Paul Melcher: bringing economic growth to Yuma
Paul Melcher, originally serving as Deputy County Administrator has been appointed as the County’s first Economic Development and Intergovernmental Affairs Director.
This new position allows Melcher to plan, organize and direct economic development activities.
These activities will attract new industry, businesses, and investments to Yuma County.
On the economics side, Melcher will “work with stakeholders in the region to attract economic development to the region,” he said.
This often means that Melcher will work to get new businesses to the area and working to expand existing businesses.
Melcher will also propose and track local, state and legislative initiatives to benefit the County.
As part of his transition to his new position, Melcher will remain Interim Elections Director through the remainder of the election cycle.
He will also be conducting research, providing analysis, making recommendations related to intergovernmental affairs at the state, local, regional and federal levels.
“Legislative affairs deals with tracking both state and federal legislation to ensure or to determine if any proposed legislation will have a detrimental or beneficial impact on the region,” Melcher said.
Melcher says this job is important to Yuma county because it enforces all of the partnerships they have been developing not only with regional stakeholders but also with stakeholders in Mexico.
New elements the county is spearheading are the opportunity zones.
“Its a program where those who are looking to defer tax liabilities can take those dollars and reinvest them in qualifying communities with opportunity zones to offset that tax liability,” Melcher said.
The community benefits by having a new business within areas that are economically distressed.
Another program in conjunction is investing in manufacturing communities partnership plan which the county is helping to develop.
This program focuses on infrastructure development within the region so that when prospective companies come to relocate, the necessary infrastructure is already in place.
This includes roads, water, sewer and also natural gas and electricity.
Melcher said he feels qualified for this job since he has been Deputy County Administrator for five years.
He says both the positions had duties related to either legislative activities or economic development.
Melcher has also had a hand in 4frontED which is a financial organization looking to further economic development across Mexico and the U.S.
Melcher believes this new position is unique because it allows focussing on economics and legislative activities without additional oversight duties.
About two years ago, the Yuma County board of supervisors approved an incentive policy which Melcher now leads.
This incentive encourages utilization of the county’s other regional cities to be able to provide incentives to companies looking to relocate in Yuma.
Melcher is excited to partner with local groups to make manufacturing the growing industry of Yuma.
