PORT ANGELES — A group of officials intent upon lobbying for Clallam County issues in the state Legislature is rebooting.
The North Olympic Legislative Alliance (NOLA), chartered in 2017, is seeking volunteers to serve on six committees, said Colleen McAleer, executive director of the Clallam County Economic Development Corp.
“Initially an initiative of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, NOLA was successful as far as generating involvement from community members,” McAleer said Friday.
Still, “there needs to be a strong voice on the east and west ends of our county as well, so in concert with the Port Angeles chamber, a decision was made for the Clallam EDC to take on a facilitation role.”
In preparation for the 2020 legislative session, an ad hoc steering committee is re-launching the six original committees, and is asking for community participation within those committee areas, McAleer said.
The group seeks to “get community input into what are the most critical issues our county is facing so that we then can collectively rate these issues and create a list of legislative priorities for our legislators,” McAleer said. “The intent is also to hire a lobbyist to lobby for NOLA priorities.”
The steering committee met for the first time on Friday. It is an informal working group, McAleer emphasized.
Three of the committees have chairs now; chairs will be named later for the other three. The committees are:
• Business and economic development, of which affordable housing will be a component.
• Health and safety — issues such as opioid addiction and homelessness will be addressed by this panel. The chair is Jennifer Burkhardt. Olympic Medical Center’s general counsel and chief human resources officer.
• Policy and government — prevailing wage issues will be a concern of this committee, chaired by Kaj Ahlburg, member of Port Angeles Business Association.
• Transportation and infrastructure.
• National resources and environment.
• Work force development and education, chaired by Peninsula College President Luke Robins.
On the steering committee are Robins; Ahlburg; Rebecca Miller, development director of Peninsula Behavioral Health; Christy Smith, CEO of United Way of Clallam County; Crystal Hottowe, grants writer for the Makah Tribe; Terry Ward, publisher of Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum; Eric Lewis, CEO of Olympic Medical Center; Brian Kuh, EDC deputy director; and Rod Fleck, Forks city attorney/ planner.
Those interested in participating can call the EDC office at 360-457-7793 or email nola@clallam.org. They also can attend the next meeting of the steering committee, set for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 47 of the Pirate Union Building on the Port Angeles campus of Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
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Terry Ward, publisher of the Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum, serves on the Economic Development Corp. board of directors.
