New county post

Position created to oversee economic development efforts, legislative matters

Yuma County officials are hoping to expand their influence on economic development and legislative matters with the hiring of a new employee to oversee progress on both.

“It’s sort of been my impression that we sort of contribute to the economic development efforts in the area, but we’re really not very visible or very active in it,” county Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Reyes said last week.

“For some reason, the economic development efforts of the region have become the mayors’ thing,” he added.

With construction still rare in the unincorporated areas of the county and continued battles with the state Legislature over unfunded budget mandates, County Administrator Susan Thorpe said having a point person for both came up frequently in her budget discussions with the five county supervisors.

“Especially with the adoption of the board’s economic development policy, they adopted a virtual building, they adopted opportunity zones, we have a number of economic development tools now that we need someone to activate and make sure they get implemented now,” she said.

This includes making sure companies that are given incentive packages meet all the benchmarks required to keep them, and publicizing the “virtual building” program, which will allow some new structures to get through the permitting process more quickly.

The idea of a Director of Economic Development and Legislative Affairs position was never mentioned during the May budget hearings, but Thorpe said a reduction in the county’s obligations to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System program freed up funding for the job. The annual salary being advertised is from

$82,326 to $130,104.

In recent years Yuma County has relied on the Arizona County Supervisors’ Association for its state lobbying efforts, having cut its own lobbyist position about 10 years ago due to the recession.

And its annual contributions to the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation have been in lieu of having an employee dedicated to attracting new employers to the area.

But Reyes doesn’t anticipate the county will cut back on its annual GYEDC contribution, now at $140,000, to cover the new employee’s salary.

“I can tell you personally that my idea of creating the position and being more active doesn’t go well with reducing our funding or reducing our contribution. It doesn’t play well,” he said.

“It’s to be able to participate more actively and to be able to actually oversee how those monies are spent, a little better than we do now,” he said.

Over the last few years county officials have been taking steps to be more visible in trade and development-focused organizations, including the 4FrontED cross-border alliance and the Arizona-Mexico Commission.

“There’s a concerted effort now to try to become active players and try to have a presence in the majority of these efforts, and that’s what this position is supposed to do for us,” he said.

Though the new hire will have a “director” title, he or she will not be supervising anyone else, at least for now, Thorpe said.

“This will be a one-person department, that’s for sure,” she said, though it will involve more than just economic developmentrelated activities. “They will be coordinating with all the directors and myself, and the board, to make sure they understand our legislative priorities and put them into written proposals for CSA and NaCO (National Association of Counties).”

Yuma Sun staff writer Blake Herzog can be reached at (928) 539-6856 or bherzog@yumasun.com.