Kelly Sullivan, director of BLDC, told the Silver Bow County Economic Development Committee on Jan. 7 that another company is considering locating in Butte and BLDC staff will meet with the company and visit potential sites in the coming week or two to discuss workforce-development needs.

Sullivan said BLDC has a slate of low-cost trainings planned this winter and spring, including a Department of Labor presentation by Chandler Emmett on growing and stabilizing workforces and a beginner cybersecurity course for small businesses scheduled for Jan. 27. "We do have a lot of trainings on the docket for this winter and spring," Sullivan said, and encouraged referrals to the programs.

On financing, Sullivan described a tourism revolving loan fund intended to help tourism-centric businesses prepare for the season. She said the fund is low-interest and that "the fund has about $1,400,000 available." Sullivan said the funding comes from the Montana Department of Commerce. She added that the program is written to emphasize that a business's main source of revenue should be tourism (she cited roughly 60 percent as an illustrative threshold), but said that threshold is not fixed.

Sullivan also noted BLDC's other lending programs, including Big Sky economic development loan funds, and said the loan department is finishing a migration to new loan-management software. She said BLDC is coordinating with County Superintendent Jim O'Neil and the Butte school district to report what workforce-development programming exists at junior-high and high-school levels for prospective employers to review.

Applications for BLDC loan programs are available online through Headwaters or Butte Local Development and will be considered by BLDC's loan committee, Sullivan said. She said BLDC plans outreach this year, working with regional partners, including Southwest Montana Tourism, to deploy funds and connect with businesses.

The committee recorded a motion to adjourn after the update; the motion carried on an "Aye" vote in the segments captured in the transcript.