Lakewood is the top recruit for BLS

The city of Lakewood, home to both thousands of Armed Forces families and regional businesses, is the newest Washington State community to enlist the Business Licensing Service.

The recruitment of Lakewood connects local business licenses with required state program registrations. The Pierce County city of 60,000 borders Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the fourth largest domestic U.S. military base with about 200,000 people.

More than 20 South Sound cities in Mason, Pierce and Thurston counties will soon be connected in the state's business licensing “one-stop.” Puyallup joined in May, while Orting, Shelton, Yelm and others link up by early 2019.

The constellation of South Sound cities streamlines application and renewal processes for businesses working in various local jurisdictions.