Mineral County lobbies against business shutdowns

The Mineral County Economic Development Corporation’s purpose is assisting the development of projects, support new and existing businesses, provide training programs, workshops and other endeavors beneficial to the public and in cooperation and coordination with local government.

Their meetings are held every other month and open to the public at the MSU Extension Agency located at 301 Second Ave East in Superior. The next one is at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19.

At the November meeting, a motion was made and approved that the MCEDC would draft a letter to the incoming COVID-19 Task Force of Governor-elect Greg Gianforte expressing concerns for the county voicing what the board feels are consequences to Mineral County and the rest of Montana.

The primary concern are lockdowns.

"Lockdowns are counterproductive. The small businesses in Mineral County cannot and will not survive a lockdown of their business no matter the time frame. Our economy in Mineral County is very fragile. The employees that a lockdown will affect are already in the low to moderate income level. Many are living on assistance from state programs and to take away their employment by lockdown is unconscionable. It has been proven that locking children out of school is not productive. Having a lockdown mandate will affect every student’s education in the State of Montana. Many students in rural areas such as Mineral County do not have access to internet nor a computer so for them to learn online is not always an option. There are a lot of parents that cannot or are not capable of instructing their children or make sure they get their studies completed."

Second on the list in the letter addressed the hours business can remain open. Missoula and other cities have imposed a curfew and it is raising havoc with many merchants, primality restaurants, bars and casinos.

"Curbing the working hours and limiting capacity is also detrimental to that small business. While we understand that for a short-term solution to curb the rampant spread that we are seeing this mandate may be needed. We encourage the task force to not use this mandate for a prolonged period of time. This would be economically devastating to many small businesses, especially when they rely on the public for the business to succeed."

The last element of the letter addressed masks and social distancing.

"We encourage the protocol of using masks, social distancing and exercising proper hygiene to be the No. 1 mandate to slow the spread of COVID-19.

"We support the use of education as a tool to encourage the population to follow these mandates. We do not however, support a police state to enforce these mandates."

The letter closed reminding the Task Force that the decisions they make today, will have lasting effects on many business and encourages them to make decisions based on good sound science, good sound health protocols, and good sound economic policies.

Currently, MCEDC is working on the housing feasibility study which will help address the housing needs in Mineral County. The Board is also working to build the capacity of MCEDC and the footprint for the organization to benefit Mineral County families and businesses.

For more information, You can reach both of them by email at mcedc54@blackfoot.net