Gun manufacturer eyes county

Sweetwater County might be the site for a new gun manufacturing facility.

During an update given to both the Green River City Council and Sweetwater County Commissioners Tuesday, Kayla McDonald, the business development manager for the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition, said a company plans to scout possible locations this Spring for their facility.

The manufacturer, though unnamed, is looking at the county after the SEDC responded to a Wyoming Business Council lead named Project Arms. According to Dave Hanks, the CEO of the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce, the company currently produces firearms in California and is seeking a location with a friendlier culture to their products. McDonald told the commissioners the facility, if located in Sweetwater County, would employ approximately 70 people.

Project Arms is one of five economic development leads the SEDC followed up on during the last six months. The coalition, which is funded by both cities and the county, is based within the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce. Hanks said the coalition supports any economic development within the county, utilizing a philosophy of any development will benefit the entire county, not the city its based in. Any development, such as the Project Arms proposal, would bring jobs to the county and utilize the skilled workforce readily available within the county.

The SEDC is involved in other areas of economic development, not just through promoting Sweetwater County to companies interested in expanding.

Through the Rock Springs Chamber, the coalition has hosted monthly small business roundtable meetings and free training seminars. The Green River Chamber has also hosts similar meetings and trainings. McDonald said she’s also established monthly meetings amongst the planning and engineering department heads from both cities and the county.

The coalition, through its website, continually updates the county’s industrial and residential demographics, providing a breakdown of the housing, population, unemployment rates and labor force within the county.