a residential neighborhood.

NATRONA COUNTY: requests a $1.5 million BRC Community Readiness grant to construct an 8,000+ long rail spur off the mail line of Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The county-owned spur will be located on 700 acres of privately owned land adjacent to the Natrona County International Airport. The rail spur will be on the right-of-way donated to the county by the Bishop Industrial Park, LLC.

TIGER JPB IN LANDER: Tiger Joint Powers Board requests a $695,000 BRC Community Readiness grant for infrastructure for the second phase of the downtown Lander Business Park. This grant will complete the second phase of the business park by paving 1,000 linear feet of 12th Street and Vocational Drive. Funds will also be used for business park enhancements along Squaw Creek. Those enhancements, totaling $243,860, include a foot bridge, pedestrian trial, landscaping and irrigation.

COWLEY: The town of Cowley requests $500,000 for a false-front structure which would be built along a city block in downtown. The structure would complement other proposed main street enhancements (ornamental lighting, decorative benches, landscaping) funded by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and the town. The town-owned façade will be freestanding and not attached to the privately owned buildings.

GREEN RIVER: The town of Green River requests a $250,000 BRC Community Enhancement grant for the construction of a Green River Visitors Center. The city will own the facility and lease it to the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber will occupy a portion of the building and use the balance for tourist information. The building will be 1,766 square feet. The Chamber is currently located in a downtown storefront. The new location will place the Chamber near the Toll Gate, Palisades rock formations and across the street from the Wild Horse Loop Tour.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) APPLICATIONS
The Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) is a federally funded pass through grant program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Wyoming has received an annual allocation from a low of $2.2 million, to a high of $3.7 million. In 2007, the state has received $3.2 million.

T he CDBG is broken up into two categories: Economic Development and Community Development. The Economic Development CDBG’s help communities and counties with downtown projects, infrastructure projects and civic planning such as feasibility studies or growth management plans. Community Development CDBG’s are distributed once a year and go towards helping communities pay for new facilities like safehouses, senior centers and infrastructure. This year there is $1.06 million in the Economic Development CDBG account and $1.25 million in the CDBG Community Development Fund.

The Community Development CDBG grant requests going
before the board are:
TORRINGTON: The city of Torrington requests $300,000 for the Olive Acres sewer replacement project. The project will replace existing clay sewer pipes in one of the oldest sections of Torrington. The system is over 40 years old and is crumbling and leaking. Leakage is a major problem since it flows into the same groundwater aquifer system that supplies drinking water to the city. New eight-inch PVC pipe will replace the crumbling leaking clay pipes in accordance with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality rules and regulations.

BURLINGTON: The town of Burlington requests $176,000 to address water projects. They include installation of a 150,000 gallon water tank to increase water storage as well as update the water well by adding meter reading technology at the pump house master meter. According to a 2007 report the present water storage volume is approximately 150,000 gallons short of the recommended volume to meet the fire flow demand generated largely by the town’s school.

SUPERIOR: The town of Superior requests $131,949.50 to replace 420 feet of sewer line, add three new manholes and road reconstruction over the project site. Superior has identified areas of publicly-owned sewer lines that have deteriorated to the point of being a health and safety issue for the residents of the area. The sewer lines are constructed of clay and are crumbling due to age and tree root damage.

GOSHEN COUNTY: Goshen County requests $286,000 to replace a sewage lift station. The South Torrington Water and Sewer District receives its water and sends its sewage to the city of Torrington’s system operated on the north side of the North Platte River. The lift station moves the district’s sewage under the river. The lift station has had problems with some leakage in the past. This leakage violates EPA rules and the lift station requires a rope and bucket to bail it out so that the sewage does not reach the electrical system.
JOHNSON COUNTY: Johnson County requests $300,000 to build a 4,000-square foot facility on donated city land. The facility will be occupied by Child Development Center, Region II Center which provides early intervention and special education services for children birth to six years old.

EVANSTON: The city of Evanston requests $300,000 to build a new shelter for Sexual Assault and Family Violence Safehouse on land donated by the Evanston Housing Authority. In addition to stabilizing the building and addressing the substandard construction, there are a multitude of problems that need to be repaired in order to make the residence safe and livable for those who are in need of the safehouse services.
DOUGLAS: The city of Douglas requests $300,000 for senior center revitalization. The Douglas Senior Center is a private non-profit whose purpose is to provide services to the elderly and disabled citizens of Douglas and the surrounding area. The proposed project will begin with drainage improvements, continue with roof replacement and conclude with mechanical and electrical changes.

CHUGWATER: The town of Chugwater requests $253,750 for the Chugwater Museum and Cultural Art Center. The proposed project is for a pre-fabricated building with 5,400 square feet; a 900-square foot show room/display area, one office, restroom, furnace area, and 1,054 square feet for the Arts Center.

The Economic Development CDBG grant requests going before the
board are:
ALBANY COUNTY: Albany County requests a $25,000 planning grant study the feasibility of rehabilitating the Lincoln Community Center.

DOUGLAS: The city of Douglas, which is partnering with Glenrock and Converse County, requests a $25,000 planning grant for a Regional Growth Management Plan. A consultant would be hired to guide the development of county-wide growth policies and priorities, with the goal of directing coordinated development and redevelopment of the region. To accomplish this, a review of existing community development and land use plans for Douglas, Glenrock and Converse County will be conducted.

HOT SPRINGS COUNTY: Hot Springs County requests a $25,000 planning grant to prepare a site plan to determine the feasibility of developing Lane 3 to meet county and state standards and connect to Lane 7, a county road. The road improvement would provide access to 160 acres of developable land parallel to state Highway 20.

JOHNSON COUNTY: Johnson County requests a $25,000 planning grant to conduct a feasibility study and conceptual redevelopment of the fairgrounds.

PINE HAVEN: The town of Pine Haven requests a $25,000 planning grant to explore the need for a multi-Purpose facility. Which would include a senior center, emergency shelter for residents and travelers and room for new businesses.

POWELL: The city of Powell requests a $25,000 planning grant to determine the feasibility of creating, operating and maintaining Centennial Community Park, on a city-owned tract of land.

UINTA COUNTY: Uinta County requests a $25,000 planning grant to conduct a needs assessment for the elderly population of Bridger Valley. The focus of the feasibility study will be to determine if the regional population could support an assisted living facility, a larger senior center and whether it is feasible to combine the two.

WYOMING BUSINESS COUNCIL
Board of Directors Meeting
December 6, 2007
Large, First Floor Meeting Room
Plains Hotel – Cheyenne

TENTATIVE AGENDA
8:30 AM - Public Board Meeting Convenes –
Welcome & Introductions – Co-Chair Karla Fiebelkorn
WY Dept. of Agriculture Liaison
8:40 AM - Minutes Approval
July 13 & Sept. 13, 2007

8:45 AM - Community Development – Donna Kinskey, Chair
Business Ready Community Program
Community Facilities Grant/Loan Program
Community Development Block Grants
Workforce Housing Report for Legislature
Main Street Update – Mary Randolph, WRDC Director

10:00 AM - Business Development – Ric Asherman, Chair Loan/Portfolio
Wind River Development Fund
WY Natl. Bank, Lander – Main Street Books
WY Bank & Trust, Cheyenne – Emause, LLC
First Natl. Bank & Trust, Powell – Gluten Free Oats
John Pope – WellDog, Inc.
Challenge Loan Proposed Legislation

Contracts
UWY- SBIR/STTR
Agribusiness Update – Cindy Garretson-Weibel,
Agribusiness Director

11:00 AM - Personnel, Budget & Audit – Gus Fleischli, Chair
Financials
Personnel

11:30 AM - CEO Update

11:45 PM - Other Business
Proposed 2008 Meeting Dates & Locations

12:00 Noon - Adjournment

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.
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