County should name Chamber as the ADO

I hope the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners next week will quickly designate the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce as the state recognized associate development organization (ADO) for Wahkiakum County.

Commissioner Mike Backman on Tuesday said he wanted to consider assigning the designation to another organization, such as the Wahkiakum Community Network.

I hope that as Commissioner Backman looks further into the issue, he'll realize the Chamber is best suited for the job and deserves the ADO designation.

For example, the Chamber's mission statement is "to promote the area's economy and encourage businesses to grow, broadening the tax base, and providing employment," and "to encourage new business prospects and newcomers through marketing, and providing information to state, county and local economic organizations."

In contrast, the Network's purpose, according to its website, "is to improve the lives of our youth and families." It "focuses on building community mobilization and reducing substance abuse." And finally, " The Vision of the Wahkiakum Community Network is to facilitate an effective reduction of challenges that present barriers to a safe and healthy community for our youth and families."

It would take a lot of reorganization for an agency like the Network to become an economic development organization.

Years ago, before the county had an economic development organization, people urged the county commission and town council to lead the efforts. Of course, elected officials have limits on what they can do to promote and recruit business. So, they were happy to see the formation of the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council which held that job until state budget cuts gutted EDC's across the state. Instead of going defunct, the LCEDC folded into the Chamber of Commerce in 2011, and Chamber officers and staff have included economic development activities in their workload.

The ADO designation brings funding to the Chamber that finances a full time staff position. The staffing allows the Chamber to handle coordination of community events such as the Bald Eagle Festival as well as economic development activity. The festivals, especially Bald Eagle Day and the Downhill Corral are important revenue producers for local businesses. Would those events continue if the ADO funding went somewhere else? I hate to think what would happen if those festivals disappeared.

The merger of the Chamber and LCEDC works as well as anything can for promoting business and economic development in our area, given existing funding sources. Jumping ship would probably be chaotic, to say the least, and there would be a significant adverse impact on local business.

The county should continue with the Chamber as its designated ADO.