Governor's office presents free Rural Economic Blueprint; Emery County signs on as pilot participant

August Granite, technical outreach manager with the governor’s office of economic opportunity, introduced the Rural Economic Blueprint program to the Emery County Council of Governments and said Emery County and Green River City have been selected to participate in a pilot round.

The program is a free, facilitated planning service the governor’s office is piloting for rural communities. Granite said the process will include one-on-one stakeholder interviews, a steering committee (recommended to include municipal leaders), a data assessment, a SWOT analysis, and a short strategic plan with a prioritized project list. The stated goal is to produce a concise, practical plan (Granite said he hoped ‘‘a 10- to 20-page’’ document rather than a long technical manual) that communities can use to support grant applications and guide economic development choices.

Why it matters: Granite and the outreach managers said the blueprint helps communities marshal limited staff time and produce a prioritized, grant-ready project list, which can strengthen applications for the state’s Rural Communities Opportunity Grant (competitive, up to $600,000) and the Rural County Grant (about $200,000 for counties that meet requirements).

Program details and timeline: Granite explained the process in five phases: application/selection (already completed for Emery County and Green River), initial assessment (one-on-one interviews and data review), formation of a steering committee, strategic planning (June–July noted as preferred timeline), and implementation support. He said the team aims to complete the initial assessment within about two months and the strategic planning phase in June–July, with implementation beginning afterward. Granite asked COG members to serve as the steering committee and to help identify local stakeholders for interviews.

Participation and coordination: Commissioners and mayors in the room generally supported the approach and agreed that mayors and municipal leaders would make suitable steering-committee members. Granite and Deborah (the governor’s outreach manager present) offered to schedule one-on-one meetings with municipal representatives during a COG meeting day to limit travel and streamline interviews.

Funding context: Deborah and Granite reviewed grant programs tied to the governor’s office of economic opportunity. They highlighted the Rural Communities Opportunity Grant (competitive, up to $600,000) and the Rural County Grant (around $200,000). Granite noted the competitive pool for the Rural Communities Opportunity Grant had been cut from about $5 million to $2.5 million that year, making applications more competitive and underlining the value of having a prioritized, community-driven plan when applying.

Outcome and next steps: The COG agreed to act as the steering committee for the pilot and to provide contact information so Granite’s team could schedule one-on-one stakeholder interviews prior to the next COG meeting. The outreach managers offered implementation support and grant navigation help after the plan is adopted. No formal vote was recorded; members signaled general consensus to participate.

Ending: Granite said he would set up interview slots around the next COG meeting and requested that Megan (identified as the COG coordinator) collect contact details so scheduling could proceed.