HomeMy Public PortalAbout2018.11.29 S DavenportCouncil Member Thomas Sowers 17 Nov 18
McCall, Idaho
Re: Midas Gold Idaho Community Agreement
Thank you for taking a few minutes to review my letter regarding The
Community Agreement.
Some back ground information. A few years ago The McCall Chamber of
Commerce Strategic Initiative subcommittee had just finished reviewing the
McCall Area Leadership Academy, The Academy is going great, and is a
great conduit for communications around The West Central Mountains for
developing new leaders.
Richard Jayo of Frontier Communications requested time to explain to the
committee a new contest Frontier was putting out. The America's Best
Communities Contest was revealed. As the committee listened and thanked
Richard, I asked how is McCall going to meet the population requirement.
Well, all of us in the area would have to join in. I then asked how are we
going to get Donnelly and Cascade and the rest to talk to McCall, I have
been working on this for 20 plus years.
Yes, the committee took on the challenge and got the West Central
Mountains to join together to WIN the Contest finishing in the Top 8 of the
entire United States of America. A steering committee of 12+ people came
together, for close to 2 years, to communicate and WIN.
A side note, The Valley County Economic Development Council, started by
a few of us, including a past McCall Mayor, saw that the whole Region is
affected by economics so the council changed it's name to represent
everyone in The West Central Mountains Economic Development Council
Why this history lesson? This new Community Agreement proposed by
Midas Gold has been developed by those same people who got others to
join McCall in winning the ABC Contest. They worked for over a year to
get the language right so this Agreement can be used to assure any large
organization coming into OUR area is talking to everyone. These people are
concerned about development in our area and not having a mechanism so all
concerns could be vetted ahead of any development.
A lot of developments and communities wish, after the fact, they had such
an agreement. I know of a few communities who have/had large operations
and had a larger organization buy the first out, and then changed how the
business was being run ignoring the communities.
The Community Agreement presented by Midas Gold Idaho is the right way
to assure communications, with no binding commitments, is open and done
in a civil manner, before, during and after any major project. Basically
Midas Gold Idaho is providing an opportunity for us to have a seat at the
table to assure a healthy life style in The West Central Mountains.
Finally, The Community Agreement is the right thing to do to assure McCall
is at the table. The way jobs are being shut down around our area and
projects to protect us are being stopped, we need this avenue to maintain our
communities and communications to the outside world.
Thank you. Please join the agreement as soon as possible so that McCall
can continue the communication venue Started by Those Same ABC
Winners. Yes others came to help McCall WIN, NOW it is time for
McCall to step up, to help The West Central Mountains be WINNERS
again.
Thank You
Scotty Davenport
West CentraVS4ountains community member