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Commissioners direct staff to re-submit selected community project funding requests and provide letters of support
Summary
The board instructed staff to resubmit last year’s federal community project funding (CPF) requests — including the fairgrounds emergency site proposal — and to provide letters of support for two external requests from the Economic Development Council and Wolf Haven; commissioners agreed to develop a formal CPF process in future.
Thurston County commissioners on Wednesday directed staff to pursue a second round of federal community project funding (CPF) submissions and to provide letters of support for two outside requests.
County staff and commissioners reviewed lessons from last year’s CPF submissions and reported that several projects that had been advancing in 2024 were later not funded. Staff recommended resubmitting select applications; commissioners agreed to resubmit the fairgrounds emergency shelter project with a larger funding request and updated language.
The board also gave staff a thumbs-up to provide letters of support for a $2.25 million regional meat-processing infrastructure request from the Economic Development Council (EDC) and to support a separate request from Wolf Haven related to construction of a public visitor facility. Commissioners discussed that some requests may be submitted directly by partner organizations (for example, service providers such as Connections or Wolf Haven) with the county furnishing letters of support rather than the county itself acting as the applicant.
Commissioners asked staff to formalize an internal CPF process for future years, including a priority list and clearer timelines. Staff said the federal process is uncertain and changes year to year; delegations recommended prioritizing shovel-ready and “ready-to-go” projects. Several commissioners said they will coordinate with regional partners and congressional staff about prioritization and timing.
The board also authorized staff to follow up with Connections and other partners about whether they will submit applications that would require county letters of support.
