PORT ANGELES — Two political leaders called for unity and a shared sense of purpose between private businesses and the government sector at Monday’s Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
That’s the only way Clallam County can pull itself out of its economic morass and spur economic development, county Commissioner Jim McEntire and Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Jim Hallett told 74 attendees.
Hallett also argued that the activities of the county Economic Development Council (EDC) should come under the port’s purview and that the council should become advisory only.
County commissioners have designated the council as the county’s associated development organization, and it is funded mostly with public funds.
According to state law, an associated development organization is “a local economic development nonprofit corporation that is broadly representative of community interests.”
“Economic development in this county is somewhat fragmented,” said Hallett, president of the port board of commissioners.
“The port might assume the role of [associated development organization], because the port serves the entire county.
“That kind of structure could lead to synergy between the cities and the county.”
McEntire, a former Economic Development Council board member and current county commissioners’ chairman, was instrumental in the nonprofit’s recent reorganization.
But he did not address Hallett’s assertions at the luncheon.
“I don’t want to even provide the appearance of speaking as an EDC board member on behalf of the EDC or anything like that,” McEntire said in a later interview with Peninsula Daily News.
“Perhaps we’re getting way ahead of ourselves here.
“There is no written proposal or plan that anybody has the ability to kind of examine the pluses and minuses of doing what the port suggests.
“The port needs to put something in writing.”
McEntire said that one issue that needs to be addressed is state law that requires that an associated development organization must be a nonprofit.
The council is a nonprofit corporation.
“If we decide to designate the port hypothetically as an [associated development organization], they are not eligible for a state government contract,” McEntire said.
County commissioners will decide by December whether to continue the associated development organization designation for the council.
The council received $732,000 from 1998-2014 from the state Department of Commerce under performance contracts as the county’s associated development organization.
County and port commissioners met in a rare joint meeting March 24 to discuss the council’s future.
An organizational meeting of members of the new council board is 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 208 of the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center, 905 W. Ninth St., Port Angeles.
During his presentation, McEntire quoted government statistics in citing a loss in 2013 and 2014 of 940 people in the county’s labor force.
There also were 440 fewer people employed by the end of that 24-month period.
In addition, from 2003 to 2013, median income increased from $34,020 to $43,345 but decreased by 2.8 percent, or $774, when factoring in inflation.
Unemployment stood at 9.1 percent in January 2014 and 9.3 percent in December 2013.
“If this is not a hair-on-fire situation, it’s pretty darn close to it,” McEntire said.
“The private sector should really tell government what its needs are, and government collectively should be about taking care of those needs.
“However we decide ultimately to arrange ourselves . . . and allocate efforts between the public and private sector, it’s got to be an all-hands-on-deck thing, broadly supported by the community.”
Hallett said tourism is an important component in the economy but that higher paying family-wage jobs should be a goal of a multipronged economic strategy.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
