Members of county and state leadership met with the public Wednesday night to discuss the future of Amador County. While each panelist at the Amador Economic Forum offered hard-hitting views on why the local economy has fallen into stagnation, the theme of the night was centered on creating new jobs that would stop the mass exodus of Amador's younger generation.

Organized by Dr. Arnold Zeiderman, the forum was held at the Republican Central Committee's headquarters in Martell. The panel featured Republicans Jack Sieglock, candidate for 10th Assembly, Brian Oneto, supervisor of District 5, District 1 supervisor-elect John Plasse and Jackson Councilman Wayne Garibaldi. Republican candidates John Swift and Madonna Wiebold, both running for the Amador Water Agency, were non-panel guests. Plymouth Councilwoman Pat Fordyce was also in attendance.

Despite being sponsored by one political party, Zeiderman stressed that the main objective of the night was to be non-political and inclusive while brainstorming workable solutions to revitalize the area. "Battling over polarizing issues isn't going to get us anywhere," he told the 50-plus people in the audience. "We have to find some common ground and move ahead together as a community."

The first speaker of the evening was Garibaldi, who pulled no punches when it came to the dire straits in which Jackson finds itself. Garibaldi said a major component of job creation was keeping strong businesses that are already in the community on the right path.

"There's a simple connection that exists when you talk about job creation and healthy businesses," he explained. "We do businesses that are remaining vibrant, and they're usually the ones who are in a realistic position to expand and to hire." Garibaldi added that the new Jackson Revitalization Committee would be working to put together long term plans for changing the face of Main Street Jackson in a way that would bring more tourist dollars and, by extension, more employment opportunities.

When Plasse spoke, he attempted to offer a concrete analysis of what the county was up against. "The timing of this task couldn't be more challenging given our regional and national economic climate," he said. "There's not many businesses in an expansion mode right now. One of the temptations it's easy to be attracted to in a county like ours is the temptation of retail. Personally, I don't think we can retail our way to prosperity."

Plasse explained this by saying that Amador County only has "a finite level of consumer purchasing power." He emphasized that, in some cases, large national retailers were having an overall negative affect on the local economy that cancelled out the jobs they provided. "With our income levels and population base, you can't continue to seek out more national retail stores because they're having a predatory effect on our already-operating businesses. They may create a large sales tax base when they come in, but I think it draws off sales tax that was already occurring."

Plasse said the solution was to strategically recruit businesses that offered services and products that residents have to currently travel outside the county to access. "That would be a net gain for the tax base and our local consumers. It stops what I call 'sales leakage' from the area; and it doesn't have the predatory affect on our small businesses."

Oneto said there were practical needs Amador had to address in order to attract the types of businesses Plasse was talking about. "One of the problems we have here is infrastructure," he offered. "Sewage and water has to be accessible. For example, we need to have a good sewage plant right now, but we're having some problems with that. Until we get issues like that moving forward, it will be hard for new businesses to come to Amador."

Sieglock offered his view on the issue of finding new economic blood. "Leadership is extremely important," he said. "If a city council or board of supervisors is not pro-business, then businesses will know that and they won't be inclined to come." Sieglock expanded on the point by saying this type of reputation that many small counties were getting mirrored the overall reputation of the state. "We have that problem here in California," he said. "Big businesses are afraid to come."

Plasse and Garibaldi were both in favor of attempting to draw clean technology businesses to Amador. Plasse, who's friends with the founder of the highly successful E-Trade, has witnessed first-hand the level of job creation that can be propelled by broadband technology. Garabaldi observed that there would have to be key factors in place to tempt such companies into coming to Amador.

"You have to give them a reason to want to be here," he said, "like a cheaper cost of living than the Bay Area. You have to have reasonable priced housing, education opportunities, property available and a lower cost base. We need to put those together as a package."

One item everyone at the forum seemed to agree on is that Amador County should be supportive of expanding its wine industry - which has been highly successful, steadily growing and somewhat recession-proof. Marketing local wineries and vineyards as part the agri-tourism industry would require, according to Plasse and Garibaldi, getting rid of county and city regulations that handicapped such businesses from expanding into restaurants and bed and breakfast inns.

"With economy down and the dollar falling, many people are taking regional vacations," Plasse observed. "If our local wineries want to expand and do more business, which in turn helps other businesses in the area, then the county shouldn't stand in the way."