After years of turmoil, Pasco wants to hand off farmers market, specialty kitchen
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pasco is accepting proposals through Aug. 5. to administrate either one or both projects.
- The Pasco Specialty Kitchen served 21 clients in 2024 and had capacity for eight more.
- An audit found former DPDA director Michael A. Goins embezzled at least $90,000.
After years of scandals, financial struggles and repeated management changes, Pasco is seeking to hand off the Pasco Specialty Kitchen and Pasco Farmers Market, acknowledging that managing the two business incubators requires specialized expertise.
The city is accepting proposals from organizations and individuals interested in managing either one or both programs and supporting the entrepreneurs who rely on them, many of them Latino-owned businesses.
The Pasco Farmers Market, held at Peanuts Park, operates from May through October, from 8 a.m. to noon, and can draw about 50 vendors on a market day, according to Mike Gonzalez, former Pasco economic development manager and executive director of the Latino Business Association.
The Pasco Specialty Kitchen has been in business since 2003 and is located near the market at 110 S. Fourth Ave. In 2024, it was serving 21 clients and had capacity for 8 more.
Gonzalez said cities often lack the expertise and long-term commitment needed to operate these kinds of programs.
“Because it’s a huge burden for cities to run a space like this, oftentimes there’s not the expertise internally to run it, nor the commitment to invest in it,” Gonzalez said. “I think there is a desire for it to be successful, but there’s also a fatigue factor. Is this kitchen and the farmers market ever going to reach its potential?”
The city will accept proposals through Aug. 5.
The Latino Business Association, which helps entrepreneurs navigate and comply with the city’s requirements for starting a business, confirmed it will apply to operate both programs.
“I’ve always thought that downtown Pasco can be a real Hispanic mecca, where they could celebrate the identity and I think that’s something that the city of Pasco hasn’t really done effectively,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t think it’s been purposeful, but it’s something they haven’t thought about.”
A history of management changes
The city assumed direct management in 2023 after a series of scandals involving the Downtown Pasco Development Authority (DPDA). For more than a decade the organization had operated both the Pasco Farmers Market and the Pasco Specialty Kitchen as part of its mission to revitalize downtown Pasco.
The department had four executive directors between 2016 and 2023, a period marked by leadership turnover and organizational challenges.
A 2024 Washington state Auditor’s Office report found questionable accounting practices and the embezzlement of at least $90,000 by former executive director Michael A. Goins.
The organization also faced criticism related to overspending tied to the Cinco de Mayo festival, while the Specialty Kitchen has lost money every year since 2019 and was described by a former manager as “understaffed, undertrained and underfunded.”
Gonzalez said that a lack of oversight and investment ultimately led to DPDA’s failure.
“We had some rogue actors in there that did some things that perhaps weren’t above board over the years,” he said. “But the city did create it. They just simply didn’t invest enough in it.”
After relinquishing management of the Farmers Market and Specialty Kitchen in 2023, the DPDA continued overseeing a limited number of downtown events, including the Fiery Foods Festival and Cinco de Mayo, while the city began reviewing the organization’s future.
At the time, officials said the transfer marked the first step in reimagining the DPDA’s role, but later chose to dissolve the organization.
Both programs’ finances
Latino business owners want to see genuine support from the city to improve their businesses in downtown and make it a space to celebrate their identity, Gonzalez said.
“They want to feel like they belong and mean something to the city,” he said. “I think there’s been a lot of focus on the development on West Pasco, that’s where there’s a lot of sales tax and property tax, but I think it’s time for the city to reinvest in downtown and the sentiment that members in our group have felt is the city has forgotten about them.”
In 2023, DPDA’s final year overseeing the Farmers Market, the program had an annual budget of $312,000. Three years later, the 2026 budget had fallen to about $128,000.
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The Specialty Kitchen saw a similar trend. Its budget was more than $1 million in 2023 before dropping to $309,000 in 2026.
Requirements for prospective operators
The city requires interested operators to hold, or be able to obtain, all business licenses required to operate in Washington state, including a city of Pasco business license.
Applicants must also specify in their proposals all costs they would charge the city to operate either one or both programs.
If selected, the operator would enter into a one-year contract with the option to renew for up to two additional one-year terms.
Applicants must demonstrate three to five years of experience in managing a farmers market or similar community-based market operations, commercial or shared-use kitchens, food business incubation programs, small business support, event management and community programming.
They also must demonstrate knowledge of federal, state and local food safety and health regulations.
