Garfield County commissioners agreed Monday to fund three separate economic development requests, including community-based efforts in Carbondale and Rifle to attract new businesses and help existing ones grow.
As an extension of its efforts to create jobs, the county will also put up money to put area youth and young adults to work this year through the Western Colorado Conservation Corps.
Commissioners approved spending $150,000 from the county’s discretionary funds on the various efforts, including $25,000 each for the Carbondale Economic Development Partnership and the Rifle Regional Economic Development Corp.
The county will also work with the Grand Junction-based Western Colorado Conservation Corps to set up at least two work crews in Garfield County, using Garfield County workers ages 18-22, at an estimated cost of $40,000 per crew.
“I want to get going with this,” said Commissioner Mike Samson, who suggested the money for the various efforts come out of discretionary funds rather than the county’s economic development programs fund.
“I see these kinds of programs as a worthwhile use of our discretionary budget, and I don’t have a problem spending from there,” he said.
