Chamber hosts local leaders

The Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce presented a "State of the Community" event Thursday at the PUD 3 auditorium, where city, county, port and PUD officials discussed how the year went for their organizations, including achievements, obstacles and goals for the future.

On the panel were Mason County Commissioner Randy Neatherlin, Shelton City Manager Mark Ziegler, Port of Shelton Executive Director Wendy Smith and PUD 3's Public Information Officer Sheila Corson.

Chamber President and CEO Deidre Peterson asked each panel member a series of questions, presented below.

Q: What was your organization's biggest accomplishment, or what was the "win" from the past year? How do you think that's positively impacted the business community and the community overall?

Neatherlin said there were a number of great things that happened, but one stood out.

"We've had another year where we did not raise taxes," he said. Not raising taxes has a beneficial economic impact, Neatherlin said. The county restructured some utility costs, allowing a rate reduction in North Bay.

"In North Bay, we did something that's unheard of - we actually lowered the rates," he said. Other achievements this year were reduced time to obtain county permits, filling law enforcement positions and progress on the Belfair Bypass.

"There's been a lot of great things that have happened within the community and there's a lot more to come," he said.

"Partnerships" were a big win this year for the Port of Shelton, Smith said.

Olympic Mountain Ice Cream and MACECOM will be moving into the port, Smith said. The Mason County Economic Development Council, City of Shelton and PUD 3 are working with the port on obtaining grant funding for various projects.

"We continue to partner with the FAA, so you'll see two giant projects happening," Smith said, referring to a $4.5 million taxiway overlay and the airport master planning.

"We're just thrilled to see all these partnerships," she said.

"I don't know if I can narrow it down to one win," Ziegler said. The first thing he mentioned was "onboarding" four new councilmembers, "Which is quite an endeavor," he said.

"I think we've done a good job."

He said the city has focused on community safety this year and will soon have a fully staffed police department. Shelton now has a licensed animal control officer and the code enforcement officer is doing a great job "to address nuisance violations and other violations throughout the community," Ziegler said.

The Cota Street Creative District, Safe to School routes, opening up shellfish harvesting due to wastewater treatment plant investments, Railroad Avenue improvements allowing snow plowing and the new Northcliff Neighborhood Park were also mentioned as accomplishments.

Corson said it was PUD's 85th anniversary, from the day they started serving customers in 1939.

In the last year, PUD3 has partnered with the Port of Shelton for grant funding, she said. The Belfair substation is also underway.

"We're hoping to have quite a bit more expansion there."

Conduit under U.S. Highway 101 and upgrading power lines on Shelton Springs Road were big wins for PUD 3, Corson said.

"We're always trying to be proactive instead of reactive as much as we can," she said.

Q: In 2025, what do you see as the biggest challenge for your organization and what strategies are you considering to address that?

Vacancies at the port are a challenge, though they are improving, Smith said. The port has recently seen an uptick in interest for spaces, according to Smith.

"I don't think it's going to be that big of a problem," she said.

The other challenge is retirement of some port staff. She said historical knowledge the employees have will be imparted to new employees.

Being fiscally responsible and still providing services will be challenging for the city, according to Ziegler.

"We're going to really look at what is mandated for the city to provide the community, what are our core responsibilities, what is funded, what has dedicated funds available to it to provide those services, and then what are discretionary," he said. The city will work with its attorney to present a road map to the public for providing services.

Substation capacity "is always a huge, huge challenge," Corson said.

Next year, there also may be a 3.3% rate increase and 15-cent daily rate increase in residential rates because Bonneville Power is increasing prices and PUD 3 buys power from Bonneville, she said.

Even though the county is in good shape now financially, it will eventually have to raise more revenue, Neatherlin said. In the next year, Mason County will "have to have those discussions."

A looming decision by the state Supreme Court that could change case loads for public defenders may devastate the county budget, Neatherlin said.

Q: What's new and next?

Ziegler said the community will see the most change in upcoming residential development. He mentioned some larger developments including Meadow's Edge, Olympic Heights and Coffee Creek.

"We're seeing a lot of interest in the community. We're actually seeing dirt being moved," Ziegler said.

Smith said she was excited about "big airport projects coming online."

The master plan will include the taxiway and a buildout of the former fairgrounds property into aviation reserve, she said. The port is also looking forward to finally replacing a 30,000-square-foot building that was destroyed in a fire in 2021, Smith said.

The Belfair Bypass is in the process of buying right-of-way property, Neatherlin said.

"It's funded. It's there."

He also applauded the county's road improvement districts, something that hasn't been done in decades. The districts allow a community to tax itself in order to pave local roads.

"We take care of it and maintain it from that point on," Neatherlin said.

PUD 3 wants customers to know about energy efficiency incentives through June 2025 that help low- and moderate-income households to replace washer and dryers, install heat pump water heaters, ductless heat pumps and air source heat pumps.

Corson said a larger portion of the community is now eligible to get the incentives. There are also commercial incentives available, she said.