Bear Paw celebrates 45th annual meeting

A crowd gathered in the Ballroom at Montana State University-Northern's Student Union Building Friday to celebrate the start of the 46th year of a mainstay in economic development.

Paul Tuss, executive director of Bear Paw Development Corp., said during the 45th annual meeting of the agency that the U.S. Economic Development Administration's recognizing Bear Paw's district in 1969 made it the first in Montana and one of the first in the nation to be officially recognized.

"We retain that recognition today, and Bear Paw now has the distinction of serving as the oldest economic development district in the state of Montana," Tuss said, adding its work in 2013 "was impressive."

In his presentation, Tuss thanked his predecessors as executive director, the current and previous staff of Bear Paw, the present and former directors of the board, and the local officials and residents of its region, comprising Blaine, Chouteau, Hill, Liberty and Phillips counties and Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.

Tuss said that in 2013 Bear Paw helped secure $8.9 million, or $99 for every dollar of local government spending. Over the last eight years Bear Paw's staff helped facilitate finding more than $78 million for communities businesses and people in the five-county area, and in 2014 also worked with the private sector to create or retain 78 jobs.

That all is under the same fee structure Bear Paw has had since 1988.

"That's pretty impressive," Tuss said.