San Juan County
Economic Development Council

Announcements

Monday, May 12, 2008

SAVE THE DATE: September 17th, 2008

The San Juan County 2008 Transportation Summit is being planned for September 17, 2008, 10am-5pm at the San Juan County Fairgrounds, in Friday Harbor, Washington.

You are invited to join in a dialogue among citizens, policy makers and transportation providers to explore economically and environmentally sustainable multimodal transportation solutions for San Juan County. Visit our website at: www.islandway.org/transummit.

To request to be added to our email distribution list, send email to
transummit[at]islandway[dot]org providing your name, email address and your organizational affiliation and/or area of transportation interest (if any).

Monday, May 12, 2008

Leadership San Juan Islands Class IV Graduation
3-5pm Friday May 30th at Skagit Valley College

Graduates of the 2008 Leadership San Juan Islands class will celebrate from 3-5pm on Friday May 30th at Skagit Valley College in Friday Harbor. The twelve members of the graduating class will present their proposed service projects and receive certificates of completion. Commencement Speaker will be Merle Lefkoff, PhD, internationally know systems analyst specializing in post-pessimist studies and mediation. Refreshments will be provided and friends, family and the public are invited to attend.

Leadership San Juan islands is a county-wide program which fosters leadership skills such as facilitation, collaborative problem solving, and public speaking as well as the analysis of local systems related to governance, economics, social services, history and culture, education and the environment. Participants are selected in the fall and spend five months together with a staff of five and many regional leaders. For more information see: http://www.leadershipsanjuanislands.org/.

Monday, February 4, 2008

SJCEDC announces the results of their October 2007 Business Retention and Expansion Surveys

The San Juan County Economic Development Council announces the preliminary results of their "October 2007 Business Retention and Expansion Surveys". The purpose of the annual BRE project is to gather a sampling of the current business climate in our county so the EDC can better serve it’s constituents. This year the EDC received results from 26 out of the 46 companies solicited across the 4 main islands, across 12 local industry segments (Construction, Food Service, Retail, Mortgage/Banking, Insurance/Investments, Services, Lodging, Real Estate, Manufactures, Professional Services, Marine Related, and Farming).

The BRE Survey process includes multiple steps. First, a random selection of businesses is made and an invitation to participate in the BRE Survey is sent out via US Mail. Then a company representative is led through a 2-page Company Background form and questionnaire by an EDC interviewer. After all the interviews, the EDC interviewer compiles the questionnaire answers into an aggregated summary delivered to the EDC Board with the interviewer's comments, suggestions and conclusions from the interviews. All company information is confidential and only the aggregated results of the surveys are utilized. The EDC Board evaluates the survey summaries and utilizes this information in their deliberations about the EDC's Work Plan for the coming year.

Preliminary conclusions from the "October 2007 Business Retention and Expansion Surveys" list these top four issues:

Ferry System: Important element to our economy and needs improvement.
Worker Education: Young workers need better training for preparation to enter the work force (especially seasonal workers which rely heavily on younger workers).
Affordable Housing: Real Estate costs are too high and there is not enough housing for workers.
Tourism vs. NOT tourism: The community continues to be divided about the value of tourism.

These are preliminary results as the EDC Board decided to expand the survey and another round of interviews are presently under way. The EDC has defined a project in their 2008 Work Plan to try to address the "Worker Education" issue. The EDC has been and continues to monitor the Washington State Ferry System and the Affordable Housing issue.

The EDC would like to publicly thank the businesses who were able to participate in the survey and would encourage others to participate who might be randomly invited in the future. Survey results are located on the EDC website at www.islandway.org/resources/reports.htm.

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