Chamber to Hand Off Economic Development Lead

DAYTON - The Dayton Chamber of Commerce's board of directors voted last week to give up an economic development role it has long held. The board agreed that the Port of Columbia should assume the position of associate development organization, or ADO, which is the lead agen­cy in the county for economic develop­ment.

According to Chamber officials, the ADO contract pro­vided approximately $30,000 to the Cham­ber last year, and it has been a major source of its annual funding. The new arrangement is expected to call for the Port to contract back with the Chamber to continue economic develop­ment efforts in downtown Dayton. That contract would pay the Chamber a small­er sum annually. The Port would use the majority of the funding to promote business recruitment, expansion and retention in the rest of the county.

The Chamber board took the action as it begins the process of hiring a new director to replace Brad McMasters, who recently resigned. According to board president Dan Andrews, the job description for the new director will be focused on member services and tour­ism promotion, along with downtown economic devel­opment. He said that Cham­ber Assistant Linze Purcell will now work full time and serve as events coordinator.

"Moving the ADO to the Port frees up the Chamber director to focus more on Chamber activities," said Port of Columbia manager Jennie Dickinson. "As a SEWEDA board member, I already attend most of the meetings required of the ADO, so the Chamber direc­tor doesn't have to.

"I'm very excited at the opportunity to take on that role," added Dickinson, who is a former Chamber direc­tor.

The ADO is a position mandated by the state for every county in Washington. State economic development funds are provided to each ADO to pay for efforts to retain and recruit businesses and improve the local eco­nomic climate.

The Columbia County Commissioners make the de­termination of who provides ADO services here. For many years, the county has assigned those duties to the Southeast Washington Eco­nomic Development Agen­cy, or SEWEDA, which subcontracts ADO offices in Columbia, Garfield, Asotin and Whitman Counties.

Even though the Dayton Chamber is giving up the majority of its SEWEDA funding, it will see a signifi­cant amount of new income this year from a couple of other sources. The group receives funding from hotel and motel taxes collected in Columbia County, which, by law, must be spent on tour­ism promotion. That amount is projected to increase sig­nificantly in 2014 because of the opening of the new Best Western Inn and Suites Hotel in Dayton.

Also, the Dayton Devel­opment Task Force, a sepa­rate non-profit group that has completed infrastructure projects in Dayton and Co­lumbia County for 30 years, received nearly $65,000 at the end of last year through a new business and occupa­tions tax incentive program. That program was estab­lished by the state legislature and requires that part of the money be spent on tourism promotion and economic de­velopment. The Task Force board agreed earlier this month to contract with the Chamber to provide many of those services in return for a payment of $16,000.