Now that the Ocean Shores City Council has adopted a 2018 budget, one of the city’s next priorities is to lobby the Legislature and state lawmakers for more support for coastal and local issues.

City Council member Jon Martin is taking the lead in making the case for Ocean Shores in Olympia, and he is serving as the point man for Greater Grays Harbor Inc. by chairing the group’s legislative committee.

“It’s that time of the year when we are starting to work on the legislative agenda,”Martin said.

“Our hope is to come up with what the agenda could be for all of Grays Harbor, which would include Ocean Shores,” he added.

Martin pointed out that neither of the state lawmakers representing the area even live in Grays Harbor County, with both Sen. Kevin Van De Wege and Rep. Jim Tharinger from the Port Angeles-Sequim area.

“We need to be organized, we need to have a plan, and we need to have a unified force for all of Grays Harbor as well as Ocean Shores,” Martin said.

On Jan. 5, Greater Grays Harbor Inc. hosts its annual legislative send-off at the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen.

“We encourage you to be there because this is the time when we have all of our legislators there talking about whatever their issues are,” Martin said, encouraging other council members to draft a list of priority items.

In the past, the city has lobbied the Legislature for help on coastal erosion issues, most notably at the jetty.

The city, represented by Mayor Crystal Dingler, also helped play a key role in lobbying Grays Harbor County to rejoin the Grays Harbor Council of Governments.

“The county had not been a full-fledged member of the Council of Government for many years, and that means that all of us in the cities had been sort of carrying the council,” Dingler said of the county-wide effort to collaborate on issues, needs and solutions.

The county had been getting the benefit of the council “but they were not paying their share,” Dingler said.

The county has agreed to phase in a return to membership, with full membership after a year.

“It’s really important to have them at the table with full voting rights and acting with us in a manner that benefits all of us,” Dingler said.

The city also is participating in a county-wide economic development plan, she added.

One of the key initiatives will be a five-county regional transportation plan.