SEWEDA position kept at full-time

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Sep 21, 20170

Whitman County Commissioners approved Monday the extension of the Southeast Washington Economic Development Association’s (SEWEDA) managing director, keeping the position full-time into the future. The approval amounts to $10,000 for the rest of 2017 from county .09 funds and $20,000 each subsequent year.

Sarah McKnight, SEWEDA’s Whitman County managing director, appeared before county commissioners at their regular meeting. She noted she is working with 80 clients with 20 new business starts in the past nine months, including Main Street Squeeze which opened in Pullman Sept. 18 and Idea-Whim, a graphics and website production company in Rosalia.

She talked about office hours and how Cup O’ Joe meetings in Colfax – business support gatherings – were eliminated for the summer because of a budget cutback.

The matter came before county commissioners because the state has cut its budget and SEWEDA did not receive Washington 365 money from the state Department of Commerce this year to fund the program.

McKnight gave commissioners an analysis of full-time compared to what part-time might be like. She noted she would like to focus on grant writing and project development.

The commissioners discussed what may happen next as far as state funding.

“I think they were thinking it would be backfilled once the new capital budget is in,” said Commissioner Dean Kinzer.

“Who knows what will happen before January?” said Commissioner Art Swannack.

They asked McKnight what is the ideal schedule to report to the board. Kinzer suggested one to two times per year.

“I was thinking once a month,” McKnight said.

The commissioners settled on twice per year, and Kinzer made a motion to extend the funding. It was seconded by Commissioner Michael Largent and passed unanimously.

“I think it will be money well spent,” Kinzer said.

The dollars will come from the county’s .09 economic development fund. This is the same fund which the county commits $100,000 each year to give away for projects around the county.