PORT ANGELES — As the City Council awarded a $15,000 contract for 2015 to the Clallam County Economic Development Council, some were displeased that no one from the group attended the meeting.
“Is there any reason why they shouldn’t be here?” asked Patrick Downie, Port Angeles deputy mayor, before the 5-1 vote approving the agreement Tuesday night.
The work plan for the group, referred to as the EDC, calls for an annual net gain of private-sector jobs, a new hotel project that would be underway and renewed commercial passenger service at William R. Fairchild International Airport, all by year’s end.
In addition, it foresees at least 15 companies that will be considering a move to Clallam County, including three that have made commitments or will be in the process of doing so, that would result in at least 50 new jobs in total.
“This is a rather aggressive work plan,” Mayor Dan Di Guilio said.
“There’s nobody here to ask these questions to.”
Nathan West, community and economic development director, said city officials, in previous conversations with EDC Director Bill Greenwood, also questioned if Greenwood was “overcommitting” in the work plan.
“He was saying he was not,” West told council members.
The EDC, funded mostly with money from Clallam County and its cities, has adopted new bylaws that will result “in more of a private organization as opposed to a public organization,” West said.
On Wednesday, Greenwood gave a four-word explanation for his absence from the meeting.
“I was not invited,” he said, adding that he discussed the work plan at a previous City Council meeting.
He said he was grateful the council awarded the contract.
“I presumed they knew what was going on,” he said.
“I usually don’t show up at meetings where I’m not invited.
“I’d be happy to go before them.”
Breaking from tradition on funding allocations, West did not make a recommendation to the council on the contract because the council has given a lowest-priority rating to funding outside groups such as the EDC.
Councilman Lee Whetham was absent during the meeting. Councilwoman Sissi Bruch cast the dissenting vote.
“I’d like to see more detail on this,” she said.
But Councilwoman Cherie Kidd, a former mayor, called it a positive proposal.
“They are working hard on behalf of Clallam County,” she said.
Council members should support the EDC’s transition from a public-sector to private-sector board, she added.
Greenwood said EDC board member Larry Hueth, president and CEO of First Federal, was at the meeting and was invited.
Hueth said Wednesday he was not invited but attended the Tuesday night meeting to discuss the council’s budget-priority-setting process.
He did that during the priority-setting public hearing — without discussing the EDC.
He left before the council discussed the EDC contract.
Greenwood, responding to council members’ concerns Wednesday, defended the work plan.
“In the long run, it’s very conservative based on the experience we’ve had and the attitude of the people we’re talking to on recruiting,” he said.
Success, he said, “is not entirely in our hands, and I believe everyone understands that.”
He said a hotel is “evaluating” a move to Port Angeles without needing a convention center.
Greenwood said the EDC, which recently shrank its board and now meets quarterly instead of monthly, has funding pledges for 2015 from Clallam County, the Port of Port Angeles, Olympic Medical Center, the Clallam County Public Utility District and the cities of Port Angeles and Sequim.
“We have not ever requested a specific amount from any entity,” he added.
“We try to prove we are worthwhile for funding.”
In 2014, Greenwood appeared to make a request of Port Angeles for the $15,000 the City Council gave the EDC on Tuesday.
“We hope you will consider continuing your commitment to the EDC of at least the current $15,000 per year and possibly more,” Greenwood said in a Nov. 4, 2014, letter to West and City Manager Dan McKeen.
Councilman Dan Gase, in voting for the allocation, said the city is holding organizations such as the EDC that receive city funds to higher standards of accountability.
“They are on the verge of positive change,” Gase said of the EDC.
“I hope they are successful.
“I don’t feel there will be any further money from the council.”
Greenwood said that while the contract is with the Economic Development Council, the EDC also is changing its name to the Economic Development Corp. to make clear the role of the EDC board, the head of which is currently called the EDC president.
“Many of our board members have felt past presidents of the EDC were considered to be running the EDC, when in fact that wasn’t true,” Greenwood said.
“It’s just semantics.”
The names Economic Development Council and Economic Development Corp. “are interchangeable,” he added.
Still, Greenwood said, Randy Johnson, president of Green Crow, will have his title changed from board president to board chairman at the EDC’s June 18 meeting, which is open to the public.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.