Roswell and Chaves County: land of milk and honey

New Mexico Business Journal, August, 1994 by Kalynn Huffman Brower

"The big winner is the city," says tower supervisor George Swenson. "Not only will the city gain $650,000 annually in payroll for the additional employees, the radar will make the airport even more attractive."

Part of the credit for Roswell's changing economics has been the Business Quarter, a coalition of eight cities in the state's southeastern quadrant backed by Southwestern Public Service seven years ago.

Hervey Gilliland, district manager for SPS, says the coalition's goal of recruiting new businesses and industries and promoting the area's lower cost land, abundant labor force and available utilities have been a plus for Roswell and the other smaller cities.

Except for the controversial Roswell UFO Incident of 1947, the city might never have been a tourist destination, but the International UFO Museum and Research Center has attracted over 28,000 visitors since opening in 1992.

"Unlike Carlsbad or Santa Fe, we do rely heavily on the convention business," says Sara Whiting, director of the Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau.

While spending years hamstrung in providing amenities for large convention groups, that, too, is changing with the Roswell Civic Center expected to open by the spring of 1995 with a capability of accommodating 12,000 conventioneers at any one time.

Along with the improvements, the whole of downtown Roswell will be getting a facelift beginning in January through the Main Street reconstruction project.

When the Main Street project is finished, Roswell's downtown corridor -- from the civic center and museum, past the courthouse and down to the Hondo -- will be visually unified.

The Roswell Independent School District has also grown with the city, the latest upgrading being computer technology in the classroom after local businesses contributed $100,000 in matching funds to purchase computers and interactive hardware. Eduquest, an IBM affiliate, donated $100,000 in software.

Meanwhile other educational opportunities abound in the Roswell area, whether at the landmark New Mexico Military Institute or Eastern New Mexico University--Roswell, not to mention Job Corps training and the state's in-plant training program.

The ENMU-Roswell campus is also looking to expansion with more classrooms and televised instruction programs.

The state's in-plant training program designed to train for skilled manufacturing jobs has been used not only by TMC, but by Renown Aviation and Leprino Foods.

"That's probably the best tool for economic development the state has," says Tony Elias, executive director of the Southeastern New Mexico Economic Development District.

Eastern New Mexico Medical Center remains the cornerstone of health care in Roswell with work now under way to consolidate the north and south campuses.

Sharon Cox, marketing director at the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, says the center's facility expansion and particularly the design of the new cancer treatment center mirrors the center's move toward combining education, wellness and in-patient care.