|
Lines in the Sand
Four Corners Regional Cooperation
"The New Power of Regions:
A Policy Focus for Rural America"
June 14, 2002
Greg Anesi
David Eppich
Tom Taylor
The
region being represented here is known as the Four Corners and incorporates
the geographic area of the four corners of the states of Colorado, New
Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. It is a watershed basin for the drainage of
the San Juan River, which starts in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest
Colorado and runs through a portion of Colorado before entering the northwest
corner of New Mexico. The river, named Saint John by the Spanish explorers,
meanders the entire length of San Juan County, New Mexico, and then enters
back into Colorado at its very southwest tip. It then crosses the border
into the southeast part of Utah and runs many miles before joining the
Colorado River in what is now Lake Powell. Many rivers and washes drain
into the San Juan River during the course of its journey and the water
it carries is a vital necessity for the inhabitants of the arid Four Corners
area.
The area ascribed to this effort of regional cooperation
is approximately 12,000 square miles and roughly the size of Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined. The political profile of this
vast region is greatly varied, as one might expect.
The Four Corners
region has a large amount of federal lands included in its boundaries.
Approximately 43.5% of the Four Corners region is federal public land.
The National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the National
Park Service manage this public land through the respective federal departments
in Washington, D.C.
The region is
divided by the borders of four state governments and is located at some
distance from each of the state capitols. The lack of population in the
region corresponds to small numbers for legislative representation to
each state government. Geographic barriers and distance from the centers
of state power also present difficulties in obtaining attention and services
from the respective states.
Each of the Native American Tribal Nations has
a central form of government with council officials elected by tribal
members and a tribal chairperson or president also elected by the tribal
members. The council is responsible for constructing all policy and legislation
for the tribe and the chairperson oversees the administrative directors
for each of the services. Each tribe has its own judicial system, court
system, and laws under the authority of the federal government. They maintain
their own respective law enforcement agencies and are considered to be
sovereign nations within the United States of America. The Southern Ute
Tribe has trust lands only in the state of Colorado. The Jicarilla Apache
Nation has trust lands in Northwest New Mexico. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
has trust lands in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah with the
Navajo Nation having trust lands in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The counties in Northeast Arizona, Southwest Colorado,
Northwest New Mexico, and Southeast Utah each have boards of commissioners
who are responsible for government services for their respective counties.
Property tax, sales tax, and state and federal funds make up their primary
revenue. A town or city council elected by the citizens in that
municipality governs municipalities located in the counties. Their primary
source of revenue comes from sales tax and use tax or fees generated within
the municipal boundaries.
Many discussions by groups over the years in the
Four Corners concern how the state, county, and tribal boundaries are
artificial barriers that thwart problem solving and made it impossible
for the people in the region to work together on common issues. Ed Quillen,
a noted columnist for the Denver Post, gave the following observation
in a speech to Colorado's Club 20 on this problem throughout the West:
" Thomas Jefferson's committee in the Confederation congress didn't
just arrange for the western lands to be transferred to the central government.
It also devised rules for surveying those lands. Jefferson was a rationalist
in tune with the intellectual fashions of his day, especially if they
came from France. Now, if you remember some high school algebra or geometry,
you probably recall drawing graphs of equations on a grid that is called
a "Cartesian co-ordinate system." That name comes from Rene
Descarte, a French mathematician who discovered that you could describe
almost anything by putting it on a grid. This fascinated Jefferson, and
so when his congressional committee issued its recommendation, Jefferson
made sure that the lands out west would be surveyed on a universal grid
tied to the distant equator and the poles not with the traditional
metes-and-bounds method tied to local landmarks.
That Jefferson belief in a rational system of
land description is why we live in "one of those big square states
out west. " If someone else had been in charge of that committee,
we might have political boundaries that bore some relationship to the
physical landscape, rather than these arbitrary lines." (Quillen)
Wallace Stegner noted that John Wesley Powell
was a proponent of organizing the West into hydrographic basins that would
be virtually self-governing. (Stegner) Daniel Kemmis, former legislator
and mayor of Missoula, Montana, has commented "people tend to define
themselves in terms of the land that surrounds them". (Kemmis) Kent
Briggs, former President of the Center of the New West, has said: "the
Four Corners area is unified culturally and geographically, but is hampered
by political boundaries that do not relate to natural boundaries. For
this reason, political and economic cooperation are vital to the creation
of any region-wide effort. Such cooperation must respond to needs expressed
at the grass roots; it cannot be imposed from above, from the federal
level." (Briggs)
An attempt was made for this federal level regionalism
through the Four Corners Regional Planning Commission, established in
1967 as a federally supported regional commission by President Lyndon
Johnson. Dr. Arthur Gomez discusses this commission and its efforts: "For
all of its lofty ideals, the nation's newest planning agency enjoyed a
brief and rather uninspired history. During the first two years of operation
the agency expended most of its limited budget funding a barrage of feasibility
studies… In theory, the FCRPC spent its first years defining ways
to redress economic deficiencies in agriculture, mining, manufacturing
and the recreation industries. In practice, however, little 'action' ever
took place…this commission was relocated from Farmington, NM to
Albuquerque in 1970 and was closed in 1974 by President Richard Nixon.
Nevertheless, the intent of the FCRPC to promote economic revitalization
through interstate cooperation warrants praise." (Gomez)
The San Juan Forum is an organization established
in 1991 as a grassroots effort to promote Four Corners regional development.
Organizers in a series of regional meetings developed three categories
for the Forum to pursue including: promotion of regional information exchange;
regional unity and identity; and collective efficiency in the use and
development of regional resources.
Under the 'regional information exchange' category were the following
concepts:
1.
Develop a social and economic database of the region
2. Provide a clearinghouse of expertise available within and to the region
3. Provide for communication channels
4. Improve inter-agency communication through providing a standing forum
composed of cross-sector representation
5. Identify what is currently being done by existing agencies, councils,
associations and what also needs to be done. The
mission should be to avoid duplication; communication
is the goal.
The
'promote regional unity and identity' category had these concepts:
1. Promote local autonomy
2. Establish a regional identity based on geographic, scenic, cultural,
and
economic commonalties
3. Build a momentum of unified action by focusing on "common denominators"
4. Promote a change in external perceptions of our common region
5. Develop and support an attitude of change in the region
to build grass roots commitment to move toward
objectives of common
benefit
The
'promote collective efficiency in the use and development of regional
resources' category had these concepts included:
1. Promote greater efficiency in the use of governments
and resources
2. Provide for greater leveraging of existing resources
3. Focus on regional revenues as opposed to fixating on public dollars
received from state and federal sources
4. Provide for collective efficiency on a cross-state regional basis
5. Break down institutional boundaries and barriers
6. Expand membership in organizations and associations by accessing
members across state lines
7. Advocate on regional issues at a federal level by coordinating a lobbying
effort with congressional delegations of
four states instead of one state
The focus question asked for organizational structure
was who should be represented on the board of directors. The categories
were 'representation' and 'regional authority', that included: one entity/one
vote while encouraging inclusion; "adhoc-racy" which included
a flexible, open system; public-private balance practicing inclusion,
open to diverse organizations, not just governments. With the large federal
agency presence in the region, it was important to include representatives/liaison
for agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Forest Service, and National Park Service.
A task force met on August 1, 1991 and set up
the outline for the formal structure. State Senator Sam Cassidy of Colorado
facilitated the meeting that had membership from different governmental
agencies as well as the private business sector.
A discussion ensued regarding the role that the San Juan Forum could assume,
and the following elements were formulated in a plan for the organization:
1. Regional networking and communication to address public
issues with
regard to community and economic development,
quality of life, and the
cultures of the Four Corners Region.
2. Maximizing the efforts and resources of existing organizations (and
communities) to address issues of a regional nature.
3. Facilitating appropriate organizational collaboration and community
partnerships to achieve common goals.
4. Addressing those issues that cannot be adequately addressed by
individual communities, organizations, or governments
alone.
The plan went on to establish regional networking and community development
processes through the following methods:
1. Identify and define public issues
2. Form leadership groups and networks for each issue
3. Build appropriate databases
4. Formulate position papers
5. Formulate action strategies
Jurisdictions
involved in this effort of cooperation included the Southern Ute Tribe,
the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, The Navajo Nation, the Jicarilla Apache Tribe,
San Juan County (New Mexico), La Plata County (Colorado), Archuleta County
(Colorado), Montezuma County (Colorado), Dolores County (Colorado), San
Juan County (Colorado), San Juan County (Utah), the Little Colorado River
Plateau RC&D Inc., all the municipalities in the counties listed,
and the state governments of New Mexico and Colorado. Private business
was represented as well as rural development agencies and councils of
government.
This plan has been the foundation for the
San Juan Forum. The organization has gone through several strategy revisions
over the past few years, primarily in identifying general issues in which
the Forum will engage and then working through the specifics of those
issues. The concept of action strategies is then carried by existing individuals
or agencies as the San Juan Forum has no desire to duplicate or manage
organizations, but rather to bring them together into a common course
of action; creating economies of scale and aggregated demand. The Forum
also acts to secure agreement on issues of regional concern, creating
a common political concern that is then lobbied on a national or state
level to legislators representing constituencies in the Four Corners region.
The San Juan Forum currently has several issues of
regional concern on which it is working, including: telecommunications,
transportation, value-added and sustainable agriculture, small business
development, tourism, federal agency collaboration, and cooperation with
local entities for rural community development, health care, and regional
air service. The advent of the four Native American tribes engaged in
collaborative ventures with other entities has incredible potential and
also paves the way for the future when demographics indicate an increasing
population of Native Americans in the Four Corners region. The communication
between all entities is vital for the successful future for all citizens
in the region.
One of the primary factors in successful
efforts is the role of the regional institution of higher education. The
Four Corners has two primary institutions, Fort Lewis College, a public
liberal arts and sciences four-year college in Durango, Colorado, and
San Juan College, a two-year community college located in Farmington,
New Mexico. The presidents of both institutions have supported the concept
of regionalism and have lent that support to organizations like the San
Juan Forum. The success of a regional organization is tied to higher education
institutions as they provide non-partisan educational and research support
tied with a mission of community service. The institution can assist in
providing a mechanism to bring all constituents together. The ability
of the regional colleges to support the continuing regional efforts of
organizations is problematic however due to the lack of resources that
smaller public institutions can commit to these kinds of external programs.
Within the Four Corners region, the two
colleges have also provided strong support for leadership development
efforts that is very important in supporting and promoting regional endeavors.
Edgar Schein commented that: "The one thing that is becoming clearer
and clearer is that the institutions of the past may be obsolete and that
new forms of governance and leadership will have to be learned."
(Hesselbein et al.) John Bryson and Barbara Crosby comment: "Shared
power is defined as shared capabilities exercised in interaction between
or among actors to further achievement of separate and joint aims. The
aims are the desire to achieve gains or avoid loses. Power sharing requires
a common or mutual objective held by two or more organizations. However,
because shared power situations are 'mixed motives' situations, authority
is not merged. Participants reserve the right of 'exit' so that their
other, unshared objectives are protected." (Bryson and Crosby) This
particular point should be a focus of any discussion of regional development.
The Leadership La Plata program started over
ten years ago in La Plata County, Colorado with Leadership San Juan and
Leadership Montezuma programs following close behind. These programs incorporate
discussions with their classes on the concept and benefits of the Four
Corners as a regional entity. The concepts of people coming together for
the "common good" whether it is in infrastructure development,
market aggregation, or services provided for the health and well-being
of the citizens of the region are discussed by every class. This helps
assure regional thinking for the future from key individuals providing
leadership in their respective communities.
An area of economic interest in the Four
Corners region is the tourism industry. Tourism will continue to provide
a strong base to the economy but there are indications it will change
to some extent from its current market. The region has more cultural destination
points coming on line in addition to the traditional ones like Chaco Canyon,
Mesa Verde, Aztec Ruins, Canyon de Chelly, and others. The Four Corners
Monument project, Center for Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College,
Crow Canyon, and the Anasazi Heritage Center are just some of the cultural
points that add value to a tourism experience. They attract people who
spend more time and money because of the cultural enrichment they experience.
There are now discussions on creating eco-tourism and heritage tourism
experiences in the region that also add value. The recreational tourism
opportunities offered in the region are immense and if managed well and
enhanced through a regional marketing concept, will continue to sustain
this strong segment of our economy.
Energy production has been for many years
a strong segment of the regional economy. This will continue in our region
but also should suggest that we look at the future of energy. The increasing
emphasis on renewable energy production, particularly solar, could have
positive implications for the sun rich Four Corners. Fuel cell development,
with natural gas as the fuel, could see businesses and homes in our region
become electrical producers, not consumers of clean energy production.
The remaking of the electrical grid system to accommodate this new energy
production will become a real concern and will increasingly become a problem
for federal policy makers. The advent of wireless communications and solar
voltaic energy systems should indicate that anywhere in the region electronic
commerce could happen. One example is a Navajo weaver selling directly
to an individual in Europe over the Web while not leaving her hogan in
a distant part of the reservation. Home-based business takes on a whole
new meaning with the coming of wireless communications and stand-alone
energy systems.
Heath care is an issue that underlies quality
of life and an assessment of rural economic vitality. The article "Rural
Issues and the National Debate" (Western Wire) defined core issues
at the center of the rural health care discussion. The most important
concerns for rural America, according to this article adapted from a briefing
by the Rural Policy Research Institute, are the supply of the providers
and the availability of accessible facilities. If no services exist, or
if access is very limited, the debates on consumer choice or benefit packages
are of no consequence.
During the discussions of health care reform
it is important to ensure that restructuring of institutions or new operations
include responsiveness to rural needs and concerns. It is essential that
flexibility and local accountability be built into the restructuring.
'Border crossing' from one state to another to secure health services
is much more likely to be a rural issue and to the extent that some legislative
proposals do not recognize this type of situation, particularly in restructuring
institutions or programs will be to the detriment of rural health care.
Network development, alliance formation, and multi-community collaboration
may need to overcome anti-trust considerations and the continuing rivalry
between communities.
The San Juan Forum instituted a regional
health care survey to set the stage for future regional health care service
development. The project was accomplished by a graduate class in political
science from the University of Colorado at Denver. They conducted a survey
across the Four Corners region and interviewed a wide variety of health
care providers.
The five questions to be asked during all interviews were:
1. What do you see is the most critical health care problem on the reservation
today?
2. What is the main health concern in the Four Corners area?
3. How could healthcare resources, i.e. facilities, personnel, equipment,
in the Four Corners area be better distributed
to increase healthcare providers and health care receivers?
4. If a forum addressing healthcare issues in the Four Corners area were
held, what would you/your organization like to
have discussed?
5. What type of medical service is missing in the area?
The
interviews were carried out between February 11th and April 30, 2000.
While most of the people contacted were extremely cooperative and eager
to help, there were some individuals that chose not to participate for
a variety of reasons. Those that participated provided a wealth of information,
most of which was not overly encouraging on the medical state-of-affairs
for the Four Corners region.
There were several similar problems and solutions that surfaced in many
interviews:
1. The large number of grass roots efforts currently underway,
attempting to solve health care concerns.
2. The dedication of health care professionals and volunteers, trying
to solve current and future health care
concerns.
3. The lack of health care services and providers in the region.
4. The need for more cooperation between all providers and less "predatory"
tactics between providers.
5. The need for a health care forum that would help focus attention on
the multitude of problems, and include participation
from all providers, volunteers, grass root organizations,
and health care recipients.
Many
horror stories were heard in most of the interviews, and many were very
recent. Most stemmed from lack of facilities, affordability, and ease
of access (geographical). In general, the areas of concern ranged from
dispersed care facilities to non-existent services, including lack of
facilities and providers for dental, diabetes, alcoholism and simple basic
care. Care for the very old and very young, particularly preventative
care, was a common theme and extreme concern for providers and receivers
alike. It was disturbing to hear so many lament the fact that in this
robust economy so many are being left behind and are in much worse shape.
One of the main issues facing the Four Corners
is the lack of centralized data concerning the economics of the region.
Each of the jurisdictions represented in the region has compiled economic
data for its particular area but there is no centralized source of data
for the entire region. Adding to the problem is the fact that most of
the governmental entities in the region, including federal, collect data
in different types of formats, thus making a common regional database
extremely difficult to build. A report done in 1993 on the Colorado Plateau
by Dr. Walter Hecox, a professor of economics at Colorado College, and
Bradley Ack of the Grand Canyon Trust is the first centralized compilation
of economic and demographic data for the plateau, and it was useful in
that regard for the Four Corners region. There have been discussions generated
in the region for standardized data collection in all parts of the region
to establish viable comparisons and regional economic reports. The difficulties
are compounded when so many diverse jurisdictions are involved but must
be resolved in order to present integrated regional concerns to various
state legislatures, federal agencies, and grant organizations. An effort
led by the San Juan Forum is now underway to develop a regional economic
picture with a common data set for all entities.
This effort began in May of 2001 when a
dialogue ensued among a variety of entities involved in regional economic
development. The dialogue centered on the discussion of a Four Corners
region economic development strategy that would cross-cut state lines
and unify the efforts of local government and other groups in their development
strategies. A work session, hosted by the San Juan College Enterprise
Center, was held with representatives including: staff from the San Juan
College Enterprise Center and the San Juan Economic Development District
(Farmington, NM), the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments (Gallup,
NM), Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado, the
La Plata Economic Action Development Partnership, Fort Lewis College,
and the San Juan Forum. The outcome of the session was a proposal to define
the Four Corners area as a discrete economic unit and begin collaborative
research that would provide a snapshot of economic and demographic information
pertinent to the defined area.
For the purposes of the project, the Four
Corners Economic Region was defined on the following criteria: the area
should represent the membership of the San Juan Forum and the research
should initially focus on areas for which economic and demographic information
has already been collected.
The purpose of this project is to provide
a summary of current economic information to decision-makers within the
Four Corners Economic Region. Ideally, this information will enable decision-makers
to identify regional challenges, coordinate regional resources and develop
policies that cross-cut state, tribal, and county lines. The project is
intended as a baseline study that will ultimately promote economic development
and opportunity, foster effective transportation systems, enhance and
protect the environment, and balance resources through sound management
of development.
The unique location of the project area at the
nexus of four states serves to hamper development efforts. Infrastructure
such as transportation and telecommunications does not end at county,
state, or tribal boundaries; although in the past, the strategic plans
to deal with these issues did. High unemployment rates in one area could
resolve labor shortages in adjacent areas if the economic units were viewed
collectively to provide cost effective solutions.
Personal
Business Perspective
By Greg Anesi
The purpose of the following
discussion will be to give an overview of what motivates business enterprise
to locate and remain in the Four Corners area. This particular perspective
was developed from a long family history of doing business in the Four
Corners. Paternal grandfather Anesi first came to Bloomfield, New Mexico
in the 1890's as a homesteader and farmer and unfortunately was not successful.
He later relocated to Silverton, Ouray and Telluride, CO., as a miner.
My maternal side had a grandfather emigrate to Ouray and become a professional
gambler. Both came from a region in Italy known as Tyrol and lived within
20 miles of each other.
As time progressed, they became merchants
and opened hotels. That culture of small business ownership was passed
on to me at an early age. The sense of a "can do" attitude,
reinvesting in your community and mobility within the region shaped my
business career. When I grew up, jobs were scarce in Durango. So I looked
north to Silverton where I found a job as a hardrock miner. Later, when
the opportunity to open a retail gift shop presented itself, I started
my first business. Through that business, I found a mentor and friend
from Gallup, New Mexico. When I opened my first Burger King restaurant,
it was in Gallup because of that friendship. It was one of the best decisions
of my life.
I was then able to open this restaurant
and eleven others from Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Deming, Espanola, Gallup,
Grants, and Farmington, New Mexico to Durango and Alamosa, Colorado. I
employed over 600 people. I opened these restaurants based on relationships
and financing from Silverton to Durango to Gallup. I was able to expand,
in part, because my customer base and my employee base were the same throughout
the region. Customers in Gallup traveled to Farmington, Farmington customers
traveled to Durango and Durango customers traveled to Farmington. Those
regional relationships offer an entrepreneur great flexibility in business
expansion.
The small business attitude of 'can do'
is a common perspective across the Four Corners. Most people have developed
a sense of self-sufficiency that enables them to believe they put their
pants on the same way the guys in Kansas City do. They are as capable
as anyone, anywhere. Most have a parochial attitude and don't like to
go to Denver or Albuquerque to solve a problem. More particularly, they
don't like to send their taxes off to the Front Range of Colorado or the
Rio Grande corridor in New Mexico. They believe no one will help you if
you don't help yourself.
Approximately 15 years ago, I started
Independent Mobility Systems, a heavy remanufacturing operation that lowers
floors of Dodge or Ford mini vans and installs a ramp for access by the
mobility disabled. At that time, a good friend of mine asked me what I
was doing, trying to manufacture automobiles. "That he said was done
in Detroit." My response was, " I didn't know we couldn't do
it." This attitude prevails throughout the Four Corners region. IMS
has an automated production line, high tech engineering systems, and state
of the art equipment. My employees, my bankers, and my vendors all contribute
to our success. We all believe we can do it.
When I started IMS, I gave serious consideration
to leaving the manufacturing in Phoenix, where I had found the concept.
But unemployment in Phoenix was somewhat less than one percent. Unemployment
in San Juan County, NM is high at 7.6%. But on the Navajo reservation
adjacent to Farmington, unemployment is 43%. The average age on the reservation
is 22 years old. The racial mix in San Juan County is 37% Native American,
16% Hispanic, 1% African American and the balance, Anglo.
From an economics standpoint, the most important and significant element
of any business enterprise, in my opinion, is labor. You can have capital
with high tech computers, heavy CNC equipment and locate it anywhere.
The question really is, 'do you have the right people to make it work?'
The Four Corners has a very homogeneous
population and work force; they share common values, a strong work ethic
and 'can do' attitude. At IMS, we employ 275 people: 70% Native American,
4% Hispanic, 1% African American and the remainder are Anglo. Twenty-five
percent of our work force is female. The traits that make the Native Americans
artists, weavers, and jewelers, their attention to detail and their ability
to perform repetitive work make them excellent factory workers. At IMS,
the average wage is $8.64 per hour with a range of a high at $16.00 per
hour for a machinist to a low of $6.15 per hour for an entry-level position
in detail. The national average is approximately $14.63 per hour. Management
is relaxed; you don't see many three-piece business suits.
My employees travel as far as 90 miles to
work because they want to live where their roots are. Turnover, however,
is high for a number of reasons. Cultural differences, transportation
difficulties, and language barriers all contribute to high absenteeism
that ultimately results in high turnover. There are numerous support systems
available for training, however. San Juan College and Fort Lewis College
offer training and educational programs. Through JTPA or New Mexico Implant
training funds, we have received help from the government to educate and
train our employees. Toyota and General Motors have established nationally
acclaimed training programs at San Juan College.
Access to capital is another key advantage
for the small businessman in the Four Corners region. I have borrowed
money from every bank in the region and that's a good thing, because without
the ability to borrow and finance you cannot operate a business. I have
borrowed so much money they made me a director on the Board for Sunwest
Bank, aka Boatman's, aka Nations Bank, and now Bank of America. So I had
the opportunity to see numerous businesses begin and flourish. The Four
Corners region has a number of community banks. I am an organizer and
director of a new bank, Four Corners Community Bank, and I see first hand
how community banks make it easier to start a new business. Community
banks in our area still rely on those basic tenants of character, cash
flow and collateral. And because of our closeness to the community, our
neighbors, and the economy, we can assess risk better than money center
banks. We look at the credit score, but when an entrepreneur comes into
a community bank in Gallup, Durango, or Cortez, the directors generally
have some knowledge of the borrower, which makes the ability to get a
loan easier. I obtained the loan for my third Burger King restaurant in
Farmington partly because the banker knew my family from Silverton. Community
banks participate with loans in conjunction with other community banks
in the region. We buy loans in Durango; we sell loans in Gallup. Our customer
base is regional and it broadens the opportunity to finance business.
We do have money center banks: Bank of America
and Wells Fargo, and I use both of them. I borrow from them because as
a midsize business I need larger banks and they are available to me here.
My need for a larger bank started when I tried to hold a sales conference
in Farmington and could not find an adequate meeting space. Subsequently,
my brothers and I determined to open a hotel with meeting facilities and
we needed a larger bank for funding. Wells Fargo was available and happy
to help us as we opened a Marriott Residence Inn in Durango and a Marriott
Courtyard in Farmington. Hotels are not easily financed, but because of
the regional awareness between Farmington and Durango, the bankers made
the loan.
At IMS, we recently received a six
million-dollar industrial revenue bond for a plant expansion. With the
help of Bank of America and the City of Farmington, it only took us three
months from inception to funding the bond. I think that is a remarkable
time frame. The state of New Mexico spearheaded the bond process and the
city of Farmington made it happen. Local government in our small Four
Corner's communities is more receptive to business, which makes the regulatory
process less cumbersome.
We do have some real challenges in the form of government regulation.
Although the Four Corners region is a 'community' of over 250,000 people,
we must go to Denver or Albuquerque to deal with federal regulatory agencies.
Both these large urban centers have a different perspective than we do
in this rural region and I would tell you that it hurts business here.
I believe that for a community of 250,000 people, the EEOC, EPA and OSHA
should establish regional offices to deal with local issues at a local
level with local sensitivity.
The labor force and access to finance are
the two greatest advantages to locating in the Four Corners area. At IMS,
we sell 99% of our products outside the Four Corners area. Sixty percent
of the raw components we buy come from outside the Four Corners. Freight
and transportation is not a barrier to conducting business. When we ship
our products to the East Coast, we have a freight disadvantage with our
major competitor in Indiana. But when we ship to the West Coast, we have
an advantage because our labor costs are less and our land and building
costs are less. The regulatory costs are less. Freight is not then a critical
competitive issue.
Air transportation, however, is a significant
obstacle to conducting business in the Four Corners region as our parochial
attitude in the Four Corners region works against us. We do not have a
true regional airport. It hurts business because my customers and my vendors,
Daimler-Chrysler Corporation and Ford Motor Corporation, do not want to
fly in small commuter planes thus making it less likely they will fly
to Farmington to do business. Until we in the Four Corners stop competing
with each other with small local airports, air transportation will suffer
and more importantly, business will suffer. People in business want to
fly in larger planes.
I do think attitudes are changing and Durango-La
Plata County Airport will become a regional air hub for the Four Corners.
Until that happens, any business that deals on a national basis will struggle
in the Four Corners region. Obviously, I think the Four Corners region
is a great place to live. I have lived in Durango, Silverton, Gallup,
Grants and Farmington. This area is one of incredible beauty and it offers
a multitude of recreational opportunities. I laughed the other day when
I was heading north of Durango to go snowmobiling. I passed a car heading
south to Farmington pulling their trailer with jet skis.
There is also great cultural diversity with
its people, art, architecture, and addictive green chile. But I assume
most people like where they live. For me, the best reasons to remain in
this area are the people and the relationships that I have enjoyed all
across this region. As an entrepreneur, it is the economic opportunity
afforded me by the abundant labor force and the access to bank financing.
I believe if we are going to create business
and jobs in the Four Corners region, local government policy, state policy
and federal policy must become an advocate for regional/local business.
If we do not create business in the Four Corners region, we will not create
the tax dollars to support and educate our greatest resource. Our children
will move to other states and other urban settings where they can find
jobs. Local government can be an advocate for business and the time is
now.
I would like to share a story with you that
I heard while working in the Camp Bird Mine in Ouray, Colorado. The Camp
Bird Mine was one of the richest mines in the San Juan Mountains. It produced
millions of dollars worth of gold. It's owner, Tom Walsh, was so financially
successful that he bought his daughter the Hope Diamond. Tom Walsh was
an ore buyer from Silverton. He acted on an opportunity one day during
the silver boom of the 1870's. He happened upon two farmers who wanted
to sell their silver mine. He noticed they were throwing black quartz
onto the mine dump. That black quartz is known as tellurium, a gold ore,
so Tom Walsh bought the mine. He thus bought gold for the price of silver.
Tom Walsh recognized a 'golden' opportunity that others missed. I believe
the Four Corners offers that same golden opportunity.
The future of the Four Corners regional
economy will depend on its ability to change and embrace what is called
the "New Economy". This economy incorporates technology and
creates the need for a workforce engaged in a continuous learning environment.
The economy of the Four Corners region will undergo a significant transition
in the face of declining economic activity in natural resource development
and a flatlining tourism industry. While the region's natural environment
serves as an attractive quality-of-life asset, its economic readiness
for major shifts and the challenges that presents is suspect. Telecommunication
and transportation infrastructures have been inadequate to support new
economic activity, particularly in the most promising high technology
fields. In the absence of concerted, collaborative planning and action
the region is in danger of being economically marginalized by the forces
of the global economy. On the other hand, proactive planning and strategic
action toward electronic commerce can optimize the region's assets while
minimizing its liabilities.
Dr. James Henderson, President of San Juan
College, has articulated evidence of this transition as he discusses the
changing workforce needs in traditional industries in the Four Corners
region. The technology now implicit in equipment used for mining coal,
or technologies used in current heating/cooling systems require a workforce
well trained in the use of "bits" not "atoms". The
atoms to bits concept was presented by Dr. Nicholas Negroponte of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology as he wrote about the conversion
in this society from the use of material items in the workplace to a workforce
using electrons to transmit information and control computer systems.
(Negroponte) Manufacturing industries will continue to convert technologically
as the competitive marketplace indicates those who do not become extinct.
The future of the Four Corners region's
economy is directly related to its adaptation of technology and the use
of telecommunications. The region's businesses are involved increasingly
in strategic relationships and competition with the rest of the world.
The advent of the fiber optic backbone into the region has delivered high
bandwidth capacity. This capacity opens the gates for businesses to fully
engage in technologies used in business-to-business electronic commerce.
These technologies allow for greatly increased productivity and cost savings
and make the business engaged in them much more competitive. A United
States Department of Commerce study recently discussed the fact that technology
has made United States workers more efficient…of the 2.6 % increase
in U.S. labor productivity between 1996 and 1999, more than half was directly
related to information technology (IT). This new economy incorporates
technology and creates the need for a workforce engaged in a continuous
learning environment.
The Four Corners is starting to see the
advent of businesses based in technology. The fiber optic backbone formed
a foundation in needed telecommunications infrastructure and the infrastructure
is now being built out. This infrastructure coming into place with the
environment and quality of life offered in the region attracts small technologically
oriented companies. These businesses offer better paying jobs and provide
a real diversification strategy for the regional economy. The need for
these companies in our economy will only grow as other traditional economic
segments lose their strength over time.
The competitive advantages businesses may
see using technologies for increasing productivity are coupled with the
need for a skilled information technology trained workforce. This workforce
is required to use the technologies for the companies' benefit and clearly
indicate the direction our region should be headed. The education and
training needed to supply the workforce comprised of our region's citizens
for these jobs and careers becomes very important. Also needed is a well-educated
workforce with a broad knowledge base. They will need the ability to react
well to change and an understanding that education is life-long, particularly
in this rapidly changing world. This above all will give our region the
competitive advantage it needs to meet the challenges in a global environment.
As has been mentioned earlier, however, the need for the education and
training to support this will only become more critical.
Telecommunications
Development Through a Regional Process
By Tom Taylor
How the Four Corners made
the leap from a tertiary priority in telecommunicatiojns to the top of
the list is an exercise in regional thinking. What circumstances cause
one to think regionally? Regional thinking is somewhat against the grain
of traditional thought because of the competitive nature and desire to
protect one's turf. It is a survival instinct. A business owner wants
first to succeed in his own business and therefore expends the most energy
in that endeavor. When one realizes that success depends on other businesses
succeeding as well, then an individual begins to expand the area of concern.
City dwellers tend to support their locality. Increasing the business
base of the city seems to require competition with the city next door.
Rural folks tend to think of county as their community. Therefore the
distinction between the local thinker and the regional thinker is the
perception of the scale of one's turf.
It is a curious reality in this day of total
mobility, both physically and electronically, that boundaries have simply
disappeared. Governments regulatory systems and tax structures are predicated
on boundary. We as citizens of this great nation pay little or no attention
to these boundaries because they play little role in our day-to-day business
and recreation. We are free to travel from city to city, and state to
state without interruption. We can conduct business over the Internet
anywhere in the world. When boundaries do interact with our lives it is
almost always in the form of an impediment. For example, trying to do
a business deal in another state requires dealing with a different set
of regulations and having to create a system to mesh it with the regulatory
environment of home.
The mayoral conundrum is a child of the
previous discussion. When I was elected mayor of Farmington in 1986, an
immediate problem landed on the plate that clearly demonstrated that the
mayor's city had no relationship to the mayor's community. An application
before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was held up in a dispute
between the city and the Navajo Nation. The capitol of the Navajo Nation
is in Window Rock, Arizona, over 100 miles southwest of Farmington and
the subject hydroelectric plant is located 45 miles east of the city.
The city was this boxed area enclosed by a line in the sand called the
city limit. If a policeman pulls a person over and informs him/her of
exceeding the speed limit, the answer should be, "that is impossible
because both you and I were going faster than that". The fact is
that this limit only relates to the regulation and not to reality. It
is not by any means the limit just as the city limit is not the boundary
of influence. Farmington is the largest city in the Four Corners region,
but it is part of a socio-economic community that defines itself far beyond
its city boundary. The Four Corners contains pieces of four states, seven
counties and several towns and cities interlaced with five Indian tribes.
Less populated than urban centers and isolated
from the interstate highway system, the Four Corners communities are all
stepchildren of our respective states. One of the most serious problems
of the Four Corners has been the lack of telecommunications infrastructure.
Six U. S. West DS-3 microwave receivers for the entire population of San
Juan County served Farmington and the other communities. This amounts
to about 3,600 telephone lines to the outside world. Many of those lines
were T-1s, which reduced the number of voice lines to fewer than 2000.
A similar problem existed in Durango and Cortez, Colorado, southeast Utah,
and northeast Arizona. Often, daytime long distance calls were answered
with "all lines are busy please try again later". To complicate
matters further the LATA boundaries established in the breakup of AT&T
were contiguous with state lines. These boundaries prevented a long 1,000
miles to Albuquerque, then to Denver and on to Grand Junction, then back
down to Durango just 45 miles from where it originated.
The Strengthening Partnerships for Active Rural
Communities (SPARCS) initiative was a USDA-sponsored attempt to promote
regional collaboration in the Four Corners during the years of 1993-94.
Meetings were held throughout the area to focus on rural telecommunications
issues. Following up in 1995 a regional program called Shooting Star,
a project to identify and study telecommunications issues in the Four
Corners, was organized among the four councils of government in the Four
Corners area. These councils included the Colorado Region Nine Economic
Development District, the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments,
the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments, and the Northern
Arizona Council of Governments. 'Shooting Star' was envisioned as a two-phase
project. In the first phase an inventory of telecommunications assets
in the Four Corners would be conducted and educational work would be undertaken
within selected communities regarding the economic development opportunities
that could be accessed through advanced telecommunications services. In
the second phase, specific infrastructure improvement projects would be
implemented. The Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments was chosen
to be the lead agency for Shooting Star. Even though the project was never
funded, the region benefited from the dialogue that was established and
from the increased focus on telecommunications issues.
In 1996, the City of Farmington was approached
by two telecommunications companies asking for franchise rights to install
fiber optics in city rights-of-way. While neither of these projects materialized
one of the proposals did provide launch pad for a new era in the Four
Corners. Optical Ground Wire, a fiber optic cable encased in a structural
steel cable used in place of the static line on high voltage power lines
was a technology previously unknown in our area. A look at the western
power grid reveals that Farmington is not at all isolated. It is at the
center of numerous power lines that fan out in all directions interconnecting
the west.
For a regional thinker this was a no brainer.
Within ten minutes of this discovery the mayor of Farmington was on the
phone to the Public Service Company of New Mexico asking questions about
their interest in making their high voltage power lines and associated
rights-of-way available for telecommunications. Ironically, PNM was in
the process of planning a microwave upgrade to the San Juan Generating
Station west of Farmington. The idea of a fiber link was an appealing
option and PNM expressed immediate interest. Tri State Electric in Colorado
was the next contact and also expressed interest. Tri State was in the
process of planning the upgrade of their SCADA system for which the inclusion
of fiber would offer great possibilities. The first meeting of "the
Group" (as they were called in this formative period) was just five
days later. The group was made up of individuals from New Mexico, Colorado
and Utah. The agenda was simple, what are the possibilities of using the
existing electric power distribution grid to provide both rights-of-way
and structural backbone for fiber optic installation? All of the previous
efforts using the public approach had not materialized.
The obvious solution for the group was to
seek private investment rather than the slow and bumpy process of acquiring
public money from the many grants available for telecommunications development.
A minimum of two years would be necessary to receive grant funding if
all the ducks lined up in perfect order. Since the group's motto was,
"make it happen at light speed", the federal government didn't
figure well into that formula. The group now became known as Fiber Com
and they proceeded with the project. By April, contacts with the Navajo
Nation President Albert Hale had directed Fiber Com to the Navajo Nation
Energy Resources Task Force, that was organized to deal with rights-of-way
and development issues expeditiously. At the same time, contacts with
the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Southern Ute Tribe, and the BIA were accomplished.
PNM began discussions with the Navajo Nation and was preparing to begin
the long arduous process of perfecting its 140 mile right-of-way, that
included The Navajo Nation, the BLM and over 2,000 individual tenants
in a area known as the checkerboard reservation.
After months of planning meetings, the Fiber
Com Group was organized as the Regional Telecommunications Committee under
the San Juan Economic Development Service, a regional organization of
Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield, San Juan County, and San Juan College formed
to collectively promote economic development. The committee was formed
to take advantage of the 501©3 status of San Juan Economic Development
Service's existing non-profit structure. The process saved precious time
and served to expand the regional influence of the development service.
The fundraising went on for two weeks and
generated $100,000, half in Colorado and half in New Mexico. Fifty thousand
dollars was from public interests and $50,000 came from private business.
This exemplified the broad-based interest of the region in telecommunications.
This also demonstrated a keen understanding of the necessity for regional
thought and teamwork to accomplish a difficult task. A quick Request For
Proposal resulted in the contract with the engineering firm Black and
Veech to accomplish a feasibility study with both engineering and business
components.
The resulting report of June 1998 yielded a positive
case to pursue and also enlightened Fiber Com to the magnitude of the
challenges ahead. Fiber Com was made up of a cross section of experts,
although none of them had expertise in telecommunications. These individuals
had come from all over the Four Corners as a united group to solve a problem,
each bringing unique attributes and experience that yielded an effective
organization. By invoking the teamwork of the region, the tentacles of
influence, acquaintances and relationships were able to reach out and
fill the knowledge gaps. A part of the study that assessed possible joint
venture partners proved pivotal in the coming days. PNM was actively pursuing
the right-of-way and preparing an RFP for the construction of the line.
Using the venture partners list, PNM identified candidates for the RFP,
which was distributed and subsequently awarded for the New Mexico portion
of the fiber optic backbone. Tri State Electric entered a partnership
with the successful bidder a few months later to complete the backbone
in Colorado and construction began on the Albuquerque link in the spring
of 2000. The physical construction from Albuquerque to Grand Junction
was completed in November of 2000. This completion occurred just prior
to the collapse of the over-invested and over-built telecommunications
system in the United States.
Nevertheless, the Four Corners region now
has a fiber broadband connection to the world. The work and effort of
individuals all over the Four Corners region yielded a product that now
provides bandwidth, and for all practical purposes, unlimited capacity
and redundancy. The process dealt with many imposed impediments created
by boundaries. Recognition of these boundaries being only lines in the
sand made it possible for a rural region of this country to come together
and solve a vital problem for the economic future of the area.
REFERENCES
Briggs,
Kent 1991. COMEX 2000 Speech. Farmington.
Bryson,
John M. and Crosby, Barbara C. 1992. Leadership for the Common Good. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Gomez,
Arthur R. 1994. Quest For The Golden Circle. Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico Press.
Hesselbein,
Frances; Goldsmith,Marshall; Beckhard, Richard 1996. The Leader of the
Future. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Kemmis,
Daniel 1990. Community and the Politics of Place. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press.
Negroponte,
Nicholas 1995. Being Digital. New York: Random House.
Power,
Thomas Michael 1996. Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies. Washington,D.C.:
Island Press.
Quillen,
Ed 2000. Public Lands Under Fire Speech. Grand Junction.
Stegner,
Wallace E. 1954. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Western
Wire 1994. Health Care in the United States. Corvalis: Western Rural Development
Center |
