The Old Yellowstone District has an advisory committee.

It will provide direction on how to recruit businesses into the area, how to spend allocated funds and keep open communication lines between citizens and the city.

The Casper City Council chose three business owners from the area and two alternates to serve on the board during a meeting earlier this week.

The oversight committee will also give advice to the council on how well the newly adopted plan works in the area, and if new regulations such as the design guidelines can be reasonably implemented.

"This is a new thing, and I think the committee will evolve as the redevelopment progresses," said councilman Guy Padgett.

Two members of the council and two members from the Planning and Zoning Commission will also serve on the board for either one- or two-year terms.

Liz Becher, urban renewal coordinator for the city, said, Padgett and Kate Sarosy will be the council appointees and Tim Havasi and Bob Hopkins will serve from the commission.

The council narrowed the field of eight applicants to five, choosing those who Padgett said represented each of the interests groups in the area.

Paul Meyer, owner of Wyoming Automotive, Carol Martin, who owns Martin & Company Salon, and Robert Harrington, the director of the Natrona County Health Department, will serve on the committee. Alternates are John Huff, owner of Sound and Cellular Inc., and Ron Salveson, owner of Knapp Supply and Equipment Co.

Standing in her remodeled salon, a soothing mixture of brick, plaster and mirrors Martin said, "I'm all about the look."

"The better everyone looks," she said, "the more the property is worth and more people will come here."

She and her husband, Stan, bought the old Co-Op building on West Yellowstone Highway in 1999. They renovated the building and created her salon and her husbands business, Martin's Casper Taekwon-Do.

Growth on the east and west sides is great, Martin said, but people also need to focus on the center of Casper.

Meyer, who worked with the original Casper Urban Renewal Agency for many years, said he hopes residents see the potential in the area.

In 20 years, he said, he wants Casper to be the city people give as an example of a great place to visit.

"I still have that excitement that if everyone will work together and use their imaginations of what this city can accomplish in this couple-mile corridor," he said. "Someday, I could drive across those bridges and think, 'Wow, that's cool.'"

Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com