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Port to host economic summit in December
By Doug Flanagan
Post-Register Writer
The Quincy Port District will host a rural economic development summit Dec. 10 at Cave B Estates that will allow a variety of state and business leaders to discuss how to advance the Quincy Valley’s commercial and technological interests and give those leaders a first hand look at the progress that has been made in the area over the past several years.
“The goal of the summit is to raise the visibility of Quincy and all the assets we have here,” said port president Curt Morris.
Port business manager Pat Boss is organizing the event.
“I think it’s important as one of the leading ports to show that we’re still leading,” Boss said at a September port commissioner meeting. “This will help bring people along (in terms of our progress). It will be mutually beneficial. To be honest, you want to do it here because you want the focus to be on Quincy. We’ve got assets here that we want to focus on. If we don’t do it here, somebody else will.”
The keynote speaker will be Rogers Weed, the state’s new director of commerce.
In addition, Egils Milbergs, director of the Washington State Economic Development Commission, will be speaking at the event, as well as Terry Brewer, executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Council and Rep. Judy Warnick, ranking minority member of the House Capital Budget Committee and state representative from the 13th Legislative District.
Also scheduled to speak will be Will Coe of the Grant County Public Utility District and Tom Villani of Northwest Open Access Network.
“There’s a number of new people in Olympia,” Boss said. “We want to talk about what we can do to move forward. We don’t want to rest on our laurels. We want to build on this great base we have here. How do we initiate the next round of recruitment, so to speak? We could discuss permitting issues, economic incentives, how the local community colleges have gotten involved with workforce training.
“We want to get the major players in line. We want to focus on rural economic development. This would be a holistic conference centered on what we can do to move forward and what we can do to take that vision and convert it into action. We want to be leaders and bring everybody together, figure out how to work with the federal government to further promote the area.”
