By Erin Hawkins
Olympic Peninsula News Group
SEQUIM — Officials with the city of Sequim and Port of Port Angeles agreed on the importance of nurturing community alliances at their inaugural joint meeting.
Members of the Sequim City Council and city officials met with port Executive Director Karen Goschen, port Commissioner Colleen McAleer of District 1 and port Commissioner Connie Beauvais of District 3 on Monday to discuss the short- and long-term priorities of each entity and learn how the two can work together.
Assistant City Manager Joe Irvin touched upon community alliances during his presentation on the city’s economic development goals, and Beauvais said part of the port’s outreach program is reaching out to communities and governments.
“That’s why we’re here. We want to understand you and see where we can work together on things,” Beauvais said.
The entities found common ground in efforts to increase broadband services and business opportunities for remote workers.
Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush said city officials want to continue to increase opportunities for independent workers and broadband services in Sequim, such as the Clallam Coworking business that opened earlier this month.
Beauvais said the port also is looking into broadband services.
“That’s something we’re starting to investigate,” Beauvais said. “[It’s] not just needed in Sequim but all across the county.”
Bush mentioned that city officials are putting a lot of focus on their business retention expansion plan and thanked McAleer and Goschen for giving their input and feedback on previous drafts for this plan.
McAleer praised the city’s actions.
“I’m really impressed by the customer service aspects of the actions that you’re taking and the attempts to really connect with businesses and younger people in the community,” she said.
Port officials said the port is making efforts to increase workforce development in Clallam County and suggested city officials be proactive in engaging with the Olympic Workforce Development Council (WDC) to get funding.
“We need to connect in a proactive way with our WDC to make sure they understand what the needs are of Sequim and all of the cities of the county,” McAleer said.
“What I ask of you is to engage with the Olympic Workforce Development Council so that those decisions and funding that they are spending when they fund different nonprofits and organizations across the three counties, that we’ve got our voice at the table.”
McAleer explained that over the past 12 years, $72 million has gone toward the WDC, and she feels Clallam County has not seen the results of this funding.
“We need to make sure Sequim and Clallam County are getting their fair share when they go forward and put out these funding opportunities to support workforce training,” she said.
Port officials said they want to see a reliable and sustainable timber harvest by 2020, adding that this could bring in millions of dollars to the county as a whole.
“The arrearage over the last 10 years amounted to $12 million that could have come into this county,” Goschen said.
Port officials also discussed the development of a commercial passenger air service.
McAleer said she has heard businesses owners in Sequim and Carlsborg say that such service is necessary for growth.
“We will do what we have to do and put the emphasis in this area and get air service back to Clallam County,” she said.
Both Sequim Mayor Dennis Smith and McAleer expressed interest in annual meetings between the leadership of the port and the city.
“I want to see what we can do for Sequim,” McAleer said.
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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.
