ECBC information on incentives/upcoming banquet April 6

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Emery County Business Chamber has hosted several training sessions for local businesses to help them learn of incentives available to help their businesses. In addition to the incentives, information has been presented on loans from the Emery County Economic Development Council and the Association of Local Governments.
Todd Thorne from the AOG said their organization helps businesses with a revolving loan fund and also cities and counties with grants for infrastructure development. They have housing programs to make homes more liveable. They also work with the local food banks.
For the business loans they can provide gap financing if a business isn’t able to get all they need from a bank. The business must fill out the application forms for the loan and provide tax information to see if the business is profitable.
“We want to set people up to succeed,” said Thorne. The business must put up collateral, that can take any form, anything of value, cars, 4-wheelers, cows, etc. The loan terms are from three-10 years. If the loan is for property or a building, then up to 10 years with a rate of five-seven percent; the rates from the AOG are a bit higher interest because there is more risk.
As businesses pay off their loans, there is more money in the pot for future loans. The AOG will not lend more than $100,000 to one business. The money for the revolving loan fund came originally from a grant of $500,000. This money has generated through the counties of Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan and the Navajo reservation several times.
The community development block grants can be used for water and sewer projects, low income housing and recreation projects. This grant covers a variety of projects.
Applications are accepted year-round. The AOG has a board which reviews the applications and makes the decisions on the loans. It takes up to a month for an approval. Loans can be for new or existing businesses.
The Emery County Business Chamber installation and awards banquet will be on April 6, the speaker will be Joe Abraham. He will speak on Business DNA, what are the strengths of each of your team members? who does what the best? The caterer for the event will be BKs and will be held at Millers Landing beginning at 6 p.m. Cost is $25.
At the recent chamber lunch Dave Petty from Bronco mine spoke of Consol coal mine reopening. He said they are in the permitting stage right now. They are doing salvage work and preparing a new portal on the south side. It will be a fully operational coal mine. They hope to be into coal by summer and run three crews. Right now they have a skeleton crew at the mine doing preparation work. “We hope to bring a little coal mining back to the area,” said Petty.
Part City was awarded the business of the month award. They are in the former Jack’s Motors building in Huntington. They offer a full line of auto parts and car care items. They are a Walker Mower distributor and offer small engine repair. Their hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 am. -2 p.m. on Saturday.
Jordan Leonard is the economic development director for Emery County. He said the county is working to develop tax incentives to bring businesses into the county.
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you’ve already mastered you’ll never grow,” said Leonard.
The county businesses must look at ways to diversify. “It’s nice to hear that Bronco is ready to expand. How do people find you? Are you on social media? You need to get a website. You need an on-line presence. The custom fit program is available for training. You need to be aware of what’s available to help you. There are revolving loan funds, enterprise zones, fast track grants. The Small Business Development Center is easy to use, they host trainings for small businesses. They have speciality trainings including MSHA, OSHA, first aid classes; they offer funding to offset the costs of these trainings.”
“Avenue H is a one stop shop for health care, they can give training on that for employers.
“We’ve had two businesses recently use the Fast Track grants. This is a 50-50 match grant so a business can expand, build a building, etc. You must be a profitable business and hire a new employee to qualify for this grant.
“The Emery County Economic Development Council is offering a Main Street Incentive program. They will match up to $1,000 to help your business get a new sign or increase your curb appeal. It can be used to paint or improve the outside of your building. The money can also be used for website development.
“The Emery County Economic Development Council can loan up to $40,000, this is gap financing to expand or improve your business. There is a committee that evaluates these loan applications.
“The Utah Office of Economic Development has developed enterprise zones and tax credits for businesses. There are recycling zones, there are tax credits for adding new employees. There are a lot of businesses in the county that could use these tax credits. The Emery County Travel Bureau is offering $5,000 in grant/match money for businesses to help with signage and other business improvements,” said Leonard.
Leonard encouraged local businesses to take advantage of the trainings and incentives for local businesses to improve the business climate in the county.
Chamber President Jared Anderson gave out the door prizes and the shop at home campaign prizes. He encouraged everyone to support the local businesses that do so much to support the county. Big winners in the shop at home campaign were Makalie and Jordan Snow who took home the I-Pad mini donated by Emery Telcom, Gift certificate winners for Stewart’s Market donated by Stewarts and the Emery County Progress were Kari Alton, Christine Story and Roger Swenson and Peggy Kremers won Emery County Bucks; door prize winners included: Jonathan Johansen and Heidi Migliori, Justin Johansen, Marilyn Fauver, Nicole Steele and Amanda Leonard.
Businesses are encouraged to join the Emery County Chamber by calling Jaime Anderson at 435-590-8175. Please RSVP to Jaime and come to the business chamber banquet. There will be a silent auction at the banquet to raise funds for the Childrens Justice Center.
Joe Abraham is the speaker for the Emery County Chamber Installation and awards banquet is a professional entrepreneur whose ethos is to expand the performance of people and businesses. A coach and catalyst at heart, Joe’s passion is to see individuals and companies break through plateaus in growth and achieve the next level of success.
Joe built successful companies of his own in distribution, technology and professional services in the first 15 years of his entrepreneurial career. In 2008 he developed the BOSI Methodology – which led to the authoring of Entrepreneurial DNA (McGraw Hill 2011) – his critically acclaimed book that sold out of its first printing and was named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of top business books to read in 2014. The book and methodology are used around the world – from university classrooms to the Fortune 500.
He currently owns a championship-winning youth soccer club and co-owns lifezone360 – a youth sports and events brand in Chicago with plans to open 20 locations in the next 10 years. Joe also has a portfolio of investments in early stage and mature ventures ranging from technology to manufacturing and serves on the board of two faith-based non profits.