Photo by Deb Gau Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson and Marshall EDA Director Lauren Deutz presented Lyon County Commissioners with a possible framework for a county economic development partnership. Commissioners said they wanted to gather more input from communities around Lyon County.

MARSHALL — A proposal for a new countywide economic development partnership didn’t get approved by Lyon County commissioners on Tuesday. But both commissioners and Marshall Economic Development Authority Director Lauren Deutz said the proposal would be a starting point for further talks — and representatives from other Lyon County cities said the discussion should start sooner rather than later.

On Tuesday morning, commissioners heard Deutz’s proposal for a Lyon County Economic Advancement Partnership (LEAP). The proposal grew out of talks with the county last fall, as commissioners were exploring the idea of possibly hiring county economic development staff.

“The goal here would be to develop a partnership that would benefit all of Lyon County,” Deutz said. She said the plan for LEAP would be to have some factors, like more county engagement and measurable goals, that a previous city/county EDA partnership didn’t have. LEAP would be governed by a board that could include county commissioners, EDA board members, and city mayors and staff.

“I agree with you, the measurables weren’t there,” Commissioner Rick Anderson said of the past county/city EDA partnership. However, he told Deutz he was “kind of lukewarm” toward the proposal. He said the proposal for a governing board presented Tuesday didn’t include members of area city councils.

“We haven’t formalized anything on the city side,” in terms of how an EDA partnership would be governed, Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said. “It’s really however you want to set it up.” The proposal could be changed, she said.

“I want to see us have a partnership,” said Commissioner Charlie Sanow. “I’m not there today.”

Sanow said he wanted to hear what surrounding communities had to say about an EDA partnership first.

Deutz said her proposal was a starting point the county could work with. “If this is an opportunity to start some of those discussions, that’s great,” she said.

Cottonwood City Administrator Teather Bliss and Tracy EDA Coordinator Jeff Carpenter said they’d be interested in in talking about a county-wide economic development partnership. But given how important economic development is for communities in Lyon County, commissioners shouldn’t wait a long time to start talks, they said.

“To me, it’s something we need to start sooner rather than later,” Bliss said.

Commissioners Anderson and Steve Ritter said they wanted to represent the county in future talks.

“We need to keep this moving,” Ritter said.