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Steamboat Springs — Hayden's trustees and economic development team will put their minds together to talk incentives Thursday.

The Town Board of Trustees and the Hayden Economic Development Commission will have a joint meeting in the place of the regular trustee meeting. The groups plan to address the possibility of giving businesses incentives to operate in Hayden.

The economic development group has talked about the possibilities and is seeking opinions and direction from the Town Board, commission Chairman Rodney McGowen said. Incentives could come in the form of waived tap fees, for example.

"A couple smaller communities about our size that had incentive policies we looked at and used those as a pattern for our draft, sort of," McGowen said. "We're not reinventing the wheel."

He said his group's main aim is to draw jobs to Hayden.

Trustee Jim Haskins said he was open to discussing incentives. Adding businesses would expand Hayden's sales tax base, he said.

"It's tried and true," Haskins said. "I think it's got to be very carefully thought out, but I think it's a standard practice, and I don't think we should shy away from those things."

Haskins said he was frustrated that many of Hayden's sales tax dollars go to Steamboat Springs. The town's increasing population and growth around Yampa Valley Regional Airport could change the picture, he said.

"I guess I'm hoping that we just have a meeting of the minds, and they understand what our limitations are, especially in this economy, and they can give us some good ideas and we can give them some good direction," Haskins said.

He said he was pleased with the makeup of the Hayden Economic Development Commission. The members include business owners who can provide perspective to the Town Board, Haskins said.

The economic development group plans to offer information online about available business real estate, HEDC member Martha Cannon said.

"We've been trying to think if there's any other incentives that would be helpful, but right now with the economic downturn, it's kind of hard to predict what we might be able to do," Cannon said.

After talking with the board Thursday, the economic development group will create an incentive policy for trustees to review, McGowen said.

"It's really too early to say exactly what we're going to do, but we're having this conversation now, just trying to get something going," he said.

Haskins said he looked forward to the discussion. The trustees would benefit from further meetings, he said.

"I've been on the board eight years in two other terms, and I've been on three going on four in this one, and it's really funny how you don't have a working dialogue with the other committees in town," Haskins said. "A lot of times, that's not healthy."