PORT TOWNSEND — Mark Jochems, Jefferson County Economic Development Council’s 2005 board president and 2006 vice president, resigned Wednesday, a day before remaining development council leaders meet in an attempt to downsize, reshape and heal the organization.
Jochems, the owner of Shoreline Marine Diesel in Port Townsend who served three terms as the development council’s vice president, said he is leaving the organization after 11 years.
In a resignation letter laced with frustration, he cites a lack of support from development council leadership, city of Port Townsend and Port Townsend’s weekly newspaper The Leader as the primary reasons for his decision.
“It is with deep regret that I resign my officer position, my board position, and my membership from this organization,” Jochems said in the letter to the Economic Development Council and Peninsula Development Authority.
“And I am hopeful that those trying to reorganize would heavily consider all of the obstacles to be overcome.
“In the event that they later decide that dissolution is the best option, I encourage them to take the responsibility to comply with all the federal and state laws requiring legal dissolution to take place.
“It has been my pleasure to serve with those that truly saw the need for economic development.”
Proposed by development council President Lawrence Graves, the council’s board on March 17 voted 15-1, with County Administrator John Fischbach opposed, to rebuild and downsize the group.
That came after a fraction of the development council’s more than 60 members voted 12-11 the same day not to dissolve the organization.
The decision not to dissolve came shortly after Jefferson County’s three elected commissioners voted unanimously to assume the group’s functions and pull the controversial organization’s state and county funding.
Meanwhile, the council’s executive board was to meet this morning to discuss the development council’s future, Graves said.
Graves on Wednesday said he was disappointed in Jochems’ decision, but remained firm in his resolve to whittle down the board from more than 20 members to between seven and nine.
