PORT TOWNSEND — With the Jefferson County Economic Development Council teetering on the edge of dissolution, its board instead voted to reorganize the dysfunctional job-creating agency in cooperation with the county, which is assuming its functions.
After the Economic Development Council’s membership on Friday shot down outright dissolution of the corporation in a 12-11 vote, the development council board voted 15-1 to reshape the organization, possibly on a smaller scale and as an advisory body.
The alternative to spare the agency, which was proposed in a motion by development council board President Lawrence Graves, will be worked out by the council’s executive board within the next three weeks.
Then, the panel will come back to the board as a whole with a new plan to consider.
Graves’ idea was supported by board members Leroy Hornbeck; Geoff Masci, a Port Townsend city councilman; and Dana Petrick, Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce’s representative.
“We have to work with the county to figure out what works,” said Graves, vice president of Frontier Bank in Port Townsend.
“It could be reshaped into an effective organization. Right now, it’s not.”
