May 1999

SEN. BAUCUS LAUDS BLDC LOAN FUND Photo by Gregg Edelen Senator Max Baucus holds a copy of the first check from ASiMI for $36,160 to replenish the revolving loan fund available to Butte businesses. Pictured in this ceremony from left to right are Ann Desch, Montana Department of Commerce; Irene Humber, Harrison Avenue Realty, Inc. and BLDC Board of Directors President; Terry Dimock, Montana Department of Commerce; U.S. Senator Max Baucus; Evan Barrett, BLDC Executive Director; Toshio Akashi, ASiMI Chief Financial Officer; Judie Tilman, Headwaters RC&D Executive Director; and Larry Walters, Norwest Bank and BLDC Board of Directors. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) came to Butte recently to personally witness and celebrate ASiMI's first loan repayment to the Butte Local Development Corp.'s revolving loan fund. Thanks largely to the efforts of Senator Baucus and the entire Montana congressional delegation, Congress directed the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce to add $2 million to the BLDC's revolving loan fund, bringing the total fund value to $3.257 million.   The full amount has been loaned to ASiMI as part of their Phase 2 construction.   In a ceremony that brought together many of the players responsible for making the fund possible, ASiMI began making monthly payments on the loan and that means the amount available to loan to Butte businesses will continue to grow with each month's repayment.   As ASiMI continues to make payments of about $44,000 a month, these funds are available for new loans to new and expanding Butte businesses.   Preference will be given to labor-intensive basic sector businesses to ensure that they create the maximum number of jobs for the local economy. Loans will generally be made at 6 percent interest. EvanBarrett, BLDC's Executive Director, estimated that the fund could support as much as $5.5 million in business loans over the next 10 years, in addition to the original ASiMI loan.   Thousands of dollars are being added by these repayments to the growing loan fund and available for new loans to qualifying businesses.   If you believe that your business would qualify to benefit from the loan fund, call the BLDC for more details at (406) 723-4349. BUTTE-SILVER BOW AND BLDC INK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT   The Butte Silver Bow Council of County Commissioners approved a new contract between the county and the Butte Local Development Corporation at their first regular meeting in February. The new $46,000 agreement sets the stage for renewed cooperation to achieve economic development goals for the fiscal year. The agreement brings a few changes to how the county and the BLDC interact and all of them are for the good. The contract calls for quarterly meetings between certain county government committees and BLDC staff to ensure cooperation and communication and to discuss new proposals in the works that include county property or services. The BLDC will also continue to provide to the Council monthly financial information on loans that it administers from the county Anaconda/ ARCO loan fund. The contract also calls for the BLDC to appear before the Council at least once every quarter to update commisioners on economic development in Silver Bow County.   "We believe that this new contract sets the ground rules for effective cooperation between county officials and the BLDC in our efforts to recruit and retain businesses," said Evan Barrett. "Such a rapport is an essential ingredient to success in our economic development efforts. We need to be in sync when we go out to attract new businesses to Butte, and this new contract is evidence that we are working closely together for the benefit of Butte," Barrett said. Photo by George Everett New highway signs will direct visitors to the Chamber of Commerce Visitor and Transportation Center on George Street and the National Historic Landmark District. CITIZENS LOOKING FOR A SIGN WILL SEE SOME SOON The end of the millenium is near and many travelers to Butte this year will be looking for signs.   By this summer, too, there will plenty of signs to see on the Interstate highways around Butte -- big, brown ones and all will direct visitors off the Interstate highways to the Montana Street exit -- the access point to the Chamber of Commerce Visitor and Transportation Center and the historic National Landmark District up the hill.   By this summer, 24 brown informational highway signs will be in place in all directions within and around Butte that will point travelers toward Butte's historic district.   The signs will be hard to miss once they go up, too. The signs range in size, but most are designed to be seen. The largest are 23 feet wide and 13 and a half feet tall, and most of the others are not much smaller. The signs on Interstate highways 15 and 90 will point travelers to the Montana Street exit and up the hill by way of the Visitor and Transportation Center on George Street.   For visitors coming in to town on Continental Drive, they'll see brown welcome signs near the Berkeley Pit that announce the beginning of the "Butte-Silver Bow County Cultural Heritage Area."   "These signs will be unique in Montana," said Jason Giard of the Montana Department of Transportation's Butte Division. "You have to have a national historic landmark district like Butte's to be able to put them up on Interstates." The plan calls for the signs to be up by the end of June. "This will absolutely, positively have a positive impact on tourism in Butte," said Connie Kenney of the Butte Chamber of Commerce.   "Every day we get questions from locals and visitors alike asking why we don't have more signs. It is the number one complaint and request."   Kenney added, "Now visitors will finally know where to go and how to get there."   BLDC NOW ONLINE AT http://www.buttemontana.org Businesses in Butte and anywhere else in the world can now knock on a virtual door any time of day or night with inquiries and find answers to specific questions about what Butte and Silver- Bow County have to offer in terms of business and economic development, jobs and growth opportunities. Butte's economic development is now wired to the rest of the world through the BLDC's new world wide web site on the Internet. The site contains 18 categories that contain details about living and doing business in Butte and Southwest Montana. These include schools, medical services, culture, wage rates, housing, business incentives, transportation, population, business incentives, financing options, industrial sites, and municipal and other community services. The site also contains links to other electronic sources for information including the Butte Chamber of Commerce, Montana Power, Montana Tech, and Silicon Mountain's own web site. The site was launched through Touch America's Internet provider (www.in-tch.com) and is updated and maintained by Outback Ventures, a Butte media company. "The web site extends our reach to promote business opportunities in Butte to companies and entrepreneurs around the world," said Evan Barrett, BLDC Executive Director. "The web site is a powerful tool to help us expand our outreach to let the rest of the world know about Butte and what we have to offer here."   Barrett added, "I can talk on the phone with anyone in the world and, by using the web site, we can both have in front of us the very same information. It's like having a 'virtual' Butte Fact Book in the hands of anyone in the world." Since being opened for business before last Christmas, the site has received more than 1,200 visits. The site will be updated frequently and comments to expand or improve the information contained on the pages are very welcome.