Grand Junction

What a weekend!!

I got to be part of a three person delegation (I use that term loosely) from Grand Junction that traveled to Prescott, AZ over the weekend to see the sights of what is known as the Whiskey Off-Road. Some of you may be aware that this three-day mountain biking extravaganza is put on by Epic Rides, and they are branching out to put on the Grand Junction Off-Road (“the Grand”). This will be identical to the Whiskey in all things except location and number of riders…but it will take place in Grand Junction this Labor Day weekend!

Since this will be the inaugural Grand, participants are limited to just 600 riders (as opposed to the Whiskey’s 1800!) The small-ish number of riders will allow City of Grand Junction officials to get all the kinks worked out before it becomes a full blown extravaganza, like the one in Prescott.

Prescott is VERY similar to Grand Junction…eerily so. It sits at about the same altitude, similar climate and terrain (minus the super technical riding we have here), the towns are close in size, and the “feel” of the people is almost identical. Like I said, eerily similar. It was fun to feel at home just coming into town.

Back to the weekend festivities…When traveling to Prescott’s downtown (activity center) there is a flurry of activity…people are eating at restaurants, shopping in stores, picking up registration packets for the race, and wandering through the expo area. The expo is comprised of different vendors (bike parts, clothing, energy drinks and food and local services) all giving out samples and providing information of what they are about.

The Whiskey bike weekend is the BIGGEST sales opportunity for all stores all YEAR! Their local stores sell more food, drinks and merchandise than any other time of the year. This will be a wonderful opportunity for our local vendors to fill the void of Labor Day weekend when, historically, not much has been planned in the Grand Valley.

Besides all the eating and shopping, there are awesome bike races going on! Friday hosts the shortest race (still 15 miles!) and a male and female pro crit…on their mountain bikes, which is a really strange sight to see. Riders whizzing past on fat tires is not a normal occurrence in the world of cycling. Saturday started early, with the 50 mile (ours will be a 40 mile race – the “40 Grand”) leaving at 7:30am and the 25 mile (ours is a 30 mile race – the “30 Grand”) heading out at 9-ish. During the down time between racers leaving and returning you can trek out to the trails and watch the carnage. If you aren’t interested in the hike out, you can settle down in the main area and listen to the band or continue to eat your way through all the shops. I did both.

I was introduced to the some of the expo vendors to pump up excitement about the Grand event, and many of the vendors were trying to re-schedule themselves in order to make it to our event! With all the buzz Epic Rides is creating about the Grand, we are sure to have an exciting event of our own to build upon for the future.

No matter what your interests are, this event will be a good opportunity to get out and experience Grand Junction! Get excited!

To keep updated on the newest vendors/concerts/events added to the Grand Junction Off-Road, visit Epic Rides website.

The 2013 Spring Conference for the Economic Development Council of Colorado (“EDCC”) theme was “Elevate your Game.”  Being the sports junkie I am, I knew we were in for a good conference.  As one of the Southwest Colorado representatives to the EDCC board, my conference started out with a board meeting where we discussed statewide economic development trends, compared prospect activity and took positions on pending legislation.  There is something very powerful about sitting at a table with your counterparts from around the state.  For me it is the realization that we’re not as different as we sometimes think we are.  After the board meeting conference attendees were in for a real treat – the EDCC Chairman, John Cody – sang and played his guitar.  To me this is proof that peer pressure sometimes works, as we regularly beg and plead for John to perform.  (Note to self: persistence pays off.)

The next morning the EDCC conference was in full swing.  Our keynote address was presented by Mark Lautman, author of When the Boomers Bail: How Demographics will Sort Communities into Winners and Losers.  His discussion was entitled, Innovations in Economic Development.  As an economic development practitioner I appreciated his very simple formula for economic development:

E > P

In order to have positive economic growth, your economy must grow faster than your population.  Everyone needs a little more money to work with – primary jobs must be expanded and retained in a community.  Another important take away I had was that right now in the global economy, we must look at our communities and realize we are always competing on a larger stage than we may realize.  With that we need to understand that for people (employees) the decision about where they are going to live is likely the most important decision they will ever make.  I know for me this rings very true.  Having happiness in your community is critical to your quality of life, making you a more productive employee and probably a happier, healthier person.  I am lucky the Grand Valley is an easy place to promote as our lifestyle is rivaled by few.

Over the next day I attended more sessions and considered tools and ideas that can be duplicated in our community.  I thought about all of the ways we are ahead of the curve and about the areas where we have work to do. I look forward to sharing these thoughts and ideas with my team to help the Grand Valley continue to prosper.

Economic development continues to inspire me as I can’t think of a more meaningful way to give back to my community.

During the last week in March, Governor John Hickenlooper and 30 delegates from all over the State of Colorado went on an energy trade mission to Canada. The overall goal of the trip was to meet with Canadian energy companies and build stronger relationships between the Province of Alberta and the State of Colorado.

Edmonton

Our first stop was in Edmonton, Canada which is very flat (no mountains or trees). When we arrived we cleared customs and immediately boarded a bus and headed for a meeting with a company called Katch Kan. Katch Kan is an Edmonton based manufacturer of environmental and safety products for the global oil and gas drilling industry. Katch Kan’s innovations in the oil and gas drilling industry are exciting and their concepts are pretty novel; Katch Kan wants all drilling rigs safer and more efficient with a good ROI. Video of their Katch Kan system, animation video.

Our next meeting and tour was with PTI Group. PTI Group is one of North America’s largest fully integrated suppliers of remote site services providing temporary and permanent workforce accommodations, food services, facility management, and water and waste-water services to resource industries worldwide. PTI is a subsidiary of Oil States International Inc, with their US headquarters in Englewood, CO and an office located in Grand Junction. Many people refer to these types of accommodations as “Man Camps” but PTI’s accommodations are far from being a “camp.” PTI creates small cities including all the necessary infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, etc) and they also try to include amenities such as a recreation center, pool, bowling alley, movie theater, etc. Take the PTI Lodge Virtual Tour.

Next, we were back on the bus headed to the hotel in downtown Edmonton to get spruced up for a networking reception hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada. I met Dick Barendregt from Certek Heating Solutions, who has operations in the Grand Valley and on the Western Slope. I met a lot of people from energy and energy service companies at the networking hour, which gave me the opportunity to promote  Mesa County and explain how beautiful it is here. Next time I will bring a map, since many of the Canadian’s I met were not familiar with Colorado’s geography and communities. After the networking hour we got on a bus to head to dinner at the Alberta Government House to hear a presentation on the energy industry in Alberta with the Honorable Cal Dallas, Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations.

Fort McMurray-Oil Sands

The next day we were up before the sun and headed to the Alberta Government hanger at the airport to get on a plane to fly north to Fort McMurray. Over the past 30 years or so, Fort McMurray has seen a huge energy boom with their oil sands. Upon landing we were greeted by tour coordinators from Suncor Energy and got on a bus to tour Suncor’s mining and in-situ operations. The tour of the mine complex was fascinating and I have never seen heavy haulers in person; they are gigantic trucks. These heavy haulers take the oil sands from the mine site to the complex to be processed. Next, we went into the mine’s control room to see the rest of the process to extract the oil/bitumen from the sands/dirt. It is difficult to describe how big this operation and mine is. Next we toured the upgrading facility and had lunch on the bus. Suncor’s in-situ operations are about a 50 minute drive from the mine complex. On our drive to the in-situ operations we saw some of the areas that have been reclaimed by Suncor. The reclamation process  takes anywhere from 14-20 years or longer, but really produces beautiful pieces of land once fully reclaimed and certified. Suncor is working on technologies to make that process a little faster, here is a video on their reclamation process, Wapisiw Lookout.

The in-situ processes are very similar to our horizontal drilling. There are two pipes in the in-situ process; the top pipe holds steam that heats up the bitumen in the ground and the bottom pipe catches the heated bitumen and pumps it up to the surface. After the bus tour of Suncor operations, we went back to Fort McMurray Airport to fly south to Calgary.

Calgary

Once in Calgary we checked-in to our hotel in downtown Calgary. The entire delegation was given tickets to see the Colorado Avalanche play the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome, hosted by Calfac, Transcanada, and Suncor Energy. Sadly, the Av’s lost but the game was a good one.

The following day was full of meetings and a ton of walking in downtown Calgary. We had a breakfast round-table with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the U.S. Consul General in Canada, were they gave us a great
presentation on the energy resources in Alberta (CAPP Presentation, Alberta’s Oil Sands). Our next meeting was at Suncor’s headquarters in Calgary, where we met CEO Steve Williams and discussed their future plans in Colorado. Our next meeting was a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada. Governor Hickenlooper gave a keynote speech, discussing the integral nature that energy plays in economic development, national security, and climate change and how breakthrough technologies are quickly changing the energy landscape with broad implications for Canada and the U.S. After a great networking luncheon, we were on to the next meeting with Enbridge, who handles the infrastructure for the oil and gas industry mainly with pipelines. We walked back to the hotel…finally a chance to rest my poor feet…a few minutes later we were back on the streets on our way to a reception at the Calgary Petroleum Club hosted by CH2M Hill Canada CEO Tom Searle. Finally our last stop was a debriefing dinner with the Governor hosted by Central Resources Inc., where everyone in the delegation could relax a little and take their “business hats” off. The Governor thanked everyone for coming and thanked all of our hosts and sponsors of the trip. I had my opportunity to talk to the Governor, took a picture showing his support for the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks, not to be confused with the Texas Longhorns or any other sub-par institution (Go MAVS!)

Overall the trip was great and very productive and created 5 new leads for GJEP. For more photos of the trip check out our Facebook page.

~Mariah Campbell, Business Development Manager

The GJEP board of directors unanimously voted to send a letter of support to urge the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) to separate the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) processes for the leases above and below the rim of the Roan Plateau. We are concerned that if one Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (“SEIS”) is done for both the above and below the rim leases, this process will be drawn out for many years and will preclude or delay valuable natural gas resources from being developed from leases already adjacent to natural gas infrastructure.

The development of the leases below the rim will have a positive economic impact in our community, even though the project area is located in Garfield County. A large number of the workforce – both direct and indirect – reside, recreate, and shop in the Grand Junction metropolitan area.

The energy operators are strong, supportive, involved members of the local and regional community and the Colorado River Valley Field Office Field Office (“CRVFO”) Roan Plateau Resource Management Plan Amendment should reflect the intrinsic importance of the energy industry on our tourism and recreation industries as well as the value to our local communities.

As you know, GJEP loves JOBS. So, around Valentine’s Day, GJEP issued a survey to our investors asking questions about their current and future workforce needs. We received responses primarily by those in the IT/Professional Services, Construction and Healthcare sectors.

Half of the respondents expressed difficulty recruiting talent due to a lack of specialized skills required for their particular fields. Of those responses the lacking workforce was primarily in IT and technical related fields. Customer service and soft skills (such as appropriate work attire and time management) were also identified as lacking in the community.

One of the main things GJEP was trying to determine was if businesses in the area have succession plans. A whopping 72% of businesses that responded to the survey had succession plans! Congratulations to those businesses – that is a great way to prepare for the future. For those of you who do not, Barbara Traylor Smith with Retirement Outfitters, LLC will be providing free training on succession planning on May 7, 2013 at 4:00pm. The training will take place at 633 24 Road, Suite C. To register for this training, contact Barbara directly. She may be reached at (970) 256-1748 or via email at Barbara@gjretire.com.

For those of you trying to beef up your employee’s skills contact Sue Tuffin at the Mesa County Workforce Center (970) 248-0871, or Brigitte Sundermann at Western Colorado Community College (970) 255-2600. They are able to put together specialized programs to advance your facility.

GJEP has posted a new “Featured Local Business”, Chez Lena at Western Colorado Community College.

Chez Lena restaurant specializes in hand crafted entree and appetizer items using fresh, local ingredients. Chez Lena is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11:30am-1:30pm, reservations are recommended but not required. Chez Lena gives aspiring culinary students the chance to showcase their abilities in the kitchen as well as practicing their people skills in the dining room. Chez Lena gives culinary students the opportunity to operate within a real world environment and experience the many facets of culinary arts and restaurant management.

The food is extremely delicious and the waiters/waitresses are charming. Chez Lena is considered a “white table cloth” restaurant, also known to many as fine dining. The type of meal that comes out of the kitchen at Chez Lena is a culinary masterpiece. When possible, the students try to incorporate locally grown produce and sustainable organic foods in their dishes. Special menu items are available upon request including vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and dairy free items. The program has plans to add a green house outside the facility to grow ingredients to be used in the restaurant.

Two different classes service the Chez Lena restaurant and provide a great learning environment for the culinary students. In the dining area students focus on practicing and learning dining room and beverage management and in the kitchen, gourmet meals are cooked from scratch by students under the direction of Certified Executive Chef, John St. Peter, winner of the Colorado Chef of the Year for 2013, in the advanced line cooking class to practice cooking for the needs of multiple hungry patrons. Entrees run about $10 to $12 and dessert is just a few dollars more.

Chez Lena is also the perfect place to hold your business and/or luncheon meetings. Chez Lena provide rooms equipped with information technology as well as seasonal menu items. Meeting rooms are completely free of charge and provide a great environment.

Enrollment in the program has doubled over the last several years. Currently there are 150 students in the culinary arts program at the Western Colorado Community College. The program emphasizes techniques of a modern culinary kitchen and offers an option to earn a one or two-year degree. Students learn anywhere from cooking and baking from scratch, skills for soups, sauces, meat and seafood production to yeast-raised breads, cakes, pies, and pastries. The program focuses on the fundamentals of nutrition, menu planning, cost control, purchasing, marketing, safety, and sanitation.

The program has a kitchen lab that has all of the technology and equipment you would find in a commercial kitchen. Currently the program is constructing an additional kitchen lab for classes that focus on breads, pastries, cakes and pies. With the new expansion and additional classes in baking the program enrollment is expected to double within the next five years to 340 students.

As the City of Grand Junction’s election approaches, GJEP would like to express its support of Measure B (related to TABOR) and explain why we believe it is important to economic development.

Community investment in its infrastructure lies at the heart of economic development. It allows all industries to flourish within a community.

Infrastructure encourages goods and services to flow with ease in and out of our community. Commercial development more often than not follows investments in infrastructure. The ability to pool resources regionally facilitates local and regional economic growth. The need for investment in solid infrastructure for all communities never disappears; the need only increases as a means to support the economic activity of growing economies.

The City of Grand Junction is proposing an investment in this community’s infrastructure in the form of Measure B. Funds currently in the City’s coffers from a previous TABOR override require a community vote to be invested in City infrastructure. These funds are critical to advancing economic growth in Grand Junction. Any number of worthy transportation projects could receive these funds.

The proposed 29 Road interchange could lead to the development of a new industrial park with easy access to the interstate as well as the Grand Junction Regional Airport and could alleviate some heavy traffic on certain mainstays in the City. The renovation of Horizon Drive or North Avenue could revive areas that serve as gateways into our community and could entice tourists to explore more of what our great community has to offer. The widening of 24 Road would be another growth opportunity and provide an additional corridor well positioned for business growth. Any and all of these projects advance the mission of the original TABOR override, which was to provide funds for transportation projects.

By voting in favor of Measure B, you will not be increasing your current tax burden. You will be allowing current funds the continued use in the manner of the original approval: Infrastructure.

Advance our community and the infrastructure within it by voting to support Measure B.

Outdoor Retailer-Salt Palace Convention Center

Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks!!

Winter Outdoor Retailer (OR)-Salt Lake City, UT

OR consists of every brand  of outdoor, yoga and active lifestyle you can think of; with 1,000 exhibitors and over 20,000 people  in attendance.  At the end of January I left our beautiful but very cold Valley and headed to Salt Lake City for the Winter Outdoor Retailer Show. The ultimate goal of the OR show is for retailers who sell outdoor and active lifestyle goods to meet manufacturer’s reps and start making selections for their fall/winter 2014 stock. It is also a great way to connect with suppliers of fabrics and raw materials as well as distributors and wholesalers. At the show you pick up on new trends and future direction in the industry.

Smartwool party downtown SLC with a live band

The show started early so I set up a booth for the Western Colorado Economic Alliance (WCEA) and then started exploring the show floor. The Western Colorado Economic Alliance is a regional partnership of economic development organizations on the Western Slope of Colorado; including but not limited to Steamboat Springs, Vail, Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Grand Junction, Delta, Montrose and Durango. The WCEA is working on a regional level to attract outdoor gear manufacturing companies to the Western Slope. Some of the WCEA partners such as the Steamboat Chamber of Commerce and Vail Valley Partnership, traveled to Salt Lake to help man the booth and explore the show. With help from the State of Colorado the WCEA was able to get funding to host a networking party at the show with food and Colorado beer.

The first few days I walked the show floor identifying companies with products that would fit with Mesa County’s climate and culture, as well as smaller companies that are well positioned for expansion. I logged miles just browsing the aisles of this show. I attended social hours and networking events, and met a lot of people within the industry and learned a lot about the outdoor gear manufacturing world. I plan to use these insights in my recruiting efforts. I also set up a few appointments to meet with interested companies.

Pete Ballantine, winner of the Honey Skateboard Giveaway

Toward the end of the week, I made sure to say “hi” to our local companies like Loki and some of our regional companies like O Loves M, Big Agnes, Honey Stinger, Bap, & Krimson Klover. The WCEA booth got a lot of traffic and I was excited to promote Mesa County. A local company, Honey Skateboards, donated a longboard as a “giveaway prize” at our booth which also helped to generate a lot of traffic. Overall we learned a lot, made a lot of connections, promoted Mesa County and we are looking forward to an even better experience at the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show.

Snowsports Industries America (SIA) Snow Show-Denver, CO

Georgetown, CO

The SIA Snow Show is the week following the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake. Once OR was over, I got back in my car and went to Denver for another week of walking. The SIA Snow Show has a different atmosphere than the OR Show and I can’t quite explain why, it just has a different feel to it. SIA is a big show with a focus on the Snowsports Industry. SIA’s goal is very similar to OR’s; essentially retailers meeting with manufacturer’s reps to place orders for next year to see new trends in the industry. SIA has a longer “On Snow” portion to their tradeshow where retailers can test the new equipment, apparel and accessories before they place their orders for their stores. Ski & Snowboard manufacturers were there as well as snowsports apparel and accessory manufacturers. It was great to see so many Colorado companies there as well as our beloved local company Loki. I talked to a few companies and walked the show floor and identified a few potential companies for recruiting.

These two tradeshows were a great experience and I’m looking forward to future shows and using what I’ve learned.

Do you know any outdoor companies that would love doing business in Mesa County?  Send them our way. If you have any questions or comments about my travels please email me mariah@gjep.org.

With the start of a new year, there are always changes. That is no exception to our Board of Directors. We have new officers elected, and we now have all open board seats filled. We are excited about the new group of board members and what perspective they will bring to the organization.

Steve Acquafresca took over Janet Rowland’s seat, representing the Mesa County Commissioners. Steve brings many years of county experience with him, and an understanding of the importance of GJEP within our community.

Theresa High, proprietor of Colterris Wine and High Country Orchards has also joined the GJEP board.  Theresa brings a unique perspective of the wine and agriculture industries of the Grand Valley.

Denny Granum has moved into an Emeritus position on the board. We value his experience as a founding member of GJEP, as well as his community ties to different organizations within the area. We are glad to be able to continue to look to him for guidance for years to come.

 
Jamie Hamilton, Chairman and CEO of Home Loan Investment is also joining GJEP. Jamie has been a supporter in the past, and we are happy to renew our relationship with him.

 
The last new addition to GJEP is Steve ErkenBrack, President & CEO of Rocky Mountain Health Plans. We are grateful that Steve is able to carve out some time to take on a larger supporting role in our organization. Rocky Mountain Health Plans have been a supporter of GJEP for many years, and we are looking forward to our continued partnership with them.

Thank you to all the past and present board members who dedicate your time to make our organization and community a better place for everyone.

GJEP completed the first board meeting of the new year, and with that comes the approval of new officers of the Board of Directors.

Jay Seaton, Publisher of the Daily Sentinel is taking over for John Williams, Attorney; for the Chair of the GJEP board. Ed Forsman, President of FCI Constructors will be Vice-Chair for the 2013 year. Clark Atkinson, Vice President of Shaw Construction will be serving as Secretary and Fred Eggleston, Account Manager at Xcel Energy will be retaining his Treasurer position.

We are excited about the changes, and look forward to another great year of moving our mission forward to advance the ball in economic Development for the Grand Valley.

Visit our website to stay up-to-date on upcoming board additions.