The City of Hoquiam has been selected by the State Department of Commerce to participate in a yearlong pilot study to identify two priority needs of the city that could be helped by the department’s wide range of community development programs.
“What they hope to do is work with communities they choose to find two key priority issues for projects we’d like to see achieved that fit within the roles of the Department of Commerce,” said Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay.
Commerce decided to create the New Approaches pilot project “to identify ways Commerce could better work with cities throughout the state,” said Shay. “They reached out to us to see if we’d be interested, and I said we definitely would be.”
According to Penny Thomas, Commerce public relations manager, “The New Approaches pilot was designed to give additional consideration to local communities with the greatest relative need and fewest resources.”
Commerce initially screened all 39 counties, considering factors including unemployment data, low to moderate income data, demographics, lack of broadband and poverty ranking.
The list was narrowed to six counties, and Commerce decided to select one city from eastern, western and central Washington. “We landed on Grays Harbor, Yakima and Stevens counties,” said Thomas.
Two candidate cities and their local leaders from each county were visited by the Commerce outreach team to assess:
• Level of interest in participating in the pilot effort
• Willingness and ability to commit to a yearlong effort that would require the city’s staff time and commitment to succeed
• Potential community priorities that Commerce could play a role in supporting
• Prior history of the community not being very successful in receiving Commerce funding or technical assistance
• Presence of some local capacity to help make the pilot study successful — getting folks to meetings, providing input, being available as a resource, being a sincere partner in the pilot effort.
After a meeting with Hoquiam officials, Commerce chose Hoquiam to be its pilot program’s western Washington selection. The other two cities chosen were Chewelah in eastern Washington and Toppenish in central Washington.
“Hoquiam demonstrated a high level of interest with a sincere willingness to engage with the Department of Commerce,” said Thomas. “We are thrilled to be working with the City of Hoquiam on this important and valuable effort.”
The Hoquiam City Council approved a memorandum of understanding with Commerce for the pilot project at its Aug. 26 meeting. The agreement states the city’s time commitment includes, but is not limited, to at least three two-hour community meetings, where priorities will be discussed.
“The opportunity to maximize input from stakeholders and citizens is a wonderful one,” said Hoquiam Mayor Jasmine Dickhoff. “We can use this process to lay out our plans for the next few years and know that it is coming directly from citizens to the government. As it should be.”
At the end of the 12-month pilot project, the Department of Commerce and the city will pick the two priorities and work with the cities to provide the department’s resources to help bring those priorities to completion.
Commerce administers more than 100 programs designed to help communities grow, including business and other grants and connecting potential investors to communities with available, suitable properties for expansion and development.
“Commerce also acts as the agency that industrial companies go to when they are looking to relocate facilities, kind of like Greater Grays Harbor does but at a state level,” said Shay. “When I think of different projects, I’d love to see the old paper mill site revitalized with a new industry. Maybe there’s a role Commerce could play in that, by seeing if there’s a new employer out there for that site.”
The old Rayonier paper mill site at the south end of 28th Street was closed by Rayonier in 1992 and is one example of many available properties that could be repurposed for the economic benefit of the region.
Shay said the city has received grant money in recent years for projects such as the major overhaul of the Hoquiam Timberland Regional Library and the construction of the eastside fire station.
According to the Department of Commerce website, the next step will be outreach in Hoquiam … this fall to “learn community needs and top priorities.” The department and the city have agreed to use local media outlets and social media to advertise community meeting dates when they are available.
