Campbell County Commissioners are working to bring in federal funds to help build an industrial park east of Cam-plex, but a state senator said the county should be wary of accepting any federal dollars.

In 2014, the county bought 247 acres of land east of what is now the Gillette College rodeo ag complex with the long-term goal of building an industrial park on 167 acres of that property.

The county has tried to get grant funding for the Pronghorn Industrial Park but has been unsuccessful. But now it’s trying again.

There are $300 million in the American Rescue Plan as part of the Economic Development Association’s Coal Communities Commitment.

Public Works Director Matt Olsen said that after looking more closely at the plans for the proposed industrial park, he estimated it will cost about $14 million. It includes the construction of eight shovel-ready sites, ranging from 10 to 27 acres, utilities, a city sewer connection and access off Highway 51 and Fox Park.

County administrative director Carol Seeger said while it’s possible that the grant could be 100% federally funded, with no match required, it’s better for the county to show that it’s financially invested in the project.

For a $14 million grant, a 20% match would be $2.8 million. If the county is successful, it would provide the match from its Optional 1% Sales Tax contingency account.

The application is due Oct. 1, and commissioners are set to approve moving forward with the application at their next regular meeting in September.

State Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, said the county is doing the wrong thing in pursuing federal dollars.

“Every time we accept federal funding, we accept strings. We have to pay for it, we get rid of people’s liberties and freedoms, it’s terrible,” he said. “We’re like crack addicts when it comes to federal funding.”

State and county regulations are slowing business development down, McKeown said.

“Instead of going after those regulations and rewriting them, we’re going to throw federal money at it,” he said.

“Do you want us to not go after any of these (grants)?” asked Commissioner Rusty Bell.

Commissioner Del Shelstad said it is an opportunity to bring taxpayer dollars back into Wyoming. If Campbell County doesn’t take advantage of it, someone else will.

“We have a choice to say, we want to go after some of that ... or (we can) let the other coal-impacted communities get it because we’re too hardheaded,” Shelstad said.

McKeown said the government shouldn’t be in the business of land development, and that the county would be competing with private industry with the industrial park.

There are more than 80 commercial properties for sale in Campbell County, McKeown said, and about 50 of them can be used for industrial purposes. If the county builds an industrial park, “we may stop the sale of those empty buildings,” he said.

The intent isn’t to compete with private business, Bell said. There are businesses that are looking for large, shovel-ready sites that they can move into on Day One, but Campbell County doesn’t have those available.

“We’d be tickled to death if somebody else was doing it,” said Chairman Bob Maul. “But nobody else is doing it.”

“There’s not a demand for it,” which is the reason no one else is doing it, McKeown said.

Leadership

McKeown also took exception to comments Bell made in late August.

At a meeting, Bell lamented what he believed was a lack of state leadership as far as a unified direction for Wyoming moving forward, particularly when it comes to all of the federal dollars available for coal-impacted communities.

“Wyoming Energy Authority doesn’t do it, the governor’s office doesn’t do it. We all just do our own things. We have different partners but there is no leadership in this whole concept,” Bell said. “It’s kind of a shotgun approach, because we’re all doing our own thing.”

McKeown said he found this “quite offensive.”

“No state leadership? I guess we now know what some people think of us,” the state senator said. “I would challenge you to come down (to the Legislature in Cheyenne) and try to do it. Because it’s not easy.”

“I challenge you to do this job, it’s not easy,” Shelstad told McKeown. “We’re trying the best we can for a struggling community, a struggling economy to make good for the citizens.”

Even though he opposes applying for federal dollars, McKeown said if he’s proven wrong and the Pronghorn Industrial Park turns out to be a success, he’ll admit that he was wrong.

“I guess it’s the Field of Dreams, build it and they will come,” he said. “If that happens, I’ll apologize for this.”