St. Maries isn’t left to its own resources

Kim Schwanz officially got a full-time job Tuesday.

The executive director of Timber Plus, Benewah County’s economic development agency, received a $25,000 check from Idaho Gov. Jim Risch during a brief ceremony in the courthouse lobby. The grant doubles the funding for Timber Plus, which is looking at several initiatives that would help diversify the area’s resource-dependent economy.

Timber Plus is one of 12 agencies around Idaho helping identify economic opportunities for rural communities. With Idaho’s economy thriving — unemployment has been below 4 percent for 17 straight months — Risch says the state has money to help out small towns not enjoying a full share of prosperity.

“The metropolitan areas seem to have an economic engine of their own,” he says. “The rural areas need this catalyst.”

In several communities, most recently Burley and Jerome, the state has supplemented the operating funds with separate financing for capital improvements like an industrial water system.

Most of the rural agencies have received additional funding this year out of a special fund administered by the governor’s office. Although, in theory, the funds are a one-time grant, Risch says he expects the additional support to be on-going.

That’s good news for Schwanz who, also in theory, was working half-time, but seldom punched out on Friday with just 20 hours on the clock.

A St. Maries native, Schwanz put in 23 years with Potlatch Corp., adding duty at Timber Plus three years ago as his hours with the company were cut back. Potlatch is the community’s largest employer, a status emblematic of St. Maries’ continued reliance on the timber industry. But with its view of the lower St. Joe and St. Maries rivers and an attractive main street, St. Maries’ potential as a tourism or retirement outpost is obvious, especially on a gleaming October day.

The aroma of fresh-cut lumber sweetens the air.

Schwanz has been working on the tourism end of things by helping publicize the St. Joe and White Pine scenic byways, with the goal of bringing more travelers into St. Maries. Next year, signs indicating a spur leading to St. Maries may be erected.”He’s been diligent about getting people to come down here,” says Rich Nyquist, manager of the First American Title Co. Inc. office. Nyquist, a recent arrival from Coeur d’Alene, says he jumped at the chance to move to the picturesque community.

There will surely be more like him, but if any substantial new development is going to take place, Schwanz says St. Maries has housing, infrastructure, and planning and zoning issues that must be addressed.

Housing, for example, has become so expensive public servants like teachers and sheriff’s deputies cannot afford to buy a home on their salaries. Timber Plus is exploring ways new homes could be constructed on county-owned land within the city, with purchase or lease agreements that assure the houses would remain available to other public employees.

The community is getting help on infrastructure and planning from the Idaho Rural Partnership, a consortium of government and private officials that assess community strengths and weaknesses, supplemented with public comments. They return several weeks later with a report, recommendations, and information about where to get help with solutions.

In late August, Partnership representatives discussed the issues with about 100 residents and officials. Schwanz says he also got 600 responses to a survey he sent out asking about local concerns. That’s a phenomenal response rate of 30 percent, and a testament to the interest St. Maries’ residents take in their community.

“The backing we’ve gotten has been outstanding,” Schwanz says.

That’s important to Risch, who says local leaders are better able to judge the effectiveness of economic development efforts than officials in Boise. Sometimes, he says, “You spend a lot of time chasing things that don’t work out.”

Risch told legislators and county leaders present for the check-passing ceremony he was not concerned the $25,000 would go to waste.

“You guys already know where you are going,” he said.

And in Schwanz, who clearly enjoys his job, they seem to have the kind of guy who will help get them there.