(Lander, WY) – The Lander City Council awarded more than $79,000 in economic development funding to five local organizations this week.
Seven eligible organizations had applied for the funding, but two weren’t recommended for awards, according to a report from the Lander Investment For Tomorrow Committee – the group that was created to help the city distribute its portion of local half percent sales tax revenues for economic development.
Lander’s half percent sales tax fund currently holds more than $584,000, the LIFT report states.
The seven organizations that applied for economic development funding this round requested a total of almost $127,240, according to LIFT.
Medical Clinic
The largest grant award that the council approved this week – for about $22,750 – will go to the Lander Free Medical Clinic, which requested about $45,500 “to pay the salary of a full-time care coordinator,” the LIFT report states.
“It’s historically been communicated that the city council doesn’t want LIFT funds to go directly to salary,” LIFT said in its report. “(But) hiring a full-time care coordinator will allow them to see more patients.”
Councilmember Missy White said the Lander Free Medical Clinic’s request for salary support “stands apart from most of the salary requests that have come before us” in the past because the medical clinic is a nonprofit organization.
“This isn’t a for-profit business that is increasing their profit margin by having someone else pay salaries,” she said. “This is a nonprofit, and the services they’re providing are (for) the people we see working in Lander every day. Their clients are folks who are working, they are stocking shelves, they are working in restaurants, they are providing all kinds of services.”
In that way, she said, the salary support for the medical clinic will serve as a “force multiplier” in Lander.
“This is helping keep folks healthy in our community – helping keep them working,” she said. “And I think what they’re doing is incredibly important for our community.”
Little Green Truck
The council approved a $17,000 award for Little Green Truck, which requested almost $22,800 to help “purchase another vehicle and build a pop-up counter option in order to meet demand,” the LIFT report states.
“The other vehicle will either be exactly the same as the current model, or slightly larger,” LIFT said. “The pop-up counter will be built with a freezer that has the capacity to hold more ice cream than the current truck holds, helping to adapt to larger crowds at certain events.”
White said she was “very impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit” and “initiative” of the business owner, who has been “very creative in their marketing (and) advertising.”
“To me it very much speaks to the heart of Lander and the entrepreneurial landscape,” she said.
Little Green Truck intends to hire up to six part-time employees on a seasonal basis to accommodate the expansion, LIFT said.
Balsamroot Roasters
The council approved a $15,800 grant award for Balsamroot Roasters, which requested more than $21,000 to help purchase the equipment they need to “increase their capacity to roast coffee by 500 percent,” the LIFT report states.
After the expansion, LIFT said the business “will be able to offer coffee on the shelves of local grocery stores, markets, and gift shops,” plus “cafés and restaurants will be able to serve the product,” and “they will be able to ship the product out of state to customers, as well as collaborate with local breweries, bakeries and creameries.”
White said she was “really impressed with what this means for them.”
“It takes them from being able to be kind of small batch to individuals to actually being able to function in the commercial world,” she said. “Stores would sell their beans for them, others would use it in production – I thought it was very impressive and a very Lander-based, collaborative process.”
Economic benefits listed for the project include: “keeping dollars spent on coffee in the community, creating year-round jobs, capturing outside money via tourism spending and online ordering, occupying one of the many vacant commercial spaces, hiring local contractors, and collaborating with other Lander small businesses.”
LVHS courts
The council approved the LIFT Committee’s recommendation to fully fund a $12,400 request to help purchase fencing and containment netting stands for the tennis and pickleball courts at Lander Valley High School.
“These improvements will provide a state-of-the-art pickleball facility for future tournaments as well (as) the school district, its students and community at large,” the LIFT report states.
Councilmember Julia Stuble said she was excited “to think about the tournaments that could happen here.”
“We might need a few more courts, but we’ll get there,” she said. “I look forward to that day.”
The LIFT report says LVHS plans to host “several tournaments” in 2025, and “the new equipment will increase the appeal of tehl ocal courts and increase safety.”
“Hosting tournaments will drive visitors to Lander, providing revenue to local businesses,” LIFT said. “This seemed to be a good project for LIFT. The equipment can be used by many in the community plus has potential to bring visitors to Lander.”
Meadowlark Market
The council also granted Meadowlark Market’s full funding request for $11,000, which the business intends to match in order to create and fund a marketing strategy, LIFT Committee Vice Chair Marilyn Fisher said.
“They’re going to hire a contracted person with the expertise to set up a website so that they can sell all of their patrons’ products online,” Fisher explained. “They have over 70 local producers that sell through their store, but they want to be able to sell on their website as well.”
The LIFT report says those 70 producers include farmers, ranchers, and food producers – more than half of whom are Lander-based – selling food products including meat, milk, cheese, breads, produce, honey, eggs and more.
“It’s pretty remarkable what’s being produced here locally and what they’re able to sell,” Stuble said, calling herself a “very happy” Meadowlark customer. “It seems like it’s a pretty strong trajectory in terms of their growth.”
No funding
The two applicants that did not receive economic development funding this round each requested $7,500: Ten Tempura and 23 Squared.
The LIFT report says Ten Tempura intended to use the funding to purchase an air conditioning unit for a food truck and expand the business’ sauce bottling operation to create a retail product, while 23 Squared said it would use the requested funds “for new store displays, a website designer and marketing.”
LIFT recommended Ten Tempura “spend some time with the Small Business Development Center in the coming months,” while 23 Squared was advised to take a deeper look into “how they would run an online marketplace” before taking “that step” into website development.
For more information call the City of Lander at 332-2870.