Rural economic summit to focus on development tools

USDA Rural Development, which fields 48 loan programs, has cited a medical center in Fallon as an example of a rural economic development program in action.

And it will be spotlighted during a rural economic summit in Fallon this month.

New River Surgical Associates was developed by Lahontan Valley Surgical Properties LLC, owned by two doctors.

"The project won financing after Heritage Bank of Nevada requested that our agency guarantee a loan," says Herb Shedd, Business and Cooperative Programs Director at USDA Rural Development.

The developers will occupy 2,400 square feet of the 24,000-square-foot walk-in center for their own medical practice. Meanwhile, Banner Churchill Community Hospital will occupy another 8,000 square feet for an outpatient surgery center.

Construction of the surgical center, near New River Business Park, is slated for completion in December. Q&D Construction is the contractor.

USDA Rural Development works to shore up the economics of rural communities with loans available only to communities with a population of 50,000 or less.

Creating more such success stories is the goal of a rural summit, "Developing Nevada's Future through Leadership," scheduled August 28-30 at the Fallon Convention Center.

Programming, says Klint Kobel, program director for the Nevada Rural Development Council, will target farm, ranch, business and community leaders. Subjects range from bidding on federal contracts to the strategies for economic development.

Speakers include Jim Fitzgerald, chief of staff, rural development for USDA in Washington D.C., and Mark Drabenstott, Center for the Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Tom Harris of the UNR Center for Economic Development will moderate a panel of economic development authority executive directors.

Registration is $100, including meals. For information, call (775) 829-1048, (209) 559-0541 or email nrdc@gbis.com.