The advantages of being disadvantaged
Should we participate in the economy or depend on handouts?
Opportunity Fund may be killing opportunity. Volunteers save Port Angeles’ Christmas. A local media legend moves on (guess where he’s going.) Updates on fee increases and drought education.
Being poor is big business.
This spring, our region competed for a federal grant to reinvigorate the workforce and economy. Called “Recompete,” the effort was spearheaded by Commissioner Mike French. If awarded the money, French sought to give it to the Tribes so they could train and hire grant writers to get more grants, meaning those “grant writer needed” signs could disappear from storefronts.
The commissioner's boardroom erupted into applause when it was announced that the federal government had taken pity on our region and awarded $35 million. County leaders' hard work paid off as we joined the ranks of Puerto Rican slums and Birmingham, Alabama (which also received grant awards).
Another advantage to being a poor county is “The Opportunity Fund.” The State Legislature authorized the funding mechanism for economically distressed rural counties in 1997. It allows the collection of a sales tax to fund “publicly owned infrastructure projects that would lead to new job creation or retention of existing jobs.” Clallam County has been collecting and awarding Opportunity Funds for 25 years.
This year the Opportunity Fund Board met to review a record number of applications seeking grants. The Board recommended awarding the following amounts:
$470,000 to the County for the Clallam Bay sewer pump station replacement project.
$25,000 to the Peninsula Housing Authority for the “Elklund at Gales” development, a 24-unit apartment complex proposed on 7th Avenue and Gales Street.
$1,756,833 to the Port of Port Angeles to develop a Marine Trades Center.
$1,393,167 to the City of Port Angeles for ‘A’ Street water capacity improvements.
$555,000 to the City of Sequim to design a water main and booster system.
$800,000 to Habitat for Humanity for Lyons Landing development infrastructure.
Habitat for Humanity had requested double that amount, $1.6 million, to develop a 45-home community north of Sunny Farms in Carlsborg (303 Mill Road). Units will range between two and four bedrooms and will be for “families,” which Habitat defines as “one person or more.”
Constructing 45 homes would be a boom for the local economy. Electricians, street graders, surveyors, plumbers, concrete workers, and land surveyors would all get a bite of the apple — a big part of the Opportunity Fund’s criteria for selecting recipients. Habitat’s programs “create jobs, wages, tax revenue, and business activities in the communities where Habitat works.”
Habitat’s application emphasized that investments in construction are a powerful engine for local economies. “The dollars they spend support other businesses and their employees, who in turn generate even more economic activity,” the application stated.
“We intend to use locally available contractors,” wrote Colleen Robinson, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County — terrific news for job-generating and tax-paying small businesses.
According to documents, Habitat hasn’t awarded a contract yet but is working with a “private equity.” That company has agreed to let the board review annual payroll documents to ensure that the project will generate jobs. Three private sector firms have been identified, one of which is Jamestown Excavating.
Its parent corporation, the Jamestown Tribe, has already generated a $2.6 million estimate for work proposed to be done by Jamestown Excavating, Jamestown Concrete, and Jamestown Land Survey.
If the project goes out to bid, the Jamestown Tribe will have a competitive edge over prospective bidders. As a sovereign nation, the Tribe isn’t required to pay many county and state taxes and fees that its cohorts must. It’s estimated that tribal enterprises have a 15% to 25% advantage over their colleagues.
It is difficult to compete against the Tribe. In its 2023 annual report to citizens, 23% of the corporation’s $70,855,177.40 in revenue came from grants. Businesses can’t compete against those who don’t pay most fees or taxes and receive millions in taxpayer-funded grants. They can only hope there is enough work left over.
The Tribe’s ability to work on an uneven playing field has already been linked to the decline of our area’s small businesses. The Tribe’s circumventing of fees and taxes has contributed to defunding county services and programs (like the Opportunity Fund). This project, funded partly by businesses that generate taxes, could be awarded to an entity that doesn’t fund it.
Ironically, if Habitat for Humanity awards this contract to the Tribe, it could further harm small businesses and drive down residents’ incomes — locals who work for companies that the Tribe outbids may qualify to live in the subsidized housing built by their competitor.
Colleen Robinson, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County, was asked if other contractors had been asked for estimates. She replied:
We have an emergent availability of labor and resources from JKT. This availability allows us to significantly accelerate the availability of desperately needed affordable workforce housing. A common theme from our community partners and their continued struggle to fill job openings is the lack of affordable housing. This is common among our first responders, medical service providers, and those businesses trying to hire skilled labor. We at Habitat Clallam are working tirelessly to fill this need. As follow-up phases to this project and our other multi-unit projects become available we can look to put this work out to bid.
At this time the Lyon’s Landing project is not using State or Federal funding so as a nonprofit we are not required to do a formal bid process. The “Quote” below was submitted by JKT for a grant application that Habitat Clallam was applying for.
In other words, Habitat has time to ask for handouts but doesn’t have time to include small businesses in the competitive bidding process. Without knowing worker availability of other contractors, why would Habitat only consider working with the Jamestown Tribe? A July 2023 Sequim Gazette article about a nearby Habitat project said, “The first major donation, Robinson noted, was a $50,000 gift from the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to help buy property.”
Even at the expense of brave businesspeople and their hardworking employees, our county leaders are choosing not to participate in the economy. They would rather remain dependent on grant dollars and handouts instead.
Christmas lights
When downtown Port Angeles faced a Christmas without lights, a group of hardworking volunteers stepped up (way up in some cases) and decorated the business district.
The lack of lights came as a surprise, especially since the City is taxing businesses quarterly in the Parking and Business Improvement Area (PBIA). In addition to funding parking, the PBIA benefits the downtown core by including “decoration of any public space in the area.”
The delay in decorating and the need for volunteers was explained in a Facebook post by the Downtown Port Angeles Waterfront District:
The post read, “Plan A involved purchasing lights and being trained on how to install the lights by Patrick Walker Inc out of Port Orchard. They are responsible for doing the Christmas Lights in Blyn. They agreed to sell us lights and train us on how to install them in a handshake deal. Unfortunately, they ghosted us (and a few other local companies).”
According to a Seattle Refined article, Patrick Walker is the contractor hired by the Jamestown Tribe to install 4 million Christmas lights on its tribal properties in Blyn and other properties. The Tribe’s light installation was more successful than the City of Port Angeles’.
Installing lights for the Tribe takes 16 workers, each working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, for two months (and don’t forget removing the lights). Last year, in a Peninsula Living article, 7 Cedars CEO Jerry Allen said the budget for the Christmas lights contract was between $400,000 and $500,000.
As Jamestown Tribe’s CEO Ron Allen told the Sequim City council in 2022, “When Christmas time comes around you guys will like what we do. We kinda have Christmas down.”
Farewell
Michael Dashiell, a champion of local journalism, started arriving to our homes every Wednesday in the Sequim Gazette 23 years ago. Rising from reporter to sports editor, he assumed the role of Gazette Editor fourteen years ago. Establishing himself as a reliable and perceptive voice, his name became synonymous with the events that shaped Sequim since the beginning of the century, but he has moved on.
Clallam County Watchdog wishes Michael well in his new role as Communications and Publications Specialist for the Jamestown Tribe.
Public hearing about fee increases
Given a choice between curtailing uncontrolled spending or taking measures to address the housing affordability crisis, the commissioners unanimously voted to increase fees for many County services.
Drought presentation
The Water Conservation Forum in Sequim was well attended but incredibly long. The “water professionals” relied heavily on the PowerPoint presentation, but when asked specifics during the Q&A, the answers were, “I’m relatively new,” “I’m retired,” “Look that up online,” and “That would be a great question for someone who isn’t here.”
Our community’s heavy reliance on government assistance leaves us vulnerable as Washington, D.C. moves toward increased austerity measures. Without investing in our future or building a diversified economy that supports private-sector jobs, we face the prospect of significant hardship. Signs of social unrest are already emerging as the divide between the haves and have-nots grows wider.
Our community has fostered a culture that not only depends heavily, but also celebrates, government assistance, grants, subsidies, and nonprofits, often to the detriment of private businesses—the true drivers of economic growth. This imbalance puts our local economy and I fear future public safety at serious risk. I am deeply concerned that few people in the COPA staff and City Council understand the real threat ahead and are willing to demand bold new thinking. Be prepared people, it will likely get worse before it gets better.
Reminder: Please see my earlier analysis of the draft version of the housing section within the comprehensive plan for Port Angeles. We are literally leaning into goals to remain economically depressed by embedding in our housing plan a target for 2/3rds of new housing to be for those making less than 50% of AMI (roughly $30,000). While in the next five years Sequim and Carlsborg will build just as many homes priced at approximately $500,000 or more. I can’t help but wonder if PA’s primary investment goal is to become the ghetto of Sequim? Those housing projects are not economically feasible - especially without massive government assistance - so perhaps we have reached rock bottom where we must focus on economic revitalization through private sector support.
Ron Allen is a businessman. He knows that a donation can become a thinly veiled bribe. Thanks, Jeff, for your reporting. Last night's presentation was difficult to sit thru because of the lack of information. The Q & A session was uninformative as well. I would have liked to have heard more audience comments, as I learned more from them.