Death Spurs Group Into Action Silver Valley Economic Development Seeks New Leader

Leaders of the Silver Valley Economic Development Corp. have renewed their efforts to honor the efforts of Jim Hays, the group’s leader, who died last Thursday.

Hays was the executive director of the firm from 1989 until he retired from the post in early December. Hays, 79, died from complications after heart surgery at Spokane’s Sacred Heart Medical Center.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Silver Valley’s mining industry in the early 1990s, Hays worked to develop an industrial park to bring high-paying jobs back to the valley.

The park remains on the drawing board today, but Hays advanced the project significantly, said Bill Dire, manager the First Security Bank branch in Wallace and chairman of the corporation.

The search committee continues to sort through candidates to replace Hays, but Dire on Wednesday named Linda Burnette of Wallace as interim director.

Active in many community boards and executive director of the Northern Pacific Depot Museum, Burnette said Hays will be a “tough act to follow.

“We’ll try to keep the momentum going,” she said Friday. “It’s really amazing to see all the excitement and enthusiasm from our business professionals here.”

The Silver Valley Business Center will be located in the Smelterville area. Preliminary engineering for the facility was completed last month, Dire said, and now a business plan will be written.

The idea is to build a center to attract light industrial companies to move in, bringing jobs with them. Though more of the silver mines in the valley are open than in previous years, the county still has some of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

The development corporation also administers a program that helps people improve their homes, Brunette said. The group has $200,000 that helps lower interest rates on home improvement loans in the valley.

During her interim tenure, Brunette hopes to gather business leaders and officials familiar with grant writing to brainstorm ideas on how to get more money for the business park.

The group has about 50 members, whose dues finance the corporation’s activities. Dire said he hopes to have a successor to Hays and Brunette by April 1.

Hays, of Silverton, was a longtime land developer in California until moving to the Silver Valley in 1989 from Santa Maria, Calif. He is survived by his wife, Jane, five children, two stepchildren and 11 grandchildren.

, DataTimes