This Sunday, September 7, will be my 38th anniversary as an Alliance resident.
In August 1986 drove to Alliance from Cozad to interview for the position of the Executive Director of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce.
I was not sure what to expect.
It had been extremely hot in Cozad throughout July and August, but when I arrived in Alliance for my 4 o’clock interview, the downtown bank thermometer read 78 degrees.
Gene Sanders, who was the manager of the Dayco plant, had told me the interview would take place at 221 Box Butte Avenue, near the downtown’s main intersection.
As I cruised up and down Box Butte Avenue, I couldn’t spot the chamber sign, so I stopped in the Iron Horse bar to ask directions. The owner of the bar, Steve Miles, told me the chamber office was just up the street, on the right-hand side.
I arrived for my interview about 10 minutes early, and the search committee was already there. I was grilled for the next hour by the committee, which consisted of Fred Caventer of JC Penney’s, Ron Hiatt of Western Bank (now Wells Fargo), Gene Sanders of Dayco (now Parker), and Dee Miles of Town and County Real Estate.
The committee members told me they were basically looking for a community cheerleader. Their new director needed to be someone who could run quality promotions; who could represent the community in a positive light; and someone who could establish good relationships with the local media.
It didn’t sound too tough.
Then it was my turn to ask questions. And I had several. My most direct question was, “On a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, rate the unity of your community.” All four committee members squirmed a bit and looked at each other, hoping the other guy would speak first.
Finally, Ron Hiatt did. “Maybe a five,” he said. “I suppose – on a good day – a six.”
The others shook their heads in agreement.
I inquired as to why he thought the number was so low, and Hiatt stated there were several reasons, including:
a. In the late 1970s, the Burlington Northern Railroad had predicted that Alliance would double in size, and it never did, thus the citizens didn’t trust the railroad.
b. Since the city council and city administration believed Alliance’s population was going to approach 20,000, the town over-developed and the City of Alliance was now several million dollars in debt.
c. The railroad had recently forced the local livestock sale barn out of business because the railroad needed the space to expand its diesel shops.
d. The railroad had torn down the town’s historic train depot.
e. The citizens of Alliance had recently endured a 24-hour blackout on a 100-degree weekend because the city had an electric substation fail, thus creating more citizen mistrust in its local government.
f. Box Butte County had moved the courthouse from Hemingford to Alliance 87 years ago (1899) and Hemingford was still mad at Alliance.
g. During the recent Heritage Days celebration, the chamber of commerce allowed the Pizza Hut to place a booth in the street in front of the local donut shop, which created hard feelings between the two dough entities.
After listening to Hiatt explain the problems, it became clear to me that Alliance was anything but an alliance. I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” to coming to Alliance. Maybe it was my ego. Maybe I was naïve enough to believe I could truly make a difference. Maybe it was because I had a difficult time believing a community could truly have so many problems or that a town named Alliance could be laced with that many conflicts.
Cozad was no Rainbow River Valley, but it certainly wasn’t this screwed up.
The bottom line was: These people were willing to pay me $18,000 a year to manage the Alliance Chamber, and that was $6,000 more than I was making in Cozad.
A few days later, Ron Hiatt called and offered me the job. He said the chamber would pay for my moving expenses, my salary, and my health insurance. He nixed my request that the Alliance Chamber develop a retirement fund for me. Hiatt was a straight shooter. “Chamber directors usually last about five years,” he said. “I don’t have any reason to believe you’ll last much longer than that.”
Hiatt was partially correct. I lasted two years and two months.
In November 1988, I resigned my chamber job and accepted a position with KCOW Radio.