PORT ANGELES — The board of the Clallam County Economic Development Council dissolved itself Thursday amid hopes that a new, slimmer board will initiate more outreach to businesses and the general public — and achieve some definable goals.
The disbandment paved the way for an April 9 organizational meeting of new board members, which are expected to have been named by then.
The first full board meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 30.
Before they completed their final meeting, board members told of their preferred priorities for the new board.
They also forwarded recommendations to the new board for work to be completed in 2015.
They include accomplishments, or “deliverables,” that will be attached to the EDC’s contracts with its 2015 funding partners along with staff job descriptions and a strategy to increase funding from the private sector.
“There needs to be a detailed-implementation work plan over an 18-month period,” said Forks City Attorney Rod Fleck, who led the meeting as board second vice president.
A draft 2015 work plan has been created for consideration by a new board.
Clallam County and Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks city governments have reviewed their contracts with the EDC for 2015.
“We’re waiting for a sign-off” from all of them, said Bill Greenwood, EDC executive director.
Funding partners under which the EDC has performance contracts are the state Department of Commerce, Clallam County, the Port of Port Angeles, Olympic Medical Center and the cities of Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks.
Doug Sellon, executive director of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, said the tribe is not a funding partner “with a capital ‘P’” but will give the organization $7,500 in 2015.
“We have stepped up and committed [to] supporting this organization at a level that is higher than some of the partners,” he said.
He did not say how much the tribe has agreed to contribute.
“We are putting our money where our mouth is, and I expect the partners to come through” and provide funding, Sellon said.
Port Angeles City Councilman Brad Collins said council members want to review the work plan before approving funding.
“The council does have a lot of questions,” he said.
Ken Hays, a Sequim City Council member and, for the meeting, acting board president, said he wants the new board to connect with the public.
“One of the things I consider critical is public engagement,” said Hays, an architect.
Kaj Ahlburg, representing the Port Angeles Business Association, wanted to ensure that EDC staff time in 2015 is devoted to activities that address recent critics of EDC funding.
“A lot of those folks don’t have all the information,” said Ahlburg, a retired investment banker.
“A lot of the opposition could be defused by timely outreach.”
Most of the 17 new board members — the present board has 27 seats — have yet to be named under broad, new bylaws the old board approved in February.
Clallam County commissioners recently appointed the county’s four representatives to the new board: Don Butler, High Energy Metals Inc., Sequim; Linda Dillard, Clallam Bay-Sekiu Chamber of Commerce; Ryan Malane, Black Ball Ferry Line; and Larry Hueth, First Federal CEO.
The commissioners had the option of naming a government representative for the fourth slot but instead chose Hueth.
They are the only seats filled so far.
The new bylaws recently were approved 21-2 in an advisory ballot among about 70 board members.
The new board will include a single representative each from the county’s Native American tribes, the county’s public hospital districts, Peninsula College, the Port of Port Angeles, Clallam County Public Utility District and individuals from the cities of Port Angeles, Forks and Sequim.
Seven private-business representatives would be chosen by government representatives from Clallam County and the three cities.
An at-large private-sector member would be chosen by the board, and the board would include a technical adviser who would be immediate past president.
Although it provides funding, the state Department of Commerce is not represented on the EDC board.
The old and new boards will have similar percentages of representatives from the business sector.
In another change, the board would meet at least quarterly and more often if deemed “in the best interest of the EDC.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
