GREEN RIVER - Houston native Jerry Elizondo remembers the first week of a construction job in Sinclair near Rawlins last fall.

After being told during his orientation session that a local grocery store would cash paychecks for the project workers, Elizondo, a crane operator, decided to take advantage of the service to get a little spending money.

Boy, was he surprised.

"Those folks wanted to charge us 10 percent to cash our checks … and this is an (occupation) where a thousand-dollar per diem paycheck is nothing," he said.

"They said we could put that 10 percent toward our grocery purchase, but they were going to get their 10 percent either way," Elizondo said. "We didn't come here to pay higher prices, we came here to pay the same as everybody else pays, but it doesn't feel like that a lot of times."

The 56-year-old Elizondo has been working in Sweetwater County for just under a year, and he and his wife are renting a house in Green River.

He said nonresident workers are filling an important role and are a "vital part" of Wyoming's economic growth. They're also investing in local communities while they live here.

"Those (transient) workers require the same services as longtime residents … We have to wash the laundry and buy groceries and pay for doctors and for gas and day care, all the goodies that everybody else needs," he said.

"If (local) vendors all the sudden have an influx of a thousand people, wouldn't you think revenues would go up for him? Isn't that an investment in the community we're making?" Elizondo said.

"When everybody's gone … those (vendors) are only going to have X amount of people after that, and that number's not going to change a whole lot when the boom leaves," he said.

Elizondo said he still loves the area and plans on living in Green River after retirement.

"My wife really loves it here … Crane operators are pretty much in high demand and can pick and choose where they want to go, but I like it here as well," Elizondo said.

"It's very pretty here. It's a town where everybody waves at each other. There's a lot of recreation, a lot of young and old folks along the Greenbelt trail … You just feel safe here," he said. "It's a nice area and a great community, but that's just the opinion of one ex-out-of-stater."