Brewster Chamber pursues ARPA development options

BREWSTER – A firm circus date, trade-in-kind memberships, city promotion strategies, ARPA funds, and guest speaker John Hurley of Three Rivers Hospital were among agenda items at the regular monthly Zoom meeting of the Brewster Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday, Jan. 12.
Hurley, a certified physician’s assistant (PA-C) joined the Three Rivers Family Medicine (TRFM) team last June. Hurley grew up in Spokane where his family still lives and graduated the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2008. Hurley said he became familiar with this area as one of his favorite camping spots over the years
“I have been doing family practice for underserved populations for about 14 years now,” said Hurley. “I’m a veteran of the U.S. Army so I have a passion for veterans’ health as well as underserved health.”
Prior to joining THFM Hurley practiced at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic for more than six years. He has also treated patients at Franklin Park Urgent Care Center, the Washington State Department of Corrections, Presbyterian Medical Services, and Northeast Washington Health Services.
“I found out that not a lot of people know that we actually have a family practice at the hospital,” said Hurley. “It’s in the clinical building on the backside of the hospital.”
Circus
It’s confirmed. The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus will perform in Brewster on Saturday, June 4. Chamber president Mike Mauk said he spoke with a show representative who visits the performance sites and handles preliminaries like contract arrangements who will be in town next month to finalize details.
American Rescue Plan Act
Funds from the federal government to help cities and towns recover from the business shutdowns mandated over the past two years rank high on the list of 2022 Chamber topics since Brewster will benefit to the tune of $513,000. Last year the chamber retained Downtown Strategies, a community planning and development consultant to design a five-year plan for the city. A link to the plan has been posted on the Chamber’s Facebook site and copies sent to the 41 member businesses.
The ARPA funds can only be used for specific projects and one of those is signage for city promotion. That was one aspect addressed at the meeting as the Chamber continues to pursue. The Chamber plans to enlist the help of Firm Foundations owner Brooklyn Holton for additional guidance. Holton worked with the City of Pateros on last summer’s Pop-Up Community Market project.
Down the road the Chamber will schedule a public meeting to gather input from city businesses and residents about what they would like to see in Brewster. Mauk said he will try to have representatives of Downtown Strategies, the Economic Alliance, and North Central Washington Economic Development District as well as Holton on hand to answer any questions.
Mauk said he will approach local chambers, organizations, and businesses that cannot pay monetary membership dues with a proposal to trade-in-kind membership with the Chamber in lieu of money.
The next regular Chamber meeting is at 6 p.m., Feb. 9.