We need to keep funding the Wyoming Business Council

Since 2005, the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) has played a key role in building infrastructure and jobs throughout Big Horn County. Sadly, there is a bill for this legislative session to shut down the WBC. 

In 2005 the WBC provided over $500,000 to build the Wyoming Call Center in Greybull. The local match was just over $63,000. Without the WBC, the call center would not have happened. The call center has and is still providing jobs (now under the name Waller Hall Research).  Also, in 2005 the WBC provided funding for the Big Horn County Airport Business Park.  

In 2006 a new airport hangar was built at the south airport with only a 15% local match required. The new hanger provided an opportunity for a business to move in and create jobs. 

WBC funds were provided for the Cowley Main Street project, which was completed in 2008. The county was able to build the multi-purpose building at the fairgrounds in 2013 through WBC funding. In 2024 improvements were done at the Lovell Camper Park, again with funds from WBC. Both the Cowley Rec Complex and the Greybull Rec Center were rehabbed in 2014 thanks to the WBC.   This is just a partial list of projects in Big Horn County. Four other projects are in the process: Cowley Community Center Expansion, Antelope Butte Mountain Recreation Area, Greybull Business Park Phase 2 and Burlington Economic Development Plan. 

WBC also did a succession loan for Basin Processing plus Assessment to Action (A 2 A) for Burlington, Lovell and Greybull. The WBC has a connection to the Small Business Development Center and Manufacturing Works. Without funding for those programs from the WBC, those free services could be cut as well. 

There are plenty more examples throughout the Big Horn Basin. Each county has projects that were made possible through guidance, assistance and funding from the WBC. You can find that list on the WBC website. 

Yet there a draft bill “Wyoming Business Council-repeal” from the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) passed by a vote of 9-3. It was brought before JAC by Senator Dan Laursen. Laursen’s District 19 includes parts of Big Horn and Park County. The other Big Horn County legislator on JAC is Senator Tim French, who represents parts of Park County. 

Senator Ogden Driskill District 01 was one of the three nay votes. He posted on his FB page “A new first in my legislative career—I watched a bill pass 9-3 that eliminated over 40 jobs, turned hundreds of projects upside down. This all done with a sponsor that testified he didn’t talk with anyone at the agency or visit them.” 

Go to wyomingbusiness.org. You’ll learn more about what they do, how they have helped communities throughout the state grow economic development. You can see for yourself what the WBC has done for us. 

The bill to repeal the WBC will go before the full legislature in February or March. Now is the time to contact your local legislators to tell them your thoughts.  Don’t stop with them. Contact all our legislators. Do it with passion, decorum and respect. As our grandmas would say, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. 

Contact information for legislators is available at  wyoleg.gov/Legislators.