Great Falls floats strategy to boost area economy

It’s been more than 25 years since the Anaconda Co. smelter closed, ending Great Falls’ industrial age. The city is still searching for a
new economic identity.

By JO DEE BLACK
Tribune Staff Writer

Now there’s a plan, but it’s going to take plenty of community involvement to work.

That’s the message Great Falls City Manager John Lawton touted Tuesday afternoon as he introduced a draft strategic plan for economic
development.

Copies were handed out to the 260 people who attended the luncheon meeting held by the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.

The copies came with a request.

"Please, please provide your input," Chamber President Rick Bourne said.

The plan was formed by community leaders and the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Public Technology Inc.

It presents a vision for the Electric City’s future based on eight guiding principles and 16 strategies designed to create sustainable
development by diversifying the economic base and developing infrastructure to support business recruitment and retention.

The concept, which centers around funneling various efforts into a common economic development strategy, probably sounds familiar,
Lawton acknowledged. It was the rallying cry for efforts that have failed in the past, including the short-lived Economic Coordinating Council
created in 1985.

But the difference with this plan is, not only does it outline what Great Falls should strive for when it comes to attracting new jobs and
supporting current businesses, it also details how to get it done and who will do it, Lawton said.

For example, one principle calls for retaining existing businesses. One strategy to make that happen is to create a business-retention
program.

Of course, it helps to know what the existing businesses are.

"A government official from another city asked me how many businesses we had in Great Falls, and I was embarrassed to admit I didn’t
know," Lawton said. "I could guess, but there wasn’t a list I could go to."

So the city has started to create a database, compiling the list from commercial water users and safety inspections records.

Identifying such tasks, and the organizations that will take them on, is one of the plan’s greatest strengths, Lawton said.

"This is a plan to make something happen on a dramatic scale," he said.

The draft is the result of more than six months of work.

In October, Costis Toregas , president of Public Technology, spent a day interviewing community leaders, business development
professionals, business people, students and neighborhood representatives. Then he compiled a report identifying economic topics to be
explored in-depth.

In March, Public Technology staff members were back again, along with government officials from other similar communities. They spent
three days with local representatives, looking at ways other cities have successfully dealt with many of the challenges facing Great Falls.

After that, networked laptop computers were used to coordinate efforts to put the ideas into one document.

The effort was initiated by the Community Economic Development Council, a coalition of government entities, economic development
organizations and private business. The council passed the hat around town to pay Public Technology’s $42,500 fee.

Twenty-three businesses and government entities kicked in a total of $68,500. The remainder of the funds will be used by the council to
continue economic development efforts.

Community support will make or break the plan’s success, so, officials are going to great lengths to make it accessible to the public.
Copies are available at numerous places in town and on the Web.

Lessons from past economic development endeavors were in the forefront during the creation of this plan, Lawton said.

"We know that government should play a supporting role and the private sector needs to have the lead," he said.

He also noted Great Falls can’t peg its future economic health on fabled "magic bullets."

"Ever since I’ve been in Great Falls, I’ve heard Boeing is coming back," he said. "Well, you heard it here first – Boeing is not coming back.
There’s not one savior for our economy."

Longtime Great Falls businessman Gordon McManus agrees. He owned Flynn Insurance for 25 years and helped found Mountain West
Bank of Great Falls in 1995. He’s sold both of those businesses and is concentrating on his latest venture, Sofast Communications, a
high-speed Internet access provider.

Asked if telecommunications is the key to Great Falls’ future, McManus said it’s just one piece of the whole picture.

"Business will decide to come here for a combination of reasons," he said. "It’s good telecommunications, but it’s also good employees, a
good community, good banks."

The plan presented Tuesday is "awesome," and he likes the fact that it includes a healthy dose of community involvement, McManus said.

Another longtime Great Falls businessman, Ian Davidson, chairman of Davidson Cos., is also enthused.

"They take the time to get organized, versus reacting to things and having organizations do it individually," Davidson said.

The enthusiasm expressed by longtime business people appears to be shared by relatively new business owners, too.

Janet Medina, 37, returned to Great Falls from the Flathead Valley three years ago and opened a public relations company, CoMedia.

She’s been involved in creating the draft plan and is excited about its potential.

"One thing that came out in the plan’s development was that people felt Great Falls is not very welcome to innovative or open thinking,"
she said. "It was nice to learn that was a feeling not only I had."

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