There is something to be said for the number of economic symposiums that have been held in Kalispell since the first of the year. It’s evidence that political and business leaders alike are fully aware that the Flathead economy is in dire straits and there is no easy answer as to how it should be restarted or even reinvented.
In January, it was the Economic Future of the Flathead breakfast, where a packed house of attendees were told that construction starts were at a 40-year low and the only sectors that added jobs were those in government, education and health care, and those were minimal. Employment numbers aren’t expected to recover until 2011.
Depressing. But haven’t we heard this before?
A few weeks later, two University of Montana economists, Paul Polzin and Patrick Barkey, visited the Flathead, predicting a long, slow recovery from the Great Recession. They projected a rebound in commodity and energy industries, but they also predicted that mill closures, thus job losses, in the wood products industry were permanent. Polzin foresaw a miniscule 0.7 percent growth in wages next year.
We get it. The economy is bad.
Then, last week, Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher hosted The Flathead Valley Economic Summit, which focused primarily on how local businesses can capitalize on Glacier National Park’s centennial coming off a year in which the park enjoyed more than 2 million visitors. At least the mayor stated unequivocally: “I don’t think we can sit back and wait for our federal government to fix everything or wait for the next big industry.” Or, in other words, what are we going to do about it?
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Reports on the Flathead’s economic conditions have grown all too predictable. Two of our biggest industries, logging and construction, have shed jobs that aren’t coming back any time soon. High unemployment numbers will persist until more entrepreneurs take risks and find reasons to set up shop in the Flathead and existing ones are able to capitalize on our steadiest of industries: tourism.
So, while it’s encouraging to see business owners and politicians “networking” and discussing the tough position in which the Flathead finds itself, it is certainly time instead to act on the viable ideas – if there are any – that are coming out of these meetings.
On March 11, another economic symposium is scheduled for Kalispell. The difference with this one, “Success in the New West,” is that it will focus on people who have already made money and jobs in Montana and who are perhaps the most qualified to give advice on how to capitalize on the area’s fickle economy.
Kalispell is unique in that it is miles from the closest interstate, so jobs that require transportation are much harder to launch here. But our remoteness is also an asset for potential telecommuters who wish to work in the shadow of one of the most pristine parks in the world.
Still, Fisher is right. And someone, anyone, needs to crack the whip. We no longer need to pinpoint what the problem is. We know that. What we need now is to find a solution.
In the last election, several new officials were elected in the valley’s largest cities. And we’re turning to these new faces to resurrect an economy that has been in free fall. But that job, inevitably, falls to the private sector.
City officials are tasked with luring and directing business development and right now they should make it clear that any discussion involving our economic growth is beyond the networking stage. The only pertinent questions remaining concern what form our action will take.