The hunt for the right expansion opportunity
Mineral County currently has an unemployment rate of over 10 percent. New businesses coming into its towns are rare and the workforce is largely forced to seek opportunities outside of the county for employment.
In his time as a Mineral County Commissioner, Roman Zylawy has been working towards formulating new ideas for economic expansion in the county – expansion that would not only help reduce the unemployment rate as well as improve upon the existing businesses in the county.
However many of the potential ideas have ran into roadblocks in the form of government red tape, leaving Commissioner Zylawy and the rest of the commissioners to keep searching for a solution.
The efforts so far
One of the biggest potentials for generating income and bringing new business ventures into the county is the Mineral County Airport.
However not only do Federal Aviation Administration rules put a great deal of restrictions on an airport the size of the counties – there has been an ongoing battle trying to get three-phase power to the area, which is essential for any business venture.
“Back in the day when the electric co-ops were created, they were supposed to send power to everybody but no one did three-phase power past the saw mill,” Commissioner Zylawy said. “Northwestern Energy deems it too expensive and the co-op says it’s too expensive. Therefore between basically Superior and River Bend we don’t have three phase power which impedes our industrial opportunity at the airport.”
Commissioner Zylawy added an example of how the lack of three-phase power hinders the growth of even existing businesses in the county by siting Superior Meats – a locally owned business that is forced to buy power converters in order to operate.
“Those burn out so he (the owner of Superior Meats) is constantly having to save up money for a new inverter because they don’t last long,” Commissioner Zylawy said.
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Garbage seems to be an unlikely source of revenue for the county, however one of Commissioner Zylawy’s ideas for bringing jobs and income to the county involved just that – creating a landfill in the county.
“On the highway we get six trucks a day from Idaho bringing their garbage over here,” Commissioner Zylawy said. “Sanders brings all of their garbage to Missoula. BFI is filling up so I thought it would be a good idea – I mean nobody likes garbage but we can get some jobs out of it.”
To have a landfill, the Federal Government requires it to have proper linings and venting in order for the waste to decompose in an “environmentally friendly” matter.
“With the liners and the venting it’s very expensive but we would be able to bring jobs to the county,” Commissioner Zylawy said.
However upon further investigation, Commissioner Zylawy discovered another federal rule that prohibits building a landfill within 100 miles of an existing one.
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A revenue generating idea for the county, which would have helped support the amount of county funds used every summer due to the increase in public safety spending, was a proposal by Commissioner Zylawy to either add an extra quarter to or reassign a quarter from the current $6.00 registration fee paid by state residents.
According to Commissioner Zylawy the funds would be similar to funds already given to Montana’s 54 State Parks, its 320 Fishing Access Site as well as Virginia City and Nevada City Heritage Sites (two historical sites owned and operated by the state).
“The fish and game is what is primarily bringing all of the visitors into the county,” Commissioner Zylawy said. “Which means search and rescue, more Sheriff’s Office calls, more road construction and bridges wearing down so on and so forth. If we could count on this revenue each year – we would get some money to help to fray the cost for public safety and roads and search and rescue.”
Commissioner Zylawy presented the idea to Senator Jennifer Fielder and Representative Nick Schwaderer who conducted several inquiries into the matter in order to see if it would be possible to acquire to the additional funds.
“You just get blocked at every government pass,” Mineral County Commissioner Administrative Assistant Cindy Grimm said.
Commissioner Zylawy said he received a phone call from the state’s Legislative Attorney, who asked for the rundown of his plan. She then took the proposal to a fiscal analyst.
“The fiscal analyst called back and said we can’t do it just for Mineral County,” Commissioner Zylawy said. “In other words if it’s a state collected fee it would have to go to all 56 counties equally – you can’t just carve it out for Mineral County only.”
The Future
Commissioner Zylawy has explored a diverse amount of solutions to increasing the economic output of Mineral County and with the current state of the economy nationwide - the county is one of many trying to do so.
“We have such a small amount of land that is even private to offer to businesses,” Commissioner Zylawy said. “That’s the other part of the equation too – finding the right kind of business that would want to relocate here. Everybody is doing that. Missoula is trying to lobby for people to come in and build. Butte has long been in the business of trying to entice. Everybody is offering a tax break and everybody is trying to pitch themselves. We just have somebody who likes it here and wants to be here that we can work with and remind them that we have the interstate, we have the rail and we have the largest fiber optic line coming right through here.”
Commissioner Zylawy added a technology business might find the fiber optic line attractive since the county has a direct connection. In the meantime, Commissioner Zylawy said the county needs to focus on the one remaining source of revenue it does have – lumber.
“We just have to focus now on making sure our mills stay open and making sure we have the access in order to keep the mills satisfied,” Commissioner Zylawy said.