Greetings Grays Harbor Community Members,
Happy New Year, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season spent with family and friends. I fully expect 2025 to be an exciting year with several large projects continuing or being completed, such as the Terminal 4 Expansion at the Port of Grays Harbor, the new addition to Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma, and the US Highway 12 Rail Separation Project in Aberdeen that is in the final stages of design. All these projects are bringing several million dollars into our local economy during construction; however, the biggest benefit will be realized overtime with the permanent local jobs created and retained.
On Friday January 10th, we held our annual Legislative Send-Off for our Coastal Caucus at the Log Pavillion in Aberdeen. This was a wonderful opportunity for attendees to interact with their representatives, and to have their questions answered. Unfortunately, we ran out of time for all questions to be answered, however we have all of the questions that were submitted, and we will be passing them onto our Coastal Caucus to ask them when time allows to give us some written responses to these questions, that we will then publish to our GGHI Members.
2025 Happenings
2025 will be a busy year for us at Greater Grays Harbor, Inc. as we continue to work on our Federal funded Re-Compete Plan, that along with our strategic partners, help us identify barriers that are preventing prime aged employees from successfully finding employment in Grays Harbor County. Prime Aged Employees are identified as age 25-54, and Grays Harbor County has a Prime Aged Employment Gap (PAEG) that is 15% above the national average. We expect to be working on this throughout 2025 with a draft report ready by mid-December.
We will continue our strong Government Affairs efforts in Olympia to advocate for a better business climate for our members, as well as for any business in Grays Harbor County. This has already begun with me having an opportunity to testify before the Senate Ways and Means Committee on 1/13, and before the House Capital Budget Committee on 1/16 for large infrastructure projects that are vital to the economic development of Grays Harbor.
We have established our 2025 legislative priorities with our lobbying firm that will assist us in helping to create a more favorable business climate for our businesses and our local government partners. We believe these four areas are critical to the success of Greater Grays Harbor Inc, and all our partners in continuing to improve the economy of Grays Harbor. Our 2025 priorities are:
- Expedite Permit Review at State Agencies
- Lower the Cost of Owning and Operating a Business
- Incentivize Development of Housing in Rural Communities
- Protect Funding for Associate Development Organizations
Upcoming Events
GGHI Business Forum Lunch – Annual Meeting/City Administrator Roundtable
- Join Greater Grays Harbor, Inc. for the February Business Forum Lunch this month featuring a special two-part program. From 11:00am – 11:30am, please arrive early for our official 30 minutes of networking time with the presenters and fellow attendees. At 11:30am, we will begin the program with GGHI’s Annual Meeting presentation highlighting the past year’s accomplishments, plans and goals for the coming year to continue supporting the Grays Harbor business community. The second portion of the luncheon will feature a roundtable discussion from the new County Administrator, Sam Kim, as well as Grays Harbor’s City Administrators. Attendees will also be able to submit their questions to the speakers. Click here to learn more and register now to secure early bird pricing!
GGHI Government Affairs Weekly Briefing
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Public and private sector Greater Grays Harbor, Inc. members and investors are invited to participate in this weekly event to discuss current happenings in the Washington State Legislature and U.S. Congress. Speakers include legislators, the GGHI lobbyist, and other policy leaders. This event will occur weekly from 7:00am – 8:00am every Friday through the end of the 2025 Session. GGHI Members can RSVP for free for the first Briefing on Friday, January 17th by clicking here to receive the Zoom login link. Attendees must RSVP for each Briefing they’re interested in attending. All Briefings are live on our Events Calendar.
These events and many more across the county can be found and submitted to our calendar here: www.chamber.graysharbor.org/events.
Warmest Regards,
Darrin C. Raines
Chief Executive Officer
Greater Grays Harbor, Inc.
Greater Grays Harbor, Inc. Contact Information
Darrin Raines, CEO
Phone : 360-532-7888, Email : draines@graysharbor.org
Candie Gleason, CFO
Phone: 360-532-7888, Email: cgleason@graysharbor.org
Kelsey Norvell-Williams, Marketing Director
Phone: 360-532-7888, Email: knorvell@graysharbor.org
Loretta Thomas, Director of Business Development
Phone: 360-532-7888, Email: lthomas@graysharbor.org
Stephanie Conway, Director of Member Services
Phone 360-532-7888, Email: sconway@graysharbor.org