Washington County businesses, organizations, and other community members gathered at five area restaurants Monday evening for the annual Washington Business Partnership Dinner.
This was the first year for the event to be held since the pandemic, and the organizers decided to offer three different opportunities for the public to watch the prerecorded half hour program. Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien noted during the watch party at JP’s 207 that while they anticipated possibly 200 total attendees out of the usual 400 that are hosted at the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, around 300 people registered for this year’s event.
Main Street Washington gave its annual volunteer of the year award to Lyle Moen, and the Washington Economic Development Group presented the Harvey Holden Special Service Award to Brenneman Pork and Washington County Hospital and Clinics. The Washington Chamber of Commerce presented Citizen of the Year to Illa Earnest and Business of the Year to KCTC. They also p
The annual Greater Washington Business Partnership Dinner is coming up, with different options for how to attend in light of the pandemic.
The event hosted by Washington Economic Development Group, Washington Chamber of Commerce, and Main Street Washington typically hosts around 300 people at the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, but this year community members can choose from three different attendance options. Chamber Event Coordinator Alisha Davis says you can choose “watch party,” which involves dinner at a choice of five restaurants in the county, “grab and go gala,” where you can get your meal to-go from one of the local restaurants and the link to watch the program at home, or “sofa soiree,” in which you simply receive the link to watch the 30 minute program. Davis says registration for any of these options includes entry to a drawing for a Washington County Gift Basket, “So we’re kind of making it hybrid, in a year when we need to be cognizant of everything
The Washington Economic Development Group is receiving an award for a project conducted with the county and a local business.
The Professional Developers of Iowa annually sponsor the Business Expansion & Retention (BRE) Awards, which will be presented on March 18th. WEDG is receiving a BRE award for their work with Washington County and Premier 1 Supplies to obtain a Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) grant to help build 2.8 miles of paved road to their facility located southwest of the city of Washington. Premier 1 owners Stan and Jean Potratz and Ben Rothe along with the Washington County Board of Supervisors, County Engineer Jacob Thorius, Washington City Administrator Brent Hinson, and former WEDG Executive Director David Collins participated in the project. The BRE Award recognizes WEDG for multiple criteria that helped make the project successful.
Several organizations presented their fiscal year 2022 funding requests to the Washington County Board of Supervisors this week.
Jane Drapeaux and Renella Crawford of Hawkeye Area Community Action Program asked for the same funding amount as previous years, and Ryan Schlabaugh of the English River Watershed Management Authority requested the same as last year at $7,500. Washington Economic Development Group Executive Director Mary Audia and Board Treasurer Brent Hinson asked if the county could become an equal partner with the city of Washington in funding for WEDG, asking for $30,000, an increase from $21,000 last year. Main Street Washington Executive Director Sarah Grunewaldt requested that the county increase their funding by 2% this coming fiscal year for cost of living increases, equalling a total of $6,971. No action was taken on any of these requests.