WBC Board of Directors Meeting, Work Session Focus on Building Powerful Communities

Board Recommends One BRC Project Following Detailed Discussions About the Importance of Community Investment and Partnerships

Cheyenne, Wyo. – The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) invests in the future of Wyoming’s communities through strategic initiatives that empower leaders, build resilience, and support economic growth. At the WBC’s quarterly Board of Directors meeting on Feb. 26 in Cheyenne, much discussion centered around tools like investments and services that support communities’ problem-solving and growth goals, and the need for partnership and local “skin in the game.”

Since the inception of the Business Ready Community (BRC) grant and loan program in 2002, the WBC has invested more than $400 million in hundreds of community projects. BRC has often been seen as a “silver bullet” or the only option for a community to meet its needs. However, on its own, the program is incapable of creating a flywheel big enough to address the state’s growth constraints.

“A lot of the projects we see, we don’t feel like partners; we feel like saviors,” explained Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell. “We feel like the only hope a community has and we hear ‘we can’t do it without you!’ I strongly disagree. I think those communities aren’t giving themselves enough credit. I think those communities have untapped potential that it’s our responsibility and privilege to unlock.”

Throughout the board meeting and during a public work session with members of the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) the previous day, Dorrell, WBC staff, and board members discussed the importance of helping local communities develop the power and know-how to tackle their unique challenges and do the projects they want to do.

“We are in a position to start to say to (communities): ‘Well, with us we can do this project but not because of us or not only us.’ The more we do that, the more we stop their potential. The more we give without asking for partnership, the more we hold them back,” Dorrell continued. “I don’t think it’s our mission to hold them back. I think it’s our mission to propel them forward and show them how to unlock their potential and reach what we know they can.”

The discussion played out during the single BRC project presentation from the City of Laramie for a WyoTech expansion that will accommodate 400 to 800 additional students and create 99 new jobs. The City requested a $5 million grant and $5 million loan to construct a 137,000 square-foot facility on 32 acres south of Venture Drive to house new and expanded WyoTech trade training programs including welding, advanced diesel, heavy diesel, and trim.

Following debate about the lack and importance of local investment from the City and Laramie Chamber Business Alliance (LCBA) into the project, the board accepted staff’s recommendation in an 8-2 vote with one member excused and one abstaining. Staff recommended a $5 million loan at 2 percent interest with a 20-year term and a $5 million grant with an 80 percent (with an escalator up to 100 percent) revenue recapture back to the WBC. 

The recommendation was also contingent upon two factors:

• The project is fully funded and WBC staff can review funding sources and uses before contract execution. 
• Grant dollars will not be used for pre-construction activities including but not limited to engineering and design.

While the project moves forward to the SLIB for final approval, the WBC board emphasized the importance of increased investment from the community in future projects and stressed that the Business Council is increasing expectations to qualify for project funding.

“We’re going to have to continue to set the bar higher. We’re going to do it with statute, we’re going to do it with rule, we’re going to do it with board actions, and we’re going to do it on the ground every day when we go into these communities,” Dorrell said.

“If we think BRC is going to be a savior in terms of money, then we’re probably wrong. But if instead we ask how do we use BRC as a lever to help communities get the power that they need and they deserve and they should have to do their own (projects) with the help of the state, that’s the way it’s going to work,” he added. “As a big money tool to solve these big problems, it’s probably not going to be there. But as a lever with the fulcrum in the right place, we can move the world.”

Full recordings of the February board meeting and work session are available on the WBC’s YouTube channel. For more information about the Business Ready Community grant and loan program and other WBC initiatives, visit wyomingbusiness.org.