QUILCENE — South Jefferson County business leaders are dreaming of a visitor center to welcome travelers arriving to the Olympic Peninsula by way of Brinnon and Quilcene.
To make the idea a reality, the Quilcene-Brinnon Chamber of Commerce is asking Jefferson County commissioners for $20,000 in hotel/motel room tax money for one year of operation.
The funding would pay for staffing a kiosk inside Quilcene’s Olympic National Forest Ranger Station, 295142 U.S. Highway 101.
The ranger station receives about 40,000 visitors a year, according to Quilcene Hotel proprietor Kathleen Emmerson, the chamber’s president.
She outlined the proposal to commissioners in a letter sent Tuesday.
Rent from the Forest Service would be $250 a month. The telephone bill is slated at $480 a year, and $500 is earmarked for signs on the highway.
Part-time staffer
Nearly $16,000 is planned for a part-time staffer and related taxes.
The staff is necessary so the kiosk doesn’t become a burden on the Forest Service, Emmerson said.