[0:13] Dave Morell: Good morning I'd like
[0:14] to call to order the Puget Sound Economic Development District
[0:22] Board for Wednesday September second 2026.
[0:30] I appreciate everyone who has showed up.
[0:35] Welcome everyone.
[0:37] I am Dave Morrell with Pierce County.
[0:41] This meeting is hybrid, allowing for both in-person and remote
[0:46] participation.
[0:47] Video this meeting will be streamed live as well as
[0:51] recorded and made available for viewing on the Puget Sound
[0:55] Regional Council website.
[0:57] A call in number was provided on the meeting agenda for members
[1:02] of the public to call in by phone
[1:05] and listen live to this meeting.
[1:08] If you have called in, we ask that you
[1:13] mute your device to avoid interfering with the meeting.
[1:17] If a participant fails to mute their audio and causes
[1:20] disruption to the meeting, the connection
[1:23] will be muted and possibly disconnected.
[1:26] Are there any questions from any of the members of the board
[1:31] on how you are to participate?
[1:38] No questions, I will move to roll call.
[1:48] >> Good morning.
[1:49] For time's sake, for the moment I'm
[1:50] going to be calling everyone who I currently see on the call,
[1:54] so starting with King County city of Bellevue Council member
[1:57] Sumardi Mira.
[2:00] Welcome.
[2:02] King County other cities and towns.
[2:06] Council member Albertson.
[2:08] Council member Tracy Turner.
[2:10] Welcome.
[2:11] Moving on to Kitsap County we have city of Bremerton Mayor
[2:17] Greg Wheeler.
[2:18] Welcome.
[2:22] With Pierce County, Council member Dave Morrell.
[2:27] Welcome.
[2:28] And with other cities and towns mayor Dave Olson.
[2:33] Welcome.
[2:34] And Holmes County with city of Everett, Council member Ben
[2:42] Zarlengo.
[2:42] With other cities and towns, Council member Chris Eck.
[2:49] With
[2:55] [Roll call]
[3:23] [NO AUDIO]
[5:06] [No audio or video]
[5:15] [NO AUDIO] We need to update the strategy every five years.
[19:18] It enables regional access to EDA funding.
[19:21] It enables us as an agency to access those partnership
[19:24] funds as Economic Development District
[19:27] but it also allows jurisdictions and organizations come and not
[19:30] provide profit in our region to be able to access programs
[19:35] for funding under the US Economic Development
[19:38] Administration.
[19:39] That pilot program that we talked about that Sonoma County,
[19:43] there's public works funds that are available through the EDA.
[19:48] There is an economic adjustment assistance program
[19:51] that is a really general kind of programmatic economic
[19:57] development program that the EDA runs
[19:59] and in order to be eligible for that there's work
[20:02] that we have to do to be able to maintain that designation.
[20:06] It's designed to be built on other planning efforts.
[20:08] We know we're not the only folks that do planning.
[20:11] This is not the only strategic document
[20:13] that exists in our region.
[20:15] This is designed to be able to synthesize and bring together
[20:18] all of our collective knowledge and put it in one singular place
[20:21] to paint in alignment picture to show how all of these elements
[20:25] work together.
[20:27] Ultimatelyi, beyond the funding the EDA
[20:31] wants us to look at this as a blueprint
[20:34] for regional collaboration.
[20:36] How do we promote economic development conversations
[20:38] and collaboration over a five year period of time.
[20:41] So what do we look to when we're developing this?
[20:45] We look at economic data.
[20:47] We look at other recent economic strategies
[20:51] and announces so what's happening
[20:53] between the last strategy and this one
[20:54] and what's happening now?
[20:56] So things that are already currently being baked
[20:59] come up pulling the elements from all the work that's
[21:01] being done.
[21:02] There are changes to state and federal policy
[21:05] that have been significant over the past couple of years,
[21:08] so being cognizant of that and recognizing those changes.
[21:11] Getting direct input from you as the editor the board
[21:15] and those that were part of the board in earlier conversations,
[21:18] what are the priority areas, what are the focus areas,
[21:22] what are the things that we should highlight and call out
[21:25] in the economic strategy?
[21:26] We had a lot of direct stakeholder input.
[21:29] This is heavy lifting back in 2025,
[21:32] having conversations with individuals,
[21:34] doing interviews and having group discussions,
[21:38] gathering input from folks about challenges and opportunities
[21:41] that they were seeing, the data they were looking at,
[21:44] and what potential for strategic opportunities
[21:47] they were seeing and working on in their jobs.
[21:52] We had an online engagement hub.
[21:55] We put a lot of this work out in 2025.
[21:57] We put this out to the public and stakeholders
[22:00] to review and provide comments on.
[22:02] Finally, looking forward, we've got an official public comment
[22:05] here that we're going to be looking at in October.
[22:09] We'll have the draft out in a formal way
[22:11] to ask people for input.
[22:12] We'll look at that, those questions and comments,
[22:16] we'll bring those back to the board to finalize and the rest.
[22:19] So walking you through a bit of the timeline, as I mentioned,
[22:22] some of you might not have been here when we started this,
[22:24] but I just want to be able to walk through and show you
[22:27] how we iterate this work.
[22:28] How we built the content that you're
[22:30] seeing in the packet over time.
[22:32] We started our conversations back with the board
[22:35] in at the March meeting in 2025, talked about the project scope,
[22:40] the timeline, purpose etc..
[22:43] Talked about the economic conditions
[22:44] that the region was facing, that we should address, and include
[22:47] in the economic strategy.
[22:49] In mid 2025, with the board meeting in June,
[22:53] we talked about regional goals, what
[22:55] are the things that we want to accomplish
[22:58] through this strategy for our region
[23:00] in terms of economic development?
[23:02] That summer, we ran that online and engagement hub.
[23:05] We included the challenges and opportunities and some data
[23:09] that we had already collected so that preliminary analysis
[23:12] and asked for input and feedback both both on the challenges
[23:16] and opportunities to develop a analysis, but also
[23:19] some input on strategically where should the region go.
[23:23] At the September meeting and we had a more updated squad
[23:29] analysis, so we had a great conversation to refine that.
[23:34] Really to set the foundation for the next conversations.
[23:38] We had a really great December in board working session.
[23:43] We had a lot of you in the room.
[23:45] It was really nice.
[23:46] A little light today, I'd like you to maybe hold your calendar
[23:50] for December.
[23:51] One of the things we heard is that deliberate in-person work
[23:54] and meetings are really beneficial so we
[23:56] want we recognize with calendars and schedules,
[24:00] we really need to be cognizant of the time
[24:02] before and after that it takes for you to get here.
[24:05] After the meetings, we really want
[24:07] to make it worth your while to come in,
[24:09] so look forward to some more communications from us.
[24:12] In the December meeting, how we can help
[24:15] lock that in and have a productive meeting,
[24:17] but we had a great productive meeting back in 2025
[24:21] in December.
[24:22] Doug into goals and strategies and talked
[24:27] about roles for the Ed and Ssrc and roles for others
[24:31] so what are the strategic areas that were really being
[24:35] areas by those conversations.
[24:37] That was really helpful in performing the next steps.
[24:40] At the March board meeting comments between 2025 and 2026,
[24:43] it was more of a shift, new more people were coming in
[24:47] and there was going to be changes in the board, changes
[24:50] in leadership here at the board level,
[24:52] so this is our natural shifting over
[24:54] from the foundational work to conditions here,
[24:57] to more of the strategic conversation, what
[25:01] do we want to focus on?
[25:03] So we provided some content and updated squad analysis
[25:06] and regional goals and strategies
[25:08] so a lot of that content was delivered there and started
[25:10] talking more in detail about implementation roles.
[25:13] That included having former Governor Chris
[25:17] Gregoire and the folks in Seattle
[25:21] talk about the initiative effort they were about to undertake.
[25:24] This is an umbrella strategy that we're working to develop.
[25:27] We need implementation partners to take on some of these actions
[25:31] and implement some of the strategies.
[25:33] We had a really great conversation with them.
[25:35] About their work ahead and they got some great input
[25:38] from the board as well.
[25:40] And mid 2026, we delivered the first draft of the Regional
[25:45] Economic Strategy so documenting all the elements that we
[25:49] had put together previously, had further conversations
[25:52] around implementation, also had Challenge Seattle here talking
[25:56] about this work they are doing.
[25:58] The alignment between their work and the economic strategy,
[26:01] and that brings us to today.
[26:04] We've iterated that draft strategy, we've updated it,
[26:07] included it in your board packet for your review,
[26:11] we know it's a pretty hefty board packet.
[26:13] If you're in the room here today, it's
[26:15] one of the thicker board packets we've had in a while.
[26:19] You're lucky you get to look at it in a virtual form.
[26:22] So we're really looking forward to being
[26:24] able to take that draft strategy author get authorization
[26:29] for public comment draft, and then shift into the fall here,
[26:35] running that 30 day public comment period in October,
[26:39] coming back at that December meeting to look at it
[26:41] and address those public comments and adopt a strategy,
[26:46] and then in January 2027 to transmit the final strategy
[26:49] to the editor for approval.
[26:52] I'm going to look to my right here.
[26:54] I saw you turn your microphone on.
[26:56] Would you like me to pause do you have a comment or question?
[26:59] >> No, thank you for explaining.
[27:01] It's been a rather long road to get to this point
[27:05] and a lot of my team hasn't really taken a lot of time
[27:12] to look at this strategy.
[27:14] I think there again, we need to keep the process moving forward.
[27:20] I don't want to just talk to everyone about this.
[27:26] I think I want collaboration and.
[27:30] I guess my question to you Jason, if --
[27:40] forward for 30 day comment, changes can be made to this
[27:45] draft during that process when we come back.
[27:50] We're going to final this in December?
[27:53] >> Yeah, that's the plan.
[27:55] >> Okay, so I don't want everyone out there and Zoom land
[27:58] to think we're just going to rubber stamp something and move
[28:01] it through the system.
[28:04] Obviously, we do have to slash arts
[28:07] pertaining to the EDA requirements of the cycle
[28:14] that we're on.
[28:16] But I do want to make sure, I really
[28:21] want to hear from the folks out there
[28:26] who have boots on the ground.
[28:29] These strategies are great.
[28:31] I appreciate the energy and effort that goes into them,
[28:34] but there again being a top down organization,
[28:39] you're the ones who got to implement these strategies
[28:43] and are we on target or are we off target?
[28:49] I know it's a moving target.
[28:52] But I think there again, with a mix of challenge Seattle
[28:59] coming out with their strategy, I
[29:02] know there's several business organizations that are now
[29:07] coming out with their strategies,
[29:09] trying to match everything I don't
[29:13] know if that's going to work.
[29:15] Anyway, I just wanted to make sure
[29:19] that everyone knows how I really want
[29:22] to hear your comments on this.
[29:25] So, at this point, I don't mind opening it up
[29:32] for questions and comments before I entertain a motion.
[29:37] >> Yeah, I've got some more slides to cover.
[29:39] One thing I will touch on right now
[29:41] to address one of your comments is that the words on the paper
[29:46] here are not chiseled in stone.
[29:48] The process should give you some comfort that structurally, we
[29:54] are, we've iterated and moved along.
[29:58] We recognize that there is a breadth of issues in this very
[30:02] comprehensive strategy.
[30:03] You, in your day jobs, and your particular interests,
[30:07] may focus in on some of those more than others.
[30:12] So, ideally, we can get some questions and comments for you
[30:18] today.
[30:18] And then, I think our goal would be, we have over the next month
[30:24] to develop and finalize this public comment draft.
[30:28] If you have particular areas that you
[30:30] want to sit and talk with us about, we can make tweaks on,
[30:33] we can illuminate those here today
[30:36] and happy to work with you, unless there
[30:38] are structural challenges or comments that the board maybe
[30:42] would need to address, I think we
[30:44] can work with you as individuals to do that,
[30:48] so we want to open that door.
[30:51] We want to get approval here today
[30:52] to move forward to develop that that includes us being
[30:56] able to work with you individually,
[30:57] addressing sort of pre comments, and then of course,
[31:02] if it takes more, if there's more stakeholders that you want
[31:06] to engage with and want to be able to provide
[31:07] a formal comment, those comments can come in
[31:10] during the public comment period and we'll
[31:12] be able to address them, so I think there's opportunities.
[31:16] Well we know that once depends on paper, once the action is
[31:19] ready, that is really the time often
[31:21] that people are like okay come on now
[31:23] I have to go dig into this, so we recognize that.
[31:25] We want to be able to keep the process moving forward,
[31:28] happy to work with each of you and any of you
[31:31] to be able to address anything that you're
[31:33] seeing in here that's maybe missing or maybe need to be
[31:36] tweaked or something like that.
[31:38] Before I move on to the next item,
[31:40] Julian I saw your hand come up and then come down.
[31:42] Do you do you have a question now or do
[31:44] you want to hold it till later?
[31:46] Either way is fine.
[31:48] >> Yeah, how many public comments do we generally receive
[31:53] thinking back five years ago, just kind of curious?
[31:58] >> Yeah, off the top --
[32:00] I think it depends on the controversy of some
[32:04] of the issues, so I know that in some cases,
[32:06] we've had many public comments.
[32:08] I want to make a distinction.
[32:11] Will often get say a letter that is
[32:15] a comment that includes a number of specific comments
[32:18] to actually address.
[32:19] But in the past, the last strategy strategy,
[32:23] which we developed during COVID, it was fairly light
[32:26] and oftentimes you're just having people that
[32:29] are adding weight to and supporting things that
[32:32] are in their, so there's a lot in the strategy,
[32:34] covers a lot of ground, so folks really wanting
[32:37] to try and add focus to and elevate issues that are already
[32:41] in their.
[32:42] Rather than making substantial changes and goals or strategies
[32:46] or making major changes to the structural pieces.
[32:51] >> Great, thank you.
[32:53] >> Each child is different, so in the situations are different
[32:57] depending on what's going on.
[32:59] Thanks for that and we'll keep you posted as comments come in.
[33:05] So in terms of the strategy itself,
[33:08] a fly over of the regional economic strategy, how
[33:13] structured, what includes, this is one of our earlier
[33:16] conversations that we had.
[33:18] What do we want to accomplish in the economic strategy?
[33:21] We have a goal of strengthening our region's
[33:25] global competitiveness, screening economic opportunity
[33:31] to more people and places in the region
[33:33] and sustaining our region's high quality of life
[33:35] as an economic asset and all those other great things
[33:38] that it does for us, so structurally, this
[33:41] is how the strategy is organized.
[33:44] When we came in and started this,
[33:46] the process naturally is where were we in the last strategy,
[33:50] where are we now and what has changed?
[33:52] This page, this slide reflects a summary of the major drivers.
[33:58] The conditions that we are entering in,
[34:01] yes the strategy is broad and includes a lot of stuff,
[34:03] but there a specific focus on these things
[34:06] because these are the areas that we
[34:09] noted some either advancements or some changes
[34:12] to it so regional job losses and certain industries,
[34:17] over plateauing of jobs that we've seen,
[34:20] transformational nature of AI, both industry and businesses
[34:24] that are utilizing that, as well as driving some of our job
[34:29] layoffs and our tech center.
[34:31] Changes to federal and state funding.
[34:32] There's a lot that's happened.
[34:35] Reductions in federal funding that
[34:37] have been impacted programs.
[34:39] Budget challenges at the state level.
[34:41] Overall, business climate, this need
[34:44] for a better culture of collaboration and region
[34:48] to a community, local jurisdictions and the business
[34:52] community to be able to provide a business climate that works.
[34:57] Housing and cost of living.
[35:00] Increasingly becoming more and more of a challenge.
[35:02] Talent attraction in the region, we're
[35:06] region that has relied on importing high tech
[35:09] talent to be able to support our growing industries.
[35:12] We're kind of seeing a softening of folks
[35:14] that are choosing to move here.
[35:16] That's an issue.
[35:18] Tariffs and trade affecting our supply chain,
[35:22] affecting our trade partners.
[35:24] The World Cup was ahead of us when
[35:26] we started these conversations.
[35:27] Is behind us now.
[35:29] It was a major economic event that happened
[35:32] and there was a lot of investment and focus.
[35:35] Downtown revitalization, creation of space,
[35:39] transportation investments, Et-cetera.
[35:41] Power capacity in the region, availability of power and energy
[35:45] to be able to support businesses growing in the region,
[35:49] and the recognition of major weather events
[35:52] have been happening over this time
[35:54] and have had notable economic impact,
[35:57] amongst other impacts in our regions,
[35:59] so those are the economic conditions that we
[36:02] are facing that of elevated in these conversations.
[36:05] What you see on this page is something
[36:08] that we shared pretty early on, which
[36:10] is this five year strategic blueprint.
[36:13] Those full poor goal areas, what are some long term five year
[36:17] overall strategies that we should identify
[36:20] to help improve conditions in the region
[36:21] there are 27 total strategies.
[36:23] Again, covers a lot of ground.
[36:26] For each of these, there's various players, various work
[36:30] plans.
[36:31] We are not the implementing partner on most of these.
[36:35] But we want to recognize and the strategy
[36:37] that there's a lot going on.
[36:39] There's more that can be done.
[36:41] There's more that should be done,
[36:43] and more that should be done to coordinate over the five year
[36:47] period.
[36:48] And then shifting to implementation.
[36:50] What is implementation for a strategy like this look like?
[36:54] The artist is designed to -- he are see economic development
[37:01] have a role, other organizations have a role,
[37:04] we'll talk about challenge Seattle and what
[37:06] they're focusing on, so this isn't a work plan designed just
[37:09] for us to implement.
[37:10] Is way too broad, there's way too much
[37:12] that we're covering in here.
[37:14] We want to show a document, have a document that shows alignment
[37:20] across these various lines, so we are that distillation entity
[37:24] being able to show the roadmap and how
[37:28] these different implementation efforts align with each other.
[37:32] In the strategy, you'll see that we
[37:35] identify some existing and ongoing efforts.
[37:37] Economic development planning and implementation
[37:40] to move some of these things forward
[37:43] does not begin when we have strategy conversations.
[37:45] There are folks that are working in workforce development that
[37:49] know more and are in deeper and some of these areas,
[37:53] so we want to be able to call out those important efforts.
[37:56] Also, the strategy is at an elevation, design that way
[38:00] to be flexible to include new initiatives and programs
[38:03] over the five year period.
[38:05] When the strategy is adopted, what
[38:07] is the work by the Ed board, the Ssrc and other partners
[38:12] look like how can we identify new opportunities
[38:14] and initiatives and be able to map them back
[38:17] so there are some identification of initiatives that happens
[38:20] through this, and specific, in some cases identifying roles
[38:24] for us that we're going to play over
[38:26] this five year period of time.
[38:28] And to give a few examples, lots of different things
[38:32] can be included as economic development
[38:35] or identified as economic development initiatives.
[38:38] What are the roles that we play quick as regional planning
[38:41] agency in the Ed?
[38:43] These those are on the left here that we've called out
[38:46] and this is building on conversations
[38:48] that we've had with you and asked especially
[38:51] at that December meeting.
[38:53] We have a role in assessing the document state of Regional
[38:57] economy, attracting implementation of progress,
[39:00] highlighting things that are working well,
[39:02] being able to call attention to them,
[39:05] convening regional stakeholders to talk more
[39:07] about the state of the economy and what we need to do
[39:10] and how we can better collaborate.
[39:12] We are an organization that is made up
[39:14] of local jurisdictions as our member jurisdictions
[39:17] so how can we support local jurisdictions in their work
[39:21] on economic development finally, recognizing the region's
[39:25] in industry sectors is a key part of our economy
[39:29] being able to support them.
[39:30] We're not the lead role for that.
[39:33] Because those industry sectors are such a key part
[39:35] of our regional economy, we want to be
[39:38] able to amplify that sector growth
[39:39] efforts that are happening.
[39:41] This is our portfolio of implementation areas
[39:44] that we've identified for us as an agency.
[39:47] Of course on the right, there's all sorts of other things
[39:49] that happen and we are not the lead on that we can maybe
[39:52] be supportive of and in advance and be able to share that work
[39:58] and knowledge.
[40:01] I'm going to call out a couple of other current planning
[40:05] and implementation efforts.
[40:06] We talked about Seattle Challenge.
[40:09] That's been running parallel to our work
[40:13] as we've been developing this strategy.
[40:16] This is similar to when we developed the 2022
[40:19] strategy Greater Seattle Partners is working
[40:22] on economic recovery strategy.
[40:24] It was in the midst of COVID so we worked closely with them.
[40:28] It included their work and we referenced their work
[40:31] in the economic strategy so it's not uncommon for efforts
[40:34] to be happening in parallel with us
[40:37] before the strategy is adopted, after it's adopted,
[40:41] the state Washington state is gearing up
[40:43] to develop a state economic development
[40:45] and competitive strategy.
[40:47] We are hoping and working with them
[40:50] and challenge Seattle is of a similar mindset.
[40:53] We want their work to be able to build off
[40:56] of the work and the conversations
[40:57] we are doing in the priorities we are identifying.
[41:00] And then maybe sort of a project effort in the same way,
[41:06] governor Ferguson recently announced an Economic
[41:09] Development Council to help inform his work in the state's
[41:13] work on economic development, so these are things
[41:16] that are happening right now.
[41:18] Other efforts are going to obviously arise
[41:20] over the five year period.
[41:23] They're working to develop more detail in plans
[41:26] work plans implementation around the strategies
[41:28] that we've identified in the five year strategic plan.
[41:32] So the challenge Seattle Partners.
[41:36] They are an organization led by former Governor Chris Gregoire.
[41:42] The board is made up of representatives --
[41:50] they started off a process at the beginning of this year
[41:54] to develop a focused economic development plan.
[41:58] They reached out to us as a regional planning
[42:00] agency and the owner of the Economic Regional Strategy.
[42:04] They wanted to make sure that their work was going
[42:06] to be in alignment of earth these things
[42:09] could be mutual beneficial.
[42:11] Here at the agency they've come to the board
[42:16] and participated in conversations, talked about what
[42:19] their identifying and got input from you.
[42:23] They've engaged with Ssrc Executive Board.
[42:25] And then they were partners with us on the General Assembly
[42:28] this year.
[42:30] This is a large all jurisdiction meeting
[42:33] that Ssrc holds each year.
[42:35] Their major plans, adoptions, electing leadership,
[42:40] advancing budgets etc..
[42:41] We had a really great conversation
[42:43] at that General Assembly to talk about the state of the region
[42:47] economy.
[42:48] We heard from some business leaders at that meeting as well.
[42:52] Really talked about how we can improve that culture
[42:54] of collaboration in the region.
[42:57] There's a draft of recommendations
[42:59] that they've developed in the board packet.
[43:02] Currently with 19 recommendations and they've
[43:05] got a focus on business and tax climate common regulations
[43:08] and permitting that collaborative,
[43:11] things that address that collaboration.
[43:15] Agenda focusing on supporting regional industries and focus
[43:18] on supporting workforce needs, so they're
[43:20] developing an implementation plan and strategy focused
[43:23] on those particular areas.
[43:25] They do map back to the goals and strategies
[43:29] in the regional economic strategy.
[43:31] We've worked to address and reference their effort here.
[43:35] One of the things I think we recognize
[43:37] is this is a high level strategy and includes lots of goals
[43:42] common strategies, operates at a certain level.
[43:45] We're not looking to itemize an inventory.
[43:48] Every element or work plan across all the strategies
[43:52] into our work.
[43:53] I think that's beyond the scope of what we intend to do
[43:56] and what we can do and be supportive of.
[43:58] We want to recognize this effort because it's
[44:01] got a lot of attention.
[44:03] There's a lot of partners at the table.
[44:04] We're a partner.
[44:06] Maybe you are partnering with them
[44:08] or have engaged with them in their work in your day job.
[44:12] I know they're doing their, they're
[44:13] the leader of the effort, we have our partner
[44:15] and their other partners and we want
[44:17] to be mutually supportive of our work.
[44:20] Next step, for that work, is convening in September,
[44:25] September 14th.
[44:26] For this partnership for competitive Puget Sound.
[44:30] We're identifying and identifying
[44:31] that economic development plan, that implementation focusing
[44:35] on those areas, but also recognize
[44:37] they want to get people to the table to help implement
[44:40] and move forward that work.
[44:42] I believe each of you as a board member
[44:45] should have saved the date for that event on your calendar.
[44:48] I know more details will be coming out.
[44:51] But it will include regional leaders
[44:54] from around our region, EDB board members, other leaders
[44:58] leaders from Ssrc.
[44:59] To talk about that plan and how to best focus on an advanced
[45:06] implementation..
[45:08] And Ssrc, we're going to continue
[45:10] to be partnering on that event and continue
[45:12] to partner with them over time as well as the strategy
[45:16] moves to the next phase, which is focusing on implementation.
[45:21] It's a parallel effort.
[45:23] They've got some implementation areas that they are focused on.
[45:27] We think those are in alignment with the strategy we've
[45:29] been able to engage with them over time.
[45:31] We're really looking forward to this focused energy
[45:34] around moving some of these issues forward.
[45:38] So kind of in summary, we have a strategy
[45:42] in your packet for BI data and by other regional plan,
[45:48] includes input from stakeholders.
[45:50] It's iterated over time so that the package you see here today
[45:54] includes content we've slowly built up
[45:58] over the past year and a half through our work.
[46:00] It's consistent with previous regional economic strategy
[46:03] comments so the elevation focus come the structure,
[46:06] the implementation perspective is
[46:08] very consistent with the strategies
[46:10] that we've adopted in the past.
[46:12] Importantly, it meets our EDA requirements with work
[46:16] that we need to do here as an Ed to be
[46:19] able to get a strategy that is adopted a strategy
[46:23] to maintain that economic development district evaluation.
[46:27] A bit of looking forward and I've
[46:30] touched upon some of this stuff already, so what's next
[46:33] it's going to be the Challenge Seattle event in September.
[46:35] Staff will be working to address any questions at this meeting
[46:41] or between now and October with board members
[46:45] about content, tweaks or anything
[46:47] that you see in the strategy that you
[46:49] would like us to address.
[46:51] Will we release this draft strategy for,
[46:55] comment in October.
[46:58] We'll have an opportunity to adopt the strategy
[47:01] and again transmit to EDA in January for final approval.
[47:05] So, now is the official questions and comments
[47:10] slide for this effort.
[47:12] So happy to take questions about the purpose, about the approach
[47:18] and processes.
[47:19] Any questions about content?
[47:21] Again come up you've got some things
[47:24] that you hope could be stronger in there
[47:25] or want to be able to address, have some particular things
[47:28] that you want to raise come and raise them up now come on we're
[47:30] happy to work with you.
[47:32] We can address it right away in this meeting,
[47:33] or if we need to take some more time outside of this meeting,
[47:36] happy to do that.
[47:37] Questions on the implementation and the challenge Seattle
[47:41] partnership?
[47:42] I'm right in the middle of this.
[47:43] I know that having multiple things that
[47:45] are happening that are related and partnership
[47:49] have a slightly different focus in elevation, can be confusing.
[47:54] Again, I'm in the midst of this, I
[47:57] feel it, so if you've got questions about that,
[47:59] please bring them up and want to talk
[48:01] about them, and then questions about next steps,
[48:03] so I'll pause here and hopefully we've
[48:05] got some more questions and comments.
[48:08] >> Thank you, Jason.
[48:10] It's been a privilege to work with you on this.
[48:14] I appreciate your leadership, your experience and putting one
[48:20] of these strategic plans together and I know that
[48:23] there's other partners out there that are fostering also,
[48:28] but I just want to make sure that we stay focused on what
[48:36] our purpose is and collaborate with others when we can,
[48:45] but stay focused on the region and making sure that Shalom is
[48:58] -- we take a deep dive into what is the maybe and how we can
[49:03] roadmap forward from here, so with that,
[49:06] I'm going to open it up for comment.
[49:09] I see Lynette has got her hand up .
[49:16] >> Hi there everyone come thank you for sharing this
[49:18] and I'm just getting to spend some time with it.
[49:22] I think as we all hear feedback, all of our partners,
[49:27] our system is fragmented and so can you
[49:32] talk a little bit more Jason about the challenge Seattle
[49:36] partnership at GSP and then the intersection of Ssrc?
[49:41] I know a lot of stuff is probably coming out
[49:43] in following weeks, but can we just
[49:46] do a little bit deeper conversation on that?
[49:49] >> Yeah, and kind of fill in, if there more specifics,
[49:54] so the governor reached out to Josh at the beginning of 2026,
[50:00] recognizing that we were in the process of developing
[50:03] our economic strategy and they really were getting direction
[50:07] from their board about things that they had already
[50:12] identified.
[50:12] The cultural collaboration that needed
[50:14] to be improved in the region, they
[50:16] to be able to support industries,
[50:17] so what were some key things that they could help advance
[50:22] in terms of that and they knew we
[50:24] were doing the broader analysis assessment and strategic work,
[50:28] so they reached out to us.
[50:30] We're doing this work.
[50:32] How can we make sure we're in alignment with your work?
[50:35] That is really the essence of it.
[50:38] They're running a project that is independent,
[50:40] they're having individual conversations
[50:43] that include us as a partner.
[50:46] In terms of input.
[50:47] One of the things that didn't really dig into that's included
[50:53] in the draft strategy in your packet,
[50:56] the identify location of greater Seattle partners and maybe
[51:02] an increased role -- in terms of coordinating certain things
[51:07] related to economic development.
[51:09] And in other ways that we've been identified as an agency,
[51:14] to help advance some of this work
[51:16] and I think that ways that we can
[51:18] be supportive of their strategy, are identified in that slide
[51:24] that I had where it talks about the roles.
[51:26] Roles that we can help play, to sort of
[51:31] bring information together either your comments
[51:34] around the ecosystem and the various partners.
[51:38] There's a lot of different partners that are out there.
[51:41] We hope that the economic strategy is a good place
[51:45] to kind of bring with our strategic understanding
[51:47] together, but I think that there is also potentially a role
[51:51] for us to play going forward, especially
[51:54] with the implementation of the Challenge Seattle
[51:57] plan and a renewed focus by Greater Seattle partners
[52:02] to help tell a cohesive story about how these various efforts
[52:06] and elements come together.
[52:08] One of the things I think is important to note
[52:10] is that Challenge Seattle is developing the strategy.
[52:15] We develop our strategy and then we're here
[52:17] between this time and next time.
[52:19] There's work that we do in between kind of tracking
[52:23] progress, looking at data.
[52:24] Challenge Seattle will not have a formal role in tracking
[52:28] implementation of the strategy.
[52:30] That's something that they've asked
[52:32] us to be able to help with.
[52:33] How do we continue this work after their work in the project
[52:36] is done?
[52:38] GSP I think is going to have a role
[52:39] in that continuing some of that work
[52:41] and implementing some of that work,
[52:43] I think we're going to have a role in being able to monitor
[52:46] economic conditions come and help
[52:48] coordinate conversations and advanced issues, so some of this
[52:52] has been about how do we get our two
[52:55] plans in progress and underway.
[52:57] I think a lot of the questions that I'm still
[53:00] waiting to have answered are going
[53:02] to come at and after the September convening.
[53:06] Once it all shakes out, once GSP role is identified,
[53:10] I think that December meeting for us as a board,
[53:14] maybe we can get GSP at the table and other folks, okay now
[53:19] that these strategic efforts are completed,
[53:21] what does tracking coordination and implementation
[53:23] look like across these various entities quick
[53:26] what value can we bring as regional planning agency
[53:29] to help make sense of these things and maybe tell a story
[53:33] and provide a bit of a roadmap for folks
[53:36] to help navigate this a little bit,
[53:38] so hopefully that's my understanding of it.
[53:42] If you have any follow up questions or comments Tom.
[53:46] >> No, I think you got into that second part and as an add,
[53:49] all of us are sitting in this room.
[53:53] We're sitting in the commerce room, we're planning,
[53:57] some of us have engaged in the challenge room,
[54:01] so we know all all the plans our planning and we're excited
[54:05] to see what the outcomes are, but also I think,
[54:09] speaking of from --
[54:11] I've gotten from our members and our stakeholders, what
[54:15] is the corralling process for all of these plans?
[54:20] Is there any hierarchy of plans and I
[54:23] don't think that the answer.
[54:25] That is the kind of next question
[54:29] is, what plan are we supposed to be following if they're
[54:32] in contradiction of each other?
[54:34] It sounds like it's been pretty mindful for coordination
[54:38] in the design process.
[54:41] >> Yeah, and I think our December meeting could really
[54:45] come or that could be a good part of our agenda that's for us
[54:47] to talk about that and maybe we can't GSP and other folks here
[54:50] at the table and talk about how we can all collaborate and be
[54:54] helpful with folks who want to engage in these strategies
[54:57] or participate or just make sense of them,
[55:00] how we can be helpful and being a bit of a concierge
[55:06] or navigator for this various efforts.
[55:10] >> Thank you.
[55:11] >> Thanks a lot.
[55:13] >> Thank you for the question.
[55:15] Jason, what is the governor's Economic Development Committee
[55:21] what is their time frame?
[55:25] >> Yeah, can I -- you're the most recent one.
[55:29] You're on that committee right?
[55:32] >> So, the Department of Commerce is working on three
[55:36] separate working groups to embark on a strategic plan
[55:41] for the Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness.
[55:46] The governor has a council.
[55:50] Seattle Metro Chamber chamber is not on it.
[55:53] Is an economic development chain chamber.
[55:57] Mainly primarily a private industry,
[56:01] so it's a council set out to advise the governor.
[56:04] It is staffed by , meaning every member of that council has
[56:09] a staff member to help them with what I would call subject matter
[56:13] expertise to inform them when they move around that table.
[56:18] We are not on that table.
[56:20] Although, we are obviously part of conversations,
[56:23] we are not named on that.
[56:25] I'm just seeing if there's anybody in this room.
[56:28] That is named on that.
[56:33] I can't quite tell.
[56:38] That's all I have to offer.
[56:41] There's some people who can correct that can
[56:44] correct anything I have wrong.
[56:47] >> I don't think you or others can correct me.
[56:50] There's not a set time limit or time frame.
[56:55] >> No, the way I characterize it is to inform the governor,
[56:58] but I do see people here from commerce that maybe can be
[57:01] a little bit maybe more articulate and clarify in case
[57:05] I'm saying something incorrectly.
[57:08] >> So an existing advisory body that can help continually have
[57:14] dialog with the governor about economic for the state.
[57:25] >> Thanks for that clarification.
[57:26] >> I thought Andrea turned her camera on.
[57:28] Is there anything I got wrong in that
[57:30] about the strategic plan for EDC and then the Governor's Council?
[57:35] >> Yeah, sorry, I just got a call so I might have been
[57:38] slightly distracted.
[57:39] Hi everyone this is director at Washington Commerce leading
[57:44] economic Competitiveness.
[57:45] We have a statewide economic development strategic plan
[57:51] that will be done by the spring and we
[57:53] are in the process of onboarding a contractor for that
[57:58] for helping to move all that forward.
[58:01] The Governor's Economic Development Council
[58:04] is indeed come as Elena mentioned,
[58:07] advising and both providing input and ideas for that,
[58:13] as well as looking at iterations and giving feedback.
[58:17] So the two are working together very closely and sorry,
[58:22] again, I was distracted, is there
[58:25] more of a clarification I should offer?
[58:28] >> No, I was worried that I was characterizing it incorrectly,
[58:31] but I think you endorsed what I said so I appreciate it.
[58:38] >> I would just that given the era of the plans,
[58:42] the strategic plans, there is coming a kind of commerce's work
[58:47] hard to make sure they have resources to not only go through
[58:51] the planning process, but fund recommendations,
[58:54] all of us practitioners in economic development,
[58:59] plans are great, but we need resources to be able
[59:02] to implement those plans, resources and tools,
[59:06] so that will be an important discussion going forward
[59:10] as these plans hit the ground.
[59:17] >> I agree, on that.
[59:19] I would just hoping that it might be,
[59:23] you might have some strategic plan
[59:26] headed into the legislative session,
[59:29] since it's a long session.
[59:33] So that way, we don't have to wait
[59:38] to get the resources that you need
[59:44] to move economic development forward in the state.
[59:48] I know it's been challenging the last couple of years.
[59:53] I was hoping that the governor would at least used that group
[59:59] to educate the legislature on economic development
[1:00:04] and the impact that it's had in recent years
[1:00:09] as far as the direction goes, but doesn't sound like that's
[1:00:14] what they're attempting to do.
[1:00:17] >> I think the stuff coming out of challenge is being shared
[1:00:21] with the Governor's Council and making I'm making an assumption
[1:00:25] there, and I think that is , there's some clear
[1:00:31] recommendation and when commerce is ready,
[1:00:33] they've made recommendations to the legislature as well.
[1:00:36] They're getting ready for that, so I would not say time,
[1:00:41] we're losing a window.
[1:00:43] We always feel like we're losing a window
[1:00:45] to inform the legislature, but there
[1:00:47] is active progress on legislative priorities designed
[1:00:50] to enhance economic development.
[1:00:56] >> Thank you.
[1:00:57] Joe, do you have your hand up?
[1:01:00] >> Yes I do, thank you Dave.
[1:01:03] A question from my fellow board members,
[1:01:05] and this may not be the format requirements
[1:01:09] of the regional Economic strategy,
[1:01:12] but I'm wondering about these four goals
[1:01:15] and specifically, I'm wondering if from our team's perspective,
[1:01:20] is there one that emerges.
[1:01:23] If you have five years to work on these things,
[1:01:26] there four focus areas are global competitiveness, quality
[1:01:30] of life, economic opportunity and business climate,
[1:01:33] I know we have to do it all in economic development
[1:01:37] and we have a broad mandate, but I'm
[1:01:40] wondering if any one of those seems to rise to the top,
[1:01:44] and I also am wondering if it's going
[1:01:47] to rise to the top with our peers
[1:01:49] who are also conducting economic development efforts
[1:01:53] and I see that the Deputy Director of Commerce
[1:01:56] has raised her hand, so I'll be quiet.
[1:02:00] >> Sorry, I'm having trouble with technology.
[1:02:04] I was trying to raise my hand to respond to an earlier point,
[1:02:08] but I'll see if I can respond to that as well.
[1:02:11] So, as part of our proposal for the contractor,
[1:02:17] it's going to be really tight, but we
[1:02:20] did ask for them to prepare some draft recommendations
[1:02:22] on the strategy to present to the legislature
[1:02:25] during, so we have some drafts suggestions in November,
[1:02:30] get a chance to get some input revise them,
[1:02:34] and then present them during committee days
[1:02:36] in the beginning of December.
[1:02:38] We recognize that the time is going
[1:02:40] to be really tight on that.
[1:02:42] We just want to put some ideas forward to get people excited,
[1:02:47] so that is our plan.
[1:02:51] I can share that.
[1:02:52] I just want to say that it's a very ambitious plan
[1:02:54] and we also recognize that.
[1:02:57] Joe, coming back to your question,
[1:03:00] I maybe I can try to summarize what I heard,
[1:03:03] but the different plans, and my hope
[1:03:05] is that the different plans end up
[1:03:07] being aligned and or coordinated and so I have been in good touch
[1:03:13] with challenge Seattle and ideas and getting back
[1:03:20] different versions, so thoughts on what the strategy is,
[1:03:26] so I really hope that everything will be maybe focused
[1:03:33] slightly different areas.
[1:03:34] Because for example, with the statewide one,
[1:03:38] we have some specific questions that the legislator asks just
[1:03:41] to answer and we have, we are trying to focus,
[1:03:46] trying to get 3 to 5 top priorities for a strategic plan
[1:03:51] next to them and of course they're like a gazillion things
[1:03:54] that you could be doing, so commerce
[1:03:56] has draft sector strategies which
[1:03:59] have 3 to 5 priorities for ten sectors,
[1:04:01] and so obviously you can't have all of that
[1:04:04] and get to 3 to 5 top, and then answer
[1:04:08] different specific questions, so we
[1:04:10] are trying to very much learn from those who are in front
[1:04:14] of us, build on the ideas,
[1:04:18] including ideas that have come on the associate development
[1:04:20] organizations, we are trying to really come up
[1:04:24] we are acquiring the contractor to take all of the inputs
[1:04:27] that we've already collected and work and build upon that
[1:04:31] and talk to key stakeholders, so I'm
[1:04:33] hoping is what we have is going to be an alignment.
[1:04:38] One of the things that I'm always hopeful of --
[1:04:44] it is not a requirement on this, but the things where the Office
[1:04:49] of Economic Development competitiveness can most take
[1:04:54] a role-- some of the areas where some of the plans focused
[1:05:00] because I have ability to really influence the implementation
[1:05:04] of those items.
[1:05:07] Of course it's not a hard limit because there
[1:05:09] can be other really important things
[1:05:11] that we can by convenient convey and have
[1:05:15] an important impact on it.
[1:05:17] So anyway, I hope that answers your question a little bit,
[1:05:21] but we're hoping everything will end up in alignment.
[1:05:28] >> Thank you for the comments.
[1:05:29] Joe, were you done with your comments?
[1:05:34] >> Yeah, I'm good.
[1:05:36] I have major concerns about business climate
[1:05:38] and it's interesting because in Kitsap, I
[1:05:41] don't think we have quite the challenge
[1:05:44] that the other 96%, 94% of the regional economy does.
[1:05:49] I think we have a slightly different perspective out here.
[1:05:54] But I am wondering if there's one issue,
[1:05:59] there's not one issue, there's a lot of issues.
[1:06:02] The more you speak to one thing that
[1:06:07] may be coming up across multiple strategies
[1:06:12] might give you a more powerful ability
[1:06:16] to create change in five years.
[1:06:23] >> Joe come I'm going to pivot a little bit on your comments.
[1:06:26] One of the exercises that I've been going through,
[1:06:28] which I think oh, my life would be
[1:06:30] a lot simpler if our target for the strategy development
[1:06:34] was December of 2025.
[1:06:36] Right now, we're having conversations
[1:06:39] about other efforts, challenge Seattle, state Department
[1:06:43] of Commerce, what role can this board and this organization play
[1:06:48] in supporting that work what role can we play
[1:06:52] in helping to advance that?
[1:06:55] I think once we have a strategy adopted
[1:06:59] and that work is done, adjusting our focus to how
[1:07:03] we can advance some of these particular things.
[1:07:07] So not only prioritizing which ones are most important,
[1:07:12] but is there a role that we can play to help
[1:07:15] advance some of them?
[1:07:16] What abilities do we have, and then that's our tool
[1:07:20] and where can we use that tool?
[1:07:21] So if it is like you're saying, this
[1:07:24] is what I'm hearing from you, out of these four areas,
[1:07:28] business climate is one for you that is the top priority
[1:07:34] and folks in this virtual room may agree with that
[1:07:40] or may have slightly different opinions of that,
[1:07:43] but I think transitioning from strategy adoption, which
[1:07:46] by default has to cover lots of things,
[1:07:49] so one of the things I didn't really get into detail about
[1:07:52] is sometimes we'll reach out, a regional partner
[1:07:55] will reach out to us and say we're applying to the EDA
[1:07:58] for grant underneath this program,
[1:08:00] it covers a thing that you all don't really talk about
[1:08:03] or address on a regular basis,
[1:08:05] but thankfully it's in the strategy
[1:08:07] because when we apply we have to say oh yes,
[1:08:09] it's working to implement this strategy.
[1:08:11] So it's a broader portfolio that has a regional purpose for all
[1:08:14] of our partners, and there's a separate role
[1:08:17] that we can play as regional planning
[1:08:19] organization and economic development district
[1:08:21] to try and pull the levers in advance
[1:08:23] some of those particular issues and areas.
[1:08:26] All that being said is maybe long winded way
[1:08:30] of saying strategy and its breadth
[1:08:33] by design and implementation, we can talk more about our roles
[1:08:38] and what our work plan is, as soon
[1:08:40] as we're done adopting the strategy,
[1:08:41] then we can spend our time not talking about the strategy
[1:08:46] development, which is taking a fair amount of time
[1:08:49] in our agendas, for the board, but what can we focus on
[1:08:53] what can we do to advance some of the issues,
[1:08:55] in ways that we are able to given what's going on.
[1:09:02] >> Things, Jason.
[1:09:04] I agree, you've done a beautiful job
[1:09:06] of capturing I think the right wide range of issues
[1:09:11] across the regional economy.
[1:09:13] I agree thanks.
[1:09:19] Dave Morell: Good, thank you for that discussion back and forth.
[1:09:22] Is there any other comments or questions
[1:09:26] before we move this forward?
[1:09:37] >> So again, happy to not seen any thumbs or hands pop up,
[1:09:39] happy to if you've got a particular issue or or area that
[1:09:43] you want to talk more about, please reach out to us.
[1:09:46] Our plan is to take this draft strategy,
[1:09:50] create an updated draft for public comment,
[1:09:55] if you've got some input you want
[1:09:56] to provide to us on a particular area, happy to address it.
[1:10:00] During the public comment, there'll
[1:10:02] be another way to provide additional comments
[1:10:04] and questions, and then at the December board meeting,
[1:10:07] things are arising that we need to tweak,
[1:10:09] as well, a lot of this conversation today
[1:10:12] is to really build up a level of comfort
[1:10:14] that what you have in front of you
[1:10:17] is process driven, consistent, and a safely
[1:10:22] fits within the expectations of EDA and past strategies.
[1:10:27] Just before I transition to the next slide, which
[1:10:31] will be to ask for authorization,
[1:10:33] I see a hand popping up.
[1:10:36] Nikki I see your hand.
[1:10:38] Do you have a question or comment?
[1:10:40] >> Yes, I'm just curious if there's any more detail behind
[1:10:43] any of the strategies that we could look at?
[1:10:48] >> I would say yes.
[1:10:51] But for each of these strategies, there's probably in,
[1:10:57] Andrea provided a great illustration of this.
[1:10:59] Trying to come up with three three topics come up
[1:11:03] but we've got all these sectors and each of these
[1:11:05] have topic issues and those underneath there
[1:11:07] have probably more top issues.
[1:11:09] Each of these is a whole package that gets unpacked.
[1:11:13] There are different partners at play.
[1:11:16] So each one becomes a whole deep research
[1:11:19] project, which is kind of the challenge of the work
[1:11:22] that we do.
[1:11:23] How do you cover things like housing and childcare
[1:11:25] and cost of living and business life climate and all
[1:11:28] this other stuff?
[1:11:29] We try to balance that detail with elevation,
[1:11:36] so if there are particular areas that you're interested in,
[1:11:40] I think we could do, dive in, find the partners that
[1:11:45] are working in those areas, look at additional strategies
[1:11:48] and actions, and programs that are working in them,
[1:11:51] but there's not a really easy compendium that we put together
[1:11:55] that has all of that in a single >>
[1:12:02] So we're voting on the high level strategy
[1:12:04] is the right forward motion?
[1:12:08] >> Regional direction.
[1:12:09] Does this capture us where we are as a region?
[1:12:12] Broad goals and strategic direction
[1:12:14] with the understanding that that is implemented by us
[1:12:17] and many other partners in the region.
[1:12:20] But provides a good synthesis of how
[1:12:24] we see ourselves as a region.
[1:12:25] I read these three strategies and I
[1:12:27] think yes come of course come but what is helpful
[1:12:30] sometimes is I look at regional strategies
[1:12:32] at the same level in other regions,
[1:12:34] and you can immediately see how they're different.
[1:12:37] So this is a bit of a -- we're documenting things that we kind
[1:12:42] of know already, so in some ways it feels like yes of course.
[1:12:46] But I think it's really helpful sometimes to think about
[1:12:49] if you're dropping in from the EDA,
[1:12:51] or dropping in from another region and looking at this,
[1:12:54] does this tell our story in a way that
[1:12:57] meets the requirements for Ida?
[1:13:01] >> Thank you.
[1:13:03] >> Thanks Nikki.
[1:13:06] Dave Morell: Are there any other questions?
[1:13:09] Any comments?
[1:13:17] I am not seeing any.
[1:13:20] I will open it up now for a motion
[1:13:23] to approve the authority of the staff
[1:13:27] draft regional economic strategy and release for 30 day
[1:13:32] public comment period.
[1:13:33] Do I have a motion?
[1:13:41] >> So moved by Lynette.
[1:13:43] Dave Morell: Do I have a second?
[1:13:46] >> Second by Joe.
[1:13:55] Dave Morell: Okay, we do have a motion and a second.
[1:14:00] Is there any further discussions or questions?
[1:14:06] Not seeing any.
[1:14:09] All those in favor please say aye.
[1:14:19] all those opposed say nay.
[1:14:28] The ayes have it.
[1:14:29] this is Again a pretty broad brush as Jason said,
[1:14:34] an umbrella of a lot of the economic sectors
[1:14:37] and yeah we could drill down on a lot of these.
[1:14:41] I don't know if it's our role to do that
[1:14:46] through this particular strategy.
[1:14:50] So let's see how things evolve in this
[1:14:55] and please come to the communication is open to me
[1:15:03] and to Jason.
[1:15:05] We're not taking ownership of this yet.
[1:15:08] So thank you.
[1:15:12] Item number seven, discussion item of the bylaws
[1:15:17] and then memorandum of agreement review Committee updates.
[1:15:23] I guess I'll turn that back over to you Jason.
[1:15:28] >> To me come I need to learn how to delegate.
[1:15:40] Great so we've got an update on our work
[1:15:44] with the bylaws Committee of that
[1:15:46] was established at our June meeting.
[1:15:49] A little bit of reminder of the origin and timeline.
[1:15:53] When we were talking with Council member Morrell about
[1:15:57] becoming core President Obama he wanted to be sure an up to date
[1:16:03] of our oh dear so we made a in addition to our application
[1:16:12] process of our new three year planning grant come on the EDA
[1:16:15] looked at our E d o and looked at --
[1:16:19] can you update this this is a little bit stale can you clean
[1:16:22] this up a little bit quick so this is the two drivers for us
[1:16:25] to start and have this conversation with you
[1:16:28] as a board.
[1:16:29] In June and establish MOA and Bylaws Committee
[1:16:33] and ultimately the goal of the committee
[1:16:35] is to make recommendations to the board for consideration
[1:16:39] at the December 2026 meeting.
[1:16:42] And so just to give a bit of key points
[1:16:48] here to set the stage for these two documents
[1:16:51] so Ssrc and the EDR are separate legal organizations that
[1:16:55] are co housed together.
[1:16:57] They used to be separate organizations completely
[1:16:59] but came together through an original memorandum
[1:17:02] of agreement signed in 2002.
[1:17:07] Determining and detailing the Esrc's role for the Ed role
[1:17:12] and how that relationship works how funding
[1:17:14] works across these agencies, the Ed
[1:17:17] is the one that receives the EDA Partnership Planning grant.
[1:17:22] It's a $70,000 a year grant moving forward,
[1:17:25] so it's a modest amount of money for an economic development
[1:17:31] as a separate organization to be able to survive and a lot
[1:17:35] of Ed's you see that exist are either form to do other things
[1:17:41] and find other resources or they are co-housed or they are
[1:17:45] actually other organizations like regional planning
[1:17:49] organization that's designated as the Ed.
[1:17:52] Ed is just a designation.
[1:17:54] Similarly to the way the Ada is organization that exists,
[1:18:00] or it is given to a particular organization in accounting.
[1:18:03] As part of this grant process, Ed received the grant, contracts
[1:18:08] and all that money to Ssrc to implement that workplan,
[1:18:13] so the EDB has no staff.
[1:18:16] Ssrc is the one that staffs all the work and that is
[1:18:19] part of that partnership planning grant
[1:18:21] and more broadly any of the work related to economic development.
[1:18:27] What we've worked on between June and now,
[1:18:31] we took a look at other regional planning agencies.
[1:18:34] That have other economic development --
[1:18:39] how does that relationship work and is there anything we can
[1:18:42] work to and learn from them?
[1:18:44] We met with SRC leadership and talked about this process,
[1:18:47] the two organizations there's a relationship,
[1:18:49] that financial relationship between them.
[1:18:52] Some of the technicalities in the process,
[1:18:55] we had conversations with our bylaws and committee,
[1:18:58] as well as the Ed executive committee.
[1:19:01] Today, we want to discuss, before we
[1:19:04] start crossing T's and dotting I's, to line item changes
[1:19:08] on the bylines and the MOA and want to get some,
[1:19:12] give you perspective on our general direction of what
[1:19:16] we're seeing in these documents and where
[1:19:19] we think we're heading.
[1:19:21] And the initial conversations we've had with PSR leadership,
[1:19:25] a couple of things that I want to highlight,
[1:19:27] there's a recognition on their side,
[1:19:30] and I think a recognition here that there's a lot more funding
[1:19:34] is needed beyond the $70,000.
[1:19:36] Ssrc is subsidizing and supporting the work
[1:19:40] through other parts of SC's budget.
[1:19:43] The Ed board, so the agency, we have the executive board
[1:19:48] and then three major policy boards, gross growth management,
[1:19:52] politician policy, transportation, economic.
[1:19:57] Management of the board is out of line with the bylaws for PSR
[1:20:04] on the governance of the committee,
[1:20:08] so we want to recognize that it is unique, but how can it be,
[1:20:14] can it be in better alignment with our policies at the agency?
[1:20:18] Another note, Ssrc leadership is recognizing
[1:20:23] that there's an opportunity for them
[1:20:25] to have more voice in the approval
[1:20:27] of the economic strategy.
[1:20:30] Our major planning documents here
[1:20:31] at the agency, the regional transportation plan,
[1:20:35] Transportation Policy Board develops
[1:20:36] the Executive board adopts.
[1:20:39] The Growth Management Policy Board develops vision 2050,
[1:20:45] and that gets goes to the executive Board
[1:20:48] as well as to the General Assembly.
[1:20:50] On the side, this board adopts the regional Economic strategy
[1:20:57] for the region and then there's no pathway up through Ssrc,
[1:21:00] so they are missing that engagement.
[1:21:04] What other opportunities throughout all
[1:21:09] these conversations, and this sort of,
[1:21:13] analysis of how things are organized
[1:21:16] elevate priority issues and increase the issue of the work
[1:21:19] by better engaging the ssrc side.
[1:21:22] One of the things that we looked at was we sampled
[1:21:27] some other organization, regional organization
[1:21:31] across the country and said looked how they were set up
[1:21:34] and they fell into three buckets.
[1:21:35] On the top here, these are areas where the regional planning
[1:21:39] organization, so Detroit, Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville
[1:21:46] Boston, this is the named economic development issue.
[1:21:51] It is one and the same.
[1:21:53] The governing board for these organizations
[1:21:55] has roles on the regional planning side
[1:21:58] and economic district side.
[1:22:00] It is one and the same.
[1:22:04] Underneath them there's various ways that they look
[1:22:06] at how to inform that work.
[1:22:08] There's a council in Detroit, there
[1:22:12] are forums that Atlanta organizes,
[1:22:15] there's a committee in Nashville,
[1:22:17] and in Boston they don't have any additional structure.
[1:22:21] They work is informed by other more
[1:22:26] specific technical advisory groups or discussions,
[1:22:30] and then fed up through the executive body.
[1:22:34] At the bottom, interestingly enough, Chicago, San Francisco
[1:22:38] and Phoenix, they don't have economic development.
[1:22:41] They don't have the districts in the region.
[1:22:44] They are doing things completely different.
[1:22:46] Maybe not a lot we can learn from them.
[1:22:48] In the middle are the others category.
[1:22:51] In Texas, there is a separate legal economic development
[1:22:57] district, but the regional planning organization
[1:23:01] appoints, comes up with a composition
[1:23:04] and appoints the board members for the board.
[1:23:07] Once that board adopts the strategy,
[1:23:10] the organization also takes action on that strategy.
[1:23:16] In Charlotte, it's a little bit different,
[1:23:20] so the board regional planning organization
[1:23:22] appoints board members to the Ed,
[1:23:25] but then they separately adopt the strategy
[1:23:28] and the regional planning organization
[1:23:30] takes no additional action.
[1:23:32] Here's where we're unique.
[1:23:35] In our region, C pain a lot of the bills for the Economic
[1:23:40] Development District work and this work
[1:23:43] has no say or engagement in the board come aboard leadership
[1:23:48] or composition, has no say ultimately
[1:23:51] in the economic strategy.
[1:23:52] So we're a bit of an outlier in that regard.
[1:23:56] These are the things that are kind of informing the discussion
[1:23:59] that we're having today.
[1:24:01] We want to be able to hear from you about your thoughts.
[1:24:04] We've talked with our executive committee and bylaws committee
[1:24:07] and gotten their input and want to be
[1:24:09] able to get some information from the board as well.
[1:24:11] Here I've put together a spectrum
[1:24:15] of independent, so full merger, but on the left is where we are.
[1:24:22] The board separately and independently manages
[1:24:25] composition.
[1:24:26] The board develops and adapts the regional economic strategy.
[1:24:31] This is all independent engagement with Ssrc
[1:24:35] except for the fact that Ssrc is staffing this work.
[1:24:39] On the right hand side, looking at those other models, what
[1:24:43] would this look like for us it would be Ssrc executive board,
[1:24:46] actually access the board, and the board
[1:24:52] adopts a regional strategy, and maybe under this model
[1:24:55] there's an advisory board, economic development committee,
[1:24:59] something similar to the composition of the current board
[1:25:02] that helps advise the executive board in that regard.
[1:25:06] Where we think makes the most sense, we want to hear from you,
[1:25:11] is this model in between, this partnership martyr will Ssrc has
[1:25:16] some say in the board composition
[1:25:18] where the board ultimately is doing the work like it is now
[1:25:23] to develop and adopt the economic strategy,
[1:25:25] but also allowing Ssrc to be able to take action
[1:25:29] and ratifying that work.
[1:25:31] So that's where we feel like maybe is the sweet spot here.
[1:25:36] Not keeping things completely independent,
[1:25:38] not shifting all the way to the Ssrc side,
[1:25:41] but having this partnership model.
[1:25:43] So going forward, before we start digging into the details,
[1:25:48] and what goes where and what goes
[1:25:51] in the, and the bylaws, here are some of the principles
[1:25:54] that we have on the table.
[1:25:55] That we think are going to lead our work
[1:25:59] and want to be able to hear from you.
[1:26:01] First off is just general operating principles.
[1:26:04] Getting the board to operate in a manner more consistent
[1:26:07] with other boards at Ssrc.
[1:26:10] The two areas that are on the table that we've identified
[1:26:14] is that one, for the other policy boards and committees,
[1:26:17] ssrc determines the composition and the makeup.
[1:26:21] How is the board formed?
[1:26:23] What seats are there?
[1:26:25] Also, for the process of leadership,
[1:26:28] Ssrc president will nominate a leader or president or chair
[1:26:34] for this policy board and the Executive Board takes action
[1:26:39] on appointing them.
[1:26:40] Right now come up with the board,
[1:26:42] Ed board forms its own separate nominating committee.
[1:26:46] It does work and brings that recommendation back to the Ed.
[1:26:50] We feel that bringing it more in alignment
[1:26:52] with how the other boards at Ssrc operates
[1:26:56] is a recommended pathway for us to examine.
[1:27:00] The other one, which is a little bit different,
[1:27:03] for the other policy boards, for governmental seats,
[1:27:10] for public agencies, it's only elected officials
[1:27:13] that have the ability to take action and vote.
[1:27:16] For the board, we make a more complicated distinction, only
[1:27:23] elected officials are technically
[1:27:24] allowed to vote on budget adoption,
[1:27:26] what sort of staff members can come and be the designated staff
[1:27:30] member and they can take action on other things that
[1:27:32] are happening, so figuring that out,
[1:27:34] and again the easy being a separate entity
[1:27:37] and being different, might have to figure out how that works.
[1:27:42] In terms of work program implementation,
[1:27:45] no change here, but Ed The New for you
[1:29:12] and be able to get any comments from you before we move forward
[1:29:15] and I think ultimately the way that we're
[1:29:17] seeing now these guiding principles
[1:29:19] are one that we're going to pursue and document in detail
[1:29:21] that's more of a partnership model rather than a fully
[1:29:26] independent Ed board, but would like to pause there and get
[1:29:30] any questions or comments from the board.
[1:29:33] Before we move forward with our work on the committee. --
[1:29:41] >> Thank you for that.
[1:29:42] Are there any comments from any of the committee members
[1:29:45] in the actual --
[1:29:53] is there any comments you have, and then open it up
[1:29:55] to the rest of the group.
[1:30:06] >> I want to endorse the partnership approach and not
[1:30:11] being long winded about it, just say that as economic development
[1:30:15] goals and strategies are thought out,
[1:30:19] the ability to communicate that to the top leadership
[1:30:23] of the executive board which is the county commissioners
[1:30:26] and mayors and other centers of strengthens our hand
[1:30:32] at an integrated approach and amplifying our message,
[1:30:37] so I'll keep it that short.
[1:30:41] >> Thank you very much for those comments.
[1:30:53] >> I saw your camera come on come on do you have a >> Yeah
[1:30:57] come on I agree that we need to make some changes.
[1:31:01] And what's been put here --
[1:31:07] I'm not sure, but the committee came to this exact model.
[1:31:12] We took about bringing it more together
[1:31:19] I think in some form of partnership,
[1:31:21] but I feel some of these things are slated here and really
[1:31:26] take a lot of the power and out of the economic economic
[1:31:32] development side of the Ed.
[1:31:34] We need more discussion.
[1:31:37] My concern -- >> Michael, can you speak up a little bit?
[1:31:47] >> Yeah sorry come on my concern is that the way it's currently
[1:31:51] been -- shown here, takes a little bit away from
[1:31:59] the economic economic development side of things
[1:32:02] and potentially leads to the sizing of the economic
[1:32:06] development strategy concerns me.
[1:32:08] I think I'd certainly like to discuss more about the details
[1:32:15] well it sounds somewhat, some of these parts concern
[1:32:20] me, that's all.
[1:32:21] I think we need to talk more about the exact structure
[1:32:27] of the Ed.
[1:32:39] >> Thank you.
[1:32:41] >> Axel, I see your hand up.
[1:32:44] >> Yeah come on thank you, so for the board here today,
[1:32:46] we've had several hours of discussion and work that has
[1:32:50] gone into this to where we're at today just so you all know this
[1:32:54] didn't come up here in the last week or so.
[1:32:56] Mayor, great comments.
[1:33:01] Economic development is so important to all
[1:33:03] of our communities.
[1:33:05] County commissioners, all of us need to embrace that.
[1:33:09] To Michael's point, the experts and economic development
[1:33:14] obviously within our communities there's
[1:33:18] a Michael's and Joe's of the world,
[1:33:20] and we want to make sure that we maintain
[1:33:22] the expertise on the Economic Development Board,
[1:33:26] not by diluting it to the entire executive board, who obviously
[1:33:30] have other things to focus on, but we want to maintain
[1:33:33] the expertise and I think to Mike's point,
[1:33:35] and correct me if I'm wrong, the potential
[1:33:39] diluting the expertise of this board
[1:33:42] is something we want to avoid.
[1:33:45] More comments, more discussion needs to happen,
[1:33:49] but that's sort of where I think we would like to go.
[1:33:53] Michael, did I get that >> Yes, you did.
[1:34:01] >> Thank you.
[1:34:01] That's all I have.
[1:34:04] Dave Morell: Thanks for those comments, Axel.
[1:34:07] Are there any other comments?
[1:34:16] >> So we'll continue to work with the board and the committee
[1:34:19] as well as continue conversations with Ssrc
[1:34:22] leadership and our goal will be to come back at the December
[1:34:27] meeting with a formalized recommendation from
[1:34:31] the committee on any changes to the bylaws and the Memorandum
[1:34:37] of Agreement.
[1:34:42] Dave Morell: Sounds like a plan.
[1:34:51] >> Where did these recommendations come from.
[1:34:53] We talked about potentially moving this way,
[1:34:55] but we didn't talk about a specific recommendation,
[1:34:57] so I'm assuming this comes from the Puget Sound Executive
[1:35:03] Committee, is that correct?
[1:35:06] >> From well so, you've been in the room before the bylaws
[1:35:11] and in the latest discussions.
[1:35:14] There's a spectrum of strong opinions in that room.
[1:35:19] We're listening to those, listening to Ssrc leadership
[1:35:23] and just trying to distill that down
[1:35:26] into what we feel like is the most feasible path forward
[1:35:32] for this.
[1:35:33] We wanted to bring it here today,
[1:35:36] not as a final advocated recommendation,
[1:35:39] but just this seems to be the pathway forward
[1:35:44] that meets the most needs and wanting to be
[1:35:47] able to get input from you all.
[1:35:49] So it's basically me as staff trying
[1:35:52] to listen to the various opinions
[1:35:54] and come up with something that is digestible, but also maybe
[1:36:00] sparked some conversation.
[1:36:07] Dave Morell: Okay, I will be reaching out
[1:36:09] to committee members to have further discussions on these two
[1:36:15] issues, so thank you.
[1:36:17] Okay, we will now move on to item number
[1:36:22] eight, our final item.
[1:36:25] The 2027 recommendations to the Washington State Legislature.
[1:36:33] >> Thank you very much President Morrell.
[1:36:35] Before I get into the recommendations of the state
[1:36:38] legislator, a couple of couple quick updates
[1:36:41] on the federal state side.
[1:36:43] Also have Alicia Quinn joining me here today
[1:36:46] to present remotely while I'm here in the room.
[1:36:48] So on the federal side of things,
[1:36:51] you may have heard the House is in session this week
[1:36:54] and the Senate comes back on September 14th.
[1:36:57] Yesterday, they managed to pass a continuing resolution
[1:37:01] to extend current funding levels for the federal government until
[1:37:05] December 11th.
[1:37:06] A couple of other things that are important
[1:37:09] included in that continuing resolution,
[1:37:11] one is a delay to the Office of Management
[1:37:14] and Budget rule that would make pretty significant changes
[1:37:17] to the uniform guidance that govern how federal grants are
[1:37:21] administered.
[1:37:21] Also through September, December 11th,
[1:37:25] also extends surface transportation re-authorization,
[1:37:28] so most important federal transportation programs
[1:37:33] because of course the surface transportation expires
[1:37:36] on September 30th.
[1:37:38] We've been reporting on work that we've
[1:37:41] been doing on that over the past months
[1:37:43] to get that legislation reauthorized.
[1:37:46] Doesn't look like they're going to get there before the midterm
[1:37:49] elections and probably not until sometime between until 2027,
[1:37:52] but this extends funding levels through December 11th as well.
[1:37:57] One important thing to note is that it doesn't include
[1:38:01] advanced preparations, so some programs
[1:38:04] like the streets were all and many governments
[1:38:08] around the region have used isn't funded,
[1:38:11] capital investment grants and other programs,
[1:38:14] we do understand that that will have some impacts to watch dad
[1:38:19] and possibly to ferry programs, so we'll
[1:38:23] be keeping our eye on that and sort of the best
[1:38:26] that we can get to that, of course
[1:38:28] this has happened many other times with transportation
[1:38:30] with authorizations.
[1:38:31] As far as the state is concerned,
[1:38:34] we talked a little bit about the economic and revenue forecast
[1:38:38] back in June.
[1:38:39] The budget will be the center of conversation
[1:38:42] once again as we're leading into the recommendations of state
[1:38:47] legislature that we're talking about today.
[1:38:49] And June, of M sent a letter to all state agencies,
[1:38:51] I think it was a few days after our meeting,
[1:38:54] predicting shortfalls in operating and transportation
[1:38:58] budget.
[1:38:59] Also, told all the state agencies to focus only
[1:39:03] on mandatory increases, no expansion of existing programs
[1:39:07] and services or new programs when they submit their budget
[1:39:10] decision packages this September to the Governor's Office
[1:39:14] for the budget formation, and then also for --
[1:39:21] programs.
[1:39:21] The most recent forecast in August,
[1:39:24] showed a mixed bag of things.
[1:39:27] Employment with decreasing overall
[1:39:29] in the US, Washington job growth was a little bit weaker
[1:39:32] than the forecast in June.
[1:39:34] Prices are up 3.4% year over year from August to August,
[1:39:40] and the general fund and Revenue Act collections were up a little
[1:39:46] bit, but there were some of our other revenues that were down,
[1:39:49] so the pool forecast comes out September 25th and 26th.
[1:39:54] I can't get my date straight.
[1:39:57] I got back from extended vacation.
[1:39:58] I think I'm still catching up to where we are.
[1:40:02] But at the end of September, we'll
[1:40:03] have some updates that will inform
[1:40:05] our legislatures are going.
[1:40:07] I think we can switch over now officially
[1:40:11] to the recommendations to the 2027 state legislature.
[1:40:15] You're the first stop.
[1:40:18] Always kind of I can't believe we're here already in September
[1:40:22] planning for next year January.
[1:40:24] It comes up very quickly.
[1:40:26] This year even before Labor Day.
[1:40:29] We'll review with you and then I think the executive board
[1:40:34] in September and then we also go to the policy boards as well as
[1:40:39] the Equity Advisory Committee in October and November,
[1:40:41] and then we collect all that feedback
[1:40:43] that we've gotten from all of you
[1:40:46] and we get a draft to the executive committee.
[1:40:49] That then proposes a draft that we
[1:40:53] look to approve in December of 2026
[1:40:56] to be all ready for January of 2027 when the session starts.
[1:41:01] So today is really an opportunity for feedback.
[1:41:04] I know it's really early, but of course it's
[1:41:07] kind of a work in progress.
[1:41:09] Our doors are always open as well if something comes
[1:41:12] to you that you really think is important,
[1:41:14] you can always feel free to reach out
[1:41:16] to Jason or me or Alyssa and let us know
[1:41:18] and we can evaluate and see what we do.
[1:41:21] It's one of the reasons why we try
[1:41:22] to keep the recommendations fairly broad,
[1:41:25] so we do have latitude, it's very hard
[1:41:27] to think of everything that might come up.
[1:41:29] There's always new issues that emerge
[1:41:31] and so we like to keep them broad.
[1:41:32] We also like to make sure that we are really focused
[1:41:35] on our adopted plans so that we're implementing regional
[1:41:39] policies and we're going to the state to implement --
[1:41:44] we have already started meeting with legislators
[1:41:48] and we'll continue to do so without the fall and that will
[1:41:52] also inform in the process.
[1:41:54] I'm going to switch to Alyssa and she'll
[1:41:56] go over the various different areas
[1:41:58] that we cover in our recommendation for the
[1:42:01] for the legislator.
[1:42:04] >> Thanks Robin.
[1:42:04] So this is the document for the 2026 recommendation to the state
[1:42:09] legislature.
[1:42:10] We have four different categories
[1:42:13] that we made our recommendations in.
[1:42:15] So keep the region moving safely come up
[1:42:18] related to transportation, increase
[1:42:20] housing choices and affordability, for climate
[1:42:23] significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
[1:42:25] and sustain a strong economy.
[1:42:28] We are looking to keep these four categories in the upcoming
[1:42:31] recommendations.
[1:42:33] As far as -- >> As far as economic development,
[1:42:39] I was listening to your conversation that you had
[1:42:41] earlier with regard to what's going on at the state level.
[1:42:44] So to reflect the work being done with challenge Seattle,
[1:42:47] and also work that the governor's office is doing,
[1:42:50] we will include a new language I think
[1:42:52] to reflect that culture of partnership
[1:42:54] that we're talking about.
[1:42:56] And also, economic competitiveness.
[1:42:58] I'm not exactly sure whether there
[1:43:02] will be specific recommendations, given
[1:43:04] the budget situation.
[1:43:05] I think it's very hard to ask for new money,
[1:43:08] so we'll see what develops.
[1:43:09] I do know that of course you mentioned challenge
[1:43:12] Seattle and St will also work to educate legislators
[1:43:16] on what we're all working on, so we can all
[1:43:19] be rowing in the same direction on all this,
[1:43:21] so that's certainly a very big part of the work
[1:43:24] even if we don't have a specific bill or something that we're
[1:43:28] advocating for.
[1:43:29] So of course, we'll keep including workforce development,
[1:43:35] critical infrastructure, clean energy industry technology.
[1:43:40] Onto transportation, of course transportation
[1:43:44] again will keep prioritizing safety, investments,
[1:43:48] we understand of course the transportation budget is always
[1:43:52] under pressure with the declining gas tax revenues.
[1:43:55] We want once which we will make is
[1:43:58] I think right now we have a replacement for the gas
[1:44:02] tax characterized as road usage charge,
[1:44:04] I think we'll switch that language to a highway use fee.
[1:44:07] Josh and I just went down to Tacoma on Wednesday
[1:44:11] to meet with Cho chair of the House Transportation Committee
[1:44:16] and he did let us know that he does plan to release a bill
[1:44:20] and they will there will be listening sessions listening
[1:44:22] in the fall, he's working on scheduling now,
[1:44:25] with stakeholder group Boulder stake
[1:44:27] so I think there'll be one for the business committee one
[1:44:30] for local governments, and others, so we'll look forward
[1:44:35] to participating those and keep you up to date on that
[1:44:39] and of course, we'll keep our focus on ferry funding as well.
[1:44:42] We did talk a little bit about the group
[1:44:46] of legislators that's meeting.
[1:44:48] There was a budget proviso and they're
[1:44:50] looking at a bunch of different different scenarios for ferry
[1:44:53] funding and they've been meeting monthly
[1:44:55] and so they don't have any recommendations yet,
[1:44:57] but they do have to have some preliminary recommendations
[1:45:00] due to the legislature in December.
[1:45:02] With their final report not due until June of 2027.
[1:45:06] Now I'll turn it back over to Alyssa for the last two
[1:45:10] categories.
[1:45:11] >> All right, now looking at housing,
[1:45:13] so our recommendations focus on supply, stability, subsidy.
[1:45:18] We took out the mention of the housing Future Center
[1:45:23] because it was officially launched this April.
[1:45:26] UW also received a substantial public --
[1:45:33] so we're just narrowing it down a little bit and focusing
[1:45:35] on these three sections for housing.
[1:45:38] And then looking at climate significantly reduced greenhouse
[1:45:43] gas emissions, so we're reducing emissions
[1:45:45] and preparing the the region for climate impacts.
[1:45:50] >> I guess I'll add to climate that he did mention when that
[1:45:55] climate equipment collections are also down.
[1:46:00] Transit and transportation come of course
[1:46:02] that program is designed to have climbing revenues over time,
[1:46:05] but still it's an issue right now
[1:46:07] in the state is facing other budget shortfalls,
[1:46:09] so it'll be interesting to see how we compensate for that as we
[1:46:14] move toward the 2027 session.
[1:46:16] I'm happy to take questions, feedback comment as I said,
[1:46:20] the door's always open, if you don't have something today
[1:46:22] so I know it was a long way to January right now.
[1:46:31] Dave Morell: Do we have any questions Ed.
[1:46:35] >> Thank you Mr. President.
[1:46:36] Directed at Robert and Alisa.
[1:46:38] I parked this idea with Jason earlier yesterday,
[1:46:42] we're working on a number of workforce housing initiatives
[1:46:46] here on the Peninsula.
[1:46:47] Will be meeting with legislators this afternoon on at.
[1:46:50] There's a commission been formed with the private sector
[1:46:53] as a partner.
[1:46:54] It boils down to the accessory dwelling
[1:46:57] units that receive the Ssrc 2050 Award to preset plans
[1:47:01] that we did with the four cities in the county and Kitab earlier.
[1:47:06] We're taking those ADUs and removing them strictly
[1:47:09] as an accessory dwelling units and creating small cottage
[1:47:12] courts of anywhere from 800ft² to 1000 with common courtyard.
[1:47:19] And trying to seal it down whether it's manufactured
[1:47:23] or stick built and so that these become ownership with equity
[1:47:27] and people have a chance to build
[1:47:29] a piece of financial security in the American dream.
[1:47:33] Robin, just be aware that one of the components might be opening
[1:47:36] up to GMA and where the city has already established
[1:47:40] infrastructure, buildable land, transportation networks,
[1:47:44] a third category called airy urban between urban and rural,
[1:47:49] that would be tightly prescribed,
[1:47:51] and limited to 1300ft² and under,
[1:47:54] so that affordable infrastructure and connectivity
[1:47:58] to public transportation are there because one
[1:48:01] of the constrictions the cities have and being assigned
[1:48:05] population, is affordable buildable lands and those are
[1:48:11] aren't properly recognized right land.
[1:48:12] We have buildable land.
[1:48:14] We don't look at affordable buildable lands analysis,
[1:48:18] so I don't want to be labeled as,
[1:48:20] but we're meeting with legislators
[1:48:21] as you're looking at this and it's
[1:48:23] an opportunity for the Edd and maybe the executive board
[1:48:27] to on a very careful basis to look at opening up the GMA.
[1:48:32] Growth Management Act for everyone.
[1:48:35] Thank you.
[1:48:37] >> Thank you very much.
[1:48:41] >> Thanks.
[1:48:41] Just open up a can of worms on that one.
[1:48:45] I appreciate your comments.
[1:48:50] Michael.
[1:48:55] >> Thank you.
[1:48:56] I was just looking at the economic portion of this.
[1:49:02] I'm curious as to why you talk about strengthening the economy
[1:49:08] and only a certain number of things were chosen
[1:49:13] and now I'm just trying to understand.
[1:49:16] This is SKS legislative agenda, it's not the EDS?
[1:49:22] Is that correct?
[1:49:24] >> That's correct, and so it is intended to be a fairly broad
[1:49:29] and it's one of those things where over time,
[1:49:32] certain things have gotten elevated because there was some
[1:49:36] conversation happening about that so it's always changeable
[1:49:41] it just has many legislative amendments comments a little bit
[1:49:46] of a sausage making process always come up so we do our best
[1:49:49] to keep it as broad as possible to make sure that we're still
[1:49:52] able to engage on a number of different opportunities.
[1:49:57] >> Yeah, it just seems a little narrow.
[1:50:00] Is it possible to put that slide up again?
[1:50:13] Yeah, thank you.
[1:50:15] Clean energy industry, is that it?
[1:50:19] Is that roughly for our county region ,
[1:50:27] it if you look at individual pieces underneath that,
[1:50:30] it's limited opportunities for every month they're emerging
[1:50:34] and we have to see growth at the time,
[1:50:36] but this is sort of important more important things to be
[1:50:39] looking at right now.
[1:50:40] I don't see any there about supporting
[1:50:43] the economic development infrastructure, not just
[1:50:48] the physical infrastructure, but the ecosystem
[1:50:52] of economic development, seeing that at slash
[1:50:57] at the state level for years and it's
[1:50:59] going to be harder and harder to keep building and sustaining
[1:51:03] strong economy with the ecosystem that
[1:51:06] helps maintain that and grow that it's designated
[1:51:11] through funding, but I just see some of this more critical
[1:51:16] issues going into this next session
[1:51:20] and wondering about the industry of technology at the moment
[1:51:24] and wish you would like to happen, certainly other things
[1:51:28] to be looking at.
[1:51:30] Again, the politicians doing economic development
[1:51:36] concerns me.
[1:51:38] There's a disconnect between really the things that
[1:51:42] are important right now in 2027 to have
[1:51:47] a sort of larger larger ideological aspiration I
[1:51:52] guess that's all I want to say.
[1:51:56] Thank you.
[1:52:00] >> And I think we will look at revising and of course the board
[1:52:02] knows, you do have in your packet a copy of the 2026
[1:52:07] recommendations.
[1:52:08] This is not everything that's on the actual agenda.
[1:52:12] This is a bulleted list to sort of indicate the highlights.
[1:52:17] There is a slightly broader language on the actual document,
[1:52:21] so I think we will definitely look
[1:52:22] at revising the language overall, just given
[1:52:26] the different focus that we're trying
[1:52:29] to put on economic development right now,
[1:52:31] so appreciate that comment very much.
[1:52:34] We will do our best to redraft to reflect
[1:52:38] everything that's going on.
[1:52:49] >> Robin come on that last slide,
[1:52:51] just for my own edification, obviously it's extremely high
[1:52:54] level and I see it as a statewide focus or statewide
[1:53:00] message and I'm wondering is that the message that should be
[1:53:05] shared with the governor's economic team as well?
[1:53:08] If you want to back up that slide again.
[1:53:13] Most of us here today I think it's pretty
[1:53:17] obvious those bullet points.
[1:53:20] Choose the sustaining of our current economy
[1:53:23] or moving it forward in the state of Washington,
[1:53:26] obviously, culture of partnership again,
[1:53:30] Mike explained, it's a bit soft and maybe it
[1:53:34] needs to stay regionally or statewide culture partnership.
[1:53:39] Statewide economic competitiveness,
[1:53:43] regional resource development training,
[1:53:45] those sort of things and maybe those are some things that can
[1:53:49] be -- it isn't quite so superficial,
[1:53:52] we got a little bit more depth, but not over sending
[1:53:54] the message.
[1:54:00] >> Got that comment I'm just looking at our the legislative
[1:54:02] agenda again and reminding myself,
[1:54:04] we did used to have a little bit of a preamble in there and we
[1:54:09] got some advice from the executive board to streamline
[1:54:12] as much as possible, so we may be overcorrected a little bit
[1:54:17] and can include a little bit of a preamble reflecting what is
[1:54:20] going on with economic development right now.
[1:54:24] >> And understand TMI, understand that.
[1:54:28] Robin.
[1:54:35] Dave Morell: Julian.
[1:54:38] >> Yeah, thank you.
[1:54:40] Just really want to thank Robin and Alyssa
[1:54:42] for this presentation.
[1:54:44] On the last bullet regarding clearing industry industry
[1:54:48] technology, I think certainly the changes of the federal level
[1:54:51] has impacted that certainly.
[1:54:53] Would just call out that those emerging technologies are
[1:55:00] many years away from market, just speaking
[1:55:03] to the power industry.
[1:55:05] Would really focus on the theme of permitting and siting,
[1:55:13] given that it's part of the conversation
[1:55:15] and be in the regional economic strategy.
[1:55:21] Certainly wanting to find some alignment there
[1:55:23] as it relates to our 2027 recommendations
[1:55:28] to the legislature.
[1:55:29] Thank you.
[1:55:32] >> That's a very good point.
[1:55:33] Thank you very much.
[1:55:36] Dave Morell: Thank you for those comments.
[1:55:39] Is there any other questions, questions comments?
[1:55:46] I am not seeing any.
[1:55:53] >> Thank you very much for the feedback.
[1:55:55] We really appreciate it and again don't
[1:55:56] hesitate to reach out to any of us
[1:55:58] if you have any other thoughts about the recommendations
[1:56:00] of legislature.
[1:56:01] Take care everyone.
[1:56:09] Dave Morell: Okay, well, that brings us to the end.
[1:56:14] Our next meeting will be December 2nd, 2026, ten to noon.
[1:56:21] Love to see more people here.
[1:56:24] Have a great day, have a great week
[1:56:27] and go forth and do good things.
[1:56:32] Thank you.
[1:56:33] We're adjourned.