Colpac asks Clatsop County to raise annual membership to $6,000 to sustain regional programs

Sarah Lou Heath, executive director of Colpac, described the regional economic-development district’s programs and asked Clatsop County commissioners to increase the county’s annual membership investment to $6,000 to provide stable match funding and core operational support.

Heath said Colpac (the regional economic-development district covering Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and parts of Washington County) provides grant-writing and administration, a small-business revolving loan fund, brownfields redevelopment support, CPACE program adoption assistance and administration of the five-county Northwest Oregon Transit Alliance. She said Colpac’s membership dues have not changed since the organization’s founding in 1994 and presently cover only about 5% of Colpac’s payroll.

To sustain federal matches and foundational work, Heath said Colpac is asking counties to raise annual dues to $6,000. She described that Colpac receives $75,000 annually from the Economic Development Administration and needs local match to maintain that funding; she said staff and some fee-for-service revenue also contribute to the local match.

Heath reviewed recent brownfields grants and said Colpac received a regional EPA award (transcribed at roughly $1.12 million) to expand brownfields work across the four-county service area and that the organization manages revolving funds and project-specific loans. Commissioners thanked Colpac for its local support, including early work on the county’s child-care advisory committee, and expressed appreciation for the presentation; no formal county vote or commitment to the dues increase was taken at the work session.