Government officials and stakeholders discuss priorities and opportunities
Submitted
Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA) today announced that it held a Walker River Corridor summit in Yerington on Aug. 12. Summit participants discussed economic development priorities and opportunities for the area that spans both Lyon and Mineral Counties and goes from Smith Valley to Yerington to Hawthorne. The Walker River Corridor is one of six economic corridors which comprise Nevada’s Sierra Region and where NNDA directs its economic development efforts.
Government officials attending the summit included Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall, Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen (District 32), Mineral County Commissioner Chris Hegg, Mineral County District Attorney Sean Rowe and Lyon County Manager Jeff Page. Western Nevada College President Dr. Vince Solis attended the meeting, along with representatives from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Yerington Pauite Tribe, NV Energy, Hawthorne Army Depot Base and Nevada Rural Housing Authority.
NNDA President & CEO, Robert “Rob” Hooper, introduced Amy Miller, NNDA’s new Business Support Specialist. The Yerington resident is NNDA’s business development team member assigned to focus on the Walker River Corridor.
Lt. Governor Marshall discussed the importance of small business to Nevada’s economy and state initiatives to support small business creation and growth. She was followed by Mr. Hooper’s explanation of Nevada’s unique statewide economic development system and NNDA’s regional approach for economic development.
Participants then turned their attention to the Walker River Corridor. Current economic and demographic information was reviewed before the participants focused on economic development priorities and opportunities for this area. The discussion included infrastructure and housing needs, governance challenges, workforce development to support existing and new businesses, and the types of companies that would help diversify the corridor’s economy while driving growth in alignment with the goals of each county. Leveraging and building on existing collaboration and coordination efforts between Lyon and Mineral Counties were also part of the conversation.
“Mineral County is excited to be part of Nevada’s Sierra Region,” said Chris Hegg, Chairman, Mineral County Board of Commissioners. “The discussions during the Walker River Corridor summit helped in understanding how regional economic development coordination can help each individual county achieve its goals while leveraging the assets of the entire region to support all of the counties.”
According to Jeff Page, Lyon County Manager, “The value of regional economic development is being able to identify an economic corridor, like the Walker River area, and then coordinate resources available in the entire region. We can collaboratively achieve economic growth which benefits both Lyon and Mineral Counties, while still ensuring the unique characteristics and individual goals of each county are taken into consideration.”
After summarizing the meeting discussions, Rob Hooper told the group that NNDA plans to hold more summits for the area over the next year. They will be opportunities for those unable to attend this first summit, key stakeholders, and local business leaders to participate in the economic development of the Walker River Corridor and help to shape its future.
It was nice a summit was held, yet there is no mention of actions currently being planned or implemented and where they were; and, there does not appear to be any plan of how this group is moving forward. How do the residents in the areas covered know what is happening. The Mineral County Commissioner that was quotes states the county is part of the Sierra group, yet the NNDA website does not show Mineral County as part of this group. There are a lot of comments about “pooling” assets, but no talk about what the assets are. The “Pioneer Awards” on their website are for existing entities, which have been around for a long time. I see where they may be used to cut through the red tape, some of their claims are interesting – such as their being the reason vacancy rates went from 20% to 3%. According to “Commercial Property Executive” ( https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/national-vacancies-4/ ) the rate for vacancy for the “west” as a whole has been down for some years, showing around 5.5% in 3Q 2014 and just under 4% in 1Q 2019. Seems there needs to be more research and information as to their plans for Mineral County, or are they waiting for companies to ask them for help when it comes to locating there?