June 25, 2013 03:44 PM UTC

"Economic Development" and its Jeffco ATM Card

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• by: Colorado Pols

Hey, it's a win-win for everybody, right! The county pays the salary and benefits, and somebody else gets to use the employee! From The Columbine Courier:

The Jeffco Economic Development Corp. has officially launched its $3.9 million Forward Jeffco initiative to bring more businesses to the county — and with it came another new pitch to the Jeffco commissioners for more support.

The EDC, a nonprofit economic development organization headed by former county commissioner Kevin McCasky, wants a county employee assigned to work with the EDC and to act as a liaison between Jeffco and the business community. The employee would be trained by the EDC and work out of both the EDC’s and the county’s offices — and would receive full pay and benefits from the county…

  …Earlier this year, the EDC asked the county to provide $100,000 for Forward Jeffco, in addition to the $300,000 Jeffco gives the group annually.

If you think this idea sounds completely ridiculous, you're not alone. Jefferson County Administrator Ralph Schell seems unconvinced:

“I don’t understand the details. I’m not being critical of it,” Schell said. “If we had staff who didn’t have a lot to do, we shouldn’t have that staff.” [Pols emphasis]

Rosier and Tighe agreed, and directed the county to work with the EDC on refining the proposal.

Along with sharing an employee, the EDC left the door open for seeking more funds from the county. [EDC Chair Fred] Baker said that in the future the EDC might seek another $50,000 to $75,000 from the commissioners for a specific project. 

The EDC "left the door open for seeking more funds from the county?" Seriously? Is the county just the EDC's private bank?

You may recall that McCasky, a former County Commissioner, was slapped with an Ethics Violation for maneuvering to get the EDC an additional $400,000 in funding from the county just before he announced that he was resigning his seat to become the new Executive Director of the EDC.

Here's an idea for improving Jeffco's economy: stop giving all your damn money away. It's about time that somebody over at the Taj Mahal take away the EDC's "County ATM card."