A group of political and business leaders gathered in Westby at the Vernon Electric Cooperative last week for a two-hour session aimed at hammering out Vernon County's priorities for economic development.

The meeting was a joint effort between the Vernon County Comprehensive Planning Committee and the Vernon Economic Development Association (VEDA).

Comprehensive planning committee chairperson Lynn Chakoian asked VEDA executive director Sue Noble to handle the economic development element of the comprehensive plan. There are nine elements in the plan that will eventually need county and state approval. Noble said she decided to hold the meeting to get input on what should be in the plan from leaders across the county.

The 34 participants included town officials, attorneys, business people, educators, county board members, utility executives, bankers, farmers, hospital administrators and economic development officials.

The meeting started with an introduction by Congressional aid Mark Seitz with U.S. Representative Ron Kind's office (D-La Crosse). Seitz said rural areas need to adapt to the global economy that now has small towns competing with other parts of the world instead of the town next door.

"In the old economy, Viroqua competed with Westby," said Seitz. "Viroqua is now competing with Vienna. We can't afford to work at cross purposes, we have to create a unified economic plan."

Noble guided the group through a step-by-step process aimed at identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the area of economic development. Noble first gave the group the results of an online survey she had asked the group to complete prior to attending. The survey was designed to help the group identify perceived strengths and weaknesses.

Noble took comments from the survey and grouped them into major categories to find themes. Noble said by far the biggest item that stood out as a strength was the area's natural resources. Other strengths identified were the area's people and the diversity of the people, agriculture, an entrepreneurial spirit and utility infrastructure.

Weaknesses included a lack of planning and central leadership to carry out a plan, conservative attitudes and perceptions, lack of zoning and land uses planning.

The survey identified a number of opportunities including development of silent sports, marketing the region as a destination while protecting natural resources and capitalizing on the areas diversity.

Noble and Chakoian will be compiling the results of the work and incorporate the results into a written plan that they can then use to gather more input from the others as the planning process proceeds. The county comprehensive planning committee meets monthly and is tasked with completing a comprehensive “Smart Growth” plan by 2010.