Economic Development Corp. gathers ideas in Sequim town hall

By Michael Dashiell

Olympic Peninsula News Group

SEQUIM — The Clallam Economic Development Corp.’s new executive director heard an earful of ideas at the EDC’s town hall-style meeting in Sequim.

The Wednesday town hall, sandwiched between one in Forks on July 20 and another in Port Angeles on Thursday, was designed to help EDC staff understand what locals view as economic development opportunities in the county, and what role the EDC should take.

“You know Sequim better than I do,” Bob Schroeter, who went to work as the new EDC executive director in April, told a group of nearly 40 business owners, residents and government leaders at the Sequim Transit Center last week.

Schroeter said the EDC seeks to complement what other entities are doing to promote businesses and not duplicate or overrun others.

Meeting attendees explored possible opportunities of promoting key resources in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley — agri-business, the outdoors, recreation and relative low cost of living — to the community’s advantage when recruiting entrepreneurs, professionals and younger workers to the area.

Patricia McCauley, president of InsideOut Solutions, said she’d like to see a kind of “Come on home” kind of campaign to bring back North Olympic Peninsula high school graduates to work here.

“They need to go [off the Peninsula], go out into the rat race and see we have it pretty good [here],” she said.

Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias added he’d like to see more discussion between community leaders and youths at middle school and high school ages on what kind of jobs they’d like.

“The question should be,” Schroeter said, ” ‘What would Sequim need to look like for you to want to raise your family here?’

“So often we say, ‘They …’ and ‘they’ is us. We need to be more inclusive.”

An aging workforce will be tough to replace not only in Sequim but across the nation, Sequim City Councilman Ted Miller said.

“It’s not just a Sequim problem; it’s a U.S. problem. It’s a real problem the EDC is going to have to face,” he said.

Schroeter encouraged meeting attendees to consider the concept of being flexible in vocations, both individually and as a community. An example, he said, was how Peninsula College — thanks in part to a grant from the state Department of Commerce — started a certified marine trades program to fill a community need for marine welders.

“We need to be ready to pivot when the economy changes,” Schroeter said.

Schroeter said Peninsula College is doing a great job training registered nurses and certified nursing assistants, but now the area needs an influx of doctors to fill a gap in local health care jobs.

“We all have to be recruiting doctors,” McCauley said.

The Strait Shot — Clallam Transit’s new bus service from the Peninsula to Seattle — should be promoted more, said Sequim City Councilwoman Genaveve Starr.

Attendees also encouraged ideas of more partnerships with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Sequim, of promoting the advantageous cost-of-living and recreational opportunities the Peninsula provides to Seattle-area residents, and supporting local entities that provide to entrepreneurs low-interest loans.

Schroeter said he will compile notes from Sequim, Port Angeles and Forks town hall events; add comments from EDC staff; and present results to city councils and other entities for consideration.

The EDC also is seeking volunteers to help with business retention and expansion visits from nonprofit and for-profit entities alike, as well as helping develop an inventory of vacant/available commercial properties in Sequim, a county infrastructure map and a database of Clallam nonprofits.

“This is the first time I don’t have a negative impression of the EDC,” said Councilman Miller. “For once, I’m optimistic.”

The three-person staff at the EDC is part of a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization that has assisted local businesses since 1985. Call 360-457-7793 or see www. clallam.org for more information.

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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.