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Steamboat Springs — Local business leaders were told Wednesday that Routt County has about 400 children younger than 2 and about 90 licensed child care slots for them.

They also were told that statistic has a direct impact on the business community.

Leadership Steamboat organized a lunch forum Wednesday at the Steamboat Springs Community Center to talk about the business consequences of a child care shortage. The focus was on employee recruitment and retention. Workers will walk if they can't find affordable child care, said Tami Havener, executive director of the Family Development Center.

"It's a lot easier to retain staff than recruit new staff," she said.

The forum, which was sponsored by the early childhood advocacy group First Impressions of Routt County, included a video featuring three Steamboat Springs residents who struggled to find and keep child care. The workers told of situations that became increasingly difficult. Child care slots closed up. Home care providers moved. Parents had to cut their hours or telecommute.

Even when parents can get their children a place, care isn't cheap, Havener said. Routt County residents pay $10,000 to $14,000 a year per child for five-day-a-week care, she said.

The shortage is most acute for children up to age 2, she said.

In Wednesday's classified ads in the Steamboat Today, for example, only three listings offered child care. One ad didn't specify the number of slots available or age requirements. One person had a slot for one child older than 2, four days a week this month. The third would accept one 3- to 5-year-old three days a week.

The goal of Wednesday's forum was to create a task force and generate possible solutions, said Steamboat Springs City Council Member Jon Quinn, who is on the board of First Impressions.

"These problems are probably not going to be solved by the city alone or by businesses alone," Quinn said before the event. "We need a public-private partnership."

Child care options are crucial for the feel of the city, Leadership Steamboat participant Karen Massey said.

"People like the fact that Steamboat is a family-oriented community," she said, "and you can only have families if they can afford to live here."

After the presentation, the 50 or so participants discussed needs and options in groups. Ideas included pooling businesses' resources to provide child care, spreading the word about the problem and investing resources in training care providers.

The Denver and Aspen communities contribute a portion of sales tax to early childhood care, Havener noted. Efforts to do that in Steamboat failed in 2001, said Stephanie Howle, early childhood manager for First Impressions.

Community awareness is crucial, Massey said.

"I think in marketing it's called buzz," she said as the forum ended. "I hope we get a little buzz going in this community."