Identifying economic needs in Hot Springs County and beyond

There was a Wyoming Business Alliance workshop in Thermopolis last week to help local business owners and public representatives identify and address economic needs in Hot Springs County.

During the April 23 meeting, more than 20 people discussed the past, present and possible future of Hot Springs County. This included discussion of economic staples like energy, businesses that have had success in the county, and where economic growth can come from in the future.

When asked a simple prompt of how people thought Hot Springs County is doing economically, 10 said the county is moving forward, eight said it’s holding steady and four said it’s slipping.

In the process of gathering information, locals were broken into groups to discuss how change can be made, as well as what changes.

During the meeting, participants were asked to focus on the positive aspects of the community and to generally leave out the negatives.

Moderator Bill Schilling explained this was needed because the information the Wyoming Business Alliance will be compiling will go to the legislature, and focusing on the negatives will only hamper their work with that government entity.

Part of the meeting was reserved for a look back at the economic history, and future, of the state’s economy.

For instance, presenter Anne Alexander explained that Wyoming did alright during the 2007 great recession while the rest of the country fell on hard times.

Only 10 other states maintained a lower unemployment rate. However, Wyoming still has not returned to its pre-recession peak employment level.

She also explained that the state expects to see a 34% decrease in oil revenue in 2015 and a 20% decrease in natural gas revenue. Coal revenue is expected to increase one to four percent.

She also explained that Hot Springs County has fewer employees and a lower weekly income than most other counties in the state.

When the conversation switched to what local work can be done to increase the economic state of Hot Springs County, the conversation was handed off to local people.

The conversation was led by this question: what do you want to see done in the county, and how can you do it without state help?

Ideas included expanding the river walk out of the state park and into town, using old airport space for new housing developments that cater to an elder population, increasing the number of meetings between government bodies and increasing code enforcement in town – especially in terms of beautification.

However, some people said everyone needs to get on the same page before anything can be accomplished.

“As long as people want different things, and have different goals, we won’t get anything done.” Barb Heinze said.

By the end, most people appeared to feel they accomplish good conversations and progressive discussion, but others were a bit apprehensive.

“We have these meetings and we talk about doing these great things,” Shurie Scheel said. “I hope this accomplishes something.”