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Economic development director previews business wins, workforce priorities and Amazon-related site work
Summary
Chaves County economic development staff reported recruitment and retention activity, workforce programs, site-readiness steps for a major tenant and planning for upcoming events including air races; staff emphasized workforce and education pipeline work.
Mike Espiritu, the county’s economic development director, updated the City Council on July 10 about recruitment, retention, workforce development and tourism work tied to recent and prospective projects.
Why it matters: The economic-development report framed several priorities that affect local jobs and investment: aviation-sector attraction, a site-preparation program that supported the Amazon facility, workforce training and outreach, and retail and tourism positioning tied to upcoming events.
Key points: Espiritu summarized the EDC’s “five-legged stool” approach: business attraction, retention/expansion, workforce development, entrepreneurship and community positioning. On business attraction, he listed aviation, agriculture, manufacturing, energy and tourism as target sectors and said the EDC pursues site visits, trade shows and state partnership channels. “We obviously want to create high wage jobs,” Espiritu said.
Workforce and education: Espiritu described partnerships with local schools, the university and regional workforce boards, and said the community leads the state among comparable rural areas in some job-training reimbursements. He also highlighted apprenticeship planning and career-tech work to build an employer-ready pipeline.
Events and tourism: Staff is continuing support for the national air races and associated volunteer, vendor and logistics planning, and the EDC is pursuing retail strategies with a private partner whose CEO is from Roswell. Espiritu said the EDC led site-prep work and grant-funded studies that helped bring Amazon and that additional confidential recruitment work is nearing completion.
Ending: Espiritu asked for continuing council support for workforce, incentives and tourism coordination; he said several outreach and recruitment activities will produce further results in coming months.
