Vogel tells Payson council he has added 138 jobs

By Matt Brabb
Mogollon Connection Editor

Mike Vogel, a member of the Town of Payson’s economic development team and former council member, delivered an update to the town council on Thursday. The news was generally good, as Vogel described a better than expected uptick in employment and the possibility that a number of new businesses may be coming to town.

“I’m one month early on my report,” began Vogel, “but we had some numbers today that I thought we should share.”

Back in July, Vogel made it a goal that the work the economic development team was doing would create or salvage 100 jobs by the end of the year.

“I did a tally today, and as of noon we were at 138 new jobs, and that does not count a business that is currently taking applications, and that means another 12 to 20. That’s the best part for me. They are working families again.”

He said that despite the fact that Payson was fighting a reputation for being unfriendly to business, the perception was quickly changing.

He spoke of his custom of dropping by businesses, and asking them how things were going:

“Today I talked to 14, and not one had a bad thing to say. Every one without exception has at least met their goals. In one case, they far exceeded their goals.”

Prospects are also looking good that a new lumber yard will be opening soon.

Vogel praised the work of the town staff for making the process of opening a business a smooth one for potential owners.

He said that an executive for a company that locates places for companies to move told him Payson was by far the most business friendly and cooperative town he had gone to in the entire United States.

“That’s a lot of work, and credit has got to go where it has to go, and that starts with the town manager, the mayor, and the staff. The staff has been fantastic.”

Vogel said that he recently learned that four businesses in the community are looking to expand, or in some cases open another business.

“So things have turned, they have really turned.”

In order to keep things running smoothly, he implored the council, “If you have a call (about a new business), send them to me. Do not let them get started until they talk to me, because once they get started, and are in the middle of the process, it’s very hard to back up and start over.”

New construction would seem to be on the rise as well. Vogel noted that 10 housing permits were recently pulled, and that 27 new apartments were slated to go up.

“And this is down by Bonita, the place where they had gotten started and stopped that was very dangerous.”

Construction is scheduled to begin on the new apartments early next year.

Vogel said that he had not been overly optimistic when he first set the goal of 100 new jobs last summer:

“I gotta tell you, when I finally hit the total button on the calculator today, I jumped out of the chair. When we set that goal of 100, with the reputation we were working with, I wasn’t quite sure we could pull it off.”

Mayor Kenny Evans praised Vogel’s efforts, and expanded on the town’s philosophy for bringing businesses to town.

“I think it’s worth noting that our approach really is different than other communities. Instead of sitting back and just waiting for people to come knock on our door we’re out soliciting those businesses who we believe would fit well within our community and would be the kind of businesses that would be good community partners,” said Evans.