In October, the city of Maple Valley was awarded $24,700 for economic development by the Port of Seattle. The Port of Seattle started a new Economic Development Partnership Program to help support local community economic development activities. In King County, more than $962,000 was available to cities as matching funds, according to the Port of Seattle website. Every city that received money was awarded between $5,000 and $65,000.

The money received is available now and is only for this year. The money must also be spent by the end of June, Maple Valley City Manager Laura Philpot said in an email.

The city hired a firm, Camion Associated to develop an Economic Action Plan. They have already provided the city with a draft report.

The 2016 budget had $20,000 designated for the work being done by Camion Associates and the additional funds from the port will allow the city to stretch their money further and actually implement the plan, Philpot said. In the 2017/2018 budget, the council approved funding for an economic development manager position.

The Economic Action Plan will utilize about half of the funds granted by the port and the other half will be used to implement the plan.

The money is important for the economic development of the city so the extra money will help the city out a lot.

“If we want others to invest into our community, we need to invest in ourselves,” Philpot said.

The city really appreciates the port’s support and partnership and they look forward to working with them, as they are very excited to move forward with the Economic Development efforts, Philpot said.