Sustainable Communities Grant Stirs Controversy In The Area

EDAC (Economic Development of Apache County) sparked the movement to organize the coalition. That organization is charged with providing assistance regarding economic development for relocation to the communities located within Apache County, and initiates and implements special marketing projects, then manages those projects, which can include grant projects.

An outside planner, Brian Cole of Oregon, has been working with the EDAC Committee and EDAC Director Hank Rogers.

“There was a substantial federal grant through HUD (Housing and Urban Development),” said Rogers, who received a call from Cole suggesting they form a coalition and apply for the Sustainable Communities Grant, which is strictly for planning for economic development in the region.

They contacted entities and began forming a coalition that included Apache County, Navajo County, the cities and towns within the counties, and the Navajo, Hopi and Apache tribes.

Representatives from each tribe, Navajo County Manager Jimmy Jayne, Apache County Manager Delwin Wengert and Rogers attended a meeting in Boston, Mass., that included representatives from Department of Transportation (DOT), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House, as well as other officials.

“I came home from this meeting excited, because they listened to the issues from leaders in the area,” said Rogers. “This grant is truly an experiment for Washington.”

Each entity is to organize a steering committee that includes a variety of people from different walks of life. “It’s an amazing process,” said Rogers, noting that the steering committees are made up of “people that care about the forest, people at the power plant, ministers, doctors, businessmen and Chambers of Commerce.”

“We have a really powerful opportunity here to let them know these regulations from the government are killing us,” said Eagar Councilwoman Debbie Rogers, a member of the Eagar Steering Committee.

“People on the committee had an opportunity to say that the federal regulations are killing the economy,” said Hank Rogers, including the effect in the area from the Environmental Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

This grant has met with opposition from White Mountain Conservatives, and concerns have been raised that the grant is linked to Agenda 21 and global environmental issues.

“People here make the plan; it comes from the ground up. The people I deal with in the HUD office in Washington have never asked me to join ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), have never brought it up. They never criticized what we have done, they’re very complimentary, very cooperative and it’s our plan,” said Rogers.

He pointed out that another plus is that consortium members will receive extra points when they apply for other HUD grants.

“It’s simply a federal grant,” said Rogers. “This is how the federal government chooses to send our tax money back to us. If we send it back, they’ll send it to somebody else, why not use it. If we don’t like it, we change who’s there.”

Currently Navajo County and the City of Show Low have withdrawn from the consortium; there are three consortium members who have steering committees, with others getting close to forming theirs.