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Pasco is considering creating a public corporation to lead downtown revitalization efforts in hopes of making the area a more attractive destination.
The city council discussed the option during a Monday workshop meeting.
The Pasco Downtown Development Association, a volunteer group of business owners and leaders, has led efforts downtown for the last two decades with mixed success. But the city council made a hands-on approach for the downtown area one of its goals for the next two years.
Rick White, city community and economic development director, said the council could pass a charter to guide the actions of the public development authority and could appoint board members to lead it.
The public corporation would cost about $70,000 a year, including a paid staff position, he said.
The city anticipates $18,000 would come from operating the Pasco Farmers Market and $14,000 from the Pasco Specialty Kitchen. The city pays the development association, also called PDDA, to manage both efforts.
Rhonda Alberts, a PDDA board member since 1996, said, "This proposal brings a lot of insult and injury personally to me."
The association already has invested blood, sweat and tears into downtown revitalization, Alberts said. It isn't time to go with a public corporation, she said.
Instead, Alberts said they should work together, and the city should consider giving the association $70,000 to hire a professional director to work downtown.
"We would love to sit down and talk with you," she said.
And if PDDA gets a 501-C3 nonprofit designation, the organization could apply for grants to pay for downtown improvements, Alberts said. The association tried to get the designation once, but was turned down this fall.
Mayor Matt Watkins said he can't see how giving the association money for a director will fundamentally change the status quo.
Councilwoman Rebecca Francik said when she first joined the council in 1996, the city already had plans for downtown gathering dust and then created more plans.
"What we have done is not working," she said.
The city has spent money on code education with downtown merchants, the facade improvement program and sidewalks, Francik said.
"It's still where it was 12 years ago," she said.
Francik told Alberts she recognized the association's hard work.
"I think you have taken this as far as you can," she said.
But Francik said she hopes Alberts and the association would be part of a public corporation.
The city needs to work together with Columbia Basin College, the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Pasco Chamber of Commerce and PDDA, said Councilman Al Yenney.
"We need to pull the plans off the shelf, dust them off," he said.
Watkins said the public development authority could do exactly that.
The city needs an organizational structure that can help efforts go forward rather than in a circle and a staff person to make things happen, said Pasco City Manager Gary Crutchfield.
The public development authority would provide the structure for downtown merchants, property owners and organizations to be involved in revitalization efforts, he said.
Councilman Saul Martinez and Yenney will meet with downtown stakeholders in the next three to four weeks to discuss options. The council will consider the public corporation proposal again in July.
-- Kristi Pihl: 582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com
