Ed Ekstrom, Managing Director for Criterium Management Co. called into the Weekday Wakeup on Monday, October 20 to discuss the creation of the Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District in Lincoln County.

SVI Radio has an interview scheduled with Lincoln County Commission Chief of Staff Stephen Allen on Monday, October 27 to provide additional details on the ISD in the county.

(0:00) Heading into this hour’s guest interview segment and this morning, joining me over the phone is (0:04) Ed Ekstrom. Ed is with Criterium Management. We’re going to be talking about what Criterium is and (0:09) also the creation of the Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District in Lincoln County.

Ed, (0:14) good morning. How are you today? I’m well, sir. Thank you.

(0:18) I absolutely appreciate your time today. And you know, we’ve had this interview scheduled for, (0:23) it’s almost been two months now, I think. So I appreciate you being patient and working with (0:27) us on this.

First off, tell us what is Criterium Management and what do you do for Criterium? (0:34) Criterium Management is a traditional partnership. There’s five partners. (0:42) The focus is on providing kind of strategic investment, also economic development planning, (0:51) and organization of public-private partnerships and other necessary entities (0:58) to support our partners that come to us for help in developing their investment strategies around (1:06) specific geographies.

Okay. And how long has Criterium Management been around? (1:14) In its current form, since January 1st, 2023. Okay.

(1:22) The partnership has been around longer than that. We just have kind of evolved. And when we got (1:30) involved in Lincoln County, we created Criterium to deal with all the myriad issues associated with (1:35) our engagement.

I see. Okay. So I guess previous to being called Criterium Management, (1:42) have there been other maybe examples of collaborations that you’ve done in other (1:48) places that you could mention today, just to give us a background? (1:53) Yeah.

My history has been personally in technology innovation. (1:59) My career has been in building and developing innovative technologies. We built and sold (2:06) companies over the last 30 years.

One we sold to HP in the mid-80s. We built and sold another one (2:16) in the late 80s. And then we built and sold another one to Intel Corporation, where I (2:23) ended up retiring from Intel after 10 years as the vice president.

And then we started (2:31) a capital company called VeeSpring Capital in Utah. And then I left there to do more (2:43) what I would call sustainable investment strategies. I got kind of set up with (2:49) venture capital and wanted to do things that had a more lasting influence.

(2:54) Ed Ekstrom with Criterium Management joining us this morning on the Weekday Wake-Up. So, Ed, (2:58) let’s talk more about the LincolnSTAR Improvement and Service District. (3:02) What is that? When someone hears the LincolnSTAR ISD, what does that mean? (3:08) Do you mind if I just provide a one-minute kind of introduction into how we got here? (3:13) Yeah, of course.

(3:15) So, I actually was engaged initially with a group that was doing some work in Lincoln County, (3:22) on Mevant and Trisite. And the initial engagement with me was for alternative uses for coal. (3:32) And we came up with a lot of different strategies, asphalt.

But whenever we tried to do anything, (3:41) we ran into this interesting problem of there was no shared infrastructure in the county for, (3:48) you know, smaller companies to come in and take advantage of. (3:51) And then also, we kind of got involved in some county issues around wastewater and water, (3:59) which were all shared infrastructure issues as well. So, (4:04) trying to find funding in the county from traditional sources for investment in shared (4:10) infrastructure was a challenge.

So, the solution that we came up with was to do a special service (4:16) district. And we made an economic development proposal to the county for a 20-year plan. (4:24) And the objective was to energize local business and take advantage of existing (4:30) local economic assets and advantages, like the crossroads, you know, US-189 and Route 30.

(4:40) And then also, identify other advantages that were native and existing, like rail and power (4:47) generation, agriculture, et cetera. So, when we tried to invest in shared infrastructure through (4:56) a traditional service district, we couldn’t come up with a strategy. And people in the county were (5:02) aware of this very unique development district called the Improvement and Service District.

(5:11) And I’d never seen one before, and I don’t know of any place else that have. And the advantages of (5:16) the ISC are clearly that it’s managed by the landowners, and it doesn’t have to be a contiguous (5:25) piece of property. And the whole strategy around an ISC is to develop shared infrastructure that (5:30) helps bring in and attract and sustain existing business.

And it’s run by the landowners. (5:39) So, the ability of the ISC is to assess for services on an opt-in basis. In other words, (5:46) the landowners can opt in to specific services that are invested in.

(5:52) Maybe more interesting is that it gives them the ability in a non-contiguous way to create (5:59) value from assets that may not all be concentrated in one area. So, we came up with several things, (6:07) and that’s how it all started. But, you know, around water, sewer, transloading, (6:16) rail, power, which became an issue when we ended up running into a power (6:22) kind of crisis.

It’s nationwide, but we ran into that at a very unique time. (6:28) So, that’s where the ISC strategy came from, and that’s how we got engaged. (6:32) Okay.

Now, give us a little more information on what is the geographic location we’re talking (6:39) here? Where is this actually located at? Well, an ISC could be anywhere in the state. (6:44) If you create an ISD, you can bring in property with landowners can apply and participate in one (6:52) ISD anywhere in the state, but we focus on Lincoln County. (6:59) And initially, when we first got involved in a service district strategy, it was concentrated (7:05) in South Lincoln County, but that’s kind of evolved now with the ISC strategy allows us to (7:11) take pieces of property that are already owned, and then the landowners then get the advantage of (7:18) being able to use what is quasi-municipality.

They can bond and do other things that municipalities (7:25) can to facilitate in-ground and water and sewer and roads and power or whatever they need to (7:34) invest in to accomplish their shared task. Okay. And so, I was going to ask more (7:39) clarification on that.

When you said landowners could opt in and join the ISD for those services, (7:46) that’s what you’re talking about, infrastructure-type things. (7:50) You’re right. And interestingly enough, they don’t even have to.

So, it’s an assessment for (7:55) services. You pay for the services you use. So, it’s an opt-in basis.

If one landowner needs (8:00) specific assets that another landowner doesn’t, it’s not like it’s generalized. And the public (8:06) isn’t burdened with any of the costs, but they end up getting some of the advantages. Obviously, (8:13) if the public ends up wanting to use some of those services, then that gets worked out with (8:19) usually the municipalities or the local residents.

There’s no taxes. Unless we provide medical (8:26) services, that’s the only thing that’s carved out as a special mill levy kind of a tax. We have (8:33) no plans right now.

And by the way, Criterion isn’t a part of the ISD. We’re not a landowner. (8:39) We’re just a consultant.

Okay. And that was my question. There have been some questions (8:44) that have arisen regarding it being a non-tax district.

And if the ISD would have the ability (8:52) to impose some sort of levy, even though it’s not a tax district. So, maybe clarify that a little (8:57) more. Well, they don’t provide tax services except for in the case of the need for a potential (9:14) medical services requirement.

That’s the only one that’s carved out. But if they do build and (9:20) have services and people want to take advantage of those services, those get assessed on usage (9:26) by the landowners. It’s only the landowners that are in the ISD that (9:34) originally the strategy was that they would build infrastructure and share the cost of that (9:40) infrastructure and get assessed their participation in it.

Now, again, if there’s a road that’s built (9:46) or something that, again, somebody in the county wants to use, then that gets discussed and worked (9:52) out. But it’s an assessment. It’s not a tax.

Ed Ekstrom with Criterion Management this morning. (9:58) So, this Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District you mentioned, (10:01) initially, the reason this all came about was to help Tri-Site, which we’ve had Tri-Site on the (10:08) air before. We’ve talked to those guys, and it’s been something that has been discussed for a long (10:13) time.

And so, maybe, again, clarify the relationship between Tri-Site and this (10:21) Criterion Management and the ISD and how it all works together. (10:29) Well, Tri-Site, they had a consulting company called Ovant. They hired me to come in and do (10:39) some consulting with them.

And I think I explained that up front, alternative uses for coal, some (10:48) technology discussions. There was several other projects. There was a lot of interest by people (10:55) that came to Tri-Site and to Ovant.

And then we ended up doing some consulting with the city of (11:02) and the county on wastewater and water, especially around needs for TerraPower and (11:11) some other projects who were considering coming into South Lincoln County. We also did some work (11:18) up in North Lincoln County. But that was all consulting.

And the Tri-Site needs for the (11:26) alternative uses for coal and everything kind of came to a point where I was doing more and my (11:34) partners were doing more on what I would call economic development strategies. And so, that’s (11:38) where we kind of decided to engage directly and consult with the county. And that’s where Criterion (11:45) came in.

Well, Ed, we appreciate your insights and updates on this. One other question I had (11:51) was funding for the Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District. Where has the initial (11:57) upfront funding come from and how has that all worked in this initial process? (12:02) Well, when we provided the proposal, initially the traditional consulting agreement, and then (12:08) because of the challenges around funding, the economic development strategies that we proposed (12:16) in a very interesting luncheon, the discussion came around, would we be willing to work (12:25) with a loan? And that’s where the initial funding came, $500,000 came out of an economic development (12:31) fund.

And you’d have to talk to the county about why they chose to do that. And we said, yeah, (12:35) we’d be happy to do it for a long five-year loan. All right, Ed, anything else about Criterion (12:42) Management and the Lincoln Star Improvement and Service District you’d like to mention today? (12:47) No.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this. And I do believe that the ISD does provide a (12:54) very unique opportunity for Lincoln County to create some infrastructure that can be shared. (13:01) And by the way, we do have a lot of interested, what I would call local businesses and other (13:09) businesses that are attracted by the ISD and what it can provide.

And we’re looking forward (13:14) to continuing our efforts there. If someone wanted to learn more about (13:19) Criterion Management, where would be the best place to do that? (13:24) We have a modest website. We don’t advertise.

We basically just take bills. (13:30) If somebody wanted to call and talk to me or one of my partners on a specific topic where (13:36) they’re more than happy to, my phone number is 801-918-9958. And my email is ed.extrem (13:48) at Criterion Management, all one word, Criterion Management, ed.extrem at CriterionManagement.com. (14:00) Ed, thank you again so much for your time.

We appreciate all the updates and information.