HomeMy WebLinkAboutDale Wilson 28 November 14
P011®'Call Publishing /J
Post Office Box 817 (_ U �y l
City Council; Forks port Angeles,WA 98362 il F I
City Council; Sequim ;; OFT � ����
DO
City Council; fort Angeles
C1 i" < C'Rf ANGELES
Re: Contributions to the Economic D --__._ ___L �F r l<
Development Council
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Recently I attended the most recent meeting of the Economic Development
Council. What I witnessed was troubling. I know that you are going to be
called upon to make contributions to the EDC. Before doing so I hope you
will consider this: County Commissioner Jim McEntire has scuttled the
bylaws by which the EDC has operated. In its place McEntire has, almost
single-handedly re-written the bylaws with some troubling language.
First off, there will no longer be automatic participation from elected
officials from any of your jurisdictions. If anyone representing Forks,
Sequim or Port Angeles serves on EDC they will have to be approved by the
existing board--mostly hand picked by McEntire.
Secondly, and more troubling, within the new language for the new bylaws
there is a method by which the bylaws may be suspended for any reason or
without stated reasons, for as long as desired and the EDC can pass
spending measures while no bylaws are in place to guide their actions.
Also, there has been talk of having the county contribute half a million
dollars to the EDC. This would come from the county's Opportunity Fund.
Now here's the rub, the EDC is the advisory group that determines how the
Opportunity Funds are to be spent. This is a clear conflict of interest and
should be of consideration before your fair cities make any contribution to
the newly formed EDC.
This is not your former EDC. It is McEntire's EDC. I hope you will
consider these recent developments before placing your taxpayers money
with this new and different organization.
Sincerely;