It was a toss up which of the nine new Craig/Moffat County Economic Development Partnership board members would be assigned one-, two-, or three-year terms.

By flipping a quarter, those with tie votes were given staggered terms Wednesday during the first official meeting of the Partnership’s first officially elected board.

The EDP has been operating since 1998 and introduced bylaws in May of 2002 that outlined how directors should be elected. July was the first time the EDP members elected its directors according to those bylaws because the committee that formed the EDP felt there weren’t enough members to do so until now. Directors have been chosen from among members, as the bylaws require, but members have not been given a formal opportunity to elect directors.

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That process has not been in violation of the bylaws, City Manager Jim Ferree said, because the bylaws were never formally adopted by the membership.

That will change shortly.

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The new board members formed a bylaw review committee that will meet Tuesday to discuss proposed changes. That committee will bring its recommendations back to the board, but no deadline was set for taking those recommendations to the membership.

“A lot of people have a lot of concerns about the bylaws and they’re still going through them,” board member Jackie Roberts said.

She asked to chair the committee.

The newly elected board’s agenda included mostly housekeeping matters Wednesday.

Scott Cook, owner of Cook Chevrolet, was elected the board’s chairman, taking the position from board member and Moffat County Commissioner Les Hampton.

“I’d like to thank Les,” Cook said. “He’s put up with a lot of ulcers and brain damage.”

Jerry Thompson, owner of Craig Ford, is the board’s new vice chairman, Jackie Roberts, with Timberworks, is the secretary and Tonya Griffith, president of Community First National Bank, is the treasurer.

The board’s number one priority remains hiring a director.

“I think our focal point should be to continue to get buy-in of the community and to get people involved to make this successful and get some momentum,” board member Dave Flemming said.

When the board advertised to fill the position in April, nearly 60 applications were received. The board pared those down to 12, eight of which were still available. Seven of those eight remain available.

EDP member Linda Booker suggested that the search be opened again and she wasn’t alone in that concern.

“If they haven’t found a job in eight months, you wonder why they haven’t found a job,” board member Georgina McAnnaly said.

Others felt the board didn’t have the time to start over.

“A lot of work has went into this,” Thompson said. “If we reopen the search and start again, we’re looking at another two to three months.”

A search committee, which will be chaired by board member Jim Simos, was established. Committee members will rank the remaining applicants and bring their recommendations for personal interviews back to the board at its next meeting.

“The most important thing is getting the right director,” Thompson said. “This group will sink or swim depending on the director.”

Finally, a committee was established to develop a brochure for hunting season that gives some reasons why Moffat County is a great place to establish a business.

“We’re hoping the people who can bring bucks to town will se this and like what they see,” Thompson said.

The committee’s next meeting is at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn.

Christina M. Currie can be reached at 824-7031, Ext. 210 or by e-mail at ccurrie@craigdailypress.com.