Washington Business Spring 2019 | Washington Business | Page 20
washington business
In Their Words
Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier was elected to the office in 2016 after serving eight
years in the state Legislature. He previously served in the U.S. Navy and has a long history
of volunteer service. A Pierce County native and small-business owner, Dammeier is working
alongside business and local leaders to diversify the county’s job base, prepare the next generation
of workforce to fill in-demand jobs and engaging in addressing the region’s growing homeless
population, particularly among youth and military veterans. Dammeier spoke with staff writer
Bobbi Cussins to discuss the economic momentum of Pierce County and how collaboration and
what he calls the “Pierce County Way” are the keys to creating vibrant communities.
Pierce County has seen some terrific progress in job growth. What makes
your area so attractive to those family-wage employers?
We’re pretty excited about the most recent numbers, which continue to trend upward. We
just surpassed Snohomish County in job growth. So, we do have some momentum down
here, and I think it’s the result of a number of things. First, we wanted to send a strong
message that in Pierce County and all the governments in the county and this community
value the jobs that folks bring to our community; we value businesses as good corporate
citizens. They help make our community better and stronger. Their contributions to our
community go beyond the jobs they provide folks.
And, there’s also an attitudinal piece. We’ve been working to streamline our permitting,
going through a lot of our codes to simplify them, and reduce red tape. I think the word is
out there that we’re really working hard to make Pierce County, and the cities within Pierce
County, a better place to work or make an investment to build a new plant or expand a
plant. We want new businesses down here. But what I really appreciate is when you have
folks like Carlson Paving Products. These guys make paving machines used throughout the
world, and they decide they’re going to double their plant size here in Pierce County. You’ve
got a company that says, “We’re going to double down. We’ve been there, we know what
you’re like. We know what we’ve got, and we want more of it.”
A Manufacturing Industrial Council was established in Pierce County last
year and your office has put a focus on protecting industrial areas as part
of preserving high-wage jobs. Why is that so important to Pierce County?
We want more family-wage jobs in Pierce County. The other thing is to make sure that
we’ve got strong industrial lands to maintain a strong manufacturing base. Those are good,
family-wage jobs, in many instances. In addition, we have a number of efforts to focus on
job creation. You’re probably aware of the Family-Wage Jobs Credit Program that we have
in several of the municipalities in Pierce County. If a company creates five or more family-
wage jobs in the county, we’re going to give them a rebate of $275 on their fees and permits
for every job they create.
From military to manufacturing, a lot of effort has been made to diversify
the region’s job base. Why is that so critical?
We’re not only after manufacturing jobs, but I want to diversify the economy down here. I
want a whole range of family-wage jobs, because we’ve got a whole range of people who live
in Pierce County that want those jobs. That diversity makes for a strong, healthy economy. I
don’t want to be dependent on just one industry, or another. I know the Port of Tacoma just
20 association of washington business
Bruce Dammeier
did an Economic Impact Study, and they’ve
got over 20,000 jobs there with an average pay
of $95,000 per year. That’s impressive. They
moved 3.7 million containers last year. So, the
port is an important asset to us, as is Joint Base
Lewis-McChord, which gets overlooked. Fifty-
four thousand people work out there with an
annual economic impact of $9.2 billion. Most
folks just think, “Well, those are soldiers.”
Well, there are a lot of soldiers out there too,
but there are a lot of civilian jobs on that base.
First of all, those soldiers buy houses, rent
houses, buy cars, and defend our country, by
the way. But beyond that, you’ve got a lot of
civilian expertise out there. When you think
about all those helicopters based at Gray Army
Field, or the C-17s at McChord field, there’s
a lot of technical expertise required to help
maintain and support those aircraft. So, there’s
a lot of very good jobs out there.
You have been active in promoting
educational efforts — from the
Puyallup PTA to serving as a top
education leader in the Legislature —
how are you applying that background
to address the challenge of filling the
local workforce pipeline?
As a small-business owner, as a leader of Pierce
County, and as a former school board member,
I’m keenly aware of both the challenges of
making sure that we are preparing our kids
to have really good jobs going forward and
having those jobs for them right here. I know