COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ten months after the Columbia Economic Team shut down, the county’s small cities are deciding one by one whether to pay Scappoose to do the job instead.
Rainier’s council votes Tuesday on a $4,000-a-year agreement with the Columbia Business Alliance, a program the City of Scappoose stood up this year inside its community development department. Clatskanie votes Wednesday on the same agreement at $3,000. Both contracts renew automatically every July and let the alliance raise the price up to 4 percent a year without another council vote, according to the Rainier and Clatskanie packets.
What Happened to CET
For 15 years the Columbia Economic Team was the county’s economic development nonprofit, a business league funded by dues from local governments and by grants. Its board voted to dissolve it, employees were let go Dec. 31, 2025, and the organization targeted March 31 to close its books, according to a Feb. 5 CET news release included in a Scappoose committee packet. The release does not say why. It says CET “contracted former Executive Director Paul Vogel to manage the wind-down” and quotes board chair Tony Hyde saying “none of these transfer decisions was up to CET, they were all at the discretion of the funders.”
CET’s revenue had fallen from $1.35 million in the fiscal year ending June 2021 to $492,062 in the year ending June 2023, with expenses outrunning revenue in each of the last two years on file, according to its IRS filings.
The release lists where about $500,000 in programs went: the GRO Greater small business loan program to the City of St. Helens with nearly $100,000; the Northwest Innovation Hub, with more than $270,000 from Business Oregon, to the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network; and the Business Retention and Expansion program, the Keep It Local campaign, and the Small Business Resource Center’s tools to the City of Scappoose under a $100,000-plus Rural Opportunity Initiative grant.
What the Alliance Does
That last transfer became the Columbia Business Alliance. The agreement describes it as “a department of the City of Scappoose” that “currently has the capacity and desire to provide economic development related services … throughout Columbia County which is made possible through contributions from local agencies and jurisdictions and through grant funding.” Its representative is Sierra Trass, Scappoose’s economic development specialist, and it works out of the city’s Community Development Center at 33568 E. Columbia Ave. Its stated mission, from its request to the county, is “to strengthen Columbia County’s business ecosystem by helping local businesses start, grow, and succeed in their communities through collaboration, education, resource access, and promotion.”
Exhibit A of the agreement spells out six kinds of work the alliance promises inside each member city’s limits:
- A person who shows up. “Proactive outreach to local businesses to assess needs,” one-on-one technical help and referrals, “regular in-community presence, including site visits, meetings, and participation in local events,” and a single point of contact for business questions.
- Classes. Workshops, trainings, and speaker events “within the county, including your city,” plus startup and small business training programs. The county request describes monthly business classes and Co.Starter “bootcamps.”
- Help finding money. Navigating state and regional assistance programs and lending options. The county request names GRO loans of up to $50,000 at 3 percent, now run by St. Helens, and Kiva loans of up to $15,000 at zero interest.
- Keep It Local Columbia County. Marketing campaigns that push residents to spend locally, an online business directory, “management of the Columbia County Mobile App and community events board,” and seasonal promotions. The county request calls the app the Columbia County Wander app.
- Fixing what businesses complained about. Work “informed by the Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Project,” which the county request says interviewed 75 local businesses in 2024: one-to-two-page guides to city and county permitting, a possible countywide high school internship program with PCC OMIC and the Northwest Regional Education Service District, coordination meetings for business-support agencies every other month, and support for downtown revitalization.
- Regional coordination. Sitting in on regional economic development efforts and working with chambers of commerce, schools, and service providers.
The alliance owes each city an annual report “detailing the services that were provided within the community and county as a whole.” The contract is between Scappoose and one city at a time; the county and the Port of Columbia County are not parties. Enterprise zone management is not on the list.
What the County Was Asked to Buy
In March, Scappoose City Manager Ben Burgener, Community Development Director Laurie Oliver Joseph, and Trass asked the county for $75,000 for the current fiscal year. The money, their written request says, would “restore” one-on-one business advising countywide, “a service previously offered through CET’s Small Business Resource Center (SBRC), a need unfunded after their dissolution” and “used by hundreds of local businesses/entrepreneurs.” Clients signing up for advising would be told the service “is made possible by local investment from community partners like Columbia County government.”
The request also asked for a storage room in the John Gumm Building in St. Helens for “items donated to us by CET,” listing A-frame signs, holiday Keep It Local supplies, brochure holders, and bazaar decorations, and said that being a storage “tenant” would help the alliance keep access to the building’s auditorium and conference room for business classes. The county would get its logo on the alliance website and newsletter, sponsor recognition on the Keep It Local directory, and invitations to the annual meeting and a Small Business Month appreciation event.
The pitch to commissioners was cost: housing the program inside a city cuts overhead, so “countywide economic development efforts and offerings will be more stable and sustainable compared to what it would have cost to have CET and county partners provide the same services,” and the county “will save money, time, and administrative overhead costs” compared with running its own economic development department “as similar counties of our size have done.” The request warns that “these programs are not sustainable long-term without your continued support and partnership.”
Commissioners asked for a business plan and a list of interested partners and said they would consider a contribution during budget season, per the March 25 work session minutes. Whether the county put money in its 2026-27 budget is not stated in the board documents the Tribune reviewed.
Who Pays What
| Jurisdiction | Annual contribution | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Clatskanie | $3,000 | Council vote Nov. 4 |
| Rainier | $4,000 | Council vote Nov. 3 |
| Columbia County | $75,000 requested | Asked for a business plan in March |
| St. Helens | Not a party | Took over CET’s loan program directly |
The amounts are not tied to population. Clatskanie’s then-city manager, Greg Hinkelman, told the council in May the alliance “is requesting $3,000 in funding, which is what we were paying CET annually,” according to the May 6 packet. Clatskanie’s current manager, N.J. Johnson, writes in the Nov. 4 staff report that the council “agreed to support the CBA by matching its annual CET membership dues.”
If a city falls 60 days behind on its payment, the alliance can suspend services, and late balances accrue half a percent a month. A city that wants out must give notice between July 1 and Dec. 31 to end the agreement the following June 30.
The Enterprise Zones Are Still Up in the Air
One piece of CET’s work has no permanent home: management of the county’s two enterprise zones, which abate property taxes for new industrial investment. CET ran both the South Columbia County zone and the Lower Columbia Maritime zone. In March the zone sponsors hired Art Fish, the state’s former business incentives coordinator, as interim manager for a four-to-six-month engagement, with a plan to “transition to a new Zone Manager(s)” between July and September, according to the statement of work prepared for the sponsors’ March 6 meeting.
That transition has not happened. Johnson told the Clatskanie council Oct. 7 about “ongoing discussions regarding the future administration of Columbia County’s enterprise zones,” and Rainier’s administrator attended a meeting of local officials on the zones Oct. 22, according to the two packets. The alliance agreement does not include zone management among its services.