I want to give a shout out to the Lewis County EDC for the tremendous success they have achieved over the years. This success shows what can be done when we leave politics out of solving problems to benefit the businesses and citizens of our communities.
From the day that Earl Spencer started walking the streets of Centralia and Chehalis to solicit support for forming an economic development council during the devastating “spotted owl” debacle, during the early 1980s, to this day, the EDC has enjoyed many successes for the benefit of Lewis County communities.
The formation of the EDC is such a great example of local business, city government and county government working together for the overall Lewis County benefit. When the EDC was formed, many local businesses gave large amounts of financial cash assistance, along with Centralia, Chehalis and the county. But each of these entities also gave countless hours of individual effort to get the EDC up and running, starting with weeks and months of 7 a.m. morning meetings. We were very fortunate to be able to convince Bill Lotto to come on board as the executive director and he took it from there, working with the county, cities, Port of Centralia, Port of Chehalis and the Chehalis Industrial Commission to help countless local businesses and he had the ability to land some good, successful companies to come to Lewis County. Now here we are with Richard DeBolt on board to continue this success story some 40-plus years later.
Good job to all those who have been involved.
George Godding,
Tenino
