Amador County – Business leaders on Tuesday asked the Amador County Board of Supervisors for an investment of $50,000 over the next two years, with the aim to create a new local economic development corporation.

Amador County Business Council President Anne Platt asked Supervisors for $25,000 a year for the next two years to form a new Economic Development Corporation (EDC), to supplant the Amador Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) headed by Ron Mittelbrunn.

Platt said one of the major issues facing the county is job creation, and the Business Council has raised over $80,000 in private funds to start the EDC.

Platt, CEO of Sutter Amador Hospital, said “it’s time to create a user-friendly environment, so businesses can locate here and so existing businesses can expand.” Asking the county to put in $50,000 over two years, she said the County could sit on the new EDC board, and the Corporation would be separate from the Business Council.

She said her employer Sutter Amador Hospital invested $10,000 over the last two years. Other contributors Stan Lukowicz (of Trader Stan’s) and Rich Hoffman (CEO of the Jackson Rancheria Casino) each gave $20,000; and Amador Association of Realtors and Jim & Suzy Gullett of Vino Noceto each gave $5,000.

Business Council Vice President Paul Molinelli Junior said the private sector-led EDC would try to “address the retail linkage issue” where Amador County residents drive out of the county to work and shop. He said “we want them to live here, to work here and to shop here.” Molinelli said the goal is to raise $320,000, and they expect to have a budget of about $120,000 a year. He said his company, ACES Waste Services, has invested $10,000 toward that goal.

Amador County Business Council Executive Director Jim Conklin said the proposed 501(c)6 corporation, the Economic Development Corporation, would suggest $25,000 in annual funding from the County, under a contract, to be renewed annually. Conklin said: “We feel that there has got to be a series of measurements, annual or biannual reports, so that you can gauge exactly how successful your investment has been.”

He pointed to Littleton, Colorado, which doubled its job-base in 10 years by promoting programs to expand existing businesses. Conklin said “this new EDC would have a loan packaging process” and “bring a significant portion of the private sector to the table.”

The Business Council plans to take the investment request to cities, but wanted to take it to Supervisors first, he said. Supervisor Richard Forster said: “You might be hard-pressed to get $5,000 out of Ione right now.” Conklin said it is “not so much the amount of money” as being a part of the Corporation.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.