WASHINGTON DC – Three projects in Clallam County are poised to get more than nine million dollars in federal funding.
It’s part of the federal budget’s 2023 Community Project Funding Requests. That’s a relatively new program in which members of congress can make direct federal funding requests for individual projects in their districts deemed to have large community impact.
Sixth District Congressman Derek Kilmer says this year, the proposal for a joint Emergency Operations Center with Clallam County and city of Port Angeles will receive three million dollars.
“Our local law enforcement has said it is a huge priority having a sort of coordinated joint Emergency Operations Center. If, God forbid, there’s any sort of emergency being able to have city and county and tribal sort of everybody at the table, being able to manage things in a joint way and seeing the federal government step up and help as a really big deal,” said Kilmer.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Health and Wellness Complex Project will get about two million dollars and the Makah Tribe will get four million dollars to relocate its health center out of the tsunami zone and expand it at Neah Bay.
Kilmer says he approaches the asks differently than other members of congress, by turning directly to local community leaders to rate the projects.
“What I decided was, we were going to set up a community panel that includes a leader from each of the six counties I represent. And what we’ve done, is invited the head of the Economic Development Council in each of the six counties I represent and then we had a tribal representative and then we had the head of the minority business development agency and that group basically scored on things like: Will this create economic opportunity and does this meet or address a threat. And that’s why these projects rated so well and so highly,” said Kilmer.
Kilmer proposed 15 community projects for funding in the Sixth Congressional District. All 15 were included for appropriations.