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Home My WebLink AboutEDC Mid September UpdateMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 905 West 9th, Suite 221-222 PO Box 1085 Port Angeles • WA 9836 360.457.-7793 vvwvv.clallam.org E IE � W [E INI SEP 16 2016 1 EDC UPDATE — MID -SEPTEMBER, 2016 I (._I i:" ACS. -I �)�_ �'i �,�� (r_) _1J 1 �it?I_:1 liP In the spring of 2014, as the current EDC team was being assembled, there was much discussion at our board level and in the broader community about holding a "Big Tent" meeting of many interests groups in Port Angeles and in the county. The goal was to find a way to pull the community together. A team of professors from Washington State University was nearly hired to act as paid facilitators. Over time, their cost would have approached about $40,000. That price seemed steep and the effort simply died. In our view, backing away was a good thing. Because since early 2016 we have seen a number of natural and energetic leaders from Port Angeles come forward who are great communicators and who have created, right under our noses, that "team of teams" concept popularized by General Stanley McCrystal. Today, the broader community feels increasingly effective. Following are just a few of the non -elected individuals who have stepped up in a major way. They are giving to our county what David Brooks has called "the art of gracious leadership": ■ John Brewer retired from his post as Publisher and Editor of the Peninsula Daily News and other Sound Publications on the peninsula late last fall. By the first of the year he had become President of PABA (the Port Angeles Business Association) where he immediately brought his deep knowledge and writing skills to create more programs while reaching out to a broad mix in the county and beyond. We feel PABA's constructive presence on a regular basis. ■ Marc Abshire became the Executive Director of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce in January. He arrived with well -conceived ideas about how a "chamber" should be run and he set an entirely new program in place. Not surprisingly, Marc has consistently reached out to the entire community to involve as many fresh faces as he can. ■ Young Johnson, owner of the H2O Waterfront Bistro, was elected President of PADA (the Port Angeles Downtown Association) in January. Young is both generous and a high-energy dynamo. She has taken on the immediate task of creating the sponsor groups who will welcome and support Mack Athletics, owners of new PA baseball team which will commence play in June, 2017. She has spent considerable sums of her own money to make their welcome extremely special. ■ Kevin Russell of Kevin Russell Construction wears many hats. Not only is he head of the North Peninsula Building Association; he is also the Treasurer of the BIAW (Building Industry Association of Washington) which represents about 7500 member companies. He likely will be elected president of the BIAW in 2018. A Private Non -Profit Colporcrtion Working for Businesses in Clallorn County CLALLANI COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPI\,�ENT CORPORATION Last, he is a committee member of the National Association of Home Builders, a powerful group with over 250,000 member companies. Kevin's trove of knowledge is treasured throughout our county. ■ Karen F. Goschen was recently selected as Executive Director of the Port of Port Angeles. She had held the "interim" post since December and, while in the midst of a highly competitive selection process, Karen announced that she would stay on at the Port no matter who was selected. She has a brilliant academic background and now brings plenty of experience to the job. And she has exhibited a calming presence to the hard-working Port staff and has a genuine willingness to work with the entire county. The list above could be far longer and should include many from both Sequim and Forks and other areas. But Port Angeles is the County seat and the positive attitude and reach of individuals like the above should be encouraging to all who have hoped that the cities, tribes, and small towns would all pull together in the same direction. 1. Todd Ortloff was kind enough to invite us for an interview on KONP on June 23. His questions gave us the opportunity to explain the mission of the EDC and the chance to dispel some common misconceptions. People often ask if we "create jobs". The answer is that we do our best to help every county company that we can because it is the companies here that create the jobs. We are also the primary recruiter for the county and we seek to induce new companies to come here all the time. The PODCAST is available on the KONP and EDC websites. Our Clallam EDC received unusually high praise from the Department of Commerce in early July. Commerce established ADOs (or EDCs) in every county in the state in 1985 and they provide a portion of our funding. We report to them quarterly against an annual plan. We had exceeded our Business Retention target by 350 percent in the past twelve months and our careful reporting of outcomes was considered a "model" for all other ADOs in the state. Commerce encouraged us to place less emphasis on recruitment because, in their words, "there are only 150 to 200 businesses that make the decision to relocate in the U.S. each year and most decide to remain in the state that they are in." 3. In late July our team assisted Allform Welding of Sequim and Lincoln Industrial of Port Angeles in Lincoln's acquisition of Allform. While not unique, such transactions are rarely handled by an EDC. The result was securing a sale necessary to Allform's owner, maintaining all jobs at Allform, and increasing employment at the new parent, Lincoln, by at least two people. Lincoln was also able to avail itself to certain state incentives regularly trumpeted by the EDC team. Hats off also go to Blue Sky Real Estate which brokered the transaction. Our June report mentioned a wood products company that, working with the Port, we had been courting since March. On August 911, this leading manufacturer of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) came to Port Angeles for an extensive visit. Not only did the company's management meet with about twenty corporate and elected leaders in the county, they also received an extensive tour of available private, port, and tribal properties on which to locate. The company seeks to lease a 100,000 sq. ft. building or to A Privote Non --Profit Corporation Working for Businesses in Clallom County CLALLAM COUNT', ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION build a new facility on about twenty acres. Their plan — if they decide to come -- is to hire about 50 workers to start in high wage paying jobs and to increase their employment here to about 150 over time. Extensive workforce training led by Peninsula College would be highly necessary. Last, our deep water port was considered very attractive because the company's end products are in high demand throughout the world. Mike Nimmo, Operations Manager at the Port, deserves great praise for every step in this process. As this is written, Mack Athletics will be introducing its new baseball team to be located in Port Angeles with games commencing next June. On September 8`h a true Big Tent affair will be held for the team at the Vern Burton Community Center. City officials from throughout the county have been invited along with over 400 business owners. Several of the "gracious leaders" mentioned at the outset of this report will be leading the way, along with many others noted on the invitation. 6. At the EDC we run a conservative ship. For the year, expenses are below budget and revenues are well ahead of budget. Membership continues to grow and we intend to run several newspaper ads over the next month that will highlight those members. They represent the "economic engine" of Clallam County. 7. Last, our staff of three is running out of capacity. Business retention and recruitment require nearly all of our time. But we really must get out in the community, as well. Amy McDonald is committed to most chamber meetings. Jennifer Linde, who just joined the Board of United Way, gives plenty of effort to PA Forward, to NOP RC&D, and to the Olympic Consortium Industry Partnership Support Team. We also have meetings, formal and informal, with the Department of Commerce. Successful ADOs in the state have teams of from four to nine. Clallam County is on the edge of a giant leap forward. We hope to soon bring aboard one more qualified individual who can help us to continue our designated role in economic development. Respectfully submitted, Bill Greenwood Jennifer Linde Amy McDonald A Private Non -Profit Corporation Working for Businesses in ClallaM County