Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
During a Yelm City Council study session meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 4, several members of Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC) took to the podium during the special presentation portion of the meeting to offer support to the city through its period of growth.
Michael Cade, executive director of Thurston EDC, first thanked Joe DePinto, mayor of Yelm, for his role on Thurston EDC’s board of directors.
“Our board doesn’t meet in the summertime, which is kind of nice — but they’re going to convene again on Sept. 23,” Cade said. “That will be our next meeting. The first we’ve had since June.”
Cade added that this conversation was teed up in June, and that he intended for it to be about how Thurston EDC and Yelm can have economic thought together, work together and how Thurston EDC can be a service to the City of Yelm.
“You are committed to your community by the sheer nature that you’re sitting at the table today,” Cade said. “We want to recognize and honor that. We do have a committed partner on our behalf, not only individually and professionally but the entire organization.”
He added that his intention was for the meeting to cover economic development, recruitment of commercial and industrial locations, and more. The main topic presented by Thurston EDC is what the group heard about economic development.
“Economic development is not done as a sole effort,” Cade said. “It is done as a partnership.”
Aslan Meade, director of strategic alliances, spoke on the economic development landscape following Cade’s comments.
“We are just so impressed with what’s going on in Yelm,” Meade said. “We deal with all the jurisdictions in Thurston County and beyond Thurston County, and you’re doing so many things right. When we went out with Cody (Colt) last year and got to see all the developments going on, learn about the sewer system, the water system, the water rights and everything that’s going on to set yourself up for economic development. It’s just so impressive.”
Meade added that economic development is a team sport and that it takes a lot of partners, and the right partners, to get things down.
He also reiterated that Thurston EDC is here to serve the City of Yelm.
“It doesn’t just come with us. We have a very passionate, mission-driven staff with over 20 people serving many different kinds of programs,” Meade said. “We also have connections all over the place and can bring people to the table. We want to put that to work for you.”
According to Meade, one of his “baby projects” has been the Agricultural Park in Tenino. He stated it took many years to accomplish with the help of numerous partners.
Connor Tibke, research manager, spoke on the business recruitment side of Thurston EDC. He said that working with data and analytics for reporting is generally his responsibility. He added that he thinks of himself as an “informational Swiss Army Knife.”
“When I was considering with Michael, Aslan and George what to discuss today, I really wanted to sort of put myself and the EDC out there, really, as a tool kit for you guys to lean on as you’re going through the process of making long-term planning decisions for Yelm,” Tibke said. “We can be there to help you consider the potential options, the potential benefits of ‘this path’ or ‘that path.’”
He noted that most people on Thurston EDC’s staff have also worked on recruitment efforts to bring businesses into local communities, or to keep businesses in local communities.
“Consider me a tool for you guys to lean on if you need help or if you don’t have bandwidth or don’t have that bit of information,” Tibke said. “Please always reach out.”
Tibke said that Yelm is in the midst of a process of a vision construction for the future of the town, and considering how the master planned community unfolds. He added that data-driven outcomes are always better in that process when you’re working with long-term planning.
“There’s a lot of tools out there,” Tibke said. “There’s a lot of information out there about how you can do recruitment better or how you can get started if you’re just in the early stages.”
Lastly, George Sharpe, rural program manager, asked Yelm City Council members to consider him to be their “information person” and “brainstorming person.” He noted that he worked for the Washington state tourism office for 11 years.
“I’ve been working here since 2012, in Yelm, when I was the visitor and convention bureau director,” Sharpe said. “I’ve been thinking about Yelm for a long, long time. Before the water tower got repainted, we were talking about what could happen with the water tower and I actually visualized a zipline going from there to the community center. We are the home of the prairie. What if we had this big, world’s largest wagon that you could end up zip lining in? I think of crazy stories, but it’s really about visualizing what could be.”
He also encouraged the council to leave Yelm and return to town with a fresh set of eyes and to see the city as if they’ve never seen it before. Sharpe also asked them to think about other towns they admire, and think about what it is that they admire.
