SLIB Approves BRC Project Amid Discussion About Future of Community Projects Funding

Cheyenne, Wyo. – The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) presented a Business Ready Community (BRC) grant request from the Town of Guernsey to the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) at their meeting on Feb. 6, 2025. The board approved the request following an in-depth discussion about the WBC’s investment strategy and its role in funding community enhancement projects.

Guernsey requested a $750,000 Community Projects grant to add 2,500 square feet to the Guernsey Senior Center and the Guernsey Public Library. This space will enable the town to provide additional public health, mental health, and veteran services, as well as public meeting space. The project will also create space for job training, exploration, and entrepreneurial endeavors.

The WBC Board of Directors and staff did not recommend funding this project at their quarterly meeting in December 2024. At the SLIB meeting, Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell outlined WBC’s approach to economic development, the importance of making hard decisions concerning return on investment for the state of Wyoming, and the need to build community resilience.

“There’s really no bad project. These projects meet needs at the community level, it’s just really a matter of is that the right place for the Business Council to play,” Dorrell said. “Our job is not just to do projects in the state. Our job is to help communities learn how to solve their own problems and use all the tools at their disposal.”

Following an in-depth discussion about the misalignment of community enhancement funding with the Business Council’s mission to address the state’s insufficient economic activities to support a high quality of life, Auditor Kristi Racines motioned to approve the funding request. She recommended eliminating the community project program and integrating such requests into the main BRC program to ensure they meet rigorous standards. The motion passed 4-1.

“We all recognize the challenge that WBC has for the last five years or so really had a new standard by which we’re judging things to make sure we meet the expectations of the legislature and the public because they have been under the microscope and been criticized for picking winners and losers,” the Auditor said. “These projects need to cash out for the state.”

Dorrell thanked the board for their leadership and assured them the WBC would utilize its rule-making authority to review BRC rules and clarify what is eligible for funding to better align with the state’s investment strategy. He also emphasized that his team remains committed to working with communities to utilize all available mechanisms, know-how, and policies to meet state and community goals. 

“We’re not checking boxes. We’re not going to become an ATM that when you check a box money comes out, ever. That’s why we were designed to have a board of directors, that’s why we were designed to be a quasi-agency so that we could move at the speed of business and move at the speed of problem-solving that our communities require,” he said. “We will continue to utilize discernment. Even though projects may check all the boxes for eligibility, that does not mean they will pass muster in the discernment. That is something we will always have and it will not be in rule. It will always be in the hands of our board and the hands of leaders like (SLIB).”

Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder supported the approach, stating, “We have to move away from the nice-to-have community enhancements because we just can’t fund those any longer in this way and we have to focus on that return (on investment). I sincerely appreciate the direction the Business Council is moving and I agree with it wholeheartedly.”