By Dierdre Gregg, March 13th
When Michael Kim’s company won a bid to replace lights and fans in King County Housing Authority units, he figured he might need to add a couple more employees to his team of seven.
But it soon became clear that the housing authority would be getting federal stimulus money to make thousands more of its low-income homes energy-efficient.
Kim’s Advanced Energy Management LLC, based in Federal Way, has tripled in size to 24 employees — a number of whom had been unemployed.
The windfall of work came because the housing authority, even before having its expected $11 million stimulus in hand, has accelerated spending to make sure contractors are ready to move quickly, said Fred Campbell, the authority’s director of housing repair and weatherization.
“We wanted to get contractors ready for this onslaught of funding,” he said.
While it’s far too early to judge the overall impact of the federal stimulus package, Advanced Energy’s experience is one example of how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is already starting to ripple out into the broader economy.
Read the Rest of the Article Here: Puget Sound Business Journal