David Jansen (left) and Cory Keen (right) of E3 debate the merits of E3's plan to form a corporation to outsource Sidney's economic development at Sidney town hall on Monday.

SIDNEY- A public workshop was held at city hall to discuss the potential formation of an economic development corporation to take the place of an economic director on Monday, October 6, 2025.

The meeting was packed with concerned citizens, to the point where 11 extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate them, and there were still people left standing. Among them were representatives from the organization Energizing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, E3, who were presenting the plan to form the corporation, and one from the Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners.

The plan was outlined by Sarah Sinnett, the current president of the Sidney E3 chapter.

According to Sinnett, the goal of the plan is to expand access and support local innovative strategies. If the plan is accepted, E3, as it currently stands, will change and become the Economic Development Corporation, EDC. This new corporation will be run by a board they propose to include: a representative from the Sidney city council, one from the by-then dissolved E3, a financial representative, a community business member, and a representative from Cheyenne County.

This new company would have financial needs. To fulfill those, Sinnett said that the proposal requested five years' worth of funding from the council. The funding she requested would come from the current budget's economic development tab, and the amount requested was $110,000, roughly half of the economic development budget. The funding would go towards money for a new executive director's salary, employee benefits, new technology, new equipment, and office supplies.

One significant concern that several of the concerned citizens, including Eric Pool and David Jansen, brought before the council was the lack of accountability and enforced open meetings that such a corporation could lead to. As a corporation, there is no law that would enforce compliance if they chose to be less transparent moving forward. In the current system, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) prevents the government from hiding or privatizing public records. FOIA does not apply to corporations.

"What you're doing is basically kicking 160 years of public records, the ability, not that we do, I don't care how many people do FOIAs, that we have the ability to do FOIAs," Jansen said. "That's what gives you trust in government. That's what gives you the trust, that you can look into that, and that's what gives you accountability."

Kendra Strommen, the Sidney city attorney, addressed this concern.

"If we can show that the substantial part of the funding is coming from the government entity, then they would be required to comply under the Open Meetings Act and FOIA laws," Strommen said.

While this initially appears to be a promising rebuttal to this concern, E3's current plan is to one day no longer rely on governmental taxpayer money. Their idea was to become completely privately funded after five years, which would mean this law would no longer apply.

"There's no official governing law that's going to come and say that you can legally do this (FOIA)," Sinnett said. "... Technically, you have no accountability after it if taxpayer money isn't going to it, but we will, as long as these people are currently involved that have been part of it, we will always listen to public input and give information where it's asked for."

Sinnett and the council both said that they would be willing to sign into the contract, promises to remain open for the public, though no one who spoke at the meeting expressed confidence in this promise.

"We have some of the most amazing business owners in this country, who have the utmost integrity, and if they're involved in this, because they are the business community, it will live up to those standards," Sinnett said. "And we have bylaws, and we have different rules of incorporation that we have to adhere to. That's all part of that, that we'll definitely include in that."

Not all of the citizens that were present were against the plan to form a corporation. Trevon Newmann of Modern Moves Fitness and Dance Studio, among others, stepped up to offer testimonials on E3's behalf. Multiple people spoke about how E3 helped their businesses, while others discussed the inefficiencies of the current system, which features multiple agencies as resources for business owners.

"I would like to see Sidney come out of its trauma," Newman said. "And lead with innovative ideas, not retreat within itself, and lead with fear."

Richard Haupt also spoke in support of E3. Speaking twice in the meeting, Haupt first touched on how he believes groups are more trustworthy than individuals. Then, later in the meeting, he returned to say that this might be a good time to change the system. He suggested that by doing this now, it could help interim City Manager Josh Hanson by decreasing his responsibilities and allowing him to focus on lowering taxes.

Hanson's role as the interim city manager came up frequently throughout the meeting. There were some at the meeting who argued that rather than forming a corporation, Hanson should be allowed to hire an economic director and showcase his leadership in this aspect. Some said that the reason there has been a high turnover rate for the role of economic director was due to the former city manager's role in the process and that things would be different now that Hanson is in charge. Then there were others like Haupt who expressed belief in Hanson's ability to lead, but suggested that a corporation might be more efficient.

"The off ramp here is to keep it the same," Jansen said. "Maybe a year, maybe two years. Keep it the same, give him a chance to find a good person or do a good job. And I know you'll (Hanson) do a good job."

Others at the meeting took a more neutral stance, not speaking for one side or the other, but provided a new facet of the conversation. Wendall Gaston spoke after Newmann to speak of how other towns have formed corporations, and that he'd noticed cycles in such cases where the responsibility of economic development was passed between private and public every 25 years or so.

Former economic director Brandy Stone also offered her perspective, speaking briefly on her experience as the economic director. One central theme of her speech was the lack of unity she experienced in the role and how it made her job difficult because of the lack of support she received on all sides.

"I hope this community can figure it out," Stone said. "It was really, really frustrating to sit here and get speculated from both the community side and leadership side, so when you leave a position, it's because of a multitude of reasons."

Lynette Elyne stepped up to the stand to remind everyone that Sidney has changed, and that this was something that needed to be accepted. Elyne also said that she felt that the question of economic development wasn't the first question that needed answering.

"We definitely want to come together," Elyne said. "I'm over the whole this side, that side, what did this say? What do we, as a group, as citizens, want Sidney to be?"

One more hot topic that came up during the meeting was taxes. Pool expressed that the reason economic development is a problem in the area is because of the high property taxes. As Third District Commissioner Philip Sanders pointed out, Sidney's mill levy is lower than it's been in a long time, but Pool pointed out afterwards that the lower levy did not lead to decreased taxes. Vicki Loghry also spoke on this point, pointing out that the cost of taxes would be lower if more people lived in Sidney, and that the cost was decided by the governmental services Cheyenne County's citizens are entitled to.

"That's the price of living out here," Loghry said. "And that gets missed in some of these conversations. There is a price to pay. We either need more people, and with more people means more water, more electricity, more everything else, or we have some other tough choices to make, and that's living in a free society."

The meeting was eventually adjourned at 2:23 p.m. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for October 14 at 9 a.m.