SIDNEY -- The Cheyenne County community packed the Sidney City Council chambers Monday for  a special meeting on possibly designing an Economic Development Corporation. 

The concept of an economic development corporation was discussed in a city council executive session, according to Interim City Manager Josh Hanson. 

“On Aug. 26, 2025, City Council meeting entered closed session to discuss the economic development personnel position. Following that discussion, the council voted to hold a public workshop on the matter. During the Sept. 7, 2025 meeting, council identified two potential dates in October to be held by the workshop with the interested entities: that being today, October 6, and 12. And a little bit of background, with the economic development role, I know it’s been the last five years, one of the ongoing challenges that the city has faced in managing economic development is the staffing stability. Over the last five years, the position has seen four different directors with vacancies lasting up to one year,” Hanson said. 

The format of the workshop had E3 representatives presenting their proposal of a corporate structure. Hanson said any other stakeholders would be welcome to talk, followed by the city council and the public. Acting E3  President Sarah Sinnett, with vice-president Cory Keen, opened the discussion, explaining E3’s vision of corporate structure. 

“I know there’s a lot of people here today, and I know there’s a lot of ... passion ... behind today. I’m glad everybody’s here, and I welcome other opinions that are not our own. This is how democracy should be working, is everyone's involved. We created a proposal that we thought was best at the time. But, we're not the experts on everything and we welcome respectful, constructive feedback on anything here today. This is a starting point. It was never meant to be an end point. I've stated several times. That's why most have already seen the proposal is because we sent it out right away ... in full transparency," Sinnett said.

She said there are 129 Nebraska communities with economic development corporations.

She explained the history of E3, how it started as a pilot program through the Nebraska Community Foundation. Member chapters were encouraged to visit other member communities to learn successes and challenges they experienced.

E3 stands for Energizing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. Locally, the effort started with a group of community and business leaders concerned about Sidney's future. 

Several people spoke in support of E3 and what it's staff did for them, while others questioned why the City needs a corporation to do its work. David Jansen of Sidney questioned if a corporation would be required to respond to FOIA requests, Open Meetings laws. Sinnett said the corporation would be as transparent as legally possible. 

Section 84-712.1 of the Nebraska Public Records statutes "does not allow a public body to conceal public records by delegating or contracting its duties to a private entity."

Some in attendance blamed the previous administration on the high turnover at the Economic Development office. Interim City Manager Josh Hanson said he will not address previous administrations, and that his management style is different from previous managers.

Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce Director Joe McCarn spoke on the Chamber's role.

"This isn't the Cheyenne County Chamber of Yesterday. This is a Chamber with purpose, direction and a clear understanding on how to help our county prosper. Our focus is on how to help our county grow from within. We believe that our portion of lasting progress in Cheyenne County starts by supporting the businesses that are already here," he said.

Cheyenne County Commissioner Phil Sanders encouraged a follow-up meeting with the full board of commissioners and other stakeholders.

The noon meeting concluded at about 2 p.m.