At the July 3 board of county commissioner meeting, it was unclear whether Mineral County had been accepted into the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED).

A letter from March 25, addressed to chairman of the board, Chris Hegg from GOED Deputy Director Matthew P. Moore reads as follows, “Thank you for your March 15, 2019, notification requesting to align Mineral County with the Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA). The Governor’s Office of Economic Development acknowledges this request. Our current contract with NNDA expires June 30, 2019. We will include Mineral County, and any associated funding, in our next contract with NNDA on July 1, 2019.”

On Thursday, July 11, NNDA accepted Mineral County into their service area. The Nevada’s Sierra Region includes: Carson City, Douglas County, Lyon County and Storey County.

The Nevada’s Sierra Region has a land mass total of 7,009 square miles and a population over 165,45, which now includes Mineral County.

“Nevada is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, and Mineral County needs to leverage that activity to grow and diversify its own economy,” said Chris Hegg, Chairman, Mineral County Board of Commissioners. “After considering the economic impact NNDA has been able to achieve since 2010, both for the Sierra Region as a whole and for each of its member counties individually, it became apparent that the organization’s approach could help our county achieve its economic development goals.”

On July 1, NNDA received over $60,000 in funding for Mineral County economic purposes. Robert “Rob” Hooper, NNDA President and CEO explained that a good example of his organization’s approach to development is the Walker River Corridor which spans Lyon and Mineral Counties. The press release explains that the “corridor” spans from Yerington to smith Valley to Hawthorne and shares a workforce with many “possibilities for diversifying the economic base for both counties.” He states agriculture and mining are two growing industries in these areas.

“NNDA is excited to be working with Mineral County and believes it complements the rest of the Sierra Region counties. Though the region is very large geographically, its communities are all interconnected and interdependent. What affects once area, town, city or county, affects the entire region. This is quite different from traditional urban areas where economic impacts tend to be concentrated within a more compact geographic area.”

Mineral County was under the direction of Shelley Hartmann, the current executive director of Mineral County Economic Development Authority. She has been in the position since 2004 where she offers job placement assistance, business startup and economic development consulting for businesses wishing to make the move to rural Nevada.

Current plans for the Mineral County Economic Development Authority have not been shared with the Independent-News and Hartmann did not comment for the story