PORT ANGELES — Calling this city “our older, larger neighbor,” Sequim Mayor Laura Dubois extended a pair of invitations to the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
First, the two cities ought to pool their resources, Dubois told chamber members during lunch at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant.
“There’s so much more we can do with less money if we find ways we can partner,” she said.
“Affordable housing [is] something we all need to work on,” for example. “Perhaps we can have some dialogue . . . and some joint projects.”
Then, rather than elaborating, Dubois urged Port Angeles residents to go east for a good time.
The day after the Hood Canal Bridge closes, Sequim will throw its 114th annual community party: the Irrigation Festival (www.IrrigationFestival.com) with events such as the Arts & Crafts Fair on May 2, the Logging Show on May 8 and the Grand Parade down Washington Street on May 9.
“We want to make it a strong community festival,” Dubois said.
“We hope our neighbors from Port Angeles will come this year.”
Interim manager’s list
Next Linda Herzog, Sequim’s interim city manager since Dec. 3, got down to business by giving her short list of high-priority projects — and moments later faced familiar “What about . . .?” questions from her audience.
Herzog said planning for a livelier downtown, establishing a municipal court, expanding the urban growth area to include the Battelle marine research laboratory northeast of town and celebrating Sequim’s centennial in 2013 top the list of musts.
But Russ Veenema, the Port Angeles chamber’s executive director, promptly asked her and Dubois whatever happened to Sequim’s new City Hall.
“We’re looking at a methodology for selecting a site,” Dubois replied, adding that the city might purchase land in the coming year, though she doesn’t know when anything would be built on it.
“We’ve got a Gottschalks building,” Veenema said, as laughter filled the room.
Gottschalks Inc. announced two weeks ago that the Port Angeles store at 200 W. First St. will close its doors permanently, probably with the rest of the bankruptcy-protected chain in July.
Performance hall
Another Sequim hall, a 500-seat auditorium and conference space, was the subject of a question from Karen Hanan of Arts Northwest, a performing-arts promotion company.
“As everyone knows, there’s a huge economic benefit to a strong arts community,” and the hall would provide space for that to bloom, Hanan said.
But the state Department of Ecology has yet to embrace Sequim’s plans, which include locating the auditorium just north of Carrie Blake Park on North Blake Avenue.
Because that location is the Water Reuse Demonstration Site largely funded by Ecology, the city must have the department’s blessing.
And Herzog said she will soon travel to Olympia to work out an agreement.
“We’re going to get there,” she said, acknowledging that it’s taken a long time to reach this point.
The Sequim City Band first advanced the idea for the concert hall about two years ago.
Finally Veenema asked Herzog how long “interim” will stay in her title.
“I have a nine-month contract that ends in early September,” the city manager replied, “and that’s all I’m prepared to say.”
As with the City Hall and concert-hall questions, there was a déjàvu quality to Veenema’s query.
Herzog took the same questions from Sequim City Council members Walt Schubert and Ken Hays and gave the same answers during the council’s April 6 study session.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
