The Board of Lewis County Commissioners (BOCC) is looking to hire a new representative to carry its concerns to Olympia.
In Tuesday’s BOCC business meeting, the board issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a lobbyist.
The county is a member of the Washington state Association of Counties, which represents county interests in the Legislature, and a member of the National Association of Counties. But Lewis County Manager Erik Martin said the board is looking for a more “personal touch,” by hiring a representative of its own.
Any chosen applicant, as per the RFP, would also have to work in conjunction with those associations.
“This is a proposal that the Board of County Commissioners has been talking about for the better part of a year now,” Martin said last week, adding, “I think it is the board’s intent to maybe have more information and a bigger voice in Olympia.”
One of the board’s goals with hiring a lobbyist, as Martin said, is to have a return on investment, so that whatever is paid for the services is received back in state funds or grants, at least over a period of a few years.
Because the three current commissioners have taken interest in passing initiatives such as the Housing Initiative, Martin said having their own lobbyist would also help them move policy along, be that through funding or legislation.
“This seems to follow through with some of that focus in terms of things we want around housing and public health and those kinds of things,” Martin said.
A lobbyist would both chase funds and legislation the BOCC expressed interest in and advise the commissioners on how to strategize and prioritize, he added. Finally, Martin said hiring a representative would simply be another way to bring as much money into the county as possible in order to execute projects.
“We’re excited to see what we might get in terms of proposals,” Martin said. “Obviously the decision to choose one of those proposals and move forward with a lobbyist would still be forthcoming.”
For more information, visit https://packetwriter.lewiscountywa.gov/proposal/1551/.
