Competing for Community Centers

News by Rachael Nutting 

JEFFERSON COUNTY, WA — For more than a decade, Olympic Community Action Partnerships (OlyCAP) has managed the Brinnon and Quilcene Community Centers with little public debate. But as the clock ticked toward the February 13 deadline for contract bids, a local chamber of commerce mounted a challenge and demanded answers about where county dollars have gone.

The North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce (NHCCC) submitted a formal bid on February 12 to take over operations of both centers, citing years of frustration over what it describes as a lack of transparency, unenforced contract requirements and a county procurement process that has left key financial questions unanswered.

Now, OlyCAP is responding directly to those concerns, defending its record while acknowledging at least one area in which it fell short of contractual obligations.

A history of tension

The current conflict has been three years in the making.

When OlyCAP's contract came up for renewal in 2023, a group of community members led by Dan Ventura, now president of NHCCC, raised concerns about whether the nonprofit was fulfilling its contractual obligations. They asked Jefferson County commissioners to enforce the terms or consider alternative management.

"We got a lot of pushback," Ventura recalled. "At the time of renewal, I asked, 'Can you at least assure me that this time you'll enforce the things that are in the contract?' And the answer I got was no. The county wouldn't assure us they'd enforce it."

The contract was renewed anyway, for three more years.

But Ventura and others didn't back down. They spent the intervening years building the chamber into an organization capable of bidding for the contracts themselves.

An RFP process derailed and revived

Pressure from NHCCC and other community members eventually led the county to issue a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) in October 2025—the first time in years the contracts had been openly competed.

However, the process quickly stalled.

NHCCC submitted questions seeking basic financial data, including utility costs, maintenance expenses, current budgets and an inventory of center contents. Without that information, Ventura said, it was impossible to prepare a responsible bid.

"We haven't received any financial reports from the county," he said. "It's a black box as to what's being done with that money."

The county withdrew the RFP on October 29, 2025, citing the need to address bidders' questions and issue a revised version. The County extended OlyCAP's contract an additional three months to ensure the centers stayed open.

A new RFP was issued in January 2026, with bids due February 13. But according to NHCCC, the revised document still lacked the clarity they sought.

OlyCAP's response: financial records exist

Holly Morgan, who joined OlyCAP in July 2024, pushed back on the notion that financial information has been withheld and clarified that some records have, in fact, been shared.

"Yes, of course, we keep records of operating expenses related to the community centers," Morgan said in written responses to questions from this publication. "We send those reports to the County quarterly to document our reimbursement requests."

Morgan added that when Andrew Schwartz, executive director of NHCCC, asked for financial reports directly, she shared a report with him—she recalled for fiscal year 2024.

Regarding the current RFP process, Morgan noted that OlyCAP provided the county with 2023-2025 financial reports in January 2026.

"I assumed at the time that they intended to share with applicants, but I have no control over their decision and am unclear if they shared them or not," she said.

Acknowledging a contract deficiency

Morgan also addressed NHCCC's allegations that contractual requirements weren't enforced and acknowledged one specific area where OlyCAP fell short.

"As far as I am aware, there has been only one area in which we have not operated wholly adherent to the terms and that is in the area of having an advisory board in place for each center," she said.

Morgan explained that advisory boards were put on hiatus following an unspecified "unfortunate incident" that created an adversarial relationship between some board members and OlyCAP management.

"The boards were temporarily put on the back burner, so additional work could be done to improve relationships with the intent being that when things 'cooled down' a bit, they would be reconvened," she said.

After Morgan joined the organization in 2024, she said she noted the deficiency and engaged with community members to resume advisory board functions, this time with "carefully articulated roles and responsibilities to avoid the misunderstandings that caused the friction to begin with."

Beyond that, Morgan maintained that OlyCAP complies with its contract and noted there have been no "Corrective Action Plans or communications of dissatisfaction from the county" regarding management of the centers.

Food Bank concerns addressed

The Jefferson County Food Bank Association raised concerns in October 2025 about OlyCAP's management impacting food bank operations in Quilcene, formally requesting that OlyCAP be disqualified from the bidding process.

Morgan characterized the tension as "purely one-sided."

"The food bank has been a partner of OlyCAP for decades," she said. "We have successfully navigated their work at the Quilcene Community Center for a very long time, and there is no reason from my point of view that that cannot continue."

Morgan emphasized that the food bank does important work and noted that she is personally a regular monthly donor to the program.

If OlyCAP retains management of the Quilcene center, Morgan committed to meeting with food bank leadership "to negotiate fair and responsible terms to our renewed center-use agreement and make every effort to address their concerns directly and in good faith."

What's at stake

The centers serve as vital hubs in rural south Jefferson County, hosting everything from food bank operations to senior programs, youth activities, and community gatherings.

OlyCAP, which also manages the Tri-Area Community Center, has held the contracts since at least 2015. The three-year agreement approved in 2020 provided OlyCAP with grant funding totaling $152,786 in 2020, $160,425 in 2021, and $168,447 in 2022.

Under that agreement, OlyCAP was responsible for day-to-day operations, programming, and maintenance of the county-owned facilities.

Future decisions

The community center contracts are landing on county officials' desks at a precarious moment.

In December 2025, Jefferson County administrators warned of significant budget shortfalls and signaled that difficult choices lie ahead. Among the potential cuts: the county-operated rec center in Port Townsend. Officials have said they're seeking long-term, sustainable partnerships for countywide parks and recreation services. This example brings concerns of funding into the future contracts of the Quilcene and Brinnon Community Centers. 

Morgan argued that OlyCAP is uniquely positioned to supplement the county's financial investment into the centers—pointing to the organization's use of Community Services Block Grant funding, donations, and grants to expand programming.

For fiscal year 2025, OlyCAP allocated a significant portion of those funds to providing free hot meals for seniors at community centers. For 2026, the organization has matched county dollars with additional funds to support "Community Center growth and improvements."

Recent investments include making center managers full-time positions (they have been half-time for years) and sending program managers to Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training so centers can serve as emergency hubs.

Morgan also highlighted planned expansions: youth programming, senior services, a Housing Case Manager, and Energy Assistance Program case workers available in both Brinnon and Quilcene, as well as partnerships with Peninsula College and WSU for adult education.

"The reality is that OlyCAP has access to more resources and has greater expertise in designing programming to address specific concerns within the disparate communities we serve than any other organization in our county," Morgan said.

NHCCC's vision

NHCCC, meanwhile, has centered its campaign on transparency and community voice.

In a recent public engagement post, the chamber wrote: "We've heard from many in the community that advisory board meetings haven't been as regular or accessible as people would like. Our plan includes public meetings on a set schedule, published agendas, and advisory boards that community members can attend and participate in."

What comes next

With bids now submitted, Jefferson County faces a decision that will reverberate through Brinnon and Quilcene for years. The county is expected to review proposals in the coming weeks, with a new contract set to begin April 1, 2026.

Notably, Morgan expressed appreciation for the scrutiny and for the reporting process itself. 

"Finally, I will say that I think it's important to have organizations like NHCCC and reporting like yours that push and challenge OlyCAP to get better all the time," she said. "I contend that we are responsive to the challenges and are getting better all the time."

For Ventura and NHCCC, the question remains whether that openness has come soon enough—and whether a change in management might better serve communities that have felt left out of the conversation for years.