Thompson Falls Chamber meets

Agenda items include tourism, technology initiative and jobs

THOMPSON FALLS – The bulk of discussion at the Chamber of Commerce meeting was tourism and the creation of jobs as two presenters took the floor.

Jen Kreiner, executive director for Sanders County Community Development Corporation, was the first to speak. Kreiner explained the services SCCDC provides to the community and discussed projects they had helped with in the past.

The corporation has helped the Hot Springs Medical Clinic, the Thompson Falls Community Trials project and Tour 200 with funding and implementation.

For the trails project, currently phase one is complete but the project has a long way to go. The next proposed phase would provide connectivity to the Powerhouse Loop that is currently in place and the Thompson Falls State Park.

“What it will ultimately do is connect the Thompson Falls State Park, which is a high tourism recreation area to our main street downtown businesses,” Kreiner explained. “That connectivity is what we are shooting for to give that accessibility not only to our local residents but to bring those visitors into our downtown.”

As for Tour 200, the project aims at increasing tourism to the area. According to Kreiner, 3.3 billion was spent last year on tourism in Montana, with 9.8 million in Sanders County for 2012.

“Tourism is a fast growing industry in Montana. It’s the second behind agriculture,” Kreiner said.

She explained that as people relocate to the area new businesses, new resources and valued community members are brought into the area.

A big project SCCDC is currently overseeing is the Sanders County Technology Initiative. The project aims to determine if there is a need for a technology center within the county.

“We’ve been funded to conduct a feasibility study to see if it really is possible to host a rural technology center in Sanders County,” Kreiner said.

She said both tourism and technology are two industries that need to be tapped into.

“It’s our responsibility with historical industries in decline to explore all possibilities for our county and so this is a great beginning step,” Kreiner said. “I’m very excited to be a part of it.”

Carla Parks, mayor of Thompson Falls, was next to take the floor. She discussed her experience at an economic outlook summit hosted in Missoula. Parks said the overall message was positive.

“Without exception it was good, positive news. Everything is grafting upwards and we’re a little higher than we were the year before as far as jobs and as far as manufacturing,” Parks explained.

Montana’s lumber industries are also looking up along with the oil and gas industries.

Parks stressed the importance of tourism in the area and said 2013 was a great year for both tourism and recreation.

One study showed the importance of trails and paths in the area.

“The trails and the paths – they are the bread and butter for us and not just for the tourists but our communities too,” Parks said.

According to the study, the residents of Montana use walking paths and hiking trails more than any other recreation area in the state.

Parks also discussed the keynote speaker, Greg Gianforte, and what he has done to bring jobs into the area. Gianforte developed a software company in Bozeman over a period of 13 years, which later sold to Oracle for millions of dollars. He continues to stress the importance of having high paying jobs within Montana.

Parks said his presentation made her realize more than ever that it was important to have students educated in the right fields.

“We need to take and have our students educated in computer science and endeavors that will work in Montana,” Parks said.

By providing high quality, good paying jobs in the areas, students would have an incentive to stay in Montana instead of moving out of state to look for jobs.

Parks explained students can go to www.codemontana.org to receive a free introductory course into computer programming. This program is free for all high school seniors.

“What they are finding is once you have a young person in high school who has taken that class – it has opened their eyes,” Parks said. “This is a thing we can do, a way we can go.”