ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: With our new countywide
Enterprise Zone designation and new levels of collaboration among the cities and the
County, we have a great base to push ahead on economic development.
According to the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council (EDC,)
the areas that we need to work on to attract business to the county are: power; water;
sewer; transportation and work force. The County is currently in the process of
implementing Phase I of its plan to upgrade or create 12 community water and sewer systems
in the unincorporated area. Once engineering has been completed, we will be searching for
grant monies to put the projects on the ground. This, and future sewer and water projects,
will provide services to commercially zoned properties in various small communities. In
addition, the County wants to put in a complete sewer and water system at the big County
airport. (This is the former military airport near Montague that is capable of receiving
jets. The US Forest Service also has a base of operations there.) This project would
provide many commercially developable lots at the airport.
In the area of workforce training, the College of the Siskiyous (COS)
is moving at a steady pace to complete its new state of the art regional Rural Health
Science Institute in Yreka. This will be high on the use of technology, both in medicine
and in delivery of courses out into the community. The EDC reported to the Board of
Supervisors that they came back with about 60 leads of businesses that could relocate to
the county from a recent medical technology trade show. COS also has a regional fire
science and emergency response training facility in Weed and discussions are underway for
an expanded natural resources training program – perhaps on the regional level. In
addition, county schools are implementing the “Tech Prep” program to enable Siskiyou
County students to prepare for a variety of career paths, and earning necessary college
credits in their field while in high school.
Transportation seems like an insurmountable barrier, but we might
have some hope on the horizon in the form of a coordinated transit plan. Currently, public
transit services must recover at least 25 percent of the costs of the service through
fares. Some experimental runs have had to be discontinued because of low ridership and the
number of miles traveled. As a result, STAGE (Siskiyou Transit and General Express)
primarily offers commuter runs. “Coordinated Transit Management” pools together
smaller buses and vans currently being used by public agencies and non-profits to create a
fleet that can be used to move clients and the public from outlying areas either to a
central transportation corridor or to their destination. A committee is currently working
with Tom Anderson of STAGE to assess the feasibility. This could have the potential for
increasing access to public transportation services for the workforce.
Unfortunately, railroad shipping lines were cut off to much of our
industry last year. A project to acquire permission for an alternate shipping provider is
still being explored. In air transport, our
airports have received some needed infrastructure maintenance and improvement, with more
projects in the hopper.
Electricity rates are going up. Global Warming legislation in California
requires an expansion in the percentage of alternative energy sources used by utilities. Siskiyou
County just recently had an electrical increase to pay for the development of such power.
In the future, there will be additional increases for Klamath dam removal and replacement
power. However, rates are still low in relation to other areas.
The EDC has organized meetings with major local employers and has
surveyed others to determine how Siskiyou County can be more business friendly. Workforce
issues, such as substance abuse, have been identified. Fortunately, the large
multi-partner Siskiyou County “Substance Abuse Continuum of Care” (SACC)
coalition is wrapping up its strategic plan after more than a year of research, survey and
dialogue. Three sub-groups will go forward to refine and implement the strategy in the
areas of prevention: intervention; and recovery.
In
addition, communities are growing stronger in their capacity to solve local problems. The
Family and Community
Resource
Centers
are an asset to many outlying areas. In addition, Leadership Siskiyou and The Ford Family
Foundation leadership, nonprofit and collaboration classes have brought new skills to many
new leaders in our communities. |
