Talking business — WBC visits Newcastle to spur economic development

Newcastle Mayor Tyrel Owens has heard people call Newcastle “a dying town.”

It’s not a description he’s happy to hear, but there’s some truth in it; with a population that has been stable “for quite some time, it just seems like we’re kind of treading water,” he told the News Letter Journal.

Having vacant storefronts on Main Street certainly doesn’t help.

“What am I going to be the mayor of if we continue to lose businesses on Main Street and we don’t replace them with something viable?” Owens recalled asking a friend. He shared that sentiment with a group that came together for a meeting June 10 with a team from the Wyoming Business Council. The WBC representatives came to talk with local leaders and learn more about the community to determine if there is anything the state agency can do to help it become more prosperous.

Owens became familiar with Brandi Harlow, the WBC’s northeast regional director, during his time on the city council. He told the NLJ that he has spoken to her about economic development for Newcastle, and this year, Harlow offered to have Newcastle be one of a few Wyoming communities to participate in a new project.

The WBC is partnering with Harvard University’s Growth Lab, a research team that works to help solve economic challenges around the world, Harlow said. Vinicius Bueno and Connor Christensen, who are economic policy and research advisors on WBC’s strategy team, will gather more data and evidence to reflect on how to bolster Wyoming’s economic growth, according to Bueno. The team will also chat with advisers from the Harvard Business School.

Throughout the day, the group met with City Council members, Main Street business owners, Weston County School District No. 1 Superintendent Brad LaCroix, Weston County Health Services CEO Cathy Harshbarger, Newcastle Economic Development Board leader Pam Gualtieri and others — including the leaders of Bent Sprockets, a local biking club that has taken the lead on advocating for the expansion of local trail systems.

The general meeting at the City Council chambers preceded a city tour and other individual meetings held later in the day, and Harlow explained to the group that the WBC seeks to determine how to make effective investments in Wyoming’s local communities by talking with community members in gatherings like these. 

One of the foremost issues Newcastle faces is housing, many attendees remarked.

Gualtieri and Mike Starling, who works at the Wyoming Department of Corrections’ Honor Conservation Camp, noted at the general meeting that housing is a huge issue for employers and the employees they are trying to attract. While Wyoming Refining Co. representatives were unable to attend the WBC meetings, Owens reported that company officials share the housing concern as well, based on a call he had with them. 

One factor Owens identified that may be making housing development tricky is that much of the land is already owned. Many lots have old, dilapidated houses, whose owners no longer live in the community, according to Owens. He said that community members have expressed interest in “city-sanctioned” housing development, but the city would need to find funding for that. 

Greg Stumpff, Newcastle’s public works supervisor, said that housing requires water, which is hard to get because the only clean water available needs to come from the Madison formation, an aquifer that’s deep underground. Growth in the system is also restricted by the fact that other water districts surround Newcastle, which means it would take “millions upon millions of dollars” to expand housing, he said.

Owens said that certain past mayors wanted Newcastle to be seen as a “nice, quiet retirement community,” but many people who attended last week’s meeting disagreed with those mayors.

“We want to try to revitalize our community, so that’s why this pilot program seemed like a pretty huge deal, and it seemed like something that could maybe give us some ideas or maybe point us in the right direction,” Owens said.

He said that he travels throughout Wyoming for work and sees communities that are “doing things really well.”

“I just wonder why, given our population and the location of our community, why we can’t do some of those same things,” he said. “It’s frustrating, so hopefully we can come up with some good ideas.”

He wasn’t the only civic leader to voice concerns or share ideas to spur growth. Ann McColley, a City Council member, said her top priority is cleaning up the town, which she believes would attract newcomers. John Butts, another City Council member, said that Newcastle, which can boast being a railroad hub, needs places for young people to work and entertain themselves.

Gualtieri, the former mayor, said that community members have many desires, but “you don’t have a lot of doers in the community.” 

She explained that the economic development board she chairs wants to have a “blueprint” that can facilitate brainstorming what can be added to Newcastle, but indicated the group believes the focus first belongs on what is already in town and how to build it up. Gualtieri echoed McColley’s point of emphasis, noting that homeowners and business people need to take pride in their property in order to beautify it.

Later in the day, the WBC team split for two meetings, held simultaneously: one with Owens and LaCroix and another with Gualtieri.

LaCroix told the NLJ in a follow-up phone call that in their small meeting, he and Owens discussed housing in the community, the decrease in class sizes in the schools, and the difficulty of staffing district positions. He admitted that there are only so many things local government entities can do to increase the viability of the community.

“We understand that the Black Hills are pretty, but they’re only really pretty if you really like the outdoors,” LaCroix told the NLJ. “If you’re really not into the outdoors, this probably isn’t pretty.”

In the other meeting, Harlow asked Gualtieri about the outcome of Newcastle’s participation in Wyoming Main Street, another economic development initiative, during her tenure as mayor, and Gualtieri indicated there wasn’t sufficient buy-in across the community.

“They took it as it was going to be a city project, not a community project, and so you would have your people who were trying, but then you would have too many that didn’t want to be a part of it or help or bring it to fruition,” she said.

Harshbarger said in a meeting with Owens and the WBC team that the hospital’s challenges include housing traveling nurses, and explained the rental units that the hospital is able to get for the nurses are outdated. She said prospects feel that housing is either dilapidated or a little bit outside of town and really expensive. 

Newcastle leaders also noted that communication between community boards could be better. Gualtieri told the WBC team in her meeting that people don’t want to work together. There are many different “clubs” that may want to go the same direction, “but they’re not looking together in that direction,” she said. “They’re, like, ‘This is my thing, and it’s my way or the highway.’ But then they want you to help them and fix their problems, but they don’t want to let you in.”

In the meeting with Harshbarger, Owens said that if entities can communicate better, “maybe it wouldn’t be like an ‘us versus them’ type battle.” In response, Harshbarger offered to attend City Council meetings and Weston County commissioners meetings. Owens said he also plans to compile a list of all the boards in the community to bolster communication, and he asked that board members provide him with their contact information by coming to City Hall.

Harlow said at the general meeting that she’s not certain precisely what the next steps will be in the project, besides continuing to work with Owens and discuss ideas.

Owens said he will provide a report on the WBC meetings to the city council at its June 16 meeting, and noted that if any residents have suggestions regarding how to support economic prosperity for Newcastle, he would like to hear from them. Cards with his contact information are available at City Hall, he said.

“Our goal is to figure out how you can increase your revenue, to bring in jobs, increase your population, increase your roof counts, so those businesses want to come here, so you have enough money to fix your infrastructure,” Harlow said.

According to the city’s former mayor, that will require people to get outside of their current comfort zone.

“I think people need to not be afraid of change and welcome change, because change is good,” Gualtieri said. “Times are changing, so we need to kind of change with the times. We can still be a small town and have a lot of change.”

The News Letter Journal took videos of most of the meetings, and those videos are viewable on our YouTube channel.