Hiring a point person for the promotion of Hoquiam businesses was the priority decided upon by the Hoquiam Business Association at a forum held at Sadistik Sykles (formerly Chris’s Motorcycle Shop) Wednesday evening.

The idea is to get not just businesses in the downtown core to buy in to the idea of a business improvement area, but all the city’s business license holders, according to Jody Peterson, owner of Sadistik Sykles and president of the Hoquiam Business Association.

The program is in its infancy. Recently the Hoquiam Business Association sent a letter to Hoquiam business owners to gauge their feelings about buying into a program where their funds would be used to promote existing city businesses and make improvements to attract investors to set up shop in the city.

The Hoquiam Business Association has been working to do just that for some time, but being a volunteer group without a permanent funding source, its efforts have been limited.

The association considered going the way of Aberdeen, striving toward a Main Street designation, but the vision of the association is to include all the city’s businesses, not just those in the historic or downtown corridor.

“We would like to do more for Hoquiam, help to grow and promote the area,” said Kyle Pauley, board member and former president of the Hoquiam Business Association. The creation of a business improvement area “would give us a greater reach” and would include under-served businesses on the east side of the city, he said.

What is a business improvement area?

According to the letter sent by the association, a business association area is “a self-initiated business improvement program funded by an annual benefit fee based on a formula. All business people in the (association) stand to directly benefit to a much greater extent than what their annual fee is.”

Representatives from several Hoquiam businesses questioned the specific focus of improvements, but by the end of the meeting it became clear the money earned from buying in to the program would be the hiring of the director of the downtown Hoquiam improvement effort, much like Wil Russoul is to the City of Aberdeen’s Main Street movement. Once that person is in place, he or she can prioritize the list of improvements provided by the Hoquiam Business Association and members of the business improvement area, said Pauley and Peterson.

“I think that’s something that really needs to happen here, I really do,” said Hoquiam City Councilwoman Brenda Carlstrom.

The plan, to move forward to the Hoquiam City Council for approval, needs 60 percent buy-in from business license owners throughout the city limits, said Pauley. He understands that some small businesses — for example, a one-person tax preparer who works out of their house but still has to have a business license, may not care to participate.

Funds would be collected based on the number of full-time employees of each business. There are four categories: 1-4 full-time employees, $100 annually; 5-9, $250; 10-24, $500; 25 and more, $1,000. The initial budget would be around $50,000 and would be used to hire either a full- or part-time director of sorts who would serve as the face of the business improvement area — a person who would be available to respond to the questions and concerns of business owners and handle things such as grant applications and overseeing the area’s budget.

Projects that could qualify under the program would be the care of the hanging flower baskets along city streets, sidewalk and other mobility improvements, and helping struggling businesses with needed repairs. Pauley said he included all the city’s businesses in the initial proposal, rather than limiting the program to a small core of downtown Hoquiam only. The district would also work toward filling some of the empty buildings in town, promoting Hoquiam as an attractive location for outside investors.

More information on the program can be found online at hoquiambusiness.com.