Jason Perry, executive director of GOED, said analysts have figured on $2.5 million to start the program. He stressed that GOED is not interested in building new buildings or hiring more people but rather having the centers be "a vehicle for coordination."

"Those separate programs are running very well in their spheres, but you don't always have access to those (as a business owner).... These centers will bring those kinds of efforts together in a coordinated way for the first time," Perry said.

Steve Cloward, director of the Davis Business Alliance at the Davis Applied Technology College, said the business community is willing to help, adding that it is "amazing" how many successful ones "want to give back" through mentoring at a center.

Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo, committee co-chairman, BRC Organizational Board member and director of the Small Business Development Center at Utah Valley State College, said Utah County has 50 economic development agencies.

"We're all out there doing the same thing and there's no coordination as to who we're visiting, who we're working with, who's mentoring. It's totally chaos," Clark said. "What this will do is coordinate all those resources so that each one of these groups will have certain clients that they'll be responsible for in mentoring and funding and helping them get funding, helping them get the resources they need to be successful."

---

E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com