PORT ANGELES — A 4-3 majority vote finally worked in favor of the Clallam County Economic Development Corp.
And the nonprofit business development group got more out of the deal.
The City Council, revisiting its
Jan. 19 rejection of $7,500 in EDC funding, on Tuesday approved a 2016 allocation of $10,000 for the EDC without needing the 5-2 supermajority that stymied the earlier request.
Mayor Patrick Downie, Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd and Councilmen Dan Gase and Brad Collins were in favor, while council members Lee Whetham, Sissi Bruch and Michael Merideth were opposed.
The proposal for the allocation Jan. 19, which would have been from reserves of $5.5 million to $6 million, required a supermajority as a 2016 budget amendment.
A budget amendment concerns any spending from reserves that was not previously included in the 2016 budget.
At the same meeting where the proposal failed, Collins requested that staff present alternatives, which Community and Economic Development Director Nathan West did Tuesday.
Already budgeted money
In a council memo, West said the 2016 spending plan already contains $10,000 in special-project economic development funds that could fund EDC operations.
Council members had not included EDC funding in the spending plan after classifying it as a low-priority item, the same classification they gave funding requests from the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, Feiro Marine Life Center, United Way of Clallam County and Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.
Whetham and Merideth emphasized that point Jan. 19, while Bruch questioned the EDC’s effectiveness.
Whetham again noted Tuesday that the Port of Port Angeles is charged with fostering economic development.
But Collins said the port focuses on publicly owned port property and praised the EDC.
“The EDC is transitioning to be a more private-sector economic development engine,” Collins said.
“The EDC itself has become very much a private-sector group.
“The funding partners that are public have less say in what actually is going on.”
Gase said it would be “shortsighted” to not join in on the partnership among funding entities provided by the EDC.
In a testy exchange with Whetham, he noted Whetham did not participate in the priority-setting process in the first place.
Whetham, who sits next to Gase on the council dais, replied that he did not participate because he preferred looking at staffing levels.
“Thank you for pointing that out,” Whetham told Gase.
EDC Executive Director Bill Greenwood, who did not attend the council meeting, did not return calls for comment Wednesday.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsula
dailynews.com.
