Valley Vision reports site tours, letters of intent and business-retention work in quarterly update

Valley Vision President and CEO Jerry Chavez presented the organization's quarterly progress report to the Lewiston City Council, describing outreach and business attraction activity across the region.

Chavez said Valley Vision has amplified prospecting work by traveling to target markets, hosting site tours in the valley, and building a pipeline of potential investors. He reported 51 meetings since his arrival, of which he said 42 were qualified prospects and 18 resulted in site tours hosted in the valley. He described a recent instance in which a company issued a letter of intent (LOI) and said negotiation remains under way for previous LOIs from 2023 and 2024. Chavez characterized the organization as sales-oriented and said site tours and local stakeholder engagement are central to closing deals.

Council members asked clarifying questions about what Chavez meant by site tours and letters of intent. Chavez said “site tours” referred to companies brought to the valley to evaluate locations; he explained LOIs are a nonbinding step indicating serious negotiation toward a potential deal and that confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements are common to protect companies from competitors during expansion planning.

Chavez introduced several Valley Vision board members in attendance, including Dave Hanke, Brian Chin, Mike Thompson and Nikolai Green. He said Valley Vision also conducted business-retention and expansion interviews and will report findings to the council after the board reviews survey results.