Craig Daily Press

Craig — She listened, and Moffat County Commissioner Tom Gray remembered that being the most striking impression from his first meeting with Darcy Trask.

Trask, who started as Craig/Moffat Economic De­­­velopment Part­nership executive specialist in January, has made the rounds in Craig lately, meeting community members and taking it all in, she said.

“I appreciated that,” said Gray, who is the only commissioner to meet with Trask so far. “Somebody that doesn’t come in with all the answers, comes in and listens.”

She also has ventured into the business community. Not as much as she would like, Trask said, but the long list of people-to-come is not far from her mind.

Her objective is three-fold: meet the stakeholders, learn about their priorities and establish the connection for communication in the future.

Residents seem to welcome the discussions. So far, most conversations have gone for about two hours, Trask said.

“Certainly every person that you meet has a different perspective, and that’s what makes it valuable to sit down with people,” she said. “It’s been very fruitful.”

This could bode well for EDP as an organization, as well, as Gray said he felt more comfortable with the group after his sit-down with Trask. The EDP board is moving in a positive direction to find their role in the community, he said, adding that initiative had sometimes been suspect in the past.

Dave DeRose, former Craig mayor and Masterworks Mech­anical owner, agreed that EDP has stronger promise with Trask in the fray.

“I think she has done, part-time, more in two months than anybody we’ve ever had before,” he said. “I think (EDP) is taking off in the direction I would have dreamed it would.”

Trask also has met with various community groups, making a couple of appearances at Craig Rotary Club meetings and with the Downtown Business Association.

After the meetings, Trask has not changed her mind about Craig.

“The community continues to be what I thought it was,” she said. “Lots of opportunities.”

Although the fruit born from talking with residents has been mostly consistent, there have been some oranges in the apple orchard, Trask added.

For instance, some suggested EDP focus on roads, so that transportation problems do not constrict business.

Then, there are others’ priorities and interests: from business park subdivisions and small business incubators to only supporting ex­­isting businesses and recruiting a stronger workforce.

Hopefully, in time, Trask said, EDP can play a role in each of those possibilities.

“I think that’s a good start,” Trask said. “We’ve got a lot of really great work ahead of us, and we’ve got a lot of work left to do.”