New BCEDC director is announced

-- Courtesy photo Fighter jet that Coundary Ecomonic Development Director, Dennis Weed helped develop while at Boeing.

-- Courtesty photo Dennis Weed, on top of Mt. Fisher in the Canadian Rockies. He took the climb along with some other Boundary County residents.

by Sarah Jenkins
| September 22, 2016 1:00 AM

-- Courtesty photo Dennis Weed, on top of Mt. Fisher in the Canadian Rockies. He took the climb along with some other Boundary County residents.

Boundary County Economic Development Council new executive director is Dennis Weed.

Weed began his new position with the county on June 4. He recently relocated from Puyallup, Washington. During a road trip, he and his wife fell in love with Boundary County. Weed enjoys the outdoors and has successfully summited Mt. Rainier 10 times. While in Western Washington, Weed worked for Boeing for 33 years. At Boeing, he worked on developmental programs and engineering.

What is the purpose of the economic development council? According to Weed, his role is to support the communities of Bonners Ferry and Moyie Springs, as well as all businesses within the county. His responsibility is to remove any roadblocks that a business comes across; government formalities or if a business would be better suited in a different location.

It is also the role of the economic development council to assist new businesses with making sure the infrastructure for their business is correct. For example, would the building location have enough water, sewer, electric and internet bandwidth to correctly and efficiently run their business.

“My job is to ensure that the business will thrive and do well,” stated Weed.

According to Weed, some of the new improvements coming to Boundary County are going to enhance the small town experience. First of all, there will be a main street advisory committee started to review the appearance of main street. The objective is to critique the appearance to the tourist and to potential business owners into downtown Bonners Ferry.

In October, Shopko will be opening offering a local retail shopping experience comparable to other large department chain stores. According to Weed, Well Life Pharmacy was purchased by Shopko and will move to the new location.

Technology advancements are also on the rise. The new fiber optics throughout the country will allow for DSL to most of the county. The new internet cables would allow for 12 -- 15 mps of service. The AT&T tower that was installed in 2014 in Moyie Springs, Weed is anticipating a date from AT&T on when the the tower will become active.