A cloak of mystery and intrigue has enveloped the TREO (Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities) president Joe Snell. Snell, best known for bringing low-paying call center jobs to the residents of the 6th poorest metropolitan area in the U.S., is now helping the poor souls in Telluride, Colorado. Snell continues to collect a salary from TREO, which is funded for the most part by the few taxpayers left in the 6th poorest metropolitan area in the U.S, while he serves on the Telluride Regional Chamber of Commerce. The same Tucson-area residents, who have wondered what Snell really does at TREO, are now asking what he does for Telluride and who is paying for it?
Written on April 7, 2013, Sackett writes that the group held their first meeting on Friday, which would have been April 5, 2013.
Snell wrote in the letter to the Tucson area politician, “Several months ago, local business executive Fletcher McCusker, CEO, Sinfonia Health Care However, asked if I would provide some advice and guidance to a group of merchants in Telluride, Colorado who are planning on starting up a small chamber of commerce. I agreed to offer advice to the newly created group as a Board Advisor.” He added, “I did not travel to Colorado to provide this advice.”
In the article entitled, Banding Together for Business, Sackett quotes Jim Riley frequently. She identifies as chamber co-founder and CEO. Riley, who identified himself in a phone call this week, as McCusker’s house sitter in Telluride, confirmed that “Joe Snell is on their board, Fletcher and Joe being the only two board members living outside of Telluride,” according to my source.
In his letter, Snell tells the politician that it “appears you have been provided with some flawed information.” He did not offer an explanation of Sackett’s article that implies that Snell was in Telluride. Sackett says she does not know who the person was sitting outside of the camera’s range to the right of the man in the foreground. Hackett says he got the description of each member from the group’s press release. That release (view here) makes no mentions of Snell’s current position with TREO.
There are more and more questions every day. The Telluride economy is booming, can Snell share the advice he is giving them to us? When Snell said he did not travel to Colorado to provide his sage advice, did he mean he was there for another reason? What is the meaning of is? More pressing however; has Joe Snell ever sported flannel and does he offer his advice on TREO’s time?
| Economy | Tucson | Telluride |
| Recent Job Growth | -1.21% | 7.49% |
| Future Job Growth | 29.98% | 45.38% |
| Income per Cap. | $19,500 | $47,038 |
| Household Income | $37,190 | $59,892 |